Soyuz 7

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Mission dates
Mission: Soyuz 7
COSPAR-ID : 1969-086A
Spacecraft: Soyuz 7K-OK (P) ( GRAU index  11F615)
serial number 15
Dimensions: 6570 kg
Launcher: Soyuz (GRAY index 11A511)
Call sign: Буран (" Buran ")
Crew: 3
Begin: October 12, 1969, 10:44:42  UTC
Starting place: Baikonur 1/5
Space station: Soyuz 8
Landing: October 17, 1969, 09:25:05 UTC
Landing place: 155 km northwest of Karaganda
Flight duration: 4d 22h 40m 23s
Earth orbits: 80
Rotation time : 88.8 min
Apogee : 223 km
Perigee : 210 km
◄ Before / After ►
Soyuz 6
(manned) 		Soyuz 8
(manned)

Soyuz 7 is the mission name for a flight of a Soviet Soyuz spaceship that started on October 12, 1969 . It was the 15th flight in the Soviet Soyuz program.

crew

Starting crew

Gorbatko came from the first group of cosmonauts in the Soviet Union , Filipchenko from the second group of pilots. This was the first time a member of the first group had to submit to a commanding officer who was later selected. Volkov had only joined the cosmonaut corps in 1968. In contrast to the other cosmonauts from Soyuz 6, 7 and 8, he had not previously been assigned to a replacement team.

The team began their training on April 10, 1969.

Substitute team

Originally, Kuklin , Grechko , Chrunow and Kolodin were nominated as replacements for Soyuz 6, Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 . In the summer of 1969, however, there were significant changes. After a centrifuge test, Kuklin was classified as unfit to fly, and Chrunow was taken out of the crew because of a car accident with a hit and run. After Shatalow and Jelissejew moved up as crew for Soyuz 8, they were also assigned as substitutes for Soyuz 7.

preparation

After the successful double flight of Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5, a triple flight with Soyuz 6 , Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 was planned for the first time . In contrast to the previous mission, there was no change from one spaceship to the other. What was new was that coupling and decoupling should be filmed from a third spaceship. The contact device was initially intended as the approach system. However, since this was not yet finished, the existing Igla system was used.

During the preparation for this flight, the USA managed the first manned moon landing with Apollo 11 ; on three flights, astronauts had transferred from the Apollo spacecraft through a tunnel to the lunar module.

Never before had three spaceships been in space at the same time. With regard to track tracking and radio traffic, this made new demands on the Soviet ground stations. As usual, the radio communication was via VHF while the spaceships were over the Soviet Union, otherwise via shortwave . In addition to the radio stations on Soviet territory, the communications ship cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was used.

In September there was a dysentery epidemic in Baikonur. The cosmonauts stayed in isolated areas and only people who showed no symptoms were allowed to approach them.

Mission history

begin

Soyuz 7 launched on October 12, 1969, one day after Soyuz 6 , but from a different launch pad in Baikonur . This was only the second Soyuz launch with three crew members on board. In orbit the three cosmonauts carried out various earth and star observations.

After Soyuz 8 started the following day , three spaceships and seven space travelers were in space at the same time for the first time. Through course corrections, the orbits of the three spaceships were brought into line with one another.

Unsuccessful coupling maneuver

At the rendezvous with Soyuz 8 on October 14, Soyuz 7 played the passive part. At first the maneuver went smoothly, but when the spaceships were only 1 km apart, the Igla approach system failed .

While the cosmonauts waited for flight control to clear the approach by hand, the spaceships drifted too far. They were then outside the radio range of the ground stations, so that the day passed unused.

On the following day the distance had increased unexpectedly to 40 km, so that further time passed before the orbits could be precisely determined and the necessary course corrections calculated. When Soyuz 8 was only 1,700 m away from Soyuz 7, Shatalov started the rendezvous in Soyuz 8 by hand control. But since there were no clues about the distance and movement of the spaceships, it was not possible to steer precisely. Soyuz 6 also approached Soyuz 7 at 800 m.

Soyuz 6 finally landed on October 16, after which two more attempts were made between Soyuz 8 and Soyuz 7, but they also failed.

More experiments

During the rendezvous maneuver with the two other Soyuz ships, the three cosmonauts carried out experiments on the visibility of spaceships with cameras and film cameras, and methods of optical communication were also investigated.

In addition to medical examinations, the cosmonauts also devoted themselves to observing the earth. One of the experiments was synchronized with aerial photography by a Li-2 aircraft .

landing

The state commission scheduled the return of the three cosmonauts for October 17th. A headache was caused by a display in the landing module, which indicated that the automatic landing program was active. Actually, this display should only light up at a height of 11 km above the ground, under no circumstances in orbit, while the orbital and landing modules are still connected. It appeared to be a bug in the system. After intensively examining circuit diagrams, the ground station decided that it was a harmless bug, but it was feared that it could also be the effect of a larger, as yet undiscovered bug. The brake ignition, reentry, and landing, however, happened without any problems, almost exactly 24 hours after Soyuz 6.

Effects

The triple flight was officially rated as a success. Internally, however, it was clear that the mission was a failure. The Igla approach system had proven to be a weak point. In the event of a malfunction, there was no reliable way to safely control and couple the spaceships by hand.

The next objective of the Soviets was a long-term flight with Soyuz 9 and the launch of a space station, with Almas and DOS still two competing types.

Others

The photographs that were taken during the mission have not yet been published.

literature

  • Asif A. Siddiqi: Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union And The Space Race 1945- 1974. NASA History Division, Washington DC 2000.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.x-libri.ru: Kamanin diaries, entry from October 6, 1969 (Russian)