Transport supply ship

The TKS consists of two parts: the return vehicle (VA) and the functional cargo block (FGB), each of which is capable of autonomous flight.

Functional cargo block

FGB consists of sections of different diameters. In front, in the area of ​​small (2.9 m) diameter, a return device was installed on it, the compartment had an extension behind it, formed by two conical spacers with a maximum diameter of 4.1 m. In the tail part of the TKS there was an active docking unit specially adapted for docking objects 20 tons. In the front of the block there are two correction engines (11D442) with a 447 kgf load. Engines could be turned on up to 100 times; their resource was 2600 s. For a ship of such a large mass, it turned out to be more advantageous to use a propulsion system with a turbopump feed system, and not with a displacement as on the Soyuz. All fuel ( AT + NDMG ) was placed in eight cylindrical tanks on the outer surface of the FGB. The main units of the propulsion system (DU), orientation and stabilization engines, antennas and sensors, radiators of the thermal control system are also installed there.

Returned vehicle

According to its configuration, the aircraft resembles the descent vehicles of the Gemini spacecraft and the Apollo spacecraft , has a high aerodynamic quality (0.25 in hypersound ), which allows for controlled descent in the atmosphere with low thermal loads.

Main characteristics:

VA thermal protection consists of a bottom hemispherical segment (frontal screen), side thermal protection, a nasal compartment segment. The heat-protective coating is made of silica fabric impregnated with phenol-formaldehyde resin. When heated, the resin evaporates and the gaseous pyrolysis products block the heat influx. After the return, heat protection can be restored and used again (up to 10 times). A 550 mm diameter hatch is made on the bottom of the aircraft for the crew access to the FGB. Despite the fact that this area of ​​thermal protection is subjected to the most intense heating, this scheme has demonstrated high reliability in operation.

On the bottom of the VA was attached hinged compartment with a life support system. In the upper part of the cabin there is a nose compartment (BUT) with a reactive control system (DCS) for lowering, parachute and some other systems. BUT ended powder TDU with four nozzles directed backwards along the generatrix of the cone. Above the TDU, a long cylindrical ADF was fixed on the short adapter, the nozzles of which were also directed along the generator of the cone BA. The TDU provided a braking impulse of speed (about 100 m / s) for the VA descent from orbit. Controlling the orientation of the device in orbit and during descent in the atmosphere - through the DCS.

The history of the project is inextricably linked with the history of the development of the Almaz orbital manned station (OPS). OPS was supposed to be a military outpost in orbit, it was supposed to place on it a unique photographic equipment for observing the Earth . To maintain the station in the habitable state, deliver cargo, consumables for equipment and return the captured films required a transport ship. In 1966, the conceptual design of the security and fire alarm system was protected with the 7K-TK transport vehicle of the “union” family. Due to the small dimension of the ship, the mass of the delivered cargo was minimal, and the return weight was almost zero. Therefore, Chelomey commissioned its designers to develop their own ship. Already in 1969, a new conceptual design was released, outlining the contours of the future TKS, consisting of a reusable return vehicle (VA) and a functional cargo unit (FGB). The aircraft of the TKS spacecraft was the first to have hatches in the bottom with thermal protection (to enable transition to the FGB) and to implement the possibility of reuse in practice.

In 1970 , in the midst of work on the TKS and OPS, a proposal arose: in response to plans for the withdrawal of the American orbital space station Skylab , quickly creating a long-term orbital station (DOS) from the existing OPS corps and Soyuz spacecraft systems. All forces were sent to a new project, which later became the well-known series of Salyut stations , and the TKS was instructed to work out at the second stage of the station’s operation. The Salyut-1 OS was developed in the Korolev Design Bureau and launched in 1971 (the US Skylab OS was launched in 1973), and the Salyut TKS modules have been flying since 1973. Only in 1973-1974, work on the TKS resumed in the same volume. Were made several copies of the ship for static and thermal tests and for cosmonauts training.

