Manufacturer |
Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1) |
---|---|
Country of origin | Soviet Union |
Operator | Soviet space program |
Applications | Crewed spacecraft as Earth Observatory Station |
Specifications | |
Launch mass | 6,510 kilograms (14,350 lb) [1] |
Dimensions |
|
Power |
Solar arrays output 1.3 kW from 10 square metres (110 sq ft) on 4-segments |
Equipment |
MF6 multispectral camera |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Design life | Up to 35 days, used for 8 days |
Production | |
Status | Out of service |
Built | 1 |
Launched | 1 |
Related spacecraft | |
Derived from |
Soyuz 7K-TM Soyuz 7K-T |
Vimpel Diamond for entrainment patch |
Soyuz 7K-MF6 is a version of the Soyuz spacecraft and was the second Soviet spacecraft designed for space station flight, a dedicated science mission. Its only crewed flight was conducted in 1976 with Soyuz 22 of the Soyuz programme. [2]
Mission | Crew | Launch | Landing | Duration | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Soyuz 22 |
Valery Bykovsky Vladimir Aksyonov |
15 Sept 1976 | 23 Sept 1976 | 8 days | Earth sciences and (possibly a) reconnaissance mission. Final crewed Soyuz spaceflight to not visit a space station [3] |
The one craft of the Soyuz 7K-MF6 was modified from the original Soyuz 7K-TM/ Soyuz 7K-T with the addition of observatory platform. The Soyuz 7K-MF6 flew once on Soyuz 22. Soyuz 7K-MF6 propulsion was from a KTDU-80, liquid rocket engine. Soyuz 7K-MF6 was the second Soviet manned space observatory, the first was Soyuz 13/ Soyuz 7K-T-AF. Soyuz 7K-MF6/Soyuz 2 housed the MKF-6 multi-spectral camera. The spectral camera was used for photography of Earth. The multi-spectral camera was manufactured by Carl Zeiss-Jena in East Germany. The universal docking port was removed and a multispectral camera was installed in its place. The observatory equipment was added to the top of nose cone of the spacecraft. Soyuz 7K-MF6 started as the back up spacecraft for the Apollo–Soyuz project, a Soyuz ASTP craft # 74. The Soyuz ASTP was modified in 1976 to become 7K-MF6, after it was not need for the Apollo–Soyuz project that ended in 1975, which used spacecraft Soyuz 19 and Apollo CSM-111. [4] [5]