Russian Bear
8th August 2025, 16:53
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On February 11, 1985, an emergency occurs in space orbit. Due to a malfunction in the control system, communication with the Salyut-7 orbital station is lost during the unmanned section of the flight. The automatic recharging of the buffer batteries failed, the station was de-energized and completely out of order.
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Salute-7
The uncontrolled space house, inhabited by 10 crews over 8 years of flight, is cooling down. And no one can calculate where it will crash and who will be hit by the unburned debris. The matter is fraught with a major international scandal.
And one more danger. The station can be captured by the Americans in the space arms race and military secrets can be obtained. At this very time, America was developing a global system of strategic initiative, the famous SDI, which was capable of destroying any missiles and satellites in space (the Soviet Union seriously believed in this).
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NASA American Space Center in Houston
In just a moment, information about the incident at the Salyut-7 station reaches the NASA American Space Center in Houston. One of the most acute confrontations between America and the Soviet Union begins, which miraculously does not end in World War III. On February 11, 1985, at one thirty in the morning, US President Ronald Reagan was awakened by a phone call.
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US President Ronald Reagan
- Mr. President, your personal order is required!
A voice said on the phone. It was the director of the National Security Agency, Air Force Lieutenant General Faura. It is not customary to call the White House at night, but the situation was an emergency.
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Air Force Lieutenant General Faura
- A Russian space station has disappeared from orbit.
- So what am I supposed to do, - asked the President, fly into space and find it?
- No, sir, we have another option. The Challenger shuttle is getting ready to launch at Cape Canaveral. If we reschedule the launch and recalculate the shuttle's orbit, we will find this station in space, try to remove it from orbit and, if we are lucky, return it to Earth. Your order and the support of the press are required.
There is no written confirmation, no direct instructions from the President of the United States about the capture of a Russian military station in space. The documents and all correspondence are still classified as "top secret". However, the coming events will show.
The President will still decide to take a crazy step in that night conversation. And the world will again find itself on the brink of disaster.
For the Moscow Region Mission Control Center, the loss of the Salyut-7 station's signal does not cause any particular alarm.
It will not go anywhere from orbit. It is necessary to restart the computers, and the signal will appear again. They decide not to make an emergency report to the government at the Mission Control Center.
That is why the very next day the entire leadership of the Mission Control Center will be called to the carpet to see the minister. On February 12, 1985, leading American newspapers come out with headlines "Russian death from space! The Soviet orbital station is flying on the heads of the Americans." In a sense, this was true.
The uncontrolled Salyut-7 can really fall. In the range from 51 degrees north latitude to 51 degrees south. And not only on America, but also on Europe and Japan.
At that moment, no one will understand that all this propaganda hype is the beginning of the implementation of a grandiose plan - abduction in orbit. The entire period of the Cold War between the USSR and the USA is, of course, the entire period of very acute confrontation. But the beginning of the 60s, the Cuban crisis and the beginning of the 80s - these are some of the most tense periods, when we really balanced on the brink of war.
Read more about this here: (History, Cold War) USSR and USA are on the brink of nuclear war and World War III https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?129583--Cold-War--USSR-and-USA-on-the-brink-of-a-nuclear-war-that-did-not-happen-in-1983-World-War-III.&p=1665101&viewfull=1#post1665101
CARIBBEAN CRISIS. Then the Cuban Missile Crisis ends with a compromise, and the Soviet Union withdraws medium-range missiles from Cuba, and the Americans seriously reduce their nuclear presence in Europe. However, by 1985, the agreements between Khrushchev and Kennedy have already been seriously violated. US President Ronald Reagan again returns American missiles to Europe as a response to the transfer of the 14th Army of the Soviet Union to Afghanistan.
At the beginning of 1985, we were in a state where we expected an attack at any moment. Then, in 1985, the Americans declared that the new system of strategic defense initiative, SDI, would be capable of destroying any satellite or missile in orbit. This meant only one thing - the world was on the threshold of star wars.
The American space cargo Shuttle was also part of SDI. Our reusable Buran was still being tested.
(Cold War) The world's best Soviet spacecraft "Energia Buran", the pinnacle of cosmonautics development: https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?129534--Cold-War--The-world-s-best-Soviet-spacecraft-Energia-Buran-the-pinnacle-of-cosmonautics-development&p=1664174&viewfull=1#post1664174
It could not be ruled out that the American shuttle would open its cargo bay, capture our satellite and the spaceships would be dragged out of orbit.
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The Challenger shuttle, ready for launch at Cape Canaveral, and the Russian station in orbit that has lost control, for Americans this is a coincidence like winning a tram ticket. Salyut-7 can easily be placed in the shuttle's cargo bay measuring 14 by 6 meters. The shuttle's carrying capacity is 27 tons.
The mass of the salute is only 20. The station was cooling down. It was no longer controlled.
It was not given commands and did not demand obedience. It could die as it wished. When the temperature inside went below zero, the titanium pipelines began to burst.
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Salyut-7
The water that had not yet frozen, gushing out of the cracks, rocked the Salyut-7 and froze on the cables and internal joints in ice growths. And then there were three flashes on the Sun. The light stream reached the outer skin of the station, and the wind hit the solar sails of its deployed batteries.
Spinning faster and faster, the station began its flight, understandable only to it. Already on the fourth turn, from the moment the signal disappeared, the duty officers of the command post of the military space forces discovered the Salyut-7 in distress. The only good news for the Mission Control Center was the ballistic forecast.
There were still 178 days and 11 hours left until the uncontrolled entry into the atmosphere, four days short of six months. This was enough time to prepare both the ship and the crew, who could try to save the station. However, two weeks later, a situation arose that abruptly changed the entire course of events.
