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The TKS transport ship During the 1960s and 1970s, a design bureau led by Vladimir Chelomei developed an enduring series of manned transport ships, designated TKS and intended to resupply the Almaz space station. In the 1980s, the design of the craft became a base for the add-on modules of the Salyut and Mir space station and in the 1998, the same craft served as a founding stone of the International Space Station.
Technical description The TKS spacecraft with a total mass of 20 tons, consisted of two elements:
The TKS was designed to be launched on a Proton rocket and carry a three-person crew, along with up to eight small film return capsules and other supplies for the Almaz station. The TKS was equipped with the I11F77 propulsion system and eight externally attached cylindrical propellant tanks. The TKS spacecraft had a length of 13 meters and a pressurized volume of 49.88 cubical meters.
Vladimir Chelomei delegated the development of the TKS spacecraft to the branch of his design bureau, known as KB Salyut located in the Moscow district of Fili. The development of the VA reentry capsule was conducted by Chelomei's "home" bureau in Reutov, east of Moscow. The VA capsule could be attached either to the FGB module of the TKS and or to the front section of the Almaz station or to both. In the latter case, the Almaz station could be launched manned with the crew riding to orbit inside the VA capsule. The crew members would be able to exit and enter the VA capsule in orbit via a special hatch in the thermal protective shield of the craft. Upon separation from the FGB craft or from the Almaz station, the VA capsule would be able to conduct an autonomous flight of up to 31 hours long. Along with the three-member crew, the VA capsule could apparently return as much as 50 kilograms of cargo. (49) The VA capsule was equipped with an 11D841 solid-propellant motor, which was intended to propel the emergency escape rocket away from the ship after it would reach safe altitude during the launch. Another solid-propellant motor designated 11D848 was providing soft landing of the VA capsule. Both engines were developed at MKB Iskra. Development of the TKS
The preliminary design of the TKS spacecraft was completed at KB Salyut under the direction of Ya. B. Nodelman in 1969. (134) To support the TKS program, the NIIKhIMMash center in Zagorsk, north-east of Moscow, built test facilities to simulate the jettisoning of the payload fairing, live firing of the propulsion system and for vacuum testing. The craft life-support system and thermal control were tested at the aviation research center in Chkalovo, north-east of Moscow. The facilities for testing the docking system and the process of separation between the FGB and the VA reentry capsule were deployed at the Khrunichev production plant in Fili. In accordance with the timeline approved by the Minister of General Machine Building, MOM, Afanasiev, on June 15, 1972, the construction of the TKS spacecraft was to have started in the fourth quarter of 1972. (134) In order to accelerate the man-rating of the TKS and VA spacecraft, the developers made the decision to launch two unmanned VA reentry capsules in every test flight. The dual launch of reentry capsules would maximize the test data gathered during each reentry and landing. Such test flights were conducted between 1976 and 1978. In addition, so-called "autonomous launches" of the VA capsules, aimed to test its emergency escape system, were conducted from Site 51 in Baikonur on a ballistic trajectory from 1974 to 1977. At least one such test ended in failure, according to the memoirs of a program participant. (100) In December 1978, the Minister of General Machine Building approved the formation of a special group of six cosmonauts within Chelomei's NPO Mash, specifically for manned missions onboard the TKS spacecraft.
The TKS spacecraft technical specifications: (49)
The VA capsule technical specifications: (49)
Overview of TKS missions and TKS-based modules:
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