This is a description of the Mir-Kvant complex. Most of this information came from the Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight, by Dennis Newkirk. Additional information from the sources listed at the end of the document and from the files of D.R. Newkirk. Mir --- Initial planning for the expandable Mir space station apparently occurred shortly after Salyut 6 was launched in 1977. In 1978, Salyut designer and cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov said he thought that a Salyut should be equipped with seven to eight docking ports.[1] This would allow departing Soyuz to leave their orbital modules docked, providing six cubic meters of space for experiments. This was later tested on Salyut 6, but he said to add even one component like a docking port to the Salyut was difficult, since the surface was covered by apparatus and equipment.[2] He also said that the launch shroud restricted the size and shape of the station. Mir was launched within a standard Salyut type launch shroud. The decision to begin the full scale development of Mir was apparently taken shortly after the successful launch of Salyut 7. A Soviet article said that Mir's development was a major space program issue in 1983. At the IAF conference in Sweden, in Oct. 1985, the Soviets announced that Mir would have multiple docking ports and be expanded by adding four to six modules to the ports.[3] Mir was basically a modified Salyut which took advantage of the Protons recently increased payload capability. Mir was 13.13 meters long, 4.15 meters in diameter and weighed 20,000 kg.. The station was designed to operate for at least 10 years.[4] Mir was different from previous Salyut's in that almost all of the instruments and experiments were removed from the space station leaving more room inside for living accommodations. The experiments would be located in add-on modules which were launched over a period of years.[5] Mir was equipped with a multiple docking adapter with five docking ports in place of the transfer compartment on a normal Salyut. These additional docking ports would be used for specialized orbital modules weighing up to 21,000 kg. each. To lighten the station only three drouges were in the docking adapter which had to be manually moved during EVA from port to port as modules arrived. The Soviets said that the final weight of Mir would be 100,000 kg., equal to the weight of Mir and Kvant with four Star modules.[6] The stations rendezvous and docking antennas were designed and placed not to obstruct any of the five ports. The forward port also was equipped with the new Kurs docking system for use with new orbital modules and the Soyuz TM. The Kurs docking system eliminated the need for the space station to be orientated toward the approaching spacecraft. The Progress still used the Igla system which required the station to be pointed actively toward the Progress. This required use of large amounts of attitude propellant (around 190 kg.). Procedures were revised by the flight of Progress 33 which cut this amount in half.[7] All spacecraft docking to the forward five ports would first dock to the front port. A new manipulator system would then move modules to a side port. Manipulators were installed on the orbital modules to dock them to the side ports using two grappling points on the docking adapter. The manipulators were very primitive compared to the multi-purpose U.S. shuttle manipulator arm. The Soviet manipulators (the Ljappa system) were short small arms with only two degrees of freedom, just enough to move a module to one of the side docking ports. Three petals on both the arm and attach point guided the latching mechanisms together. The manipulators were not intended to serve any other purpose than moving the large modules around.[8] Grechko said that it was not acceptable practice to dock to the side ports directly since the solar arrays were so close. Spacecraft docking at the forward port were angled with 45 degrees counter-clockwise in the roll axis. Modules would later be docked to avoid their solar arrays from bumping together with Mir's during redocking to the side ports. Two different types of add-on modules were developed for use with Mir, the long type and the short type. The short module was planned for use on the aft end of Mir and possibly the sides. The module on the rear of Mir would receive Progress transports and provide gyroscopic attitude control (like on Skylab). The long modules were modifications of the previous Star modules and would provide additional living space, experiments and services to the station like attitude control, airlocks, maneuvering units, more gyroscopes and shuttle docking facilities. The Mir station was to reach its initial operating capability when the Kvant and Kvant 2 modules were docked to it, but routine operations began with the docking of the Kvant module. The final Mir configuration with four orbital modules was planned to house six people, of which three would be rotated about every 60 or 120 days. Mir was equipped with two newly designed gallium arsenide solar arrays attached to its mid-section instead of a Salyut's three arrays, but the Mir arrays were more than twice as big.