On February 24, 13 days after the loss of control of the station, a report from the Main Intelligence Directorate landed on the desk of the Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union. The new crew of the American space shuttle Challenger included two well-known Soviet cosmonauts. Frenchmen Patrick Baudry and his backup, Hero of the Soviet Union, Knight of the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor Jean-Lucretien, who knew the Salyut-7 station inside out.
The French pilots Patrick Baudry and Jean-Lucretien became cosmonauts thanks to the USSR. A sign of Soviet-French friendship and in defiance of the Americans, they were invited to Moscow to participate in the International Space Expedition. Brilliant pilots – successors of the Soviet-French brotherhood of the Great Patriotic War.
"The Normandie-Niemen Squadron in Space" – that's what the newspapers wrote. The first Soviet-French crew in history to conquer the Universe. In 1982, Jean-Lucretien flew into space to the Salyut-7 orbital station together with Vladimir Dzhanibekov, the expedition commander. Patrick Baudry was his backup at the time.
In the American orbital mission of 1985, their roles are reversed. Jacques-Lucretien is assigned to the backup crew.
Will the Challenger be able to remove the Salyut-7 station from orbit and deliver it to Earth? Even the designers of the station themselves cannot answer this question unequivocally.
In deep principle, of course, these problems are technically solvable. But this requires a lot of time, the development of a methodology, and a lot of time and money.
The Americans have money, but if they succeed, the gain justifies all the costs. You can simply forget about Russian space. Plus the technologies that the Soviets possess, and which America never acquired.
For the Soviet Union, the interception of the station threatens a difficult international conflict. The capture of our spacecraft by the Americans was tantamount to the start of a nuclear war. This is the same as an American attack on our nuclear submarine, and vice versa.
And then, at an emergency meeting of the general designers and the government, a decision is made to quickly form the most experienced crew, save the station, and save the country at the same time. However, at least three months are needed to prepare the Soviet ship and crew. And at that moment, the Shuttle Challenger is already being launched onto the launch pad.
It was a disaster. But then an event occurs that changes not only the American plans. On March 10, 1985, at 19.20, after a serious illness, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko died.
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Funeral of Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko
The beginning of the 80s in the Soviet Union was called the five-year plan of lavish funerals. 1982. Leonid Brezhnev dies. In '83, Yuri Andropov. In March '85, Konstantin Chernenko. Of course, the death of state leaders within three years did not strengthen the image of our country. The chaos that reigned in the USSR leadership after Andropov's death reaches its apogee by February '85. Everyone understands that the death of the next General Secretary is only a few days away. An open struggle for power is already underway in the Politburo. And the Americans know about it. Against this background, abduction in orbit is a reality bordering on great risk and colossal technical difficulties. But reality.
In February 1985, none of the USSR's leadership will take responsibility for a nuclear strike on the United States. Chernenko's death radically changes the situation. It is now impossible to predict the Soviet Union's reaction to the actions of the Americans.
Ten o'clock in the morning. On March 10, 1985, at noon local time, information that General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Konstantin Chernenko has died comes to Washington. There are a few hours before the Challenger launch.
On the same day, March 10, 1985, the Americans cancel the launch of Challenger and postpone it until the end of April. The official reason is technical problems. Postponing the launch of Challenger gives Moscow a chance. The Mission Control Center has the opportunity to get ahead of the Americans and send a rescue crew into orbit.
"Star City". Cosmonaut-rescuers. They are being trained for the Russian space shuttle Buran. The squadron includes the best of the best - fighter pilots, test pilots.
They master technologies for a special program - delivery of space stations and satellites into orbit, their repair and return to Earth, transition from orbit to orbit using the ship's engines.
The option of launching Buran into space and placing the station inside the compartment of the Soviet space shuttle was considered. Despite the fact that Buran was still undergoing tests at that time and was not fully operational. It would take another half a year for full completion. But there are people who know the entire algorithm of the new program. And then the standard Soyuz spacecraft is urgently redesigned for the orbital rescue operation. But the main thing is the operation commander. Such a flight requires a person with enormous experience. In the cosmonaut corps, this is Vladimir Dzhanibekov.
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Right Viktor Savinykh and Vladimir Dzhanibekov left
However, with his fourth flight into space in 1984, he effectively ended his flight career.
A meeting of the Great Technical Council was held, and Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov arrived in the "Star City" at night, on Friday, went to him and said, "Volodya, this is the situation, would you agree?"
He said "yes" without hesitation.
They decide at the same meeting. The ship's commander will choose the flight engineer himself, Dzhanibekov does not think long. The flight engineer will be Viktor Savinykh. He really knows the station better than anyone. And he also knows Dzhanibekov better than anyone.
The cosmonauts understood perfectly well the unpredictability of the flight. In fact, they were voluntary suicide bombers, with a one-way ticket.
However, they would not be the first to arrive at the lost Salyut-7. The station was slowly descending, the 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets that it met and saw off every day began to arrive faster. Nothing was bothering it. No one was disturbing the station.
But on an early April morning, an unfamiliar shadow fell on it from above. It grew larger and covered the sun. It was the shadow of a huge white American bird with a black belly. The station had seen it once before, but then the bird had not flown so close.
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Under this shadow, the station's skin began to shrink from the cold.
Viktor Savinykh, USSR pilot-cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union:
I looked through my archives many times and never saw the photos taken in space of the seventh salute, before we came to it. And then someone from the United States of America sent me three such photos. This is indeed the very salute we were flying to, and it says here, dead salute seven.
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Made in the USA. Publisher. Year. Copyright. According to experts, the photo on the postcard was taken from the Challenger shuttle, which was launched into orbit on April 29, 1985, at 16:02:18 CET.
Judging by the data available for this period, the Americans had anticipated this in advance. In principle, we can say that they began planning it in advance from the moment Salyut-7 was launched.
The first time Challenger flew into the Salyut orbit was back in October 1984. Then it picked up a small satellite, Spy, from space. This was the next stage of the program to search for and remove uncontrolled objects from orbit. The April flight of the Shuttle completed this secret program with a maneuver to approach a large mass object. The orbital divergence of the Salyut-7 and Challenger stations on that flight was 1.7 degrees.
