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The real story behind Soyuz T-13's mission to save Salyut 7
by
The-Hammer
on 16 Sep, 2014 16:31
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Article on Ars Technica:
arstechnica.com/science/2014/09/the-little-known-soviet-mission-to-rescue-a-dead-space-station/How two Cosmonauts battled extreme cold, darkness, and limited resources to save Salyut 7.
The following story happened in 1985 but subsequently vanished into obscurity. Over the years, many details have been twisted, others created. Even the original storytellers got some things just plain wrong. After extensive research, writer Nickolai Belakovski is able to present, for the first time to an English-speaking audience, the complete story of Soyuz T-13’s mission to save Salyut 7, a fascinating piece of in-space repair history.
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#1
by
Phillip Clark
on 16 Sep, 2014 16:54
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The only reason that the Soyuz-T 13 "rescue" of Salyut 7 is "little known" is because too many people think that the US programme is all that there is to piloted space missions, and therefore they ignore the Soviet programme as having nothing of interest to learn about.
On the second page of the article the cut-away clearly represents Salyut 4/Soyuz, not Salyut 7/Soyuz-T.
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#2
by
Nickolai
on 16 Sep, 2014 17:15
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An article I've been working on for several years has been published on ArsTechnica, it's about Soyuz T-13's mission to save Salyut 7.
The story has not been covered in English very well, many sources conflict and the common thread than power loss is what led to communication loss is simply not true. I've gathered a variety of Russian sources, including from the cosmonauts themselves, and translated and compiled them into an article that is now available for all on ArsTechnica.com, please enjoy and share!
http://bit.ly/1yciiSa
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#3
by
Nicolas PILLET
on 16 Sep, 2014 17:28
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The only reason that the Soyuz-T 13 "rescue" of Salyut 7 is "little known" is because too many people think that the US programme is all that there is to piloted space missions, and therefore they ignore the Soviet programme as having nothing of interest to learn about.
On the second page of the article the cut-away clearly represents Salyut 4/Soyuz, not Salyut 7/Soyuz-T.
Yes, you're right. This article is interesting and well-written, but it doesn't say anything that was previously written elsewhere. There are MANY sources about this flight, but only a FEW people are interested to read them...
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#4
by
joncz
on 16 Sep, 2014 17:50
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Well done!
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#5
by
foltster
on 16 Sep, 2014 19:27
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Great read!
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#6
by
Nickolai
on 16 Sep, 2014 20:30
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The only reason that the Soyuz-T 13 "rescue" of Salyut 7 is "little known" is because too many people think that the US programme is all that there is to piloted space missions, and therefore they ignore the Soviet programme as having nothing of interest to learn about.
On the second page of the article the cut-away clearly represents Salyut 4/Soyuz, not Salyut 7/Soyuz-T.
Yes, you're right. This article is interesting and well-written, but it doesn't say anything that was previously written elsewhere. There are MANY sources about this flight, but only a FEW people are interested to read them...
1) You're absolutely right, it's little-known because of the exact reasons you mentioned. I hope articles like mine can change that prevailing opinion, but it will be an uphill battle.
2) Actually it is Salyut 6/Soyuz, as mentioned in the caption.
3) While individual parts of the story have been previously written elsewhere, this is the first time they have all been put together into a comprehensive article describing what happened. I've seen articles that imply they didn't know anything was wrong until they rendezvoused with the station. Many also suggest that a power loss was responsible for the loss in communication, but I have conclusively determined that it was actually operator error that led to loss of communication, and that power loss was a separate issue. In short, that's why this thread is titled "The real story..."
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#7
by
Satori
on 16 Sep, 2014 21:47
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#8
by
GraniteHound92
on 17 Sep, 2014 05:05
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Fantastic!
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#9
by
Phillip Clark
on 17 Sep, 2014 05:52
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Sorry Nikolai, but if you think that the cutaway on page 2 of the article is Salyut 6/Soyuz then you don't know your space stations! It is clearly Salyut 4, the Soyuz-derived propulsion system at the rear end identifies it as such. You need to check the photos of Salyut 6 in orbit with the cutaway that you show.
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#10
by
Nickolai
on 17 Sep, 2014 12:15
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Sorry Nikolai, but if you think that the cutaway on page 2 of the article is Salyut 6/Soyuz then you don't know your space stations! It is clearly Salyut 4, the Soyuz-derived propulsion system at the rear end identifies it as such. You need to check the photos of Salyut 6 in orbit with the cutaway that you show.
Looking at it more closely, I think we're both wrong. You're right that the bulge at the aft end represents an engine compartment typical of Salyut 4 and earlier stations, and that Salyut 6 doesn't have such a bulge, but at the same time, Salyut 4 wouldn't have had the rendezvous equipment seen at the aft end, right? As such, I don't think the cutout represents an actual Salyut station.