[9]m Each array was about 10 meters long and four meters wide, total area was 76 square meters, they spanned 29.73 meters and they produce an estimated nine kilowatts of power.[10] Mir was equipped with a buffer battery for power surges and several reserve batteries for use as additional modules were added to the station.[11] On the ends of the arrays were docking transponders and running lights. Provisions for installing an additional array to the mid-section were provided to power the Kvant module. This array would supply 2.4 kilowatts from 24 square meters area.[12] On the aft end of the station was a small dish antenna for communication through SDRN (Luch) satellites to ground stations. The data rate from Mir was initially triple that from the Salyut type stations and this increase also required more powerful computers at mission control.[13] The Soviets predicted that the number of commands required to manage the Mir complex could grow from 300 to 1000 once all five modules were added.[14] The engine system was apparently unchanged from the Salyut 6 type. It had two 300 kg. thrust main engines and thirty two, 14 kg. thrust RCS rockets. Around the rear edge of the station were running lights and solar sensors. All of the station's port holes had movable outside covers for protection from dust. New type television cameras on the docking ports were used to observe spacecraft dockings. Mir was also equipped with a MKF-6M or MKS-M viewing port in the adapter section although no camera was carried on Mir at launch (the MKS-M was installed later). The station was divided into two main sections, the work or control section and the living section. Forward of the work section was the docking module and airlock. Any of the hatches on the docking adapter could be used for EVA.[15] Previous docking hatches were never used for this purpose. The stations flight controls were located in the work section end of the station. Mir was controlled by seven computers of the Strela system using what the Soviets described as new components like integrated circuits and other miniature electronic devices. A digital data bus provided connection from the computers to the stations systems and experiments. The computers could be programmed from the ground to operate the station and experiments for at least a few days at a time. Mir also was equipped with a new computer called the EVM.[16] All information on the station complex was displayed on its terminal. The computer was capable of maintaining the stations orientation indefinitely without human intervention as with the old Delta system.[17] The space station controls included a new optical sight and a new portable orientation control stick. The environmental system was modified to maintain temperature from 18 to 29 C and given a greater ventilation capability than the previous Salyut's.[18] Carbon dioxide removal was not like Salyut's and Soyuz filters. The Vozduyk system rejected carbon dioxide directly to space.[19] Most of the stations volume consisted of the living section. The galley and folding table were similar to Salyut equipment with built in food heaters for a crew of two. The floor of the living section was made up of several storage compartments for equipment. The treadmill was reoriented to face the control console instead of a wall as on Salyut 7. The ergometer was normally stowed beneath the floor behind the table.[20] Like previous stations, Mir carried a chibis lower body low pressure suit and Penguin elastic suits.[21] This storage space was made available by eliminating the telescope housing carried on all previous Salyut stations. Instead of a Salyut's equipment racks Mir had only living space for a crew of two. Each cosmonaut had a separate closet like compartment off the living section for sleep and privacy. Eliminating the equipment racks at the rear of the living section made the interior larger even though the outer dimensions remained the same as a Salyut. For the crews entertainment and instruction there was a video tape recorder and a library of tapes for their use.[22] The sleeping compartments each had a folding chair, mirror, port hole and sleeping bag. Next to the left side compartment was a small refrigerator which could hold 40 kg. of food.[23] The living compartment walls were covered with elastic straps to secure items and the general lighting was built into the ceiling. Hand rails ran the length of the walls and ceiling. There was only one scientific and trash airlock mounted hidden in the floor. As on Salyut, the sanitary station was in front of the intermediate section and included a new button activated spherical wash basin which had openings for the hands and face which were sprayed with water.[24,25] The toilet was also a new design different than those on Salyut's. The new design used suction to pull solid waste into a bag for disposal.