KSI (original) (raw)

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KSI

Russian logistics spacecraft. Study 1977. Capsule designed to return film and data materials from the Almaz military space station.

AKA: 11F76. Status: Study 1977.

The capsule could be loaded manually by cosmonauts aboard the station, or film could be loaded automatically when the station was unmanned.

The capsule came in two parts: a re-entry protection shell, and an internal payload.

At capsule ejection the Almaz pointed down at an 8:00 angle from the horizontal. The capsule was ejected at a 5:00 angle. After separation it spun up, fired the retro, and then spun down, all at the 5:00 angle. It then separated the retro assembly. Following reentry, it deployed a small drogue chute, followed by a main chute. The reentry shell was separated before the main chute, and only the internal payload landed separately.

The outer heat shield was as follows:

   Lift eye-bolts (4)        ------------------
            /           /\      Gone         |
        O               --    /              |
         \             |  |                  | 1
                      /|  |\                 | 3
       ---     --------------------    ----  | 5
     C  |      --------------------      |   | 0
     a  |       \                /       |   |
     p  |       |               |      8 |   |
     s  |       |               |      3 |   |
     u  |       |               |      8 |   |
     l  |       |               |        |   |
     e  |        \             /         |   |
       ---         -----------       -----------
                       780
                |---------------|   Payload volume ....  90 cu cm
                       850
               |-----------------|  Payload mass ......  120 kg

The interior section was:

                                    ____ beacon
                                  /
                     ________   o
                |o| /      |o|\||
                |o|--------|o|--
                |o|        |o|  |  ---- cloth covered
               ===================
                |               |
                |               |  ---- cloth covered
                 \             /
                   ------------

The return capsule from Salyut 5 was sold at a Sotheby's auction in the early 1990's. The shell shad a dent in the bottom: not very big, surprisingly. Internally, there was the label with the serial number 11F76-0505. This Earth Return Capsule was launched into space with the Salyut 5 space station on 22 June 1976 and returned to earth on 26 February 1977. The estimated price was 80,000−80,000-80,000−100,000. The actual price as sold was $48,875. The engineers at the auction indicated that the plan was to eventually have six of these return capsules on board each Almaz.

Family: Logistics spacecraft, Space station orbit. Country: Russia. Launch Vehicles: Proton, Proton-K. Agency: Chelomei bureau. Bibliography: 102, 211.

1977 February 26 - .

Salyut 5 jettisons earth return capsule - . Nation: Russia. Spacecraft: KSI. The Earth Return Capsule serial number 11F76-0505 was successfully recovered. During the 1990's it was auctoned off at Sotheby's for $48,875..

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