Xref: utzoo sci.space.shuttle:6954 sci.space:26657 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!lll-winken!unixhub!shelby!eos!brody From: brody@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Adam R. Brody) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle,sci.space Subject: Soviet Docking (3 of 4) Keywords: Soviet docking Message-ID: <7740@eos.arc.nasa.gov> Date: 26 Dec 90 18:44:26 GMT Followup-To: sci.space.shuttle\ Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, California Lines: 25 The Soyuz Ferry was created to bring crews to Salyut space stations. It contained an automatic rendezvous and docking system known as Igla ("needle"). As in earlier Soyuz docking missions, both spacecraft maneuvered actively. The Soyuz Ferry had its first manned flight, Soyuz 12, in September 1973. Since both Salyut 1 and Salyut 2 failed in the previous year, this flight had to simulate transport to a space station. (Salyut 2 most likely had an attitude control thruster stuck on and broke up in orbit before it was manned.) Soyuz 13, launched in December 1973, was an independent mission and did not dock with a station. Soyuz 14 was the first operational use of the ferry and took the only Salyut 3 crew to orbit in July 1974. Automated rendezvous was used to reduce the range from 1000 meters to within 100 meters. Pavel Popovich then performed manual docking. This procedure of manual control takeover at approximately 100 meters continued with Alesksei Gubarev on Soyuz 17, January 1975. Pyotr Klimuk performed similarly in May 1975 with Soyuz 18B. Soyuz 19, better know as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, "was the first Soviet manned launch ever whose time was announced in advance and was the first to be televised live" (Newkirk, 1990, p. 140). Apollo was the active vehicle because of its greater fuel supply. The Soyuz merely had to maintain a fixed attitude toward the approaching Apollo and match roll rates. Soyuz 20 tested the Progress automated unmanned cargo transport systems in November 1975. Progress 1, however, did not fly until January 1978. Based on the Soyuz, the Progress carried twice as much rendezvous and docking instrumentation as the Soyuz Ferry. Also, a second video camera was mounted on the outside to give ground controllers a stereo view of the automatic docking. "Simultaneous transmissions of telemetry from Progress to Salyut and the ground enabled both the control center and the cosmona uts to assist with docking if necessary" (Baker, 1982, p. 524). Progress 1 took two days approaching Salyut 6 as Soyuz 20 had done approaching Salyut 4. Manned spacecraft typically perform the approach in one day. "Since the Progress was unmanned, the crew did not retreat to the Soyuz during the docking as when the Soyuz 27 docked, they instead manned the station's controls ready to maneuver away from the approaching Progress in case of a malfunction" (Newkirk, 1990, p. 179). Since the Progress was expendable, plume impingement upon it caused by an emergency Salyut separation maneuver was not a concern. None of the Progress missions through May 1988 had any docking problems although there were occasional problems with manned missions. The Soyuz-T then replaced the Soyuz Ferry. It "included a new computer system and was claimed to be more automated than the earlier Soyuz variants; however, in flight the cosmonauts often had to take over manual control when the automatic systems apparently malfunctioned during docking manoeuvres" (Clark, 1988, p. 98). Soyuz T-1 flew in an unmanned configuration in December 1979. In June 1980, the Argon docking computer flew its maiden launch on the first manned Soyuz T flight, Soyuz T-2. Argon selects which of several possible approaches to fly to a space station and then flies it with manual override capability. It similarly controls descent. Its operation required that the crew study computer programming. This training may have saved the mission as the automated docking system failed at a range of 180 meters from Salyut 6. "This was a problem which would be regularly repea ted during Soyuz-T missions" (Clark, 1988, p. 120). Yuri Malyshev, a rookie, took over control and completed a successful manual docking. Aleksey Yeliseyev explained that the crew and flight controllers had not practiced the approach the computer selected so the crew decided to take over control to be better prepared in the event of an emergency. The crew claimed the automated system would have been successful if given the opportunity (Newkirk, 1990). Soyuz 38, the seventh international crew, was launched in September 1980 with the first black cosmonaut. The automated system controlled not only the rendezvous but also the docking. The next manned flight, Soyuz T-3, was launched in November 1980. Its Argon automatic docking system performed the docking maneuver from a range of 5 km. The Soviets' Mir "Peace" space station evolved from earlier Salyut designs and was launched in February 1986. The station contains five docking drogues with a manipulator system which moves incoming modules from the forward port where they have docked to a side port. The Kurs "course" docking system was incorporated into the forward port, which eliminated the need for attitude control by the station during the docking maneuver (Newkirk, 1990). Clark (1988) claims the rear port also was outfitted with t he Kurs system in addition to the old Igla system which would accommodate Progress freighters. Mir's first crew was launched March 1986 on Soyuz T-15 with live Soviet television coverage. The Igla system controlled the approach to within 200 meters of Mir's aft docking port which was compatible with Soyuz T and Progress. Leonid Kizim then flew around to the forward port which was instrumented with the new Kurs system to be used with Soyuz TM and Star modules. The Soyuz was incapable of automatic docking at the forward port but the laser range finder that was first used on the Soyuz T-13 flight in June 1985 aided Kizim. Kizim completed a manual docking from an initial range of 60 meters. In May, the crew performed the first station-to-station transfer by flying over to Salyut 7 to reactivate it. Once again, the hand-held laser range finder was used to generate range data. The automatic system was used from 5 km until Kizim took over manual control and docked. The crew returned to Mir at the end of June. After the crew used the Igla rendezvous system to reduce the range from 200 meters, Kizim took over control at a range of 50 meters from the rear docking port and maneuvered to dock at the forward port. The Kurs rendezvous system was demonstrated in May 1986 with an unmanned Soyuz TM-1. This system does not require target vehicle transponders and can dock with a station at any relative attitude. It "makes contact with the station at a range of 200 km and docking lock-on begins at 20 to 30 km distance" (Newkirk, 1990, p. 313). Kurs presents closing rate data from the docking radar to the cosmonauts. On March 31, 1987, the Kvant module, the first to be sent to Mir, was launched 10 out of plane with Mir in an approach similar to that of Star modules. During its approach to Mir on April 5, the cosmonauts were suited up "in the Soyuz TM in case of a collision. The spacecraft started its approach at 17 km distance using the old Igla docking system. At 500 meters distance, the Kvant's forward docking camera was activated and the docking probe extended. When Kvant was only 200 meters from the station an d preparing for final docking maneuvers, Flight Director Ryumin radioed to the cosmonauts that Kvant had lost its lock-on to Mir's docking transponders. . . . [Kvant drifted slightly and] was rotating slightly as it passed within 10 meters of Mir" (Newkirk, 1990, pp. 321-322). "The Kvant thrusters failed to slow down the module and it flew past Mir" (Clark, 1988, p. 155). Mission controllers spent several days analyzing the problem during which time the Kvant drifted to a range of 400 km. Ground controllers brought Kvant bac k in the vicinity of Mir. The Igla automatic docking system was activated at a range of 22 km. Lock-on to Mir's docking transponder signal was achieved and at a range of 1000 meters, the approach velocity was 2.5 meters per second. (This is 2.5 times the rate suggested by NASA's 0.1% rule.) The relative velocity was decreased to .32 meters per second at 26 meters (12.3 times the 0.1% rule rate of .026 meters per second). Soft docking was achieved within 21 minutes of Igla lock-on. During the docking of Progress 33 in November 1987, the Soviets experimented with new station orienting procedures since the Igla system, used by the Progress, required active maneuvering by the target vehicle. Typical fuel expenditures for docking a Progress to Mir were approximately 192 kg using the old system. "The new Igla procedure reduced this amount to about 82 kg" (Newkirk, 1990, p. 322). The first launch of the Progress M, a modified Progress, occurred in August 1989. It has an increased on-orbit stay time, "has an improved automated docking system and also is able to transfer unused fuel to the space station" (Rains, 1990b, p. 8). The Progress M also possesses a return capsule which was successfully tested on mission Progress M5, in November 1990 (Kiernan, 1990).. Docking Failures Despite their great experience with docking both manned and unmanned spacecraft, the Soviets have had several failures during docking maneuvers. Failures occurred with Soyuz 15 in August 1974, Soyuz 23 in October 1976, Soyuz 25 in October 1977, Soyuz 33 in April 1979, and Soyuz T-8 in April 1983. The failure of Soyuz 15 to dock with Salyut 3 was due either to a repeated system failure at the time to initiate the manual control phase at a range of 100 meters (Clark, 1988), or, "the automatic system malfunctioned twice, pushing the ship out of control with excessive engine burns while only 30 to 50 meters from the station" (Newkirk, 1990, p. 128). With a limited battery and fuel supply, the vehicle had to de-orbit when the docking failed. In October 1976, Souyz 23 was aborted because of a malfunction in the automatic docking system. This occurred before the range of the Soyuz to the Salyut 5 station was reduced to 100 meters. Since the crew of Vyacheslav Zudov and Veleri Rozhdestvenski were trained to take over from 100 meters, but not before, the crew were forced to land as soon as possible. The manual back-up mode was not extensive enough to save this mission. As Tass reported, "the spaceship Soyuz 23 was put into the automatic regime for the approach to Salyut 5. Docking with the Salyut 5 station was cancelled because of an unplanned operation of the approach control system of the ship" (Clark, 1988, p. 74).