Because they were launched into this orbit, and they could have ended up in the 51 degree orbit, no question. They have enough fuel, a couple of tons of fuel for maneuvering.
For this, at the right moment, optimally, this is already a separate task to solve the essence, depending on the situation, flying past one of the nodes of the orbit, an impulse is given and the planes of the orbits are combined.
The April flight of the Shuttle Challenger was that third final stage of the search for large objects in orbit.
Taking someone else's ship, for example, with solar batteries, with antennas sticking out in all directions, is a very terribly difficult problem. The station must be shaved clean. The second problem is that this 20-ton colossus must be put on a slipway in the shuttle's cargo bay and secured.
The space laboratory "Spacelab" is being installed in the cargo bay of the Challenger. With its help, it is possible to record everything that happens with the Salyut-7, and study all the fastening units of the station and external equipment down to the rivets. After this flight, the Americans are completely ready to board the Russian station in space.
Space boarding is a slang word. From the point of view of space flight theory, this is an operation of meeting in orbit, one of the varieties that is written with the same equations of motion and uses the same guidance algorithms as when docking with the International Space Station.
The mass and dimensions of Space Lab almost coincide with the mass and dimensions of the Salyut-7. Returning from high orbit with such a payload along a specially calculated ballistic trajectory, Challenger is actually practicing landing with a Salyut-7 on board.
In the history of cosmonautics, no one has ever performed a long-range approach to an uncontrolled cosmic body. The astronauts did not have the technology to search for such objects. It is possible to build an algorithm for such work only after seeing the station.
But to see it, you need either fantastic luck or perfect calculation. Or rather, both together. The Soyuz ship, which is supposed to go searching for the station, cannot perform serious maneuvers in orbit. It simply carries the crew to the station along a calculated trajectory and returns them to Earth.
Dzhanibekov and Savinykh had to teach this machine a completely different way of existing in near-Earth space. Externally, the Soyuz T-13 differed little from other ships. All the changes concerned the interior.
The designers removed all unnecessary parts from the standard T-13. They added water and fuel tanks. Considering that docking would have to be done practically by touch, a laser rangefinder and a night vision device were installed on the porthole. A duplicate control of the ship was attached a little lower. And still, no one fully understood the docking mechanism without any reference points. In accordance with the space exploration program, on June 6, 1985, at 10:40 Moscow time, the Soyuz-T-13 spacecraft was launched in the Soviet Union.
The flight program provided for joint work with the Salyut-7 orbital station. Only specialists paid attention to the official TASS report, published in all the newspapers of the Soviet Union that day.
Another launch of another spacecraft. And only professionals knew that the task set before the crew was on the verge of the possible.
It was necessary to try to dock. Try to move to the station. Try to establish the cause of the loss of communication and, if possible, restore the complex. But first, the station must at least be found. When everything inside the station froze, the station calmed down. Only a lazy environment around the longitudinal axis.
It had been free for almost four months. It was still living its own life, not imposed from the earth. As soon as it went out to the sunny side, thin bright rays began to break through the closed portholes. The station even exposed its left side to the Sun, so there were more rays. It floated freely, approaching the Earth, and increasingly feeling its attraction.
Two cosmonauts looked and searched through the porthole, where it should appear. It appeared as a small star, they realized that it was not a star, that it was not a planet, it was a station. It was brighter than all the stars and planets. The station was right in the porthole, as expected. Well, the Moon was a good landmark.
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This is how the cosmonauts saw the Salyut-7 station, disoriented in space, through the windows of their spacecraft on June 8, 1985 (photo and caption from the photo album “First in the World. Pages of Space Launches”)
The approach began. Salyut had to be caught up with. To aim, catch the station in the sighting device and get precise parameters - just a few seconds. No room for error. Then - again in line of sight mode.
“Zarya, Zarya, I am “Pomir-2”. How do you hear me? Over.” "One and a half kilometers away. We continue approaching, health is normal."
One and a half kilometers is only a formal distance. In reality, there is still an abyss between the Soyuz T-13 spacecraft and the Salyut-7 orbital station. An abyss of the unknown.
They used to dock like this. Certain data about the presence of a station in orbit is entered into the ship's machine, and the machine leads you to this station. Impulses are issued, and the station is automatically approached. This was not the case here.
Only at this distance did they realize that the station was turned to the ship with a non-working docking port. Docking in the normal mode is impossible. It must be canceled. Earth, however, offered to try. But if it fails, then the mission is a failure, descent from orbit and fireworks falling on the heads of earthlings. The crew decides to fly around the station. But it is only in science fiction films that spaceships maneuver like fighters in the sky. In reality, they fly in a straight line, only adjusting their trajectory. A maneuver as complex as flying around the station, if unsuccessful, would not only result in the failure of the mission, but also the death of the crew.
After a long pause, Earth agrees with the commander's decision. And again, no room for error. The main thing is not to lose sight of the station.
If you see it, you control your actions. You understand at what speed you are flying around, in which direction. After all, you need to fly around in the right direction.
Well, of course, manually docking is a problem in itself. Quite complex, requiring skills, attentiveness. Misalignment of the ship and the station is within tolerance.
The control center heard: There is a docking!!!
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It will go down in all the world's textbooks. Manual dockings were both before and after. However, no one, ever, except for the crew of Vladimir Dzhanebekov and Viktor Svinykh, docked like this in outer space.
Moreover, with an uncontrolled object. A successful docking was also recorded in Houston, although it did not guarantee anything yet. Therefore, at Cape Canaveral, they continued to prepare another shuttle, Discovery, for launch.
The crew still includes cosmonaut Patrick Badri, who knows Salyut-7 inside out. And one free pilot's seat. After all, the Russians will not cope with the station.
