2.4.2 Salyut 3 Notable Features
- From aft to fore, consisted of an airlock chamber, a large-diameter work compartment, and a smalldiameter living compartment.
- Airlock chamber had four openings. The drogue unit of the pin and cone docking system filled the aft opening. The forward opening led into the large-diameter work compartment. On top of the airlock chamber was an EVA hatch (never used on an Almaz station). A hatch on the bottom led into the chamber from which a small Earth-return capsule could be ejected into space.[1]
- Propulsion units were located on the aft end of the large-diameter compartment, on either side of the airlock chamber. These were specialized Almaz station engines, not the modified Soyuz units used with the early DOS Salyut stations.
- Unlike the early DOS Salyuts, Almaz had solar arrays which could track on the Sun in most station attitudes.
- The large-diameter portion of the station’s work compartment was dominated by the Agat
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- Earth-observation camera, which had a 10-m focal length. This was used primarily for military reconnaissance purposes. The cosmonauts are said to have observed targets set out on the ground at Baikonur. Secondary objectives included study of water pollution, agricultural land, possible ore-bearing landforms, and oceanic ice formation.[2]
- Cosmonauts could develop film from the Agat camera on the station. Important or interesting images were printed, then scanned by a TV imaging system for broadcast to Earth.[3] The cosmonauts needed as little as 30 minutes to shoot, develop, and scan a photograph.
- Other images were packed in the small Earth-return capsule, which was then ejected from thechamber under the spherical airlock. The capsule ejected by ground command. Ejection of the capsule signaled the end of an Almaz station’s usefulness. Small engines deorbited the capsule and were then discarded. The parachute of Salyut 3’s capsule opened at 8.4 km altitude.
- The small-diameter living compartment was separated from the work compartment by a bank of
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- 12 tanks for storing gas—presumably oxygen for breathing.
- Cosmonauts had one standing bunk and one foldaway bunk in the station’s living section. Salyut 3 was also equipped with a shower.
- Floor was covered with Velcro to aid the cosmonauts in moving about.
- Entertainment equipment included a magnetic chess set, a small library, and a tape player with cassettes.
- Exercise equipment included a treadmill and the Pingvin exercise suit.
- Tested the Priboy water regeneration system, which condensed water from the station’s atmosphere.
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