Salyut 3

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**Salyut 3**
Mission Insignia

Salyut 3 station

Mission Statistics
Mission Name:	Salyut 3
Call Sign:	Salyut 3
Launch:	June 25, 1974 22:38:00 UTC Baikonur, U.S.S.R
Reentry:	January 24, 1975
Crews:	1
Occupied:	15 days
In Orbit:	213 days
Number of Orbits:	3,442
Apogee:	168 mi (270 km)
Perigee:	136 mi (219 km)
Period:	89.1 min
Inclination	51.6 deg
Distance Traveled:	~86,763,251 mi (~139,631,918 km)
Orbital Mass:	18,500 kg
Salyut 3

Salyut 3 was launched on June 25, 1974. It was another Almaz military space station, this one launched successfully, included in the Salyut program to disguise its true purpose.

Almaz station with Soyuz

It attained an altitude of 219 to 270 km on launch and its final orbital altitude was 268 to 272 km. Salyut 3 had a total mass of about 18 to 19 tons. It had two solar panels laterally mounted on the center of the station and a detachable recovery module for the return of research data and materials. Only one of the three intended crews successfully boarded and manned the station, brought by Soyuz 14; Soyuz 15 attempted to bring a second crew but failed to dock. Nevertheless, Salyut 3 was an overall success.

It tested a wide variety of reconnaissance sensors; on September 23, 1974, the station's recovery module was released and re-entered, being recovered by the Soviets. Some source claim that on January 24, 1975 trials of the on-board 23 mm Nudelmann aircraft cannon (other sources say it was a Nudelmann NR-30 30 mm gun) were conducted with positive results at ranges from 3000 m to 500 m.[1] Cosmonauts have confirmed that a target satellite was destroyed in the test.^{[citation needed]} The next day, the station was ordered to deorbit.

1 Specifications
2 Visiting spacecraft and crews
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Specifications

Length - 14.55 m
Maximum diameter - 4.15 m
Habitable volume - 90 m³
Weight at launch - 18,900 kg
Launch vehicle - Proton (three-stage)
Number of solar arrays - 2
Resupply carriers - Soyuz Ferry
Number of docking ports - 1
Total manned missions - 2
Total long-duration manned missions - 1
Number of main engines - 2
Main engine thrust (each) - 400 kgf (3.9 kN)

[edit] Visiting spacecraft and crews

Expedition	Crew	Launch Date	Flight Up	Landing Date	Flight Down	Duration (days)	Notes
Soyuz 14	Yuri Artyukhin, Pavel Popovich	July 3, 1974 18:51:08 UTC	Soyuz 14	July 19, 1974 12:21:36 UTC	Soyuz 14	15.73
Soyuz 15	Lev Demin, Gennadi Sarafanov	August 26, 1974	Soyuz 15	August 28, 1974	Soyuz 15	15.73	Failed Docking