1974-046A
The second Almaz station, OPS 11F71 No. 101-2, was launched on 1974 Jun 24, becoming Salyut-3. Almaz/OPS 2 met with more success than its predecessor.
The station reached its operational orbit of 265 x 271 km on Jun 28 and on Jul 4 the Soyuz-14 transport ship docked with it, bringing aboard the first Almaz crew of Pol. Pavel Popovich and Podpol. Yuriy Artyukhin. The significance of the all-military crew, and of the relative lack of details given out about the mission, was not lost on Western observers of the program. The Soyuz-14 crew returned to Earth on Jul 19.
On Aug 24 the orbit of the station was raised again, heralding launch of a new mission. However the Soyuz-15 spaceship failed to dock on Aug 27, and astronauts Sarafanov and Dyomin made an emergency return to Earth without boarding Almaz.
On Sep 23 the Kapsul Spuskaemiya Informatisionaya (11F76 KSI, Data Landing Capsule) was ejected and recovered in the USSR.
On Dec 25, 1974, TASS announced that the mission of Salyut-3 had been completed (Salyut-4/DOS 4 was launched the next day) and on 1975 Jan 24 the second Almaz station was deorbited over the Pacific.
It has been suggested lthat this Almaz station carried and tested a `space cannon', probably the same one designed for Soyuz-VI.
| Salyut-3 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 Jun 24 | 2238:00 | Launch by Proton-K | KB |
| 2247 | 8S812 stage sep | ||
| 46C,D sep | |||
| 1974 Jun 25 | 0130 | 211 x 244 x 51.6 | |
| 0400 | 208 x 240 x 51.6 | ||
| 1700 | 213 x 253 x 51.6 | ||
| 1974 Jun 27 | 213 x 252 x 51.6 | ||
| Orbit raise | 251 x 268 x 51.6 | ||
| 1974 Jun 28 | Orbit raise | 265 x 271 x 51.6 | |
| 1974 Jul 2 | 266 x 269 x 51.6 | ||
| 268 x 272 x 51.6 | |||
| 1974 Jul 4 | 2100 | Soyuz-14 docked | |
| 1974 Jul 5 | 0130 | Soyuz-14 crew entry | |
| 1974 Jul 10 | Object 74-51C tracked | ||
| 1974 Jul 18 | 265 x 269 x 51.6 | ||
| 265 x 273 x 51.6 | |||
| 1974 Jul 19 | Crew transfer to Soyuz-14 | ||
| 0903 | Soyuz-14 undocked | ||
| 1974 Aug 21 | 258 x 261 x 51.6 | ||
| 1900 | Orbit trim | 258 x 263 x 51.6 | |
| 1974 Aug 24 | 258 x 261 x 51.6 | ||
| Orbit raise | 263 x 285 x 51.6 | ||
| 1974 Aug 27 | Soyuz-15 rendezvous | ||
| Soyuz-15 failed to dock | |||
| 1974 Aug 28 | 258 x 284 x 51.6 | ||
| 257 x 286 x 51.6 | |||
| 1974 Sep 23 | 0700? | KSI ejected | |
| 0936 | KSI landed | ||
| 1974 Sep 23 | 249 x 280 x 51.6 | ||
| 1974 Oct 24 | 253 x 259 x 51.6 | ||
| 0230 | Orbit raise | 261 x 285 x 51.6 | |
| 0500 | 255 x 295 x 51.6 | ||
| 1974 Dec 25 | Mission completion announced by TASS | ||
| 1975 Jan 22 | 0930 | 218 x 239 x 51.6 | |
| 1975 Jan 24 | |||
| 0630? | Deorbit | -73? x 233 | |
| 0655? | Impact | ||
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