Soyuz 30

Summary

Soyuz 30 (Russian: Союз 30, Union 30) was a 1978 crewed Soviet space flight to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the sixth mission to and fifth successful docking at the orbiting facility.[2] The Soyuz 30 crew were the first to visit the long-duration Soyuz 29 resident crew.

Soyuz 30
The Soyuz 30 capsule, Hermaszewski's spacesuits and personal items, as well as memorabilia from the flight on display.
COSPAR ID1978-065A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.10968
Mission duration7 days, 22 hours, 2 minutes, 59 seconds
Orbits completed125
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeSoyuz 7K-T/A9
ManufacturerNPO Energia
Launch mass6,800 kilograms (15,000 lb)
Crew
Crew size2
MembersPyotr Klimuk
Mirosław Hermaszewski
CallsignКавказ (Kavkaz - "Caucasus")
Start of mission
Launch date27 June 1978, 15:27:21 (1978-06-27UTC15:27:21Z) UTC
RocketSoyuz-U
Launch siteBaikonur 1/5[1]
End of mission
Landing date5 July 1978, 13:30:20 (1978-07-05UTC13:30:21Z) UTC
Landing site300 kilometres (190 mi) W of Tselinograd
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude197.6 kilometres (122.8 mi)
Apogee altitude261.3 kilometres (162.4 mi)
Inclination51.66 degrees
Period88.83 minutes
Docking with Salyut 6
Soyuz programme
(Crewed missions)
 

Soyuz 30 carried Pyotr Klimuk and Mirosław Hermaszewski, the first (and to date, only) Polish cosmonaut, aloft.

Crew edit

Position Cosmonaut
Commander   Pyotr Klimuk
EP-3
Third and last spaceflight
Research Cosmonaut   Mirosław Hermaszewski, IK
EP-3
Only spaceflight

Backup crew edit

Position Cosmonaut
Commander   Valery Kubasov
Flight Engineer   Zenon Jankowski, IK

Mission parameters edit

  • Mass: 6,800 kg (15,000 lb)
  • Perigee: 197.6 km (122.8 mi)
  • Apogee: 261.3 km (162.4 mi)
  • Inclination: 51.66°
  • Period: 88.83 minutes

Mission highlights edit

 
Heatshield of the capsule

The second Intercosmos mission was launched 27 June 1978 to the orbiting Salyut 6 space station. The Soyuz docked with the space station on 29 June, and cosmonauts Klimuk and Hermaszewski were greeted by Vladimir Kovalyonok and Aleksandr Ivanchenkov, the resident crew who had been on board for 12 days. For the third time, the Salyut was a four-man orbiting space laboratory.[3]

The activities of the Soyuz 30 crew, however, were severely curtailed so as not to interfere with the Soyuz 29 crew. On the Soyuz 29 crew's rest day, the international crew had to stay in their Soyuz to perform their experiments.[4] Nevertheless, Hermaszewski conducted many experiments. One was crystallization experiments which produced 47 grams of cadmium tellurium mercury semiconductors for use by infra-red detectors on board the station. The yield was far greater - 50% compared to 15% - than ground-based experiments.[4]

The Soyuz 30 crew was trained, as all international crews, in the use of the MKF-6M camera. Training in part took place on a Tu-134 flying at 10 km to best mimic conditions on the station.[4] Hermaszewski photographed Poland in co-ordination with aircraft taking close-up photos, but bad weather over Poland limited the photo sessions.[4] They additionally filmed the Aurora Borealis.[3]

Hermaszewski participated in medical experiments which measured lung capacity and the heart during exercise and in a pressure suit. One experiment, which all four on board the station participated in, was Smak (the Polish word for taste), a taste experiment which sought answers to why some food was less palatable in weightlessness.[4]

The Soyuz 30 crew packed their experiments into their capsule and returned to Earth 5 July, landing in a Rostov state farm field 300 km west of Tselinograd.[4]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2009-04-15. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
  2. ^ The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-30.htm
  3. ^ a b Clark, Phillip (1988). The Soviet Manned Space Program. New York: Orion Books, a division of Crown Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-517-56954-X.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Newkirk, Dennis (1990). Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87201-848-2.