Salyut 2

Salyut 2 (OPS-1) (Russian: Салют-2 meaning Salute 2) was a Soviet space station which was launched in 1973 as part of the Salyut programme. It was the first Almaz military space station to fly. Within two weeks of its launch, the station had lost attitude control and depressurised, leaving it unusable. Its orbit decayed and it re-entered the atmosphere on 28 May 1973, without any crews having visited it.

Salyut 2 (OPS-1)

Station statistics
COSPAR ID	1973-017A
SATCAT no.	06398
Call sign	Salyut 2
Crew	3
Launch	3 April 1973 09:00:00 UTC
Launch pad	Baikonur Site 81/23[1]
Reentry	28 May 1973
Mass	18,500 kilograms (40,800 lb)
Length	14.55 metres (47.7 ft)
Diameter	4.15 metres (13.6 ft)
Pressurised volume	99 cubic metres (3,500 cu ft)
Periapsis altitude	257 kilometres (160 mi)
Apoapsis altitude	278 kilometres (173 mi)
Orbital inclination	51.6°
Orbital period	89.8 minutes
Days in orbit	54 days
No. of orbits	866
Distance travelled	35,163,530 kilometres (21,849,600 mi)
Statistics as of 4 April 1973
Configuration
An Almaz space station

Spacecraft

Salyut 2 was an Almaz military space station.[2] It was designated part of the Salyut programme in order to conceal the existence of the two separate space station programmes.[3]

Salyut 2 was 14.55 metres (47.7 ft) long with a diameter of 4.15 metres (13.6 ft),[4][5][6] and had an internal habitable volume of 90 cubic metres (3,200 cu ft). At launch it had a mass of 18,950 kilograms (41,780 lb).[7] A single aft-mounted docking port was intended for use by Soyuz spacecraft carrying cosmonauts to work aboard the station. Two solar arrays mounted at the aft end of the station near the docking port provided power to the station, generating a total of 3,120 watts of electricity.[8] The station was equipped with 32 attitude control thrusters, as well as two RD-0225 engines, each capable of generating 3.9 kilonewtons (880 lb_f) of thrust, for orbital manoeuvres.[7]

Launch

Salyut 2 was launched from Site 81/23 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, atop a three-stage Proton-K rocket, serial number 283-01.[9] The launch took place at 09:00:00 UTC on 3 April 1973,[10] and successfully placed Salyut 2 into low Earth orbit.[9] Upon reaching orbit, Salyut 2 was assigned the International Designator 1973-017A, whilst NORAD gave it the Satellite Catalog Number 06398.[1] The third stage (8S812) of the Proton-K rocket entered orbit along with Salyut 2. On 4 April, it was catalogued in a 192 by 238 kilometres (119 by 148 mi) orbit, inclined at 51.4 degrees.[11]

Failure

Three days after the launch of Salyut 2, the Proton's spent third stage exploded, due to pressure changes within the tanks. This explosion resulted in a cloud of debris, some of which followed a similar trajectory to the station. Ten days later this debris struck the station, damaging the hull and causing depressurization. Both solar panels were torn free, removing the ability of the station to generate power and control its attitude.[3][1]

Three pieces of debris from the station were catalogued, and had decayed from orbit by 13 May.[11] The remainder of the station reentered the atmosphere on 28 May 1973[2][11] over the Pacific Ocean.[4]

An inquiry into the failure initially determined that a fuel line had burst, burning a hole in the station.[3] The damage from the debris collision was only discovered later.

See also

• Salyut
• TKS spacecraft
• Almaz
• Mir
• Skylab
• International Space Station

References

1. "Salyut 2". United States National Space Data Center. 8 October 2010. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
2. Portree, David S. F. (March 1995). "Mir Hardware Heritage" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
3. Zak, Anatoly. "OPS-1 (Salyut-2) space station". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
4. Mark Wade. "Almaz OPS | Part of Almaz Family". Encyclopedia Astronautica.
5. Emied Jacinto (6 May 2013). "Space Station". Mousehunt – via SlideShare.
6. David M. Harland. "Salyut | Soviet Space Station Series". Encyclopædia Britannica.
7. Zak, Anatoly. "Almaz space station technical overview". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
8. Zak, Anatoly. "Almaz space station technical overview - Transfer section". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
9. Wade, Mark. "Proton-K". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2 January 2011. 1973 April 3...Launch Vehicle: Proton-K. LV Configuration: Proton-K 283-01...Salyut 2
10. McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
11. McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 4 January 2011.