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2.8 Salyut 7/DOS-6 (April 19, 1982-February 7, 1991)

2.8.1 Salyut 7 Specifications

Length .................................................... about 16 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-T, Progress, TKS

Number of docking ports .......................... 2

Total manned missions ............................ 12

Total unmanned missions ........................ 15

Total long-duration missions ..................... 6

Number of main engines .......................... 2

Main engine thrust (each) ........................ 300 kg

2.8.2 Salyut 7 Notable Features In most ways very similar to Salyut 6 (figure 2-9). Below are some differences. Living conditions improved over those on Salyut 6. For example, Salyut 7 had hot plates for heating food and continuously available hot water.

To kill bacteria on the station, two portholes admitted ultraviolet radiation. A large porthole for astronomy was added to the transfer compartment. All portholes were shielded from micrometeoroids by transparent covers when not in use. Improved exercise and medical facilities.

A suite of X-ray detection instruments replaced the BST-1M multispectral telescope. Three sets of steerable solar arrays fitted with attachment points for extensions. Extensions would be added as the original arrays degraded in order to keep Salyut 7’s electrical supply at a useful level.

2.8.3 Salyut 7 Career

Changes in the configuration of the Salyut 7 station included dockings by Soyuz-T, Progress, the Cosmos 1443 TKS, and the Cosmos 1686 space station module, as well as Soyuz-T transfers from port to port. The icons on the following pages depict these changes. Aligned horizontally with each icon are names (arranged to match icon positions) of spacecraft and station modules depicted and the inclusive dates of the configuration. Port transfers are shown by flipping the Salyut icon and leaving the Soyuz icon in place because it was Salyut 7 that rotated during port transfers. The text blocks below the icons cover important hardware-related events, such as anomalies and EVAs. Refer to figure 2-10 for key to icons. For more information on Soyuz-T and Progress vehicles mentioned, see sections 1.12.3.3, and 1.10.4.3. For more information on the Cosmos 1443 TKS and Cosmos 1686 modified TKS, see sections 3.3.4 and 3.4.