And in the catastrophe that will inevitably happen, only one cosmonaut will survive. The one who will be the backer. And then the American shuttle will rise into orbit, take the uncontrollable Salyut and, perhaps, save the Russian cosmonaut.
Two of the tasks assigned to Vladimir Dzhanebekov and Viktor Svinykh have been completed. But the most important thing is ahead. To find out what happened to Salyut.
To do this, it is necessary to enter it.
On Earth, depressurization was most feared. If there is a vacuum of space on the station, the crew will have to bring it down from orbit. The air reserves on the ship are simply not enough to fill the entire Salyut. We opened the valve and checked whether the pressure there was dropping or not. The next moments should determine the fate of the entire expedition. The first turn of the valve plug. The pressure gauge needle inexorably creeps down. An agonizing wait and a thin whistle of escaping air. A few more seconds, and the valve will have to be closed, the transfer hatches will be battened down and the operation to destroy the Salyut will begin.
At first, they were wary, because the pressure gauge needle very quickly trembled in the direction of descent. But then it slowed down and hit their ears. It became clear that it was cold there, probably that is why both the temperature and the pressure were low. When the cosmonauts equalized the pressure between the station and the ship, it was clear that the atmosphere and pressure were the same, so they could open the hatches. They already realized in the transfer compartment that there was no electricity.
They floated inside, the silence was eerie, dark, cold. The cosmonauts were silent.
The station was silent too. It seemed that the space house was dead.
Two cosmonauts were flying in the dark with flashlights, nothing was working.
They opened the porthole cover, a pillar of light appeared. They were right on the sunny side of the orbit. The pillar of light penetrated inside the station, dust particles were visible and a beautiful sight. The preliminary inspection is complete. Salyut-7 is completely de-energized.
All systems are frozen. The air regeneration system is not working. The station itself is minus seven. Water and air reserves are enough for five days. During this time, the crew must ring all the electrical circuits of the fireworks, charge the batteries and revive the automation. Only then will the station have heat, light and clean air.
Well, and then we need to do some repairs. The station with the docked Soyuz was a death trap. As soon as the rescuers supply heat and turn on the light, the ice will melt.
The station will bring down streams of water on them and short-circuit the wiring. And then there will be excess oxygen and a fire in which the rescue crew will die. And the station will continue its flight and, entering the dense layers of the atmosphere, will simply return to Earth those who have learned to overcome gravity with such ease.
In America, they continued to wait. In Houston, they understood that when the Russian cosmonauts penetrated the frozen station, events would develop with alarming speed. A short circuit would disable not only the station's systems, but also all the systems of the ship on which the rescue crew arrived at Salyut-7.
The Americans were already familiar with such a course of events from their experience with their orbital station SkyLup, which perished back in 1979. Then, for similar reasons, the Americans failed to save it. NASA is confident that it is unrealistic to revive such an object in such a situation.
The Americans continued to prepare for the flight. There were 10 days left in reserve. The time that the Russians had to either complete their mission or die.
And the high offices had already announced the heroic crew of Dzhenebekov-Savinykh, the accident at the station and serious problems that had already been fixed. The world was waiting for the heroes to be shown, first on television. The Americans were especially expecting this.
The shuttle Discovery was still standing on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. A report from orbit from the Salyut-7 station was urgently needed. It was decided that the first television report had to be made and shown.
Everything happened as NASA experts predicted. Except for one thing, there was no short circuit.
Dzhenebekov and Savinykh did not supply electricity to the station. The cosmonauts simply turned it around with the ship so that it would warm up as much as possible with the sun. That's when the nightmare began.
After it appeared, the temperature became positive, all that ice that was around, it all melted. It was the most terrible moment of life at the station. Because the entire station was covered with a thin film of water. You hit the wall, it splashes. I opened the panel and stuck my hand into the panels, which were completely covered in water, there was little light. I plunged my hand right into the water. This entire volume is one water, where the wires and microcircuits are. The Ice Age gave way to a worldwide flood.
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They started using rags. What rags? There aren't many of them on the station. Towels, napkins - they're all gone. They started tearing apart the linen first, then the suits.
All they could do was wait for the cargo ship to arrive and do their best to save the station. They kept repeating to Earth.
Don't forget about the rags. We need rags. All the panels were open, practically all of them. And when they repaired it, there was such chaos, everything was flying, 2-3 days were allocated to put it all back in place.
A television report from orbit about the Russian cosmonauts who revived the dead Salyut-7 station was shown on all American television channels. And 5 days later, in a ceremonial atmosphere, the launch of the shuttle Discovery with the first French-Arab-American crew on board was broadcast from Cape Canaveral. Four Mexican communications satellites were loaded on board the shuttle.
The crew was faced with the task of conducting a series of complex experiments in space and returning safely to Earth. The shuttle's onboard machines were programmed to enter the low orbit familiar to astronauts. According to Patrick Baudry, we are unlikely to know the truth about what happened in 1985.
And even if we do find out, and we have all the documents confirming exactly this development of events, it will still not change anything. Today, only one thing is important. There are two people living on Earth who saved their country in space.
Preface
For another six years after the rescue expedition, the Salyut-7 station continued to operate. And in 1998, the story of the rescuers' flight into orbit and the emergency launch of the shuttle received an unexpected and even comical continuation. That same videotape with the recording of Savinykh and Dzhanibekov, removing striped woolen hats in front of the camera, fell into the hands of American producers.
And the film "Armageddon" with the courageous rescuer Bruce Willes appeared on screens around the world. And Dzhanibekov and Savinykh became one cosmonaut, an unshaven Russian man in terrifyingly large felt boots and a fur hat with an earflaps with a star on his forehead, a sledgehammer, repairing the orbital complex. Those in the know laughed. And those who didn't know were offended. That's the story.
