Cosmogram 15James Oberg, Rt 2 Box 350,Dickinson, Texas 77539 USA"There has not been such a difficultflight in the practice? of Sovietcosmonautics. We have never beforeencountered such difficulties" —Vladimir Shatalov, in Moscow News."Inside the station the situationwas even worse than expected" —Vladimir Dzhanibekov, post-flightpress conference, Octl4.HOW ABOUT THAT SALYUT MISSIONii Fullof dramatic surprises and humanadventures. I rate the Dzhan/Sav-inykh "cosmic resurrection mission"of last. June as the most impressivemanned space feat since the? moonlanding in 1969. The unexpected"orbital medevac" of Nov 21 shouldin no way detract from the boldnessand ingenuity of the June mission,but it may have marked the deathknell for Salyut-7.AWARDS TO CREW included "Order ofLenin"for Dzhan & Grechko, and pro-motion for Dzhan to major general!BACKUP CREW DATA: A lot of "good dataon backup crew composition over pastseveral years has come out inconnection with this year's flights.First, t he ex pec t ed 1985 1 on gduration crew was formally organizedin late 1984 and consisted of Vasyu-tin,, Savinykh, and Volkov. This crewwas dissolved when Salyut died inFebruary. The new crews were quicklyassembled a month or two later, withDzhan/Savinykh as primary and Popov-/Aleksandrov evidently as backup(Pravda, Augl4). Besides the flightcrews, other pilot-cosmonauts as-sisted in procedures development,and Malyshev, Berezovoy, and Roman—eriko were named."CHEGET" call-sign for Vasyutin'screw is name of mountain peak inCaucasus, usually spelled "Tcheget"in Western cartography. "Elbrus"(Berezovoy" s) was a nearby peak, andof course Dzhan used "Pamir" again.SOME CONFUSION regarding Vasyutinand Volkov previous backup duties:Pravda (SeplS) says Vasyutin servedon four backup crews, and Volkov onnone, although we had heard else-where that he had been backup toSerebrov on Soyuz T-8 in 1983 (RexHall ammended that claim in a1984Oct05 letter: "The French nowsay that Volkov was a pilot selectedin :'76 and was not backup to T—8" —quite consistent with subsequentSoviet announcements, but then WHO

•j

crews:i m ) ,otherSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzSoyuzThus

So>andpassT-2T* •— "•?

T--4T-5T-6-r "7

T-8T--9T •-••!<:T-1CT-11T-I;T-i::T--I::T" 1 i.1 •*

the

was backup to Serebrov?). But Trud(Sep.18) says Vasyutin (together withSavinykh) was only on three backup

uz T--7 (Popov), T-10 <Kiz-T-12 (Dzhan again). As for

possibilities., we havesMalyshev (Kizim)Kizim (unknown)Kovalyonok (un known)E3erez ovoy (Ti tov)Dz h an i b e k o v < K i z i m) x Ma 1 yPopov (Vasyutin)Titov (Lyakhov?)Lyakhov < K i z i m ? )

I>A Titov ( K i z i m )D K i s i m (Vasyut i n )1 Malyshev (Berezovoy)2 Dzhanibekov (Vasyutin)3A Vasyutin (Titov??)3 Dzhanibekov (Popov)4 Vasyutin (Titov??)candidates for Vasyutin's

possible fourth backup command seemto be only Soyuz T-3 and T—4. Savin-ykh is known to have been backup onT—3, but Kovalyonok was not, so Itend to lean towards Vasyutin for T-3 backup commander (he became acosmonaut in 1976 and in 1978 beganpreparing for specific flights, hisbiog says). For T-4,, wouldn't ithave been likely to be a veteranSalyut-6 commander? I suggest Roman-en ko or maybe Popov, with Malyshevand Kizim distant possibilities.#*Who was backup to VGV on T-14?Clues: At launch, Serebrov andStrekalov were interviewed, alongwith high officials Leonov and Bere-govoy. So we can guess the crew wasV. Titov, Strekalov, and Eierebrov,•just like on T-8 in April 1983.MISSION EVENTS;Jun06/G64G T-13 launch (arm 0847)salyut nbecl := 338.37 degreesorbit = 357—375 km, 91.64 minJunO8/O85O docks (announced 1738) .Junl2/O846 First use Salyut radioJun21/O040 P-24 launch (ann 0736).salyut nbecl - 342.9O degreesorbit := -357-375 km, 91.63 minJun23/O254 Linkup (announced O410).Jul15/1228 P-24 separates,later deortaits and disintegrates

Jul19/1304 K-1669 launch (ann 1656).salyut nbecl = 337.97orbit = 355-375 km, 91.60 minJul21/1505 linkup (announced 1710).Aug02/O715 thru 1215 EVA (ann 1411)salyut nbecl 351 at 07305orbit 353-372 km, 91.57 min,,Third solar panel is augmented andHal 1ey dust col 1 actors instal1ed «NOTES New spacesuits sent up in K--

_._ — '":: —

1669,, to replace on-board suitsruined by freezing <my speculation);rubber bladder would have weakpoints along fold lines followingfreezing, say NASA spacesuit experts1 talked to, and could never againbe trusted not to rupture suddenly.AugO5: Feoktistov article in Pravdafirst announces gravity of initialSalyut f ai1ur e, magn i tude ofsubsequent cosmonaut triumph.

