Soyuz 11
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Soyuz 11 | |||||
Mission insignia |
|||||
| Mission statistics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission name | Soyuz 11 | ||||
| Spacecraft mass | 6,790 kg (15,000 lb) | ||||
| Crew size | 3 | ||||
| Call sign | Янтарь (Yantar - "Amber") | ||||
| Launch pad | Gagarin's Start[1] | ||||
| Launch date | June 6 1971 07:55:09 UTC | ||||
| Landing | June 30 1971 02:16:52 UTC 47°20′N 70°24′E / 47.333°N 70.4°E |
||||
| Mission duration | 23d/18:21:43 | ||||
| Number of orbits | 383[2] | ||||
| Apogee | 237 km (147 mi) | ||||
| Perigee | 163 km (101 mi) | ||||
| Orbital period | 88.4 min | ||||
| Orbital inclination | 51.5° | ||||
| Related missions | |||||
|
|||||
Soyuz 11 (Russian: Союз 11, Union 11) was the first successful visit to the world's first space station, Salyut 1. However the mission ended in disaster when the crew capsule depressurised during preparations for re-entry, killing the three-man crew.[3] This accident resulted in the only cosmonaut deaths to occur in space (not in high atmosphere). The crew members aboard Soyuz 11 were Vladislav Volkov, Georgi Dobrovolski and Viktor Patsayev.[4][5][6]
Contents |
[edit] Crew
| Position | Cosmonaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Georgi Dobrovolski First spaceflight |
|
| Flight Engineer | Vladislav Volkov Second spaceflight |
|
| Test Engineer | Viktor Patsayev First spaceflight |
|
[edit] Reserve crew
| Position | Cosmonaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Aleksei Gubarev | |
| Flight Engineer | Vitali Sevastyanov | |
| Test Engineer | Anatoli Voronov | |
[edit] Original crew
| Position | Cosmonaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Alexei Leonov | |
| Flight Engineer | Valeri Kubasov | |
| Test Engineer | Pyotr Kolodin | |
[edit] Crew notes
The original prime crew for Soyuz 11 consisted of Alexei Leonov, Valeri Kubasov and Pyotr Kolodin. A medical X-ray examination four days before launch suggested that Kubasov might have tuberculosis, and according to the mission rules, the prime crew was replaced with the back-up crew. For Dobrovolski and Patsayev, this was to be their first space mission. After the failure of Salyut 2 to orbit, Kubasov and Leonov were reassigned to Soyuz 19 for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.
[edit] Mission parameters
- Mass: 6,790 kg (15,000 lb)
- Perigee: 163 km (101 mi)
- Apogee: 237 km (147 mi)
- Inclination: 51.5°
- Period: 88.4 min
[edit] Mission highlights
The Soyuz spacecraft was launched on June 7, 1971, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in central Kazakh SSR. Several months earlier, the first mission to the Salyut, Soyuz 10, had failed to successfully dock with the station.[7] Soyuz 11, however, successfully docked with Salyut 1 on June 7 and the cosmonauts remained on-board for 22 days, setting space endurance records that would hold until the American Skylab 2 mission in May-June 1973.[3]
Upon first entering the station, the crew encountered a smokey and burnt atmosphere and after replacing part of the ventilation system spent the next day back in their Soyuz until the air cleared. Their stay in Salyut was productive, including live television broadcasts. However, a fire broke out on day 11 of their stay causing mission planners to consider abandoning the station. The planned highlight of the mission was to have been the observation of an N-1 booster launch, but the launch was postponed. The crew also found that using the exercise treadmill as they were required to do twice a day caused the whole station to vibrate. Pravda released news of the mission and regular updates while it was in progress.