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A Russian depicted by Americans from the film Armageddon
EIci1Wgr9Bg
On February 11, 1985, an emergency occurs in space orbit. Due to a malfunction in the control system, communication with the Salyut-7 orbital station is lost during the unmanned section of the flight. The automatic recharging of the buffer batteries failed, the station was de-energized and completely out of order.
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Salute-7
The uncontrolled space house, inhabited by 10 crews over 8 years of flight, is cooling down. And no one can calculate where it will crash and who will be hit by the unburned debris. The matter is fraught with a major international scandal.
And one more danger. The station can be captured by the Americans in the space arms race and military secrets can be obtained. At this very time, America was developing a global system of strategic initiative, the famous SDI, which was capable of destroying any missiles and satellites in space (the Soviet Union seriously believed in this).
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NASA American Space Center in Houston
In just a moment, information about the incident at the Salyut-7 station reaches the NASA American Space Center in Houston. One of the most acute confrontations between America and the Soviet Union begins, which miraculously does not end in World War III. On February 11, 1985, at one thirty in the morning, US President Ronald Reagan was awakened by a phone call.
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US President Ronald Reagan
- Mr. President, your personal order is required!
A voice said on the phone. It was the director of the National Security Agency, Air Force Lieutenant General Faura. It is not customary to call the White House at night, but the situation was an emergency.
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Air Force Lieutenant General Faura
- A Russian space station has disappeared from orbit.
- So what am I supposed to do, - asked the President, fly into space and find it?
- No, sir, we have another option. The Challenger shuttle is getting ready to launch at Cape Canaveral. If we reschedule the launch and recalculate the shuttle's orbit, we will find this station in space, try to remove it from orbit and, if we are lucky, return it to Earth. Your order and the support of the press are required.
There is no written confirmation, no direct instructions from the President of the United States about the capture of a Russian military station in space. The documents and all correspondence are still classified as "top secret". However, the coming events will show.
The President will still decide to take a crazy step in that night conversation. And the world will again find itself on the brink of disaster.
For the Moscow Region Mission Control Center, the loss of the Salyut-7 station's signal does not cause any particular alarm.
It will not go anywhere from orbit. It is necessary to restart the computers, and the signal will appear again. They decide not to make an emergency report to the government at the Mission Control Center.
That is why the very next day the entire leadership of the Mission Control Center will be called to the carpet to see the minister. On February 12, 1985, leading American newspapers come out with headlines "Russian death from space! The Soviet orbital station is flying on the heads of the Americans." In a sense, this was true.
The uncontrolled Salyut-7 can really fall. In the range from 51 degrees north latitude to 51 degrees south. And not only on America, but also on Europe and Japan.
At that moment, no one will understand that all this propaganda hype is the beginning of the implementation of a grandiose plan - abduction in orbit. The entire period of the Cold War between the USSR and the USA is, of course, the entire period of very acute confrontation. But the beginning of the 60s, the Cuban crisis and the beginning of the 80s - these are some of the most tense periods, when we really balanced on the brink of war.
Read more about this here: (History, Cold War) USSR and USA are on the brink of nuclear war and World War III https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?129583--Cold-War--USSR-and-USA-on-the-brink-of-a-nuclear-war-that-did-not-happen-in-1983-World-War-III.&p=1665101&viewfull=1#post1665101
CARIBBEAN CRISIS. Then the Cuban Missile Crisis ends with a compromise, and the Soviet Union withdraws medium-range missiles from Cuba, and the Americans seriously reduce their nuclear presence in Europe. However, by 1985, the agreements between Khrushchev and Kennedy have already been seriously violated. US President Ronald Reagan again returns American missiles to Europe as a response to the transfer of the 14th Army of the Soviet Union to Afghanistan.
At the beginning of 1985, we were in a state where we expected an attack at any moment. Then, in 1985, the Americans declared that the new system of strategic defense initiative, SDI, would be capable of destroying any satellite or missile in orbit. This meant only one thing - the world was on the threshold of star wars.
The American space cargo Shuttle was also part of SDI. Our reusable Buran was still being tested.
(Cold War) The world's best Soviet spacecraft "Energia Buran", the pinnacle of cosmonautics development: https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?129534--Cold-War--The-world-s-best-Soviet-spacecraft-Energia-Buran-the-pinnacle-of-cosmonautics-development&p=1664174&viewfull=1#post1664174
It could not be ruled out that the American shuttle would open its cargo bay, capture our satellite and the spaceships would be dragged out of orbit.
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The Challenger shuttle, ready for launch at Cape Canaveral, and the Russian station in orbit that has lost control, for Americans this is a coincidence like winning a tram ticket. Salyut-7 can easily be placed in the shuttle's cargo bay measuring 14 by 6 meters. The shuttle's carrying capacity is 27 tons.
The mass of the salute is only 20. The station was cooling down. It was no longer controlled.
It was not given commands and did not demand obedience. It could die as it wished. When the temperature inside went below zero, the titanium pipelines began to burst.
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Salyut-7
The water that had not yet frozen, gushing out of the cracks, rocked the Salyut-7 and froze on the cables and internal joints in ice growths. And then there were three flashes on the Sun. The light stream reached the outer skin of the station, and the wind hit the solar sails of its deployed batteries.
Spinning faster and faster, the station began its flight, understandable only to it. Already on the fourth turn, from the moment the signal disappeared, the duty officers of the command post of the military space forces discovered the Salyut-7 in distress. The only good news for the Mission Control Center was the ballistic forecast.
There were still 178 days and 11 hours left until the uncontrolled entry into the atmosphere, four days short of six months. This was enough time to prepare both the ship and the crew, who could try to save the station. However, two weeks later, a situation arose that abruptly changed the entire course of events.