I think you'll agree that this cutout that I found is actually Salyut 6:
http://pastreunited.com/resources/salyut.jpgI'm going by the fact that it has two docking ports, and that the ship docked at the left side of the picture looks like a Soyuz 7K-T - Salyut 7 was visited only by Soyuz-T, which had solar panels.
Unfortunately I don't think I'll have time to edit that picture and get it up while the article is still on the front page, I'll think about editing the caption of the existing picture. Thank you for pointing this out.
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#11
by
Phillip Clark
on 17 Sep, 2014 13:00
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I am sure that that the original Salyut/DOS and the modified Salyut/DOS which flew as Salyut 4 both had transponders at the rear end as well as the front end.
Since the picture does not include the rear docking port on Salyut and does have the old-style DOS propulsion system then it is impossible for the cutaway to be Salyut 6. Period.
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#12
by
Nickolai
on 17 Sep, 2014 14:10
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I am sure that that the original Salyut/DOS and the modified Salyut/DOS which flew as Salyut 4 both had transponders at the rear end as well as the front end.
Since the picture does not include the rear docking port on Salyut and does have the old-style DOS propulsion system then it is impossible for the cutaway to be Salyut 6. Period.
I'm still unclear about the transponders/antennas at the rear end. It doesn't match up with the cutout on the wikipedia page, but you're definitely right, it's not Salyut 6. I've issued a correction to my article and I will attempt to contact the source of the picture to inform him of what we've discussed.
Thank you for pointing it out. I had a feeling that posting this to NSF forums would lead to some more critical comments than the ones over at Ars
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#13
by
fregate
on 18 Sep, 2014 15:13
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It was a Russian documentary "Hunt for Salyut-7" or something similar.
With nice story about cosmonauts wearing hats - remember cosmonaut Lev Andropov in fur hat from "Armageddon"?
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#14
by
B. Hendrickx
on 18 Sep, 2014 22:39
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The only reason that the Soyuz-T 13 "rescue" of Salyut 7 is "little known" is because too many people think that the US programme is all that there is to piloted space missions, and therefore they ignore the Soviet programme as having nothing of interest to learn about.
The way the official Roskosmos television studio portrayed the Soyuz T-13 mission (or at least the events leading up to the mission) in a documentary several years ago is nothing to be very proud of either. See a story I posted on "The Space Review" a couple of weeks ago :
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2554/1
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#15
by
Nickolai
on 19 Sep, 2014 02:41
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The only reason that the Soyuz-T 13 "rescue" of Salyut 7 is "little known" is because too many people think that the US programme is all that there is to piloted space missions, and therefore they ignore the Soviet programme as having nothing of interest to learn about.
The way the official Roskosmos television studio portrayed the Soyuz T-13 mission (or at least the events leading up to the mission) in a documentary several years ago is nothing to be very proud of either. See a story I posted on "The Space Review" a couple of weeks ago :
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2554/1
I saw that video while doing research for the article. It was utter trash, or as you say "little more than a piece of fake investigative journalism."
However, I did enjoy reading your article about it, thank you for posting!
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#16
by
jacqmans
on 09 Jun, 2015 18:17
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30 years since the Dzhanibekov-Savinykh rescue expedition
June 8, 2015
Today, on June 8, 2015, is the 30th anniversary of docking between Soyuz T-13 space vehicle and the faulty orbital station Salyut-7 staying in uncontrolled flight.
The recue expedition crew included commander Vladimir Dzhanibekov with a broad experience in a manually operated rendezvous and a good understanding of the station Salyut-7 and Viktor Savinykh from NPO Energia. Due to high professionalism, the crew succeeded in performance of repair/maintenance work and refurbishment of the station within just a few days. The cosmonauts had to perform operations under severe conditions and extremely low temperatures.
The Salyut-7 rescue operation was unprecedented in the world cosmonautics history: we pioneered in successful docking of the manned space vehicle with inoperative (uncontrolled) in-orbit object.
Modified orbital station Salyut-7 was designed for a longer period of operational use (up to 5 years) than its predecessors. The station modifications included an increased volume of internal habitable space, improved life conditions for crew members, additional solar arrays installed. In order to perform extravehicular activity, improved spacesuits Orlan were first used on the space station Salyut. The spacesuit made it possible for cosmonauts to stay and perform work in open space up to 6.5 hours. On April 19, 1982 the Salyut-7 was injected into orbit by Proton launch vehicle. The crews had worked on a permanent basis at the station till 1984. The last long-duration expedition left the Salyut-7 in October 1984. At that time the orbital station was serviceable. Some time later, however, communication with the Salyut-7 was lost.
On February 12, 1985 malfunction was found in one of the radio command link units through which radio commands were sent from MCC as well as downlink information. Analysis of the onboard systems condition showed that an automatic switchover to the second transmitter had occurred. Uplink command to resume operation of the first transmitter was generated. The command was received and the station proceeded its flight in next orbit. But next communication session was a failure: no information came from the station.
