The forgotten rescue of the Salyut 7 space station
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While most Western space enthusiasts remember the American Skylab space station, only some recall the long series of Soviet orbiting labs called the Salyut space stations. The last of these, Salyut 7, famously “died” in 1985, when a loss of power shut down all of its systems. But later that year, two cosmonauts risked their lives to revive the radio silent space station.
Salyut, variously translated as “salute” or “firework,” was a Soviet program that ran from 1971 to 1986 and included the world’s first space station, Salyut 1. The Salyut space stations had both military and civilian applications, but they were largely designed to pioneer the technology required to build modular space habitats.
A cascading electrical failure
In February 1985, after hosting three cosmonaut crews (including one that stayed for 237 days, a record at the time), the vacant Salyut 7 space station started to experience trouble. Workers in the TsUP (the Soviet version of NASA’s Mission Control) noted that an overcurrent had tripped a circuit breaker, which shut down the station’s primary long-range radio transmitter.
Ground controllers switched Salyut 7 to its backup transmitter, which seemed to solve the problem — at least for a bit. However, a subsequent attempt to restart the primary transmitter created another overcurrent that started a cascading series of electrical failures. Both radio transmitters (primary and backup), as well as the station’s radio receivers, ceased to work.
Attempts to revive the station from the ground failed. Salyut 7 went silent. It began to slowly tumble.
Making matters worse, the interior of the station rapidly lost heat, eventually reaching a frigid, yet stable, temperature of about –4 degrees Fahrenheit (–20 degrees Celsius). Soviet engineers realized they had only two options: abandon Salyut 7 or mount a rescue mission.
At this point, the Soviet’s larger, more advanced Mir space station was still a work progress. Waiting for Mir to launch would have meant putting all spaceborne work on hold for at least a full year. So, although a crewed rescue mission to Salyut 7 was a dangerous proposition, if successful, the Soviet’s would save both time and money — as well as face