Risky Mission in Space : Pravda Says Cosmonauts Revived ‘Dead’ Salyut 7

The Soviet Union disclosed Monday that two cosmonauts were sent into space on a risky and complex mission last June that revived a “dead” space station, an effort described as a precedent for future attempts to rescue stranded cosmonauts.

The unusually detailed account in the Communist Party newspaper Pravda of the Soyuz T-13 rescue mission lifted some of the traditional secrecy surrounding the Soviet space program.

Pravda disclosed that faulty sensors had prevented recharging of solar batteries on the orbiting space station, Salyut 7, and that it then lost all its power. Water and equipment froze, and the station stopped sending radio signals to Soviet ground controllers as it whirled lifelessly in orbit, the newspaper said.

But cosmonauts Vladimir Dzhanibekov, 43, and Viktor Savinykh, 45, specialists in space repair jobs, were rocketed aloft and managed to bring the station back to normal 10 days after they docked with Salyut 7 on June 8, Pravda said. The two men have remained aboard the station, Pravda said.

They had to dock their space ship manually, since automatic procedures for linking up were ruled out by the lack of power aboard the station.

Special Equipment

But they had special equipment--including a laser rangefinder and a targeting device--and were able to steer their rescue vehicle into docking position from more than a mile away, the account continued.

“This method has great signifance for progress of manned space flights,” Konstantin Feoktistov, a former cosmonaut and top Soviet space official, wrote in the article.

“It will now be possible to approach satellites for examination or the necessary checkups and repairs. This operation will be even more important in case of a rescue mission, should a space crew find itself marooned in orbit because of technical mishaps,” he added.

The docking was only the start of their work, however.

Without power for heat, the derelict station resembled a large deep-freeze, with temperatures well below the freezing point when the two men entered, Pravda said.

Trying to transfer power from their space ship, however, was risky because a short in the station’s circuits could drain the ship’s batteries and prevent a return to earth.

In addition, the station’s vital water supply was frozen, Pravda said, and lack of drinking water could cut short their mission as well.

Restored Power

But the two cosmonauts began to restore power by connecting six of the eight batteries directly to solar panels, bypassing a master control switch, and turning the station toward the sunlight.

They discovered the basic cause of the problem: A faulty indicator in one of the power units showed that it was fully charged at all times.

This meant that the batteries never were recharged properly and gradually began to die, Pravda said.

Within 10 days after the pair arrived, however, the station’s light, heat, water and thrusters were working normally, the account noted. Pravda said the station was now working normally but that the two spacemen were carrying out a series of repair jobs to replace equipment damaged during the freeze.

The Soviet cargo spacecraft Progress 24 docked with Salyut 7 on June 23, bringing the crew two new chemical batteries, along with fresh supplies of water, food and fuel.

This was the second major snag to hit the 47-ton Salyut 7 station. After a massive fuel leak all but immobilized the station in July, 1984, Dzhanibekov gave directions from the ground to the three cosmonauts then on board on how to stop the leak. Their repairs were successful, and they set a 238-day space endurance record in the station before mothballing it in space in October.