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.
Design and flight
Mission Crew Launch Landing Duration Notes Soyuz 22 Valery Bykovsky Vladimir Aksyonov 15 Sept 1976 23 Sept 1976 Earth sciences and (possibly a) reconnaissance mission. Final crewed Soyuz spaceflight to not visit a space station 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-35, 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.
See also Comparison of crewed space vehicles
References
External links
RSC Energia: Concept Of Russian Manned Space Navigation Development Mir Hardware Heritage David S.F. Portree, Mir Hardware Heritage, NASA RP-1357, 1995 Mir Hardware Heritage (wikisource) Information on Soyuz spacecraft OMWorld's ASTP Docking Trainer Page Space Adventures circum-lunar mission - details