Salyut 6 was a Soviet space station launched on September 29, 1977. Although it resembled the previous Salyut space stations in overall design, it featured several revolutionary advances including a second docking port where an unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft could dock and refuel the station. With Salyut 6, the Soviet space station program evolved from short-duration to long-duration stays.

From 1977 until 1982 Salyut 6 was visited by five long-duration crews and 11 short-term crews, including cosmonauts from Warsaw Pact countries. The very first long-duration crew on Salyut 6 broke a record set on board Skylab, staying 96 days in orbit. The longest flight onboard Salyut 6 lasted 185 days. The fourth Salyut 6 expedition deployed a 10-meter radio-telescope antenna delivered by a cargo ship. After Salyut 6 manned operations were discontinued in 1981, a heavy unmanned spacecraft called TKS and developed using hardware left from the canceled Almaz program was docked to the station as a hardware test. Salyut 6 was deorbited July 29, 1982.

Progress docked automatically at the aft port, and was then opened and unlocked by cosmonauts on the station. Transfer of fuel to the station took place automatically under supervision from the ground. A second docking port also meant long-duration resident crews could receive visitors. Visiting crews often included cosmonaut-researchers from Soviet bloc countries or countries sympathetic to the Soviet Union. Vladimír Remek of Czechoslovakia, the first space traveler not from the US or USSR, visited Salyut 6 in 1978. The station received 16 cosmonaut crews, including six long-duration crews. The longest stay time for a Salyut 6 crew was 185 days. The first long-duration crew stayed for 96 days, beating the 84-day world record for space endurance established in 1974 by the last Skylab crew. The station hosted cosmonauts from Hungary, Poland, Romania, Cuba, Mongolia, Vietnam, and East Germany. Twelve Progress freighters delivered more than 20 tons of equipment, supplies and fuel. An experimental transport logistics spacecraft called Cosmos 1267 docked with Salyut 6 in 1982. The transport logistics spacecraft was originally designed for the Almaz program. Cosmos 1267 proved that large modules could dock automatically with space stations, a major step toward the multimodular Mir station and the International Space Station.

Salyut 6 had six resident crews. On December 10 1977 the first crew, Yuri Romanenko and Georgi Grechko, arrived on Soyuz 26 and remained aboard Salyut 6 for 96 days. On June 15 1978, Vladimir Kovalyonok and Aleksandr Ivanchenkov (Soyuz 29) arrived and remained on board for 140 days. Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin (Soyuz 32) arrived on February 25 1979 and stayed 175 days. On April 9 1980 Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin (Soyuz 35) arrived for the longest stay on Salyut 6, 185 days. A repair mission, consisting of Leonid Kizim, Oleg Makarov, and Gennady Strekalov (Soyuz T-3) worked on the space station for 12 days starting on November 27 1980. On March 12 1981 the last crew, Vladimir Kovalyonok and Viktor Savinykh, arrived and stayed for 75 days. During this time there were also 10 visiting missions, crews which came to bring supplies and make shorter duration visits with the resident crews.

Salyut 6 Expeditions

Salyut 6 EVA's

Specifications

• Length - 15.8 m
• Maximum diameter - 4.15 m
• Habitable volume - 90 m³
• Weight at launch - 19,824 kg
• Launch vehicle - Proton (three-stage)
• Orbital inclination - 51.6°
• Span across solar arrays - 17 m
• Area of solar arrays - 51 m²
• Number of solar arrays - 3
• Electricity available - 4-5 kW
• Resupply carriers - Soyuz Ferry, Soyuz-T, Progress, TKS
• Number of docking ports - 2
• Total manned missions - 18
• Total unmanned missions - 13
• Total long-duration missions - 6
• Number of main engines - 2
• Main engine thrust (each) - 300 kg

Visiting spacecraft and crews

(Launched crews. Spacecraft launch and landing dates listed.)

• Soyuz 25 - October 9 - 11, 1977 - Failed Docking
  • Vladimir Kovalyonok
  • Valery Ryumin

• Soyuz 26 - December 10, 1977 - January 16, 1978
  • Yuri Romanenko
  • Georgi Grechko

• Soyuz 27 - January 10, 1978 - March 16, 1978
  • Oleg Makarov
  • Vladimir Dzhanibekov

• Soyuz 28 - March 2 - 10, 1978 - Intercosmos Flight
  • Aleksei Gubarev
  • Vladimír Remek - Czechoslovakia

• Soyuz 29 - June 15 - September 3, 1978
  • Vladimir Kovalyonok
  • Aleksandr Ivanchenkov

• Soyuz 30 - June 27 - July 5, 1978 - Intercosmos Flight
  • Pyotr Klimuk
  • Miroslaw Hermaszewski - Poland

• Soyuz 31 - August 26 - November 2, 1978 - Intercosmos Flight
  • Valery Bykovsky
  • Sigmund Jähn - German Democratic Republic

• Soyuz 32 - February 25 - June 13, 1979 - Landed Empty
  • Vladimir Lyakhov
  • Valery Ryumin

• Soyuz 33 - April 10 - 12, 1979 - Intercosmos Flight - Failed Docking
  • Nikolay Rukavishnikov
  • Georgi Ivanov - Bulgaria

• Soyuz 34 - June 6 - August 19, 1979 - Landed with crew
  • Launched empty to replace Soyuz 33

• Soyuz 35 - April 9 - June 3, 1980
  • Leonid Popov
  • Valery Ryumin

• Soyuz 36 - May 26 - July 31, 1980 - Intercosmos Flight
  • Valery Kubasov
  • Bertalan Farkas - Hungary

• Soyuz T-2 - June 5 - June 9, 1980
  • Yuri Malyshev
  • Vladimir Aksyonov

• Soyuz 37 - July 23 - October 11, 1980 - Intercosmos Flight
  • Viktor Gorbatko
  • Pham Tuan - Vietnam

• Soyuz 38 - September 18 - 26, 1980 - Intercosmos Flight
  • Yuri Romanenko
  • Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez - Cuba

• Soyuz T-3 - November 27 - December 10, 1980
  • Leonid Kizim
  • Oleg Makarov
  • Gennady Strekalov

• Soyuz T-4 - March 12 - May 26, 1981
  • Vladimir Kovalyonok
  • Viktor Savinykh

• Soyuz 39 - March 22 - 30, 1980 - Intercosmos Flight
  • Vladimir Dzhanibekov
  • Jugderdemidiyn Gurragcha - Mongolia

• Soyuz 40 - May 14 - 22, 1981 - Intercosmos Flight
  • Leonid Popov
  • Dumitru Prunariu - Romania

See also

• Space station for statistics of occupied space stations
• Salyut
• Mir
• Skylab
• International Space Station

References

• http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1977-097A
• Soviet Space Stations as Analogs - NASA report (PDF format)