On February 24, 13 days after the loss of control of the station, a report from the Main Intelligence Directorate landed on the desk of the Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union. The new crew of the American space shuttle Challenger included two well-known Soviet cosmonauts. Frenchmen Patrick Baudry and his backup, Hero of the Soviet Union, Knight of the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor Jean-Lucretien, who knew the Salyut-7 station inside out.
The French pilots Patrick Baudry and Jean-Lucretien became cosmonauts thanks to the USSR. A sign of Soviet-French friendship and in defiance of the Americans, they were invited to Moscow to participate in the International Space Expedition. Brilliant pilots – successors of the Soviet-French brotherhood of the Great Patriotic War.
"The Normandie-Niemen Squadron in Space" – that's what the newspapers wrote. The first Soviet-French crew in history to conquer the Universe. In 1982, Jean-Lucretien flew into space to the Salyut-7 orbital station together with Vladimir Dzhanibekov, the expedition commander. Patrick Baudry was his backup at the time.
In the American orbital mission of 1985, their roles are reversed. Jacques-Lucretien is assigned to the backup crew.
Will the Challenger be able to remove the Salyut-7 station from orbit and deliver it to Earth? Even the designers of the station themselves cannot answer this question unequivocally.
In deep principle, of course, these problems are technically solvable. But this requires a lot of time, the development of a methodology, and a lot of time and money.
The Americans have money, but if they succeed, the gain justifies all the costs. You can simply forget about Russian space. Plus the technologies that the Soviets possess, and which America never acquired.
For the Soviet Union, the interception of the station threatens a difficult international conflict. The capture of our spacecraft by the Americans was tantamount to the start of a nuclear war. This is the same as an American attack on our nuclear submarine, and vice versa.
And then, at an emergency meeting of the general designers and the government, a decision is made to quickly form the most experienced crew, save the station, and save the country at the same time. However, at least three months are needed to prepare the Soviet ship and crew. And at that moment, the Shuttle Challenger is already being launched onto the launch pad.
It was a disaster. But then an event occurs that changes not only the American plans. On March 10, 1985, at 19.20, after a serious illness, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko died.
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Funeral of Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko
The beginning of the 80s in the Soviet Union was called the five-year plan of lavish funerals. 1982. Leonid Brezhnev dies. In '83, Yuri Andropov. In March '85, Konstantin Chernenko. Of course, the death of state leaders within three years did not strengthen the image of our country. The chaos that reigned in the USSR leadership after Andropov's death reaches its apogee by February '85. Everyone understands that the death of the next General Secretary is only a few days away. An open struggle for power is already underway in the Politburo. And the Americans know about it. Against this background, abduction in orbit is a reality bordering on great risk and colossal technical difficulties. But reality.
In February 1985, none of the USSR's leadership will take responsibility for a nuclear strike on the United States. Chernenko's death radically changes the situation. It is now impossible to predict the Soviet Union's reaction to the actions of the Americans.
Ten o'clock in the morning. On March 10, 1985, at noon local time, information that General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Konstantin Chernenko has died comes to Washington. There are a few hours before the Challenger launch.
On the same day, March 10, 1985, the Americans cancel the launch of Challenger and postpone it until the end of April. The official reason is technical problems. Postponing the launch of Challenger gives Moscow a chance. The Mission Control Center has the opportunity to get ahead of the Americans and send a rescue crew into orbit.
"Star City". Cosmonaut-rescuers. They are being trained for the Russian space shuttle Buran. The squadron includes the best of the best - fighter pilots, test pilots.
They master technologies for a special program - delivery of space stations and satellites into orbit, their repair and return to Earth, transition from orbit to orbit using the ship's engines.
The option of launching Buran into space and placing the station inside the compartment of the Soviet space shuttle was considered. Despite the fact that Buran was still undergoing tests at that time and was not fully operational. It would take another half a year for full completion. But there are people who know the entire algorithm of the new program. And then the standard Soyuz spacecraft is urgently redesigned for the orbital rescue operation. But the main thing is the operation commander. Such a flight requires a person with enormous experience. In the cosmonaut corps, this is Vladimir Dzhanibekov.
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Right Viktor Savinykh and Vladimir Dzhanibekov left
However, with his fourth flight into space in 1984, he effectively ended his flight career.
A meeting of the Great Technical Council was held, and Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov arrived in the "Star City" at night, on Friday, went to him and said, "Volodya, this is the situation, would you agree?"
He said "yes" without hesitation.
They decide at the same meeting. The ship's commander will choose the flight engineer himself, Dzhanibekov does not think long. The flight engineer will be Viktor Savinykh. He really knows the station better than anyone. And he also knows Dzhanibekov better than anyone.
The cosmonauts understood perfectly well the unpredictability of the flight. In fact, they were voluntary suicide bombers, with a one-way ticket.
However, they would not be the first to arrive at the lost Salyut-7. The station was slowly descending, the 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets that it met and saw off every day began to arrive faster. Nothing was bothering it. No one was disturbing the station.
But on an early April morning, an unfamiliar shadow fell on it from above. It grew larger and covered the sun. It was the shadow of a huge white American bird with a black belly. The station had seen it once before, but then the bird had not flown so close.
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Under this shadow, the station's skin began to shrink from the cold.
Viktor Savinykh, USSR pilot-cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union:
I looked through my archives many times and never saw the photos taken in space of the seventh salute, before we came to it. And then someone from the United States of America sent me three such photos. This is indeed the very salute we were flying to, and it says here, dead salute seven.
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Made in the USA. Publisher. Year. Copyright. According to experts, the photo on the postcard was taken from the Challenger shuttle, which was launched into orbit on April 29, 1985, at 16:02:18 CET.
Judging by the data available for this period, the Americans had anticipated this in advance. In principle, we can say that they began planning it in advance from the moment Salyut-7 was launched.
The first time Challenger flew into the Salyut orbit was back in October 1984. Then it picked up a small satellite, Spy, from space. This was the next stage of the program to search for and remove uncontrolled objects from orbit. The April flight of the Shuttle completed this secret program with a maneuver to approach a large mass object. The orbital divergence of the Salyut-7 and Challenger stations on that flight was 1.7 degrees.