[26] The stations water storage tanks were also located nearby, probably in unpressurized engine compartment as on Salyut 7. Kvant ----- Kvant means quantum in Russian. Cosmonaut Dzhanibekov said in an interview, in 1986, that the module delivery had slipped behind a scheduled mid-1986 launch. A mock-up of the Kvant was first shown in the trainer building at Star City in July, 1986. The Kvant provided experiment space to the Mir station and could provide attitude control needed when additional modules were docked to the Mir's side docking ports. The module was equipped with magnetically suspended gyroscopes, once used on the military Salyuts, to enable stable accurate pointing of the space station complex, when using the modules astronomical instruments (Skylab also used gyros for this purpose in 1973), and during maneuvers. The gyro system and its power system weighed too much, almost 1000 kg., to install in the modified Salyut station which became Mir, and this required the add-on modules to accommodate the system. Kvant consisted of a large diameter work section, and an intermediate compartment. The module was combined at launch with a maneuvering module, the Functional Auxiliary Block, that would dock the module to the station. The combined spacecraft weighed 20,600 kg. at launch. The Functional Auxiliary Block propulsion module was a separate spacecraft launched already docked to the work section. It weighed 9600 kg., was 8.7 meters long, and would act as a space tug to deliver the module to the space station. After delivering the module to Mir the Functional Auxiliary Block separated and was placed into a storage orbit. The Kvant module was 4.15 meters in diameter, 5.8 meters long and the weighed 11,000 kg.. The module had 40 cubic meters habitable volume and four port holes, one 43 cm. diameter for cameras, one 22.8 cm. diameter for star trackers, and two eight cm. viewing ports on the end of the intermediate section near the docking port.[27,28] The interior was divided into an instrument and living section by panels. The work compartment instrument panel contained television, communications equipment, life support system controls, guidance system controls and a digital and two analogy computers. The module contained the Electron water electrolysis device. This was used for converting water into oxygen for addition to the stations atmosphere.[29] The Vozdukh unit absorbed carbon dioxide from the air and dumped it overboard. This eliminated the need for air regeneration canisters on Mir. The module was connected to Mir's air ventilation system through flexible pipes laid through the hatches. Mir was configured to allow these pipes to be run to all modules that would be added later, in addition to the Soyuz transports docked to the forward and aft ports. Kvant carried 1500 kg. internal systems and instruments and 2500 kg. cargo. The expected lifetime of the module was five years. The module carried six gyroscopes called Gyrodins, each weighing 165 kg.. The gyroscopes were used to control the stations attitude by converting electrical energy from the space stations solar arrays into torques by turning the gyroscopes. To keep track of the stations attitude and position to an accuracy of one minute of arc, Kvant was also equipped with a computer controlled platformless inertial navigation unit.[30] Powering the modules gyro's required 90 Watts of power.[31] A new solar array which was carried to Mir on board Kvant, and installed on the top of Mir, by the Soyuz TM-2 crew to help power Mir and Kvant. The Soviets had also planned to allow for the installation of solar arrays on the Kvant module, but the feature was dropped from the final design. Kvant was also intended to be equipped with a MKF-6M camera, but late in the preparations the Soviets decided to remove it and place it on the next Mir expansion module.[32] The intermediate compartment on the aft end of the module also could serve as an EVA airlock. The module was equipped with the old Igla docking system on its front end, to enable docking to the rear of Mir. The rear was equipped with both the Igla and Kurs docking systems to provide automatic docking of both Progress and Soyuz TM spacecraft. The Kvant also had television docking cameras installed on the front and rear docking units.[33] The intermediate compartment contained the Glazar ultraviolet telescope control panel, and a small airlock for replacing film in the telescope. The Glazer telescope was a development of the Orion telescopes carried on Soyuz flights of the early 1970s. The telescopes mirror was 40 cm. in diameter and precision was one second of arc. The telescope was planned to take several thousand pictures and be used for several years.[34,35] The Kvant module carried the Roentgen experiment package around the intermediate section. Instruments carried there included the Soviet Pulsar-1 X-ray telescope for gamma and X-ray sources up to 800 KeV, the British TTM X-ray wide angle telescope (similar to the XRT telescope that flew on NASA shuttle mission STS-51F/Spacelab 2 in 1985), the ESA Sirene 2 spectrometer for X-ray sources 2-100 KeV (modified from the European Space Agency Exosat) and the West German Phoswich X-ray telescope for 15-250 KeV sources (modified from a balloon carried telescope).