Since 1975, began flight test design. From the 51st site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome five tests of the SAS (rescue system) were conducted. For testing the VA, the product 82LB72 was manufactured - a mass-inertial analogue of the TKS, consisting of two VA connected by bottoms. The first launch took place at the end of 1976, the vehicles, which received the designations " Cosmos-881 " and " Cosmos-882 ", made one turn and landed safely in Kazakhstan . In total, 4 launches were carried out (one unsuccessful and one “explosion at the start”) with different success. Of these, two VA for the first time made two flights each.

In 1977, the first TCS-1 - Cosmos-929 - went into space. A month later, the VA made a successful landing, and the FGB continued to work in orbit for another six months.

Since the OPS "Almaz" was not in orbit by the time the TKS flights were ready with the docks, it was decided to dock with the DOS-Salyut station. In 1981, the TCS-2 was launched - Cosmos-1267 . His VA soon returned to the ground, and the FGB docked with the Salyut-6 station.

Launched on March 2, 1983, the TKS-3 - Kosmos-1443 delivered 2.7 tons of cargo (including additional solar batteries) and 3.8 tons of fuel to the Salyut-7 station, worked for a long time as a module and completed flight September 19, 1983. On August 23, 1983, his AA made a soft landing, delivering about 350 kg of cargo and experimental results to Earth.

The next one with the same "Salute-7" was docked on October 2, 1985 with the TCS-4 - " Cosmos-1686 ", launched on September 27, 1985. The module also worked as a truck, delivering over 4322 kg of consumables and special equipment to the station's station with more than 80 items, including the Mayak retractable farm. In the TKS tanks there were 1550 kg of fuel to maintain the orbit of the Salyut-7 station, its orientation and stabilization. All these functions after docking TKS-M took over. The module gave a significant increase in the power supply system, transferring up to 1.1 kW of electricity to the Salyut-7. The most important was the scientific equipment with a mass of 1255 kg: the equipment was intended for more than 200 experiments, including the Pion-K military-applied optical complex with a laser-electronic telescope. After completion of work at the Salyut-7 orbital station, it was planned to save it in a high orbit (the TKS-4 raised the station’s orbit to an altitude of 495 km) for subsequent revival or return to Earth as part of the Buran reusable spacecraft program , however this program was closed after one test flight. Even before this, the fuel at TKS-M and at the Salyut-7 station was practically developed, solar activity increased in 1990, as a result of which the orbital complex began to sharply lose orbit height and uncontrolledly descended from it on February 7, 1991 (fragments of the station and TKS -4 fell on Argentina and Chile).

The fate of the TCS project, the absence of manned launches, although all the necessary permits for manned flights were obtained, are not connected with the ship itself, but with its carrier rocket of the Proton family, as well as with the Almaz program. ^[2]

The remaining TKS were converted into functional-service (FSB) and functional-cargo blocks (FGB). One of them in 1987 delivered the Kvant-1 module to Mir, the other came in handy when building the Skif-DM military station. In fact, the program almost stopped at this. In the 1990s, the question of creating a rescue vehicle for the Freedom station and later for the ISS was considered. A minor modification allowed to return to the ground up to 6 people, but this project was abandoned. A module for the ISS Zarya was made on the basis of the FGB TKS, and there are plans to launch FGB-2 Nauka .

One of the initial options for creating the Mir station was a scheme with docking of service modules based on the TKS to the base unit. In this case, the modules could be undocked and transferred to an autonomous flight to perform experiments, and their return apparatus could be used as a means of rescuing the station crew.

On the basis of the TCS spacecraft, a spacecraft is being developed for the orbital space tourism Escalibur-Almaz (NPOmash JV and the American Escalibur company) ^[3] .

• Diamond (orbital station)
• Union T
• Commercial Orbital Transportation Services

• “Another Ship” // NK, July 2002 (Retrieved January 24, 2012)
• “Another ship, continued” // NK, September 2002 (Retrieved January 24, 2012)
• “Another ship, ending” // NK, March 2003 (Retrieved January 24, 2012)