Because they were launched into this orbit, and they could have ended up in the 51 degree orbit, no question. They have enough fuel, a couple of tons of fuel for maneuvering.
For this, at the right moment, optimally, this is already a separate task to solve the essence, depending on the situation, flying past one of the nodes of the orbit, an impulse is given and the planes of the orbits are combined.
The April flight of the Shuttle Challenger was that third final stage of the search for large objects in orbit.
Taking someone else's ship, for example, with solar batteries, with antennas sticking out in all directions, is a very terribly difficult problem. The station must be shaved clean. The second problem is that this 20-ton colossus must be put on a slipway in the shuttle's cargo bay and secured.
The space laboratory "Spacelab" is being installed in the cargo bay of the Challenger. With its help, it is possible to record everything that happens with the Salyut-7, and study all the fastening units of the station and external equipment down to the rivets. After this flight, the Americans are completely ready to board the Russian station in space.
Space boarding is a slang word. From the point of view of space flight theory, this is an operation of meeting in orbit, one of the varieties that is written with the same equations of motion and uses the same guidance algorithms as when docking with the International Space Station.
The mass and dimensions of Space Lab almost coincide with the mass and dimensions of the Salyut-7. Returning from high orbit with such a payload along a specially calculated ballistic trajectory, Challenger is actually practicing landing with a Salyut-7 on board.
In the history of cosmonautics, no one has ever performed a long-range approach to an uncontrolled cosmic body. The astronauts did not have the technology to search for such objects. It is possible to build an algorithm for such work only after seeing the station.
But to see it, you need either fantastic luck or perfect calculation. Or rather, both together. The Soyuz ship, which is supposed to go searching for the station, cannot perform serious maneuvers in orbit. It simply carries the crew to the station along a calculated trajectory and returns them to Earth.
Dzhanibekov and Savinykh had to teach this machine a completely different way of existing in near-Earth space. Externally, the Soyuz T-13 differed little from other ships. All the changes concerned the interior.
The designers removed all unnecessary parts from the standard T-13. They added water and fuel tanks. Considering that docking would have to be done practically by touch, a laser rangefinder and a night vision device were installed on the porthole. A duplicate control of the ship was attached a little lower. And still, no one fully understood the docking mechanism without any reference points. In accordance with the space exploration program, on June 6, 1985, at 10:40 Moscow time, the Soyuz-T-13 spacecraft was launched in the Soviet Union.
The flight program provided for joint work with the Salyut-7 orbital station. Only specialists paid attention to the official TASS report, published in all the newspapers of the Soviet Union that day.
Another launch of another spacecraft. And only professionals knew that the task set before the crew was on the verge of the possible.
It was necessary to try to dock. Try to move to the station. Try to establish the cause of the loss of communication and, if possible, restore the complex. But first, the station must at least be found. When everything inside the station froze, the station calmed down. Only a lazy environment around the longitudinal axis.
It had been free for almost four months. It was still living its own life, not imposed from the earth. As soon as it went out to the sunny side, thin bright rays began to break through the closed portholes. The station even exposed its left side to the Sun, so there were more rays. It floated freely, approaching the Earth, and increasingly feeling its attraction.
Two cosmonauts looked and searched through the porthole, where it should appear. It appeared as a small star, they realized that it was not a star, that it was not a planet, it was a station. It was brighter than all the stars and planets. The station was right in the porthole, as expected. Well, the Moon was a good landmark.
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This is how the cosmonauts saw the Salyut-7 station, disoriented in space, through the windows of their spacecraft on June 8, 1985 (photo and caption from the photo album “First in the World. Pages of Space Launches”)
The approach began. Salyut had to be caught up with. To aim, catch the station in the sighting device and get precise parameters - just a few seconds. No room for error. Then - again in line of sight mode.
“Zarya, Zarya, I am “Pomir-2”. How do you hear me? Over.” "One and a half kilometers away. We continue approaching, health is normal."
One and a half kilometers is only a formal distance. In reality, there is still an abyss between the Soyuz T-13 spacecraft and the Salyut-7 orbital station. An abyss of the unknown.
They used to dock like this. Certain data about the presence of a station in orbit is entered into the ship's machine, and the machine leads you to this station. Impulses are issued, and the station is automatically approached. This was not the case here.
Only at this distance did they realize that the station was turned to the ship with a non-working docking port. Docking in the normal mode is impossible. It must be canceled. Earth, however, offered to try. But if it fails, then the mission is a failure, descent from orbit and fireworks falling on the heads of earthlings. The crew decides to fly around the station. But it is only in science fiction films that spaceships maneuver like fighters in the sky. In reality, they fly in a straight line, only adjusting their trajectory. A maneuver as complex as flying around the station, if unsuccessful, would not only result in the failure of the mission, but also the death of the crew.
After a long pause, Earth agrees with the commander's decision. And again, no room for error. The main thing is not to lose sight of the station.
If you see it, you control your actions. You understand at what speed you are flying around, in which direction. After all, you need to fly around in the right direction.
Well, of course, manually docking is a problem in itself. Quite complex, requiring skills, attentiveness. Misalignment of the ship and the station is within tolerance.
The control center heard: There is a docking!!!
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It will go down in all the world's textbooks. Manual dockings were both before and after. However, no one, ever, except for the crew of Vladimir Dzhanebekov and Viktor Svinykh, docked like this in outer space.
Moreover, with an uncontrolled object. A successful docking was also recorded in Houston, although it did not guarantee anything yet. Therefore, at Cape Canaveral, they continued to prepare another shuttle, Discovery, for launch.
The crew still includes cosmonaut Patrick Badri, who knows Salyut-7 inside out. And one free pilot's seat. After all, the Russians will not cope with the station.
