3.5 Entering the Age of Space Flight
159
Soyuz spacecraft, the materials and supplies for the station crews would be placed
into a pressured section of the cargo craft which loosely resembles the habitable
module. The docking port equipped with a hatch would allow the station crew to
load and unload the spacecraft in a pressurized environment. The reentry capsule
or descent module of the Soyuz was replaced with an un-pressurized propellant and
refueling compartment, to safely store the poisonous propellants outside the pressurized compartments and avoid the pollution on the station’s environment from any
leaks of gaseous supplies. As in the Soyuz, the propulsion and service systems were
installed in the tail section of the craft. Thereby, the cargo craft was composed of
Cargo section, Tanker section, and Instrument and Propulsion section. Unlike the
Soyuz, the cargo craft was inseparable during its entire flight and upon the conclusion of its supply mission to the station would be directed into the atmosphere to
burn up. On January 20, 1978, the first cargo craft was successfully launched for
the supplies of the Salyut-6 space station, and immediately named Progress. Up to
now, the Progress cargo spacecrafts have been designed and developed six types
by the Soviet Union and later Russia, including Original Progress, Progress M,
Progress M1, Progress M2, Progress M-M and Progress MS, of which Progress M2
series have not been launched as the launch vehicle Zenit could not be produced
on schedule in independent Ukraine after the disintegration of the USSR. On July
17, 2016, the Progress MS-03 spacecraft was launched, heading to the ISS, and two
days later, successfully delivered more than 2.4 metric tons of various supplies for
the long-duration expedition on the station. Furthermore, a new type of cargo ship
called TGK-PG is developing in Russia and will take full advantage of the payload
capacity of the Soyuz-2-1b rocket, delivering around 8.2 metric tons to the low Earth
orbit, nearly one metric ton more than the mass of the Progress cargo craft series
launched on previous versions of the Soyuz rockets.
As financial and technical problems held the USSR behind the United States in the
Moon Race, the leaders of the Soviet space industry had to look for a new direction in
the manned space program, which was to launch and build the Salyut space station.
On April 19, 1971, the world’s first crewed space station Salyut-1 was successfully
launched into orbit, and 3 days later, the Soyuz-10 spacecraft with three astronauts
was launched, docking to the Salyut-1, but as failing to open the hatch in the station,
the first crew was not able to enter it. After the crew onboard the Soyuz-10 safely
returned to the ground, the Soyuz-11 with three astronauts was launched on June 6 and
the astronauts successfully entered and stayed in the Salyut-1 from June 7 to June 29,
but unfortunately, they were killed due to depressurization during landing. Finally,
On October 11, the Salyut-1 started to de-orbit and fall into the Earth’s atmosphere to
burn out. Thereafter, there were six space station series Salyut-2, Salyut-3, Salyut-4,
Salyut-5, Salyut-6 and Salyut-7, built sequentially from April 1973 to April 1982,
of which the Salyut-2/-3/-5 were used for military purposes and also called Almaz
space stations. For the entire Salyut Program, over a period of 15 years from 1971 to
1986, a number of civil scientific researches including the long-term living in space
and a variety of astronomical, biological and Earth-resources experiments, as well
as the secretive military tasks, were successively carried out in seven Salyut space
stations.
159
Soyuz spacecraft, the materials and supplies for the station crews would be placed
into a pressured section of the cargo craft which loosely resembles the habitable
module. The docking port equipped with a hatch would allow the station crew to
load and unload the spacecraft in a pressurized environment. The reentry capsule
or descent module of the Soyuz was replaced with an un-pressurized propellant and
refueling compartment, to safely store the poisonous propellants outside the pressurized compartments and avoid the pollution on the station’s environment from any
leaks of gaseous supplies. As in the Soyuz, the propulsion and service systems were
installed in the tail section of the craft. Thereby, the cargo craft was composed of
Cargo section, Tanker section, and Instrument and Propulsion section. Unlike the
Soyuz, the cargo craft was inseparable during its entire flight and upon the conclusion of its supply mission to the station would be directed into the atmosphere to
burn up. On January 20, 1978, the first cargo craft was successfully launched for
the supplies of the Salyut-6 space station, and immediately named Progress. Up to
now, the Progress cargo spacecrafts have been designed and developed six types
by the Soviet Union and later Russia, including Original Progress, Progress M,
Progress M1, Progress M2, Progress M-M and Progress MS, of which Progress M2
series have not been launched as the launch vehicle Zenit could not be produced
on schedule in independent Ukraine after the disintegration of the USSR. On July
17, 2016, the Progress MS-03 spacecraft was launched, heading to the ISS, and two
days later, successfully delivered more than 2.4 metric tons of various supplies for
the long-duration expedition on the station. Furthermore, a new type of cargo ship
called TGK-PG is developing in Russia and will take full advantage of the payload
capacity of the Soyuz-2-1b rocket, delivering around 8.2 metric tons to the low Earth
orbit, nearly one metric ton more than the mass of the Progress cargo craft series
launched on previous versions of the Soyuz rockets.
As financial and technical problems held the USSR behind the United States in the
Moon Race, the leaders of the Soviet space industry had to look for a new direction in
the manned space program, which was to launch and build the Salyut space station.
On April 19, 1971, the world’s first crewed space station Salyut-1 was successfully
launched into orbit, and 3 days later, the Soyuz-10 spacecraft with three astronauts
was launched, docking to the Salyut-1, but as failing to open the hatch in the station,
the first crew was not able to enter it. After the crew onboard the Soyuz-10 safely
returned to the ground, the Soyuz-11 with three astronauts was launched on June 6 and
the astronauts successfully entered and stayed in the Salyut-1 from June 7 to June 29,
but unfortunately, they were killed due to depressurization during landing. Finally,
On October 11, the Salyut-1 started to de-orbit and fall into the Earth’s atmosphere to
burn out. Thereafter, there were six space station series Salyut-2, Salyut-3, Salyut-4,
Salyut-5, Salyut-6 and Salyut-7, built sequentially from April 1973 to April 1982,
of which the Salyut-2/-3/-5 were used for military purposes and also called Almaz
space stations. For the entire Salyut Program, over a period of 15 years from 1971 to
1986, a number of civil scientific researches including the long-term living in space
and a variety of astronomical, biological and Earth-resources experiments, as well
as the secretive military tasks, were successively carried out in seven Salyut space
stations.