On the 60th anniversary of the launch of the first Soviet satellite, Russian filmmakers timed the screening of the Salyut-7 film. Russian President Vladimir Putin watched it yesterday. Today the picture was shown at the Russia Today press center.
Tomorrow you can learn about the artistic merits and demerits of the picture, in which the wonderful Russian actors Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Maria Mironova, Pavel Derevyanko, Alexander Samoilenko and Oksana Fandera played.
And today, we will tell you about the real history of the Salyut-7 orbital station. How it was? And what was the drama of the situation that became the basis for the film?
Orbital station "Salyut-7" was a filigree modified by domestic designers "Salyut-6". An atomic navigation system was installed, which, having passed a preliminary check, pleased with unprecedented accuracy.
The upgrade brought an excellent Signal-V fire detection system. On board was an ultra-modern X-ray telescope, which greatly facilitated the task of observing space objects. There was also a unique French-made photographic equipment, which made it possible for a detailed study of space and earthly spaces.
The new equipment has significantly increased the reliability of the station and ensured the automation of many processes. The improvements made it possible to maximize the program of scientific experiments carried out over several years.
But on February 11, 1985 at 9 hours 23 minutes, control over the station, which had been empty for several months, was lost!
What time was it? 1985-86 is somewhat reminiscent of 2017. The Cold War is in full swing. The USSR and the USA exchange "pleasantries", "symmetrically" expelling embassy workers back home. Diplomatic scandals follow one another. And February 1985 went down in history as the time when the legendary "Ronald Reagan Doctrine" was proclaimed.
What is its essence? It's simple. The States openly began to support any anti-Soviet and anti-communist manifestations throughout the world. Nicaragua and Mozambique, Cambodia and Laos, Afghan mujahideen and Angolan UNITA received practically unlimited support from the "most democratic country in the world" in their struggle against the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev will come to power only in March 1985. The course of flirting with the West has not yet been taken. The flywheel of weakening the country from within, which the West will be pleased with, is not included.
The station, which had been empty for half a year, at which a number of invaluable scientific and medical experiments were carried out, stopped responding to signals sent from the Mission Control Center and began its slow motion towards Earth.
Where will the multi-ton colossus fall? What city and in what country will it “cover” it? Not only the lives of people were under threat, but also the reputation of the USSR in the world! But destroying the station with a missile strike meant throwing the Soviet Space back at least 10 years ago.
Those people in whose hands the future of Soviet cosmonautics was, the situation, frankly, "invigorated". The Central Committee was nervous and for good reason. Potential conflict - who knows! - could easily develop into the Third World War and put a fat point in the history of mankind.
The situation demanded an immediate settlement and was entrusted to the crew of the most experienced cosmonauts of the Soviet Union. Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Viktor Savinykh started pre-flight training.
It was not just anyone who insisted on the candidacies of these particular pilots, but Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov himself, the first man in outer space.
On the "personal balance" of Vladimir Dzhanibekov, who turned 43 in 1985, had 4 space flights, during which he perfectly performed the work of the ship's commander, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union twice.
It was this pilot-cosmonaut who had invaluable in the given circumstances, the experience of manual docking, the art of which he had to demonstrate when coming into contact with the "dead station". His colleague Viktor Savinykh was a flight engineer from God, who knew Salyut-7 “inside and out”.
As Valery Ryumin recalled: "The crew had a unique task: to dock with a 20-ton" brick ", which became, in fact," Salyut-7 "after the breakdown."
Adrenaline in the blood of the flight organizers and astronauts flying straight into the unknown was added by the fact that no one, in fact, could have imagined what actually happened at the orbital station?
Is it recoverable?
Will you be able to visit it?
Can anything be done to move the multi-ton structure out of orbit?
One way or another, it was necessary to act. Really, do not wait for the Soviet "miracle of technology" to cover Tokyo, Berlin or Washington? After all, just 6 years ago, an American space station collapsed in Australia. But who will remember the miscalculation of the Americans if a similar precedent happens to the USSR? There will be no concessions.
They took only 3 months to prepare. By cosmic standards - an extremely short time! The trainings were carried out in an enhanced mode. It seemed that the organizers of the upcoming flight had done everything possible in order to exclude any surprises for the already experienced pilots.
All sorts of emergency situations were worked out, artificial difficulties were created that could occur during the flight, the devices and systems of the simulator, on which the conditions of the "rescue operation" were simulated, were disabled.
“We made mistakes, but later they became less and less,” cosmonaut Viktor Savinykh recalled in his bestseller Notes from a Dead Station.
The Soyuz-T spacecraft, on which the flight was to be made, was relieved of the "ballast". Equipment unnecessary for a specific task was removed. Added containers in which supplies of food and water were stored.
