Kosmos 140

Kosmos 140
Spacecraft properties

Mission type	Test flight
Mission duration	approximately 48hr


Spacecraft type	Soyuz 7K-OK
Manufacturer	OKB-1
Launch mass	6,450 kilograms (14,220 lb)


Start of mission
Launch date	7 February 1967, 03:21 (1967-02-07UTC03:21Z) UTC
Rocket	Soyuz
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5^[1]


End of mission
Landing date	9 February 1967 (1967-02-10)
Landing site	Aral Sea


Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth^[2]
Perigee	165 kilometres (103 mi)
Apogee	218 kilometres (135 mi)
Inclination	51.7 degrees
Period	88.5 minutes

Kosmos 140 (Russian: Космос 140 meaning Cosmos 140) was an unmanned flight of the Soyuz spacecraft.^[3] It was the third attempted test flight of the Soyuz 7K-OK model, after orbital (Kosmos 133) and launch (Soyuz 11A511) failures of the first two Soyuz spacecraft.^[4]

The followup to Cosmos 133 was planned for 14 December, but ended disastrously. At liftoff, the Blok A core stage of the 11A57 booster ignited, but not the strap-ons. A shutdown command was immediately sent and pad crews began to move the service towers back in place and drain the propellants. This task was completed for the core stage and strap-ons, and then about 30 minutes after the attempted launch, the escape tower suddenly fired. Its exhaust caused the Blok I third stage propellant tanks to overheat and explode, killing one person on the ground and damaging the Soyuz and core stage/strap-ons beyond repair. LC-1 was also badly damaged and took a month of repair work in the frigid Kazakhstan winter to be restored to use. The reason for the LES firing was thought to be either a timer being activated due to the Earth's rotation affecting the gyroscope package in the launch vehicle or perhaps one of the service towers bumping it.

In February 1967, the backup booster and spacecraft were set up at LC-1 and the planned mission could be carried out.

The spacecraft suffered attitude control problems and excessive fuel consumption in orbit, but remained controllable. An attempted maneuver on the 22nd orbit still showed problems with the control system. It malfunctioned yet again during retrofire, leading to a steeper than planned ballistic reentry and a 300 mm (12 in) hole being burned in the heat shield.^[5]

Although the event would have been lethal to any human occupants, the capsule's recovery systems operated and the capsule crashed through the ice of the frozen Aral Sea, hundreds of kilometers short of its landing zone. The spacecraft finally sank in 10 meters of water and had to be retrieved by divers. The test performance was nonetheless deemed "good enough"; the manned docking missions of Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 2 were approved for the next flight.^[5]

Mission parameters

Mass: 6,450 kg (14,220 lb)
Perigee: 165 km (103 mi)
Apogee: 218 km (135 mi)
Inclination: 51.7°
Period: 88.5 minutes

References

↑ "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
↑ "Cosmos 140 Trajectory Details". National Space Science Data Center Master Catalog. NASA. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
↑ "Soyuz spacecraft flights". S.P.Korolev RSC Energia. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
↑ Part 1 - Soyuz in Mir Hardware Heritage by David S. F. Portree.
1 2 "Cosmos 140 Spacecraft Details". National Space Science Data Center Master Catalog. NASA. Retrieved 2009-04-16.

Soyuz human spaceflight programme

Main topics

Current missions

- Soyuz MS-04
- MS-05

Future missions

2017
- Soyuz MS-06
- MS-07
2018
- Soyuz MS-08
- MS-09
- MS-10
- MS-11
2019
- Soyuz MS-12
- MS-13

Past missions
(by spacecraft type)

Soyuz 7K-OK (1966–1970)	Kosmos 133† Soyuz 7K-OK No.1† Kosmos 140 Soyuz 1† Kosmos 186 188 212 213 238 Soyuz 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Soyuz 7K-L1 (1967–1970) (Zond lunar programme)	Kosmos 146 154† Zond 1967A† 1967B† Zond 4 1968A† 1968B† 5 6 1969A† Zond-M 1† M 2† Zond 7 8 9 10
Soyuz 7K-L1E (1969–1970)	Soyuz 7K-L1E No.1† Kosmos 382
Soyuz 7K-LOK (1971–1972)	Soyuz 7K-LOK No.1† No.2†
Soyuz 7K-OKS (1971)	Soyuz 10† 11†
Soyuz 7K-T (1972–1981)	Kosmos 496 573 Soyuz 12 Kosmos 613 Soyuz 13 Kosmos 656 Soyuz 14 15† 17 18a† 18 20 (uncrewed) 21 23† 24 25† 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 (uncrewed landing) 33† 34 (uncrewed launch) 35 36 37 38 39 40
Soyuz 7K-TM (1974–1976)	Kosmos 638 672 Soyuz 16 19 (Apollo–Soyuz Test Project) 22
Soyuz 7K-S (1974–1976)	Kosmos 670 772† 869†
Soyuz-T (1978–1986)	Kosmos 1001† 1074 Soyuz T-1 (uncrewed) T-2 T-3 T-4 T-5 T-6 T-7 T-8† T-9 T-10a† T-10 T-11 T-12 T-13 T-14 T-15
Soyuz-TM (1986–2002)	Soyuz TM-1 (uncrewed) 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-TMA (2002–2012)	Soyuz TMA-1 TMA-2 TMA-3 TMA-4 TMA-5 TMA-6 TMA-7 TMA-8 TMA-9 TMA-10 TMA-11 TMA-12 TMA-13 TMA-14 TMA-15 TMA-16 TMA-17 TMA-18 TMA-19 TMA-20 TMA-21 TMA-22
Soyuz-TMA-M (2010–2016)	Soyuz TMA-01M TMA-02M TMA-03M TMA-04M TMA-05M TMA-06M TMA-07M TMA-08M TMA-09M TMA-10M TMA-11M TMA-12M TMA-13M TMA-14M TMA-15M TMA-16M TMA-17M TMA-18M TMA-19M TMA-20M
Soyuz MS (2016–present)	Soyuz MS-01 MS-02 MS-03

Uncrewed missions are designated with Kosmos numbers; crewed missions get a Soyuz number.
Failed missions are denoted with a † symbol. Cancelled missions are in italics.

← 1966 · Orbital launches in 1967 · 1968 →

Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Manned flights are indicated in bold text. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in brackets.

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