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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almaz program | 1/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almaz_program | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T12:32:30.865531+00:00 | kb-cron |
The Almaz (Russian: Алмаз, lit. 'Diamond') program was a highly secret Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s. Three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5. To cover the military nature of the program, the three launched Almaz stations were designated as civilian Salyut space stations. Salyut 2 failed shortly after achieving orbit, but Salyut 3 and Salyut 5 both conducted successful crewed testing. Following Salyut 5, the Soviet Ministry of Defense judged in 1978 that the time and resources consumed by station maintenance outweighed the benefits relative to automatic reconnaissance satellites. Still, it had some achievements along with the Salyut program, the heritage of the twin program continues, with the International Space Station module Zarya being one example. The space stations' cores were known internally as OPS (Russian: ОПС, GRAU index 11F71 and 11F71B), from "Orbital Piloted Station" (Russian: Орбитальная Пилотируемая Станция). As part of the Almaz program, the Soviets developed several spacecraft for support roles—the VA spacecraft, the Functional Cargo Block and the TKS spacecraft, which they planned to use in several combinations.
== Development == Vladimir Chelomey at the OKB-52 design bureau promoted Almaz as a response to the U.S. Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) project. MOL had been widely publicized in the American press in the early 1960s, which provided Chelomey plenty of material to use to lobby for a Soviet response. The Almaz space station program involved three major hardware components:
Orbital Piloted Station (OPS, 11F71) module, forming the space station core, Functional Cargo Block (FGB, 11F77), intended as resupply craft for the stations, and VA spacecraft (11F74, known in the West as the Merkur spacecraft), intended as launch and return vehicle for the crews, and reusable for up to 10 flights. The OPS would have a maximum diameter of 4.15 metres (13.6 ft), a mass of roughly 20 tonnes (20 long tons; 22 short tons), and an internal habitable volume of 47.5 cubic metres (1,680 cu ft). Much like its MOL/Gemini counterpart, the initial Almaz APOS space station design called for the launch of an Almaz-OPS space station and a VA return craft containing its initial three-man crew, mated together as OPS/VA atop Chelomey's UR-500 Proton rocket. As with MOL/Gemini, once in orbit the crew would access the laboratory through a hatch in the heat shield at the bottom of the VA capsule. After an extended stay of 30 to 60 days of military observation and photography, the crew would return to Earth by way of a VA return vehicle. Unlike the American MOL design, the Soviets designed the Almaz to be recrewed and resupplied. For this, they created the TKS resupply craft (11F72), which consisted of an FGB and a VA return craft to carry the crew, also launched together on a Proton rocket. At the station, one docking port would be available to receive the TKS craft once the previous crew had left the station in their VA capsule. While the MOL was cancelled in 1969, the Almaz program was integrated into the Salyut program and resulted in three flown space stations, two of which were crewed successfully. As "man-rating" the VA spacecraft and the Proton rocket took longer, the first phase called for the launch of three Almaz stations without the VA spacecraft, with the crew instead launched separately by Soyuz rocket in a modified Soyuz spacecraft. Plans called for the first three Almaz stations to be visited by three two-month-long expeditions each. This was realized fully by two missions and partially by one; however, the initial intention of launching Almaz APOS and the TKS spacecraft together with its crew in VA spacecraft would never materialize during the program, and neither would the TKS craft play its intended role as resupply craft. The Almaz APOS design, without VA spacecraft, would evolve into the Almaz OPS station cores of the Salyut program.
=== Defense measures === In addition to reconnaissance equipment, Almaz was equipped with a unique Rikhter R-23 23mm (factory index 261P or 225P) rapid-fire cannon mounted on the forward belly of the station. This revolver cannon was modified from the tail-gun of the Tupolev Tu-22 bomber and was capable of a theoretical rate of fire of 1800–2000 (up to 2600) rounds per minute. Each 168 gram (ammo 23-OFZ-D-R) or 173 gram (ammo 23-OFZ-G-R) projectile flew at a speed of 850 m/s relative to the station. The cannon was tested at the end of the mission by firing 20 rounds, when the station was operating in uncrewed mode. To aim the cannon, which was on a fixed mounting, the entire station would be turned to face the target. The Almaz series are the only known armed, crewed military spacecraft ever flown. Salyut 3/OPS-2 conducted a successful remote test firing with the station uncrewed due to concerns over excessive vibration and noise. OPS-4 was to have featured two rockets instead of the aircraft cannon, but this system has not been shown publicly and may have never been fully manufactured despite it being used experimentally.