Sep 26 1978
From The Space Library
Tass reported that, in an interview marking the first anniversary of the Salyut 6 launch, Pilot-Cosmonaut Dr. Konstantin Feoktistov had recommended designing a new orbiting scientific Salyut laboratory with a minimum of 7 or 8 docking units. The presence of only 2 docking units on Salyut 6 meant that, after a cargo vessel had arrived and its equipment was transferred, it had to undock to make room for another vehicle. This was irrational, Feoktistov said. When a cargo ship departed, the