64 lines
5.8 KiB
Markdown
64 lines
5.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "Almaz program"
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chunk: 2/3
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source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almaz_program"
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category: "reference"
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tags: "science, encyclopedia"
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date_saved: "2026-05-05T12:32:30.865531+00:00"
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instance: "kb-cron"
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---
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== Orbital Piloted Stations (OPS) ==
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Three Almaz OPS space stations were flown from 1973 to 1976 in the Salyut program: Salyut 2 (OPS-1), Salyut 3 (OPS-2) and Salyut 5 (OPS-3). Five crewed Soyuz expeditions were flown to the Almaz space stations Salyut 3 and Salyut 5, with three reaching their stations and only two of the missions being considered fully successful at that time – the three crews that had reached their stations had crewed Almaz stations for a total of 81 days when the program was ended.
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Besides the three flown space stations OPS-1 to OPS-3, seven more spaceframes of Almaz space stations had been built when the program was cancelled: OPS-4, Almaz-205, Almaz-206, Almaz-T, Almaz-T2 (Kosmos 1870), Almaz-1 and Almaz-2, with Almaz-T2 and Almaz-1 having successfully flown as repurposed uncrewed radar-carrying reconnaissance satellites (see below). The partially outfitted hulls of Almaz-205 and Almaz-206 are today owned by Excalibur Almaz, a company that plans to launch these as crewed space stations (see below).
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=== Flown Almaz space stations ===
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==== OPS-1 (Salyut 2) ====
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The first Almaz station (OPS-1 or Almaz 101.1) was launched on April 3, 1973. For purposes of military secrecy, it was publicly designated Salyut 2 upon reaching orbit. A crew was prepared to fly to the station, but an accident days after the launch left OPS-1 disabled and depressurized.
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==== OPS-2 (Salyut 3) ====
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OPS-2 (or Almaz 101.2), announced as Salyut 3, was launched on June 25, 1974. The crew of the Soyuz 14 spacecraft spent 15 days aboard the station in July 1974. A second expedition was launched toward OPS-2 in August 1974, but failed to reach the station. The station successfully remotely test-fired an onboard aircraft cannon at a target satellite while the station was uncrewed. Salyut-3 was deorbited in January 1975.
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==== OPS-3 (Salyut 5) ====
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OPS-3 (or Almaz 103), announced after launch as Salyut 5, entered orbit on June 22, 1976. It was visited by two crews in mid-1976 and late 1977. Salyut 5 was deorbited on 8 August 1977, and broke up as it reentered the Earth's atmosphere.
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=== Unflown Almaz space stations ===
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==== OPS-4 ====
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The next Almaz station, OPS-4, was to be the first station launched with a three panel Mech-A synthetic-aperture radar and a crewed reusable Return Vehicle, but the VA was replaced by a second TKS docking port. This station's Shchit-1 23 mm defense autocannon was also to be replaced with an advanced Shchit-2 space-to-space cannon. The Shchit-2 was reported to be a two projectile system, although no photographs of it have ever been published and it does not appear that this system was ever installed on the station. OPS-4 was grounded when the Almaz crewed program was cancelled.
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== Almaz-T (uncrewed) ==
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Following cancellation of the program, the Almaz station was reconfigured as an uncrewed heavy radar-carrying reconnaissance satellite. Three such satellites were launched, two of which functioned successfully in orbit.
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=== Almaz-T ===
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The first Almaz-T blasted off from Baikonur on November 29, 1986. It did not reach orbit due to the failure of the first and second stages of the Proton launcher to separate. The safety system then destroyed the vehicle.
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=== Almaz-T2 (Kosmos 1870) ===
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On July 25, 1987, Almaz-T2, the second Almaz-T spacecraft, successfully reached orbit with an inclination 71.92 degrees toward the Equator and it was officially identified as Kosmos-1870. The spacecraft functioned for two years, providing radar imagery with a resolution down to 25 meters, until it was deorbited on July 30, 1989.
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It was the first commercial radar satellite, according to Art Dula, chairman of Excalibur Almaz, who worked in a company marketing the radar images gathered by the satellite.
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=== Almaz-1 ===
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The third Almaz-T spacecraft was launched on March 31, 1991, under the name Almaz-1. After the launch a failure of the communications antenna designed to downlink the imagery via the Luch relay satellite was noted. Also one of the solar panels failed to deploy completely, leaving the main radar panel of the spacecraft partially blocked. After 18 months of successful work Almaz-1 was deorbited on October 17, 1992, over the Pacific Ocean.
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=== Almaz-2 ===
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Almaz-2, or Almaz-1V, was not flown. It had a new radar that would have provided a resolution of 5 to 7 meters. In addition, an optical-electronic payload on the station would have been capable of producing imagery with a resolution of 2.5 to 4 meters.
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== Legacy ==
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The heritage of the Almaz space station program continues into the present, as in the International Space Station and in the Tianhe core module of the Tiangong space station.
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=== DOS space station cores ===
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The DOS (Durable Orbital Station) space station core modules were based on the Almaz-OPS hull design, which was mated by Sergei Korolev's organization OKB-1 with their own Soyuz-derived subsystems. OKB-1 was at that time in competition with the designer of the Almaz, Vladimir Chelomei's organization OKB-52, and was thereby able to short-cut the development time for the first space station and beat OKB-52, which had started design work much earlier.
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DOS space station cores derived since 1971 from the Almaz-OPS hull design include:
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DOS-1, which formed the basis for Salyut 1 space station, in 1971 the first space station in the history of space flight
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DOS-5 and DOS-6, the cores for the long lived Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 space stations
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DOS-7, the Mir Core Module for the Mir space station, the first modular space station
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DOS-8, the Zvezda "Service Module" for the International Space Station, as of 2025 still in use
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=== Functional Cargo Block (FGB) === |