![]() Just a few years later, in 1991, the Communist government fell and the nation broke up into several countries. The spacecraft launched aboard a Russian Energia rocket and successfully touched down under automatic control, something NASA's space shuttle was not designed to do.īuran launched at a difficult time for the Soviet Union. 15, 1988, and re-entered the atmosphere after two orbits, according to NASA. Buran performed 24 test flights on Earth (including 15 that were fully automatic) in preparation for its space test flight, Molniya stated.īuran launched only once into space, on Nov. Similarly to NASA's space shuttle, Buran would have different kinds of thermal materials on its surface to shield from the stresses of re-entry. Additional crewmembers could ride in the cargo area. A separate cargo department would allow for satellites up to 17 meters (56 feet) long and 4.5 meters (15 feet) in diameter. The Molniya Research Industrial Corporation, which developed the Buran's body, said the goal was to send 30 tons to space and return 20 tons to Earth.īuran was supposed to hold up to six passengers in its crew cabin. Michael Klesius is an associate editor at Air & Space /Smithsonian. ![]() This gets pressed into the ISS port, and after motion is dampened, pulls the shuttle firmly to the ISS. More “androgynous” and symmetrical, the docking mechanism is an extended ring on the shuttle, with shock absorbers. The shuttle’s system, though, derives from Apollo-Soyuz, designed to prevent either country’s craft from appearing dominant. The probe then retracts to pull the two spacecraft together. This resembles Apollo hardware, and some mid-air refueling systems, where a probe is guided into a cone, then a latch closes. Soyuz, Progress, and ATVs use the classic “probe-and-drogue” design. What’s the difference between the Soyuz-Progress docking port and the shuttle port? Several larger common berthing ports accept the HTV, MPLM, and permanent ISS nodes. How many docking ports are on the station?įive active ones: four for Russia’s Soyuz and Progress craft, one of which takes the ATV, and a fifth for the shuttle. business to connect a vehicle to the ISS. In 2011, SpaceX hopes to be the first U.S. The shuttle also brings Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules (MPLM), which get berthed to the station by a robotic arm. Today, the shuttle and Soyuz bring people to the ISS, while the unmanned Russian Progress, European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), and Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) bring cargo. In 1975, Americans and Soviets linked up in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and in the late 1990s with space shuttle-Mir dockings. ![]() Dockings with the Salyut space station followed, as did U.S. The Soviets’ first manned docking attempt failed, but the second, Soyuz 4 and 5, in January 1969, succeeded. Docking was key to the success of the Apollo moon landings, enabling a command module and a lunar module to travel together, disconnect, and reconnect. The fault lay not with the docking mechanism, but with a stuck thruster on the crew capsule. Back in March 1966, when Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott linked their Gemini VIII capsule to an Agena target vehicle-the first docking in space-both craft began tumbling out of control, forcing a mission abort. The glitch that kept a Soyuz spacecraft docked to the International Space Station last fall, when its crew tried to come home, wasn’t the first. A near-perfect history of hooking up in space ![]()
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