[36] The experiments had no independent pointing ability requiring the entire Mir complex had to be pointed by the cosmonauts to point the instruments. Also in the experiment cluster was the 800 kg. Svetlana experimental electrophoresis production plant (named after cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, who did some electrophoresis experiments on Salyut 7), which was to be man tended during EVA's.[37] Sources: [1] Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress, Soviet Space Programs 1976-80, Manned Space Programs and Life Sciences, Part 2. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1984, pp. 652 [2] Hooper, Gordon R. "Missions to Salyut 6: Part 7." Spaceflight, Vol. 21, No. 7, July, 1979, pp. 324 [3] "Soviet Scene", Spaceflight, Vol. 28, No. 3, March, 1986, pp. 111 [4] van den Abeelen, Lucien "Soviet Shuttle for Space Station Role." Spaceflight, Vol. 29, Nov., 1987, pp. 379 [5] Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress, Soviet Space Programs 1976-80, Manned Space Programs and Life Sciences, Part 2. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1984, pp. 466 [6] Radio Moscow, North American Service, April 14, 1988 [7] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-88-002, April 6, 1988, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 8 [8] Abeelen, Lucien van den "Mir Docking and Operations." Spaceflight, Vol. 29, May, 1987, pp. 185 [9] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-86-005, Sept. 1986, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 4 [10] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-86-004, April, 1986, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 10 [11] USSR Space Life Sciences Digests, NASA CR-3922(12), Issue 10, pp. 88 [12] Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress, Soviet Space Programs 1981-87, Part 1. Washington : Government Printing Office, May, 1988, pp. 80 [13] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-87-003, April 1987, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 6 [14] Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress, Soviet Space Programs 1981-87, Part 1. Washington : Government Printing Office, May, 1988, pp. 78 [15] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-86-004, April, 1986, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 10 [16] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-86-004, April, 1986, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 10-18 [17] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-86-005, Sept. 1986, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 4-5 [18] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-86-004, April, 1986, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 7, 19 [19] Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress, Soviet Space Programs 1981-87, Part 1. Washington : Government Printing Office, May, 1988, pp. 83 [20] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-86-004, April, 1986, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 7, 17 [21] USSR Space Life Sciences Digests, NASA CR-3922(12), Issue 10, pp. 90 [22] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-87-003, April 1987, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 4 [23] USSR Space Life Sciences Digests, NASA CR-3922(12), Issue 10, pp. 89 [24] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-86-004, April, 1986, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 11 [25] USSR Space Life Sciences Digests, NASA CR-3922(12), Issue 10, pp. 90 [26] Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress, Soviet Space Programs 1981-87, Part 1. Washington : Government Printing Office, May, 1988, pp. 83 [27] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-87-004, July, 1987, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 9 [28] Kidger, Neville "Space Walk Saves Mission." Spaceflight, Vol. 29, June, 1987, pp. 237 [29] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-87-005, Aug. 1987, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 1 [30] "Busy Routine for Mir Crew." Soviet Spaceflight Report Ed. Kappesser, Peter J. No. 5, Sept./Oct., 1987, pp. 4 [31] "Soviets Use New Gyros To Stabilize Mir Station." Avitaion Week & ST, Nov. 2 1987, pp. 79 [32] Kidger, Neville "Volkov Prepares for Autumn Flight." Spaceflight, Vol. 30, June, 1988, pp. 226 [33] "Mir Mission: Third Solar Array Installed." Spaceflight, Vol. 29, Aug., 1987, pp. 282 [34] Kidger, Neville "Endurance Record Broken." Spaceflight, Vol. 29, Nov., 1987, pp. 374 [35] Foreign Broadcast Information Service, USSR, Space, JPRS-USP-87-005, Aug. 1987, Joint Publications Research Service, pp. 3 [36] Kidger, Neville "Mir in Action." Spaceflight, Vol. 29, No. 4, April, 1987, pp. 136 [37] Kidger, Neville "Space Walk Saves Mission." Spaceflight, Vol. 29, June, 1987, pp. 237