On the 25th of April, 1981, a new spacecraft docked to the Soviet Salyut space station. The flight tested the craft’s docking capabilities. It functioned perfectly. The craft flew tests until 1985.
The TKS spacecraft was a two-piece design. The top portion, known as the VA capsule, was meant to house the crew during spaceflight and reentry. The bottom portion, known as the FGB, was meant to carry cargo and function as a docking module system. The craft would have serviced the Salyut line of stations, eventually Mir.
The craft would have carried 3 crew members to space aboard a proton. Although 3 crew members is a lot, they were in no means comfortable. The capsule had a very small interior volume, only about 8.37 meters cubed.
Although the TKS spacecraft didn’t get very far, the FGB was used as the basis for almost every Russian space station module. Some examples are Zarya, Nauka, Kristall, Spektr, and Priroda.
Related Stories
https://www.russianspaceweb.com/tks.html
http://www.astronautix.com/t/tks.html
https://www.orbiterwiki.org/wiki/TKS
http://www.astronautix.com/t/tksva.html
https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/tks-va.htm
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