Page 25 - Intro to Space Sciences Spacecraft Applications

Introduction to Space Sciences and Spacecraft Applications
12

,
,
/
/

Figure 1-8. Only the Soyuz CEW compartment is movered after a flight.

Over two years elapsed before the next Soviet manned launch, which
was the first flight of the new Soyuz (“Union”) spacecraft only three
months after the ApoZZo I fire. This first flight ended in tragedy when the
recovery parachute lines became tangled on reentry and the lone cosmo-
naut was killed on impact. Like Apollo, the Soyuz program was set back
for more than a year before the next manned flight.
Evidence that the Soviets were working toward a manned landing on
the moon came when a spacecraft, launched in 1971, reentered and
crashed in Australia in 198 1. Concern over an earlier reentry of a radioac-
tive nuclear power generator forced the Soviets to reveal that the mission
had been a test of a lunar cabin. Lack of a launch vehicle with sufficient
thrust seems to be the reason for the slow Soviet progress in this effort,
which was then abandoned after the U.S. successes.
From 1971 to 1982, six successful Salyut space stations were launched
and visited by a total of 29 crews. About one-quarter the size of Skylub,
the stations were used for a number of science, biomedical, and military
missions, the longest lasting 237 days aboard Salyut 7 in 1984. The fol-
lowing space station design, Mir (“Peace”) was a step forward with its