Soyuz T-13 space vehicle was injected into orbit on June 6, 1985, in about four months after there had been a communication loss with the station Salyut-7. It took almost three months to train the members of the rescue expedition which were to restore the station operation. In that period of time the procedure for MCC interaction with the Ministry of Defense space control service was developed. The space vehicle docking with the inoperative station was performed in a manually operated mode via target designations from the ground and laser rangefinder. Thus, a principal possibility to bring active space vehicle of Soyuz type closely to any space object was demonstrated.
After its refurbishment, the orbital station Salyut-7 had operated six more years. For 9 years of its operational use, the orbital station was visited by 6 prime crews and 5 expeditions. The first cosmonauts from France and India took part in the visiting expeditions. The station was visited by 21 cosmonauts, 3 cosmonauts flew twice to the Salyut-7, one of them flew three time to the station. In addition, 11 manned space vehicles Soyuz T, 12 cargo vehicles Progress and 3 cargo vehicles of Cosmos series visited the orbital station. The orbital station Salyut-7 was used to perform 13 spacewalks, total duration of which was 48 hours 33 minutes.
http://www.energia.ru/en/news/news-2015/news_06-08_2.html
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#17
by
Phillip Clark
on 09 Jun, 2015 18:35
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The final crew left Salyut 7 less than four and a half years after the station's launch.
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#18
by
slavnus
on 10 Jun, 2015 09:04
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may be who see original movie about this operation?
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#19
by
Dalhousie
on 13 Jun, 2015 05:40
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I seem to recall an article in Time Magazine or Newsweek that had a fantasy space war in it with killer satellites and culminating in a shuttle capturing a Salyut. Typical paranoid fantasy of the era.
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#20
by
Phillip Clark
on 13 Jun, 2015 08:10
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I seem to recall an article in Time Magazine or Newsweek that had a fantasy space war in it with killer satellites and culminating in a shuttle capturing a Salyut. Typical paranoid fantasy of the era.
Don't know if it's the same book but there was "The Hunting of Salyut 7", a SF book about a beam weapon on a module attached to (the fictional) Salyut 7 during a visit by a crew that involved a Palestinian cosmonaut, and a shuttle was flown to try and disable the weapon - all from 30+ years memory!
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#21
by
gwiz
on 13 Jun, 2015 10:19
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#22
by
Dalhousie
on 14 Jun, 2015 06:57
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I seem to recall an article in Time Magazine or Newsweek that had a fantasy space war in it with killer satellites and culminating in a shuttle capturing a Salyut. Typical paranoid fantasy of the era.
Don't know if it's the same book but there was "The Hunting of Salyut 7", a SF book about a beam weapon on a module attached to (the fictional) Salyut 7 during a visit by a crew that involved a Palestinian cosmonaut, and a shuttle was flown to try and disable the weapon - all from 30+ years memory!
That came after that article by a year or too, I think. I tried reading it, very bad even to me as a teenager (as I was when it came out). Usual paranoid cold war thriller with lots of inaccuracies (the first one that got to me me was the green thermal blankets being described as camouflage !)
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#23
by
Phillip Clark
on 14 Jun, 2015 09:01
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On the other hand, there was the fictional "Kettering Group" in the book!
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#24
by
B. Hendrickx
on 22 Dec, 2015 21:01
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http://ria.ru/culture/20151221/1346258514.htmlRIA Novosti reports that a movie is being made about the Soyuz T-13 rescue mission to Salyut-7 in 1985. The working title is "Salyut-7 : History of an Historic Feat". The film is directed by Klim Shipenko and is expected to hit the movie theaters in the spring of 2017. Soyuz T-13 cosmonauts Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Viktor Savinykh are acting as advisors. Most of the scenes are being shot in Saint Petersburg, but some of the shooting will also take place in Moscow and the US.
Incidentally, I recently stumbled on a Soviet-era documentary on Soyuz T-13 produced by the Tsentrnauchfilm film studio in 1985. It's called "A victory is needed" (Nuzhna Pobeda). It's available via the Russian social network site "Vkontakte". For some reason the URL doesn't work when I copy it, but if you google Нужна победа Салют-7, it's the first thing you should get.
Among the most interesting clips are some shots of Salyut-7 taken from the approaching Soyuz T-13 (between 8m04s and 9m30s).
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#25
by
Steven Pietrobon
on 23 Dec, 2015 02:53
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#26
by
Steven Pietrobon
on 23 Dec, 2015 03:30
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Some great footage there. Here are some screen captures. I was surprised to see that they had video from the Soyuz cabin during launch!
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#27
by
Steven Pietrobon
on 23 Dec, 2015 03:31
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#28
by
Steven Pietrobon
on 23 Dec, 2015 03:32
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#29
by
Steven Pietrobon
on 23 Dec, 2015 03:33
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