Aug28/2150 K-1669 undocks, backs offa "certain distance"., then redocksto verify aft docking port functions(Pravda,, 8epl9), then undocks afinal time, then deorbitecl; demiseannounced, Aug30/0930. almost 36hours after initial undocking.NOTE" This is the ONLY unusual as-pect of the K-1669 mission whichmight justify calling this "Pro-gress"-type vehicle a "Kosmos".Nothing else different from normalProgress missions seems to haveoccurred.Sepl'7/1239 S-T-14 launch (announcedat 1454).SeplS/1415 linkup (announced 1834).Sep25/0358 undock (announced OSOO).

Performs rendezvous exercisesBep26/0952 lands (announced 1O40).

7/OS42? K-16S6 launch (ann 1232)Has no ''return module"? is

serving as laboratory module, plusdelivered five tons of dry cargo

Sep

a ton of scientificand three tons ofTotal weight "exceeds

(with overequi pment)propel 1 ant.20 tons".Oct02/1016 docks (ann 1200)Oct04/0422 & 0838orbit 335-360 kmorbit 336-368 kmorbit 357-374 kmOct25: Last mention thatare in good health andFrom now until mission

two-i rnpul se(91.36 min)(91.44(91.64

maneuvtotomi n >

m i n ) ."cosmonautsfeel wel1".

end, no fur-ther mention of "health" at all.Late Octobers New Jersey listenershear first voice scrambler use,following use of term "specialist".

NovlS issue AWST (p. 13) says voicescrambling started Nov 13 and was"to prevent U.S. interception ofmilitary activity reports". Balon-ey! It's now clear the topic wasmedi cal.

Novl3s Last report on crew activity.Nov21/1031 Crew lands (announced11445, absolutely no advance indi-cations noticed. Touchdown wasan hour before local sunset, whichwas about 1135 UT,, Note? that ear-1i er 1 and i ng opportuni t i es had poor

1 i g h t i n g c on d i t i. on s ̂@Nov20 would've been 1145 (post, set)@Novl9 would've been 1115 (only 2Omi n of day1i ght 1eft)SNov18 wou1d *ve been 1225 (dar k)@Novl7 would've been 115O (post set)SO: Landing was made on FIRST OPPOR-TUNITY with reasonable daylight forrecovery operations? landing for areal life-threatening emergenqycould have been made at any time(night landings are feasible, ifdifficult and hazardous), but thefact that they were able to wait forc: on ven i en t lighting suggest s t. hiswas not the situation this time,sal yut. nbecl 346 at O957 UTorbital sunrise 0929/sunset 1022salyut orbit 356-373 km, 91.59 min

V&V have 64d21h52m time; Savinykhhad 168d03h51m time, for total (twoflights) of 242d21h29m, just a weekshort of Kisim's third-place dura-tion record.DURING THE JUNE 8 DOCKING, veterancosmonauts filled the gallery atMission Control, and broke intocheers when Dzhan was successful.The following were present (1 gotcopy of videotape): Volk, Sevast,.,Volynov, Malyshev, Serebrov, Ruk..,Leonov, Ivanch., Kub. , Klirnuk, Glaz-kov, Shonin, Bereg., Filip., Sa/its-kaya, Lebedev, and Grechkc,, Popovwas standing by Ryurrin, flight dir-ect o r . S o 1 o v v o v was a d e p u t y -flightdirector,, I did NOT see V. Titov,Kizirn,, Makarov, Aksyonov, Kovalyon-ok, Lyakhov, Aleks., or Berezovoy,who were all probably directly sup-porting the mission. Also missingwere has-beens Gutaarev, Byk., Gorb.,Lazarev, and Khrunov, plus old-timers G. Titov & Nik., plus allother "military Salyut" crewmen(Pop.,, Artyukhin, Dyomin, ESarafanov,Zudov, Roshd.). Didn't see Shatalov& Yeliseyev either., must have beensomewhere important.VASYUTIN'S MYSTERY ILLNESS.. Data isbound to come out in near future sowild speculations are wasted time.On landing day, Leonov told newsmanPelikhov that it was "a cold goinginto some new forms, Cwith3 a risein temperature". Faced with Leonov" slaymen language, and translationdifficulties,, this doesn't tell us awhole lot. But be patient.WHY MEDical EVACuation? Had a visit-ing expedition been planned in thecurrent "window", the cosmonaut-researcher in the third seat couldeasily have been replaced with a..•,.. ••>

