More Details for 1969-10-06

Soyuz 6/7/8 experiment review

Meeting between the Soyuz 6/7/8 crews and engineers. Shatalov pushes his idea for a manually flown spacecraft rendezvous, provided that Soyuz 7 and 8 visually acquire each other immediately after Soyuz 8 is put into orbit. He believes this would not only save time and fuel, but also provide the chance to develop procedures for interception of non-cooperative enemy satellites. Mishin rejects the idea, seeing a doubling of risk of an unsuccessful flight. The fact is, the Soyuz is only equipped for automatic docking. There are no on-board indicators of range and range-rate to target - necessary inputs for any manual docking. The view through the periscope is the only forward-looking view available to the crew, and it is inadequate for manual docking.

The main experiments for the flight are reviewed. The technical experiments include: A-1, observation and photography of the process of rendezvous, docking, crew transfer, and undocking of Soyuz 7 and 8 from Soyuz 6; A-6, development of systems for orientation and translation of the spacecraft; A-15, development of methods for autonomous navigation. Scientific experiments include: B-1, observation and photography of clouds and cyclones; B-5, photography of geological and geographic surface features; B-10, welding methods in vacuum and weightlessness; B-13, observation of space glow phenomena (Gegenschein, zodiacal light, etc); B-19, micrometeoroid erosion of windows; B-19, arterial pressure before and after exercise. Military experiments include: V-15, observations of earth's surface under both light and dark conditions; V-19, receiving of middle-range radio waves through the ionosphere; V-20, measurement of energetic medium-energy rays tunnelling through the engine section; V-22, research into the possibility of targeted and aimed photography. There will also be television sessions and observation of ballistic missile launches using the Svinets device.