[edit] Death of crew
On June 30, 1971, after an apparently normal re-entry of the capsule of the Soyuz 11 mission, the recovery team opened the capsule to find the crew dead.[2][3][8] It quickly became apparent that they had suffocated. The fault was traced to a breathing ventilation valve, located between the orbital module and the descent module, that had been jolted open as the descent module separated from the service module, 723 seconds after retrofire.[9][10] The two were held together by explosive bolts designed to fire sequentially; in fact, they fired simultaneously.[9] The force of this caused the internal mechanism of the pressure equalization valve to loosen a seal that was usually discarded later, and normally allowed automatic adjustment of the cabin pressure.[2][9] The valve opened at an altitude of 168 kilometers (104 mi), and the gradual loss of pressure was fatal within seconds.[9][11] The valve was located beneath the seats and was impossible to locate and block before the air was lost. Flight recorder data from the single cosmonaut outfitted with biomedical sensors showed death occurred within 40 seconds of pressure loss. By 935 seconds after the retrofire, the cabin pressure was zero, and remained there until the capsule hit the earth's atmosphere.[9]
Film later declassified showed support crews attempting CPR on the cosmonauts.[12] It was not known until an autopsy that they had died because of a capsule depressurization. However, the ground crew had lost audio contact with the crew before re-entry began, and had already begun preparations for contingencies in case the crew had been lost.[4]
The cosmonauts were given a large state funeral and buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis at Red Square, Moscow near the remains of Yuri Gagarin.[3] U.S. astronaut Tom Stafford was one of the pallbearers. They were also each posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal. Craters on the Moon were named after the three cosmonauts.
The Soyuz spacecraft was extensively redesigned after this incident to carry only two cosmonauts. The extra room meant that the crew could wear space suits during launch and landing.[13] A Soyuz capsule would not hold three cosmonauts again until the Soyuz-T redesign in 1980, which freed enough space for three cosmonauts in lightweight pressure suits to travel in the capsule.
[edit] References
- ^ "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. http://www.astronautix.com/sites/baiurlc1.htm. Retrieved on 2009-03-04.
- ^ a b c National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (2005). "Soyuz 11". NASA -National Space Science Data Center. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1971-053A. Retrieved on October 20 2007.
- ^ a b c d Time Magazine (1971). "Triumph and Tragedy of Soyuz 11". Time Magazine. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903011,00.html. Retrieved on October 20 2007.
- ^ a b Encyclopedia Astronautica (2007). "Soyuz 11". Encyclopedia Astronautica. http://www.astronautix.com/flights/soyuz11.htm. Retrieved on October 20 2007.
- ^ Mamta Trivedi (2001). "30 Years Ago: The World's First Space Station, Salyut 1". Space.com - Imaginova Corp.. http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/Salyut1_Anniversary_010419.html. Retrieved on October 20 2007.
- ^ CNN (1997). "After glory era, cash woes hobble Russian space program". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9706/27/russia.space/. Retrieved on October 20 2007.
- ^ Time Magazine (1971). "A Troubled Salyut". Time Magazine. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902953,00.html. Retrieved on October 20 2007.
- ^ USA Today (2003). "Deadly accidents in the history of space exploration". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-02-01-accident-timeline_x.htm. Retrieved on October 20 2007.
- ^ a b c d e NASA (1974). "The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project". NASA. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4209/ch8-2.htm. Retrieved on October 20 2007.
- ^ NASA. "The crew of Soyuz 11". NASA. http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/space_level2/soyuz11.html. Retrieved on October 20 2007.
- ^ Jane's Information Group (2003). "A brief history of space accidents". Jane's Information Group. http://www.janes.com/aerospace/civil/news/jsd/jsd030203_3_n.shtml. Retrieved on October 20 2007.
- ^ This footage was shown during the 1994 TV adaptation of the documentary Moon Shot by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton.
- ^ Charles R. Smith (2003). "Space Race Is Alive and Well". NewsMax. http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/2/5/135817.shtml. Retrieved on October 20 2007.
[edit] Further reading
- United States Congress: Office of Technology Assessment (March 30, 2005). Salyut: Soviet Steps Toward Permanent Human Presence in Space - A Technical Memorandum. Seattle: University Press of the Pacific. pp. 80 pages. ISBN 1-4102-2138-5.
- Ivanovich, Grujica S. (February 2008). Salyut - The First Space Station: Triumph and Tragedy. Praxis. pp. 300 pages. ISBN 0387735852.
- Fallen Astronauts, Colin Burgess, University of Nebraska Press, 2003.
