FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1987
1987 - 2115.PDF
Mir Soviet base in space Twenty-three days after the Challenger disaster, on February 20, 1986, a three-stage SL-13 Proton lifted off into the night sky over the Tyuratam Cosmo drome, carrying a new Soviet space station into orbit. It was christened Mir ("peace" or "commune"), a predictable counter to the US Star Wars programme, to indicate its peaceful intentions. Mir was the beginning of the transition from research and experiments to large- scale production activities in space, said the Soviets. It would be the core of a permanently manned orbital science station which would be completed in five years. The completed complex would comprise an assembly of modules, each almost as large as the core station itself, dedicated to many specific areas of research; astro physics, Earth resources, production, and life sciences. Complete with a Soyuz TM crew ferry, a Progress or another unmanned tanker, and four add-on modules, Mir could weigh as much as 135 tonnes. Almost two years after its launch, Mir has one extra module, Kvant, dedicated to astrophysics. Another, designed for remote-sensing work, was expected to be launched this autumn. The slowness in building up the Mir complex is not surprising; it is exemplary of the steady progress in space that the Soviets have always demon strated. The pace contradicts Western claims that the Sovi ets are set to dominate the industri alisation of space within a matter of years. Mir is not fundamentally new, based as it is on the Salyut space station first launched 16 years ago. Add-on modules are based on similar designs. The ferry and tanker vehicles are based on craft that flew 20 years ago. Again this is typical of the Soviet approach. No leaps, just steady progress using functional, relatively unso phisticated, production-line spacecraft and launch vehicles that have been around for years. It if had adopted a similar policy, the USA would have continued to launch Skylab space stations and Apollo ferry vehicles throughout the 1970s, and by now On October 1 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko set a new endurance record of 237 days in space. As Romanenko heads towards his 300-day target, Tim Furniss takes a closer look at the Mir space station. would have established a complex superior to Mir's. The Soviet Union, however, is gaining an inexorable lead in manned' spaceflight experience while the USA, which concentrated on developing the Shuttle in the 1970s, is now grounded. The US astronaut endurance record is 84 days, set during the last Skylab mission in 1974. On October 1, Mir cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko set a new record of 237 days. On December 3 Romanenko will have endured 300 days in space. By this The Soviet Union is now far ahead of the USA in gaining experience with men living and work ing in space time next year a new Mir crew will be approaching a year in space. The Mir core is a Salyut- class space station—a little shorter, in fact. Instead of Salyut's two docking ports, Mir has six, one at the rear and five more on a docking pod at the front of the station. The core, which has been described as the "base facility" and a "packed-up gymnasium and wardroom," is 13 • lm long, with a maximum diameter of 4 • 17m. Mir has two primary solar panels with a total span of 29-7m. Generating 9kW, these panels rotate to point at the Sun at all times during a daytime pass, regardless of Mir's alignment in orbit. A third concertina-type panel was erected by Romanenko and colleague Alexander Laveikin during two spacewalks in June. This increased power generation by lkW. (For comparison, the power generated by the US Space Station when complete in about 1996 will be 76kW). Although the first add-on module, Kvant, is powered by chemical batteries, additional modules are expected to be equipped with solar panels. Weighing 21 tonnes, the heaviest payload yet lifted by Proton, Mir could be launched inside the payload bay of the US Space Shuttle. The core station comprises a pressurised transfer com partment, a working area, and an unpressurised service propulsion system. One dock ing port is located on the latter, between two nozzles of the propulsion system. The forward five- port docking pod replaces the large trans fer tunnel used on the Salyuts. Dockings take place at the axial port. Once ferries or modules have docked here, they can be moved to a side port. Visiting craft are equipped with a short arm which will be locked on to a socket on the docking pod after docking. The module is then separated and the arm simply swings the module around to a side port. Transfer to and from Mir is possible through each docking port, via 0-78m- diameter hatches. A similar master hatch leads into the work compartment. The docking pod also acts as an airlock for FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 17 October 1987 37
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
