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

Almaz station with Soyuz

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.

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.

1 Mission
- 1.1 "Self-defence" gun
- 1.2 Payload
2 Specifications
3 Visiting spacecraft and crews
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Mission

Salyut 3 was the first space station to maintain constant orientation relative to the Earth surface. To achieve that, as many as 500,000 firings of the attitude control thrusters had been performed.

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.

[edit] "Self-defence" gun

Some source claim that on January 24, 1975 (after the station was ordered to deorbit) 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 had confirmed that a target satellite was destroyed in the test.^{[citation needed]} Firings were conducted in the direction opposite to the station's velocity vector, in order to shorten the "orbital life" of the cannon's shells. A total of three firings were conducted during the flight of the Salyut 3.

[edit] Payload

Agat-1 photo-camera, with a focal length of 6,375 millimeters and a resolution better than 3 meters.
OD-5 optical visor,
POU panoramic device
Topographical camera
Star camera
Volga infrared camera with a resolution of 100 meters

[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 (Expedition 1)	Yuri Artyukhin, Pavel Popovich	July 3, 1974 18:51:08 UTC	Soyuz 14	July 19, 1974 12:21:36 UTC	Soyuz 14	15.73	Launch from Baikonur; landing 140 km southeast of Dzheskasgan; docking with spacestation; transfer into the space station and staying time of 14 days; presumable military activities (observation of rocket-bases) and some medical and biological experiments.
Soyuz 15	Lev Demin, Gennadi Sarafanov	August 26, 1974	Soyuz 15	August 28, 1974	Soyuz 15	0	Failed Docking