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Soviet Space Stations: Salyut 6

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Cutaway of Salyut 6 with Soyuz and Progress ( source ) Salyut 6 was the first real workhorse of the Soviet space stations. It had more visits than any other station up to that point, and provided some real experience for the modular space stations that followed. The Design Salyut 6 cutaway ( source ) Salyut 6 pioneered several design changes for the following Salyut stations. The aft end was reworked, adding another docking port and new engines paralleling the port (similar to Almaz). This change also enabled propellant transfer by the newly developed Progress freighters, allowing it to have a much longer useful lifespan. Progress freighters could only dock at the rear, as that port had propellant transfer lines set up. The trio of solar panels were the same as those used on Salyut 4. Scientific equipment included the BST-1M multispectra telescope (the conical area in the large working compartment), which could only be operated on the night side of Earth, and w
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Soviet Space Stations: Salyut 5 & The Future of Almaz

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Salyut 5 (aka Almaz 3 or OPS-3) ( source ) Salyut 5 was launched in mid-1976, while Salyut 4 was still in orbit but abandoned for over a year. It was the last Almaz station that was inhabited and used for its intended purpose of military reconnaissance, but it also provided its fair share of exciting events in the early history of space stations. Scientific Equipment and Design The overall layout of OPS-3 was the same as the previous two Almaz stations, but there was no known gun attached like Almaz 2. There was also equipment onboard that permitted a propellant transfer test, in preparation for future space stations. Scientific equipment included the Agat Earth-observation camera used for both military reconnaissance and civilian work, the Kristall furnace for crystal-growing experiments, an aquarium for observing fish, the Potok flow experiment studying zero-G capillary pumps, and the Sfera metal smelter studying zero-G metal crystal formation. Zero-G soldering was tested wit
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Soviet Space Stations: Salyut 4

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Cutaway for Salyut 4, with the conical telescope housing visible in the aft compartment ( source ) Salyut 4 (or DOS-4) reaped the momentum of the lessons learned from the previous stations, and was quite a success. It was the final iteration of the first-generation Salyut stations, an exact copy of DOS-3 (Kosmos 557) which had failed to reach orbit, with the most visible difference from Salyut 1 being the trio of solar panels relocated to the front compartment. Salyut 4 Design/Scientific Equipment List of all the scientific equipment onboard Salyut 4 ( source ) Salyut 4 carried a lot of new instruments, as seen in the image above. It had a new on-board navigation system that could keep its position without the aid of ground stations. The three larger solar panels could be independently controlled and produced far more power than the Soyuz-derived ones on Salyut 1. Salyut 4 was also the last of the four DOS stations derived from Almaz hulls, with the following Salyut stations u
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Soviet Space Stations: Salyut 3

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Salyut 3 with Soyuz spacecraft ( source ) Salyut 3 (aka OPS-2 or Almaz 2) was a much needed success after the three previous failures and Skylab's success. There is also much more information known about it, despite it being a secret military station. Salyut 3 Design/Scientific Equipment Salyut 3 cutaway, showing interior Salyut 3 had the same general layout as Salyut 2 before it, but we know a lot more now about what was inside. Salyut 3 had the first water recycling systems, had a treadmill, magnetic chess set, and a shower. The floor was covered in Velcro to help cosmonauts move around the station. In the work compartment (the larger portion), there was an Agat-1 earth observation telescope used primarily for military reconnaissance, but also for studying water pollution, farmland, and ocean ice. The cosmonauts would scan and transmit photos from the station, or develop film and launch it back in a film return capsule. There were up to 14 other cameras on the statio
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Soviet Space Stations: Salyut 2 & Kosmos 557

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Salyut 2 aka Almaz 1 or OPS-1 ( source ) There isn't much information on Salyut 2; it was the first military space station, named Almaz 1 or OPS-1, but was publicly named Salyut 2 to disguise it as a civilian program. It launched in 1973, two years after the semi-successful Salyut 1, and one year after the failed launch of Salyut 2, and it was never visited by a human crew. The Almaz Program Chelomei had started work on the Almaz military space station in response to the American MOL years before the Salyut program even started, with several designs in the mid-60s. While many of the hulls were converted to a civilian configuration, some were actually used for their intended purpose, before it became apparent that automated spy satellites were much more cost-effective. The two phases of Almaz designs before they were homogenized into the Salyut program ( source ) The initial designs were very similar to the US Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory, with a VA crew cap
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Soviet Space Stations: Salyut 1

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Photo of Salyut 1 taken by Soyuz 11 ( source ) After losing the race to the Moon, the Soviets decided to win a different race: launching the first space station into orbit. They succeeded in 1971 when they launched Salyut 1, the first in a long line of space stations as part of the Salyut program. The Salyut program The Salyut program was a combination of two separate programs: the civilian Salyut program (DOS or Durable Orbital Station) and the military Almaz program (OPS or Orbital Piloted Station), although both were publicly named Salyut in order to hide the military aspect from the West. While planned to use different designs for military and civilian launches, they ironically cannibalized parts from one another frequently and mixed roles. In fact, the Almaz stations were designed by Vladimir Chelomei, who also designed the TKS spacecraft (whose service module still forms the core of the ISS today) and the Proton rocket (still in use today as a heavy-lift rocket). On the ot
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The Commercial Space Station Revolution

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The ISS is amazing: it's the largest object ever built in space, and the most expensive single object on Earth. It's brought us many revolutionary discoveries and inventions. However, human spaceflight has stalled in low Earth orbit, despite having gone to the Moon 50 years ago. It has been the only destination, despite the dreams of many to travel the heavens. But as the space station nears the end of its life, NASA is opening it up to private enterprises, hoping that the civilian market will make good use of it rather than all that effort going to waste. One of the biggest hurdles to private involvement in the ISS has been research law. All discoveries and inventions on the ISS are public property - nothing can be patented, so there's little incentive for tech companies to conduct wildly expensive R&D on the ISS without reaping the profits. While NASA is loosening those restrictions in recent times, it's still a public platform. This is important, because withou
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