"new" commander, say Dzhanibekavagain, or Popov or Titov. K--1686occupies the forward docking portand evidently has no port of itsown? there must have been no plansto make such a visit, else the totalcrew evacuation would not have beennecessary. But. i sn:> t there supposedto be a "rescue Soyuz" standing byin readiness for a fast reactionspace mission of mercy? We don't yetknow all the factors that led tothis decision,, but it must have beena very hard one.NOTE DEMISE OF 2-HI/3-LO RULE. Inthe past, Soyuz T vehicles carriedonly two crewmembers to the higherorbit (91.4 minute period, two-dayrepeating pattern) but could carrythree to the lower altitudes (9O.5minute period, three-day repeatingpattern). Soyuz T-12 shook that rulelast year with two men and a womanto the high orbits Soyuz T---14 blewit away this year with three men tothe high orbit. Evidently, the Soy-uz -T performance margins have beenimproved somewhat. Will we ever seea two-man Soyus-T again?HOW LONG WERE THEY SUPPOSED TO STAY?Well, Savinykh probably wouldn'thave gone much past 270 days, whichwould have been reached in lateFebruary. Some reporters called them'•'the winter crew" (ALL previousf1i g ht s over 10O days had oc cur r edin spring-summer-fall), suggestingthat they would have stayed up thatlong and maybe been replaced by afresh crew for Hal ley-related activ-ities. But Rex Hall reported a. yearago that Beregovoy was quoted assaying that all long-duration crewswould now include a doctor., so ifthat were true, VasSavVol could notbe considered a "long duration"crew. But he also had said that thenext commander would be a previousoccupant, and we now know the nextcommander had been designated therook i e Vasyut i ri.WHAT NEXT FOR SALYUT-7? Kubasov wasquoted on landing day as saying "The?orbital station Salyut-7 will makeits further flight unmanned". Doesthis indicate that all further plansfor manned activity have been scrub-bed? That would mean the loss of theFrench device data trying to obtaindust from Hal ley's Comet. But it. isalso c on c: e i vab 1 e t h at the Sa 1 y u t -7could still be reoccupied next Feb-ruary to make observations of Hal-ley's Comet for several months (the

French package called for exposurein May)5 it's almost inconceivablethat the Soviets will not have amanned platform operating duringthat period.NEXT SALYUT WHEN? On CongressmanNelson's recent trip to the USSR, hewas told a new Salyut could be readyfor flight "next year" but would notbe launched if Salyut-7 was stilloperating. This "new" Salyut wassupposed to be an advanced versionof the standard model flying since1971, probably the long-awaited"third generation" with lateraldocking ports.MISSING COSMONAUTS. Rex Hall contin-ues to unearth extraordinary photo-graphs showing many of our long--sought missing spacemen, particular-ly "Dmitriy" (of 1960) who was medi-cally d i s qua1i f i ed only in 1969after serving on an early Soyuz--6/7/8 crew. Terrific: work, Rex! Hopeto see them published in Spacsflightsoon. Anybody who is not already amember of the British InterplanetarySociety is urged to join up immedi-ately, at 27/29 South Lambeth Roadin London. Also we have severalv e r s i o n s o f t h e i 9 6 0 t s a. m u n officialg r oup p or- trait, playing ice h oc k ey,probably only & few days or weeksafter selection in March of thatyear. Also, Mike Cassutt. has foundan explicit citation that the sizeof the 1963 group was fifteens sincewe only know of Shatalov, Beregovoy,F i 1 i p c: h en k o, Guta ar e v, Dob r o vo 1 s k i y,Dyomin, Artyukhin, and Zholobov,that suggests very high casualtiesand drop-out rate indeed!SMOLDERS REPORT: Piet. Smolders re-ports that on his May trip to theUSSR they told him the new Salyutwould be launched by November aridwould be called "MIR" ("Peace-1").That name makes good public rela-tions sense? the schedule was ob-viously QBE (Overtaken By Events)with the Salyut resurrection.SECRET SOVIET SPACE LAUNCH. Theobjects 1095-53A,B,C are cataloguedas "Soviet debris" put into orbit byan unannounced launch June21/0830,•from Tyuratam, incl 64.4, 195-340km, 89.89 min. None were big enoughto be a spacecraft or booster (0.2,0.8, 0.9 sq. m.)H presumably thespacecraft went into orbit, droppedsome small pieces, and departed,either downwards (Black Sea splash-down after one rev?) or upwards(injection into higher orbit beyond

