en Soyuz 7K-MF6

Soyuz 7K-MF6
	Soyuz 7K-MF6 and crew on a Soviet stamp
Manufacturer	Experimental Design Bureau; (OKB-1)
Country of origin	Soviet Union
Operator	Soviet space program
Applications	Crewed spacecraft as Earth Observatory Station
Specifications
Launch mass	6,510 kilograms (14,350 lb)
Dimensions	Height 7.6 metres (25 ft) Volume 9,000 cubic metres (320,000 cu ft)
Power	Solar arrays ; output 1.3 kW; from 10 square metres (110 sq ft); on 4-segments
Equipment	MF6; multispectral camera
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Design life	Up to 35 days, used for 8 days
Production
Status	Out of service
Built	1
Launched	1
Related spacecraft
Derived from	Soyuz 7K-TM; Soyuz 7K-T
	; ; Vimpel Diamond for entrainment patch

Soyuz 7K-MF6 is a version of the Soyuz spacecraft and was the second Soviet spacecraft designed for space station flight, a dedicated science mission. Its only crewed flight was conducted in 1976 with Soyuz 22 of the Soyuz programme.^[2]

Design and flight

Mission	Crew	Launch	Landing	Duration	Notes
Soyuz 22	Valery Bykovsky Vladimir Aksyonov	15 Sept 1976	23 Sept 1976	8 days	Earth sciences and (possibly a) reconnaissance mission. Final crewed Soyuz spaceflight to not visit a space station^[3]

The one craft of the Soyuz 7K-MF6 was modified from the original Soyuz 7K-TM/Soyuz 7K-T with the addition of observatory platform. The Soyuz 7K-MF6 flew once on Soyuz 22. Soyuz 7K-MF6 propulsion was from a KTDU-80, liquid rocket engine. Soyuz 7K-MF6 was the second Soviet manned space observatory, the first was Soyuz 13/Soyuz 7K-T-AF. Soyuz 7K-MF6/Soyuz 2 housed the MKF-6 multi-spectral camera. The spectral camera was used for photography of Earth. The multi-spectral camera was manufactured by Carl Zeiss-Jena in East Germany. The universal docking port was removed and a multispectral camera was installed in its place. The observatory equipment was added to the top of nose cone of the spacecraft. Soyuz 7K-MF6 started as the back up spacecraft for the Apollo–Soyuz project, a Soyuz ASTP craft # 74. The Soyuz ASTP was modified in 1976 to become 7K-MF6, after it was not need for the Apollo–Soyuz project that ended in 1975, which used spacecraft Soyuz 19 and Apollo CSM-111. ^[4]^[5]

References

^ "Soyuz 22". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. NASA. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Mark Wade. "Soyuz 7K-MF6". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
^ "Spaceflight mission report: Soyuz 22". SPACEFACTS.de. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
^ Mark Wade. "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
^ Dennis Newkirk (1990). Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87201-848-2.