Soyuz 33

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008)
Soyuz 33
Mission statistics
Mission name Soyuz 33
Crew size 2
Call sign Saturn
Launch date April 10, 1979
17:34:34 UTC
Gagarin's Start
Landing April 12, 1979
16:35:40 UTC
320 km SE of Dzhezkazgan
Mission duration 1d/23:01:06
Number of orbits 31
Related missions
Previous mission Next mission
Soyuz 32 Soyuz 34

The Soyuz 33 mission was intended to dock with Salyut 6 but failed to do so due to an engine malfunction.

When approaching to within 4 km (2½ mi) of the station the engine was fired for a planned six second burn, but it shut down after three seconds and the Igla docking system also shut down. The Proton crew on the Salyut 6 reported flames shooting out of the main engine and towards the back-up engine at the time of the shutdown. The docking was called off and the craft began its return to earth.

During the descent to earth the back-up engine did not shut down at the end of the planned 188 second burn. Since it was not clear if the engine had operated at its correct thrust Rukavishnikov let it burn for a further 25 seconds before shutting it down manually. As a result of this Soyuz 33 made a steep ballistic reentry and experienced accelerations of up to 10g (100 m/s²). Examination of the engine was impossible as the service module was discarded after the mission.

Contents

[edit] Crew

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.

[edit] Backup crew

[edit] Mission parameters

  • Mass: 6860 kg (15,120 lb)
  • Perigee: 198.6 km (123.4 mi)
  • Apogee: 279.2 km (173.5 mi)
  • Inclination: 51.63°
  • Period: 88.99 minutes

[edit] Mission highlights

  • Intercosmos mission to Salyut 6 with Bulgarian cosmonaut.
  • Failed to dock with Salyut 6 due to main engine fault.
  • Retro burn with reserve engine.
  • Reentry acceleration of 10 g (100 m/s²).

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Soyuz programme
Planned
TMA-13 · TMA-14  · TMA-15 · TMA-16 · TMA-17
Current
Soyuz-TMA (2003–…)
TMA-1 · TMA-2 · TMA-3 · TMA-4 · TMA-5 · TMA-6 · TMA-7 · TMA-8 · TMA-9 · TMA-10 · TMA-11
Soyuz-TM (1986–2003)
TM-2 · TM-3 · TM-4 · TM-5 TM-6 · TM-7 · TM-8 · TM-9 · TM-10 · TM-11 · TM-12 · TM-13 · TM-14 · TM-15 · TM-16 · TM-17 · TM-18 · TM-19 · TM-20 · TM-21 · TM-22 · TM-23 · TM-24 · TM-25 · TM-26 · TM-27 · TM-28 · TM-29 · TM-30 · TM-31 · TM-32 · TM-33 · TM-34
Soyuz-T (1976–1986)
T-2 · T-3 · T-4 · T-5 · T-6 · T-7 · T-8 · T-9 · T-10-1 · T-10 · T-11 · T-12 · T-13 · T-14 · T-15
Soyuz 7K-TM (1975–1976)
19 · 22
Soyuz 7K-T (1973–1981)
12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18a · 18  · 21 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 36 · 37 · 38 · 39 · 40
Soyuz 7K-OKS (1971)
10 · 11
Soyuz 7K-OK (1966–1971)
1 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9
Unmanned