Salyut 3 - Definition and Overview

Salyut 3

Mission Insignia
Salyut Insignia
Mission Statistics
Mission Name:	Salyut 3
Call Sign:	Salyut 3
Launch:	June 25, 1974 22:38:00 UTC Baikonur, U.S.S.R
Reentry:	January 24, 1975
Crews:	1
Occupied:	15 days
In Orbit:	213 days
Number of Orbits:	3,442
Apogee:	168 mi (270 km)
Perigee:	136 mi (219 km)
Period:	89.1 min
Inclination	51.6 deg
Distance Traveled:	~86,763,251 mi (~139,631,918 km)
Orbital Mass:	18,500 kg
Salyut 3

Salyut 3 was launched on June 25, 1974. It was another Almaz military space station, this one launched successfully, included in the Salyut program to disguise its true purpose.

Salyut 3 and its Proton booster on the launch pad.

It attained an altitude of 219 to 270 km on launch and its final orbital altitude was 268 to 272 km. Salyut 3 had a total mass of about 18 to 19 tons. It had two solar panels laterally mounted on the center of the station and a retactable recovery module for the return of research data and materials. Only one of the three intended crews successfully boarded and manned the sation, brought by Soyuz 14; Soyuz 15 attempted to bring a second crew but failed to dock. Nevertheless, Salyut 3 was an overall success.

It tested a wide variety of reconnaisance sensors; on September 23, 1974, the station's recovery module was released and re-entered, being recovered by the Soviets. On January 24, 1975 trials of the on-board 23 mm Nudelmann aircraft cannon (other sources say it was a Nudelmann NR-30 30 mm gun) were conducted with positive results at ranges from 3000 m to 500 m. Cosmonauts have confirmed that a target satellite was destroyed in the test. The next day, the station was ordered to deorbit.

Specifications

• Length - 14.55 m
• Maximum diameter - 4.15 m
• Habitable volume - 90 m3
• Weight at launch - 18,900 kg
• Launch vehicle - Proton (three-stage)
• Number of solar arrays - 2
• Resupply carriers - Soyuz Ferry
• Number of docking ports - 1
• Total manned missions - 2
• Total long-duration manned missions - 1
• Number of main engines - 2
• Main engine thrust (each) - 400 kg

Visiting spacecraft and crews

• Soyuz 14 - July 3 - 19, 1974
  • Yuri Artyukhin
  • Pavel Popovich

• Soyuz 15 - August 26 - 28, 1974 - Failed Docking
  • Lev Demin
  • Gennadi Sarafanov

Salyut 3 Expeditions

See also

• Space station for statistics of occupied space stations
• Salyut
• Mir
• Skylab
• International Space Station

References

• http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1974-046A
• Soviet Space Stations as Analogs - NASA report (PDF format) (http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19870012563_1987012563.pdf)