4 ,

range of US sensors?)„ To date, USSRhas not. -fulfilled obligations under"Convention on Registration of OuterSpace Objects" to file orbital datawith United Nations. Keep an eye onthis one, something tells me it'sgoing to be very interesting.ONE-UPPING THE INTERCOSMONAUTS: InJune the shuttle carried PatrickBaudry and also Sultan Salmon Abdel-Assize Al-Saud, one (of hundreds?)of the nephews of the king of SaudiArabia. His backup was Abdul-HohsenAl-Bassam. And you thought the Mon-golian cosmonaut names were hard?They were the third and fourth"guests" on American spacecraft,,Three more followed on Spacelab D-l,and a Mexican rep>resentative goes upnext week. Claude Nicollier gets tofly in late 1986 on Spacelab EOM-1/2, and a Brit, an Indian (eitherA. Radhakrishnan or Nagapati Chi dam-bar Bhatt), and an Indonesian go upin mid-summer, closely followed byanother Canadian* And that willswamp the Soviet record for"guests", except the shuttle won'tstop there. Bet in line, friends! Inmid-November, two Syrians reportedto Starry Town for flight training(no word on launch date), so de-?spiteofficial termination of the program,it can be revived as needed.SCIENTIST-COSMONAUTS. Rex Hall alsorelates that during a scientificexposition in Australia, a Sovietscientist with the Institute ofMolecular Genetics claimed he? hadjust (in 1984) been selected for atwo-year cosmonaut training course.That's the right kind of specializa-tion for some of the? workers on asix-man station at the end of 1980s.EASTER ISLAND CONTROVERSY: The Sov-iets have unleashed a smear campaignagainst plans to set up a launchabort site on Easter Island, forlaunchings from Vandenberg AFB. Seemy short article in the 1985Decissue of OMNI. Anybody seeing clip-pings about criticism of the abort-site (say, as "dragging Chile into'Star Wars'" or some such nonsense),please send them to me. Thanks!PRESS RELEASE: "A new source ofinformation is now available forscale model builders who are inter-ested in real (as opposed to fanta-sy) space vehicles,, Michael J „ Mack-owski, a member of Gateway IPMSCInternational Plastic Modelers So-ciety] and former editor of thechapter's quarterly CRAZED PLASTIC

magazine, has released the first.issue of "The Scale Spacecraft News-letter". This two-page flyer isplanned to be a means by which

can exchangearticles, and

regarding theirSince there is

spacecraft modelersdrawings, photos,other documentationparticular projects.no single publication exclusivelydedicated to real spacecraft model-ing, this newsletter is intended tofill the need for a communicationsnetwork within this admittedly spe-cialized field of the hobby. Mike'sgoal is to enable those who modelthis subject to pool their resourcesand minimize any duplication ofeffort. A subscription of four is-sues, which are released quarterly,is available for $1.00. To receive afree copy of the introductory issue,send a sel f -addressed stamped envel-ope. Inquiries from outside NorthAmerica should send two Internation-al Postal Reply Coupons. Write to:Michael Mackowski,, 2136 NorthernLimits, Florissant, Missouri 63031."***Marcia Smith's latest report on"SPACE ACTIVITIES OF THE UNITEDSTATES, SOVIET UNION, AND OTHERLAUNCH I NG COUNTR I ES/ORGAN I Z AT I ONS :1957-1984" (Congressional ResearchService), is out, dated Jan 31,1985, although I didn't see a copyuntil mid-April. She has now beenreassigned to the President's SpaceCommission and probably will notreturn to the CRE>§ her old positionis occupied by Art Manfredi, hope-fully a worthy successor to Marciaand to Charles Sheldon."SOVIET MILITARY SPACE DOCTRINE" wasissued by the Defense IntelligenceAgency last year and declassified inthe fall. It's authors (anonymous)can be reached at DIA, ATTN: DB--1D2.,Washington, DC 20301-6111. I dunnaif they'll give out any more freecopies, but try it.SL-X-16 first flight is now at leasta year overdue, say insiders. whoare baffled by lack of launch. Mean-while, Spacelab-2 (STS 51-F) broughtback best yet photographs of Tyura-tam, I'll be checking further.SHUTTLE-SALYUT. Sadly, no word fromGeneva, no new rumors. Gromyko toldNelson that SD1 first must go.SEASONS GREETINGS TO ONE AND ALL.Next issue should be early next.year, about when Pioneering §E££§(by James Oberg and Alcestis Oberg)is issued by McGraw-Hill. Ask for iti n y o u r 1 o c a 1 b o o k s tores!