And in the catastrophe that will inevitably happen, only one cosmonaut will survive. The one who will be the backer. And then the American shuttle will rise into orbit, take the uncontrollable Salyut and, perhaps, save the Russian cosmonaut.
Two of the tasks assigned to Vladimir Dzhanebekov and Viktor Svinykh have been completed. But the most important thing is ahead. To find out what happened to Salyut.
To do this, it is necessary to enter it.
On Earth, depressurization was most feared. If there is a vacuum of space on the station, the crew will have to bring it down from orbit. The air reserves on the ship are simply not enough to fill the entire Salyut. We opened the valve and checked whether the pressure there was dropping or not. The next moments should determine the fate of the entire expedition. The first turn of the valve plug. The pressure gauge needle inexorably creeps down. An agonizing wait and a thin whistle of escaping air. A few more seconds, and the valve will have to be closed, the transfer hatches will be battened down and the operation to destroy the Salyut will begin.
At first, they were wary, because the pressure gauge needle very quickly trembled in the direction of descent. But then it slowed down and hit their ears. It became clear that it was cold there, probably that is why both the temperature and the pressure were low. When the cosmonauts equalized the pressure between the station and the ship, it was clear that the atmosphere and pressure were the same, so they could open the hatches. They already realized in the transfer compartment that there was no electricity.
They floated inside, the silence was eerie, dark, cold. The cosmonauts were silent.
The station was silent too. It seemed that the space house was dead.
Two cosmonauts were flying in the dark with flashlights, nothing was working.
They opened the porthole cover, a pillar of light appeared. They were right on the sunny side of the orbit. The pillar of light penetrated inside the station, dust particles were visible and a beautiful sight. The preliminary inspection is complete. Salyut-7 is completely de-energized.
All systems are frozen. The air regeneration system is not working. The station itself is minus seven. Water and air reserves are enough for five days. During this time, the crew must ring all the electrical circuits of the fireworks, charge the batteries and revive the automation. Only then will the station have heat, light and clean air.
Well, and then we need to do some repairs. The station with the docked Soyuz was a death trap. As soon as the rescuers supply heat and turn on the light, the ice will melt.
The station will bring down streams of water on them and short-circuit the wiring. And then there will be excess oxygen and a fire in which the rescue crew will die. And the station will continue its flight and, entering the dense layers of the atmosphere, will simply return to Earth those who have learned to overcome gravity with such ease.
In America, they continued to wait. In Houston, they understood that when the Russian cosmonauts penetrated the frozen station, events would develop with alarming speed. A short circuit would disable not only the station's systems, but also all the systems of the ship on which the rescue crew arrived at Salyut-7.
The Americans were already familiar with such a course of events from their experience with their orbital station SkyLup, which perished back in 1979. Then, for similar reasons, the Americans failed to save it. NASA is confident that it is unrealistic to revive such an object in such a situation.
The Americans continued to prepare for the flight. There were 10 days left in reserve. The time that the Russians had to either complete their mission or die.
And the high offices had already announced the heroic crew of Dzhenebekov-Savinykh, the accident at the station and serious problems that had already been fixed. The world was waiting for the heroes to be shown, first on television. The Americans were especially expecting this.
The shuttle Discovery was still standing on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. A report from orbit from the Salyut-7 station was urgently needed. It was decided that the first television report had to be made and shown.
Everything happened as NASA experts predicted. Except for one thing, there was no short circuit.
Dzhenebekov and Savinykh did not supply electricity to the station. The cosmonauts simply turned it around with the ship so that it would warm up as much as possible with the sun. That's when the nightmare began.
After it appeared, the temperature became positive, all that ice that was around, it all melted. It was the most terrible moment of life at the station. Because the entire station was covered with a thin film of water. You hit the wall, it splashes. I opened the panel and stuck my hand into the panels, which were completely covered in water, there was little light. I plunged my hand right into the water. This entire volume is one water, where the wires and microcircuits are. The Ice Age gave way to a worldwide flood.
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They started using rags. What rags? There aren't many of them on the station. Towels, napkins - they're all gone. They started tearing apart the linen first, then the suits.
All they could do was wait for the cargo ship to arrive and do their best to save the station. They kept repeating to Earth.
Don't forget about the rags. We need rags. All the panels were open, practically all of them. And when they repaired it, there was such chaos, everything was flying, 2-3 days were allocated to put it all back in place.
A television report from orbit about the Russian cosmonauts who revived the dead Salyut-7 station was shown on all American television channels. And 5 days later, in a ceremonial atmosphere, the launch of the shuttle Discovery with the first French-Arab-American crew on board was broadcast from Cape Canaveral. Four Mexican communications satellites were loaded on board the shuttle.
The crew was faced with the task of conducting a series of complex experiments in space and returning safely to Earth. The shuttle's onboard machines were programmed to enter the low orbit familiar to astronauts. According to Patrick Baudry, we are unlikely to know the truth about what happened in 1985.
And even if we do find out, and we have all the documents confirming exactly this development of events, it will still not change anything. Today, only one thing is important. There are two people living on Earth who saved their country in space.
Preface
For another six years after the rescue expedition, the Salyut-7 station continued to operate. And in 1998, the story of the rescuers' flight into orbit and the emergency launch of the shuttle received an unexpected and even comical continuation. That same videotape with the recording of Savinykh and Dzhanibekov, removing striped woolen hats in front of the camera, fell into the hands of American producers.
And the film "Armageddon" with the courageous rescuer Bruce Willes appeared on screens around the world. And Dzhanibekov and Savinykh became one cosmonaut, an unshaven Russian man in terrifyingly large felt boots and a fur hat with an earflaps with a star on his forehead, a sledgehammer, repairing the orbital complex. Those in the know laughed. And those who didn't know were offended. That's the story.
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A Russian depicted by Americans from the film Armageddon