We installed additional night vision devices. We used laser designators, which could have contributed to a successful docking, because … there might not have been a second attempt.
And so! On the first summer days of 1985, Igor Kirillov's vigorous voice in the Vremya program announced the successful launch of the T-13, whose task was to carry out the work “stipulated by the program”. And then the duty officer "The systems of the spacecraft are working normally, the astronauts feel good!"
And there were many problems on board. Errors made in a hurry, which could have become fatal, occurred on earth! One of the spacecraft T-13 blocks, designed to purify the atmosphere of the ship, was confused with an oxygen generating block.
This almost led to tragedy, when the pressure began to skyrocket, and the threat of fire arose. The trouble was averted only thanks to the experience and attentiveness of the Soviet cosmonauts.
Turning the pages of the book "Notes from a Dead Station", you are immersed in priceless technical details, which are woven into one of the unique events in the history of manned astronautics. This episode is called "manual docking of" T-13 "and" dead "orbital station" Salyut-7 ".
At 11 o'clock in the morning, on June 8, the cosmonauts saw the "object". The orbital station was brighter than Jupiter!
Having switched to manual mode, the cosmonauts began to perform a task that no one else had undertaken except them: to catch up with the station and dock without crashing into it. In case of failure, the hopes for the salvation of "Salyut-7" would be irretrievably lost, as well as control over the situation, the development of which is now closely watched on Earth.
“At the moment of rapprochement, I could not stand it! - admitted Viktor Petrovich Savinykh. - "Put out the speed!" - I shouted to Volodka. And I heard the calm voice of Dzhanibekov nearby, which transmitted to the ground: "Dawn, I am extinguishing the speed."
Can we, today, feel the despair of the moment when both cosmonauts realized that they had approached the station … from the wrong side and “entered” a “non-working” docking station?
Our song is good - start over! It was required to fly around Salyut-7 from the other side and repeat the filigree work, which seemed to be almost completed …
When the long-awaited touch and docking occurred, no one was happy for one reason only. This simply did not have the energy that was spent on the work, which became the talk of the town and one of the most intense moments in the plot of the film.
The astronauts sat silently in their chairs, not looking at each other.
“Was it difficult? What's so difficult? This is my job, my craft! - Vladimir Alexandrovich Dzhanibekov recalled years later. - The true heroes work in the mines in the Luhansk region, where I happened to be. It’s really scary there … And what happened to me … I went to this! And I dreamed about it all my life."
At the next stage, it was necessary to determine if the station was airtight? If not, this is the worst thing that could happen (after, of course, the death of the crew, which was possible at the time of the collision with the station, on the way to it). In this case, the situation with "Salyut-7" would not be remedied. The "T-13" simply would not have enough oxygen to perform the widest range of work!
… The station was sealed. Freezing dry cold and silence, and in the silence the beats of your heart under the spacesuit, barely audible, but quickened. The solar array orientation system is out of order! Repair or spit and fly away?
And Vladimir Dzhanibekov spat. True, he did it at the request of Valery Viktorovich Ryumin, who was in the MCC. The saliva froze instantly. Work lay ahead, monstrously strenuous work in climatic conditions that were far from ideal as far as the Soviet cosmonauts were far from the earth.
And somewhere down there, below he cheerfully reported to TASS about the successful and problem-free docking, positive mood and good health of the Soviet cosmonauts. Two days later, in the midst of their work, the cosmonauts had to appear before the population of the Soviet Union, "waving their hand on TV."
Good! The steam from the mouth was no longer coming (which was checked in advance). And for the Soviet viewer, the illusion of planned and safe work in space was created.
Exhausted to the limit by work without sleep and rest, "Pamir-1" and "Pamir-2" looked really cheerful after two days of non-stop twisting electrical wires with their bare hands, followed by wrapping them with electrical tape …
The impossible has been done! With the help of cosmonauts - only 2 people! - the station's batteries were connected directly to the solar panels and … "Salyut-7" began to come to life.
The ice was melting! "Spring" came to the orbital station. But if there, below, melting ice and snow are absorbed by the earth, then where to get the earth here? There was a lot of water. All forces and all the rags at the disposal of the Dzhanibekov and Savvins on the ship (including clothes and underwear, which were also put into operation) were thrown into the fight against the "space flood".
Hooray! On June 23, "humanitarian aid" came from the ground. The cargo Progress-24 brought a “gift from the MCC” - a “container” with an incredible amount of towels. "Mail from the Earth" included the equipment necessary for repairs, fuel and water supplies. So that the cosmonauts would not get bored, they were sent … a couple of issues of the Pravda newspaper.
There were still 100 days of incredibly tense and dangerous work ahead, about which the director Klim Shipenko made the film Salyut-7. You will learn about how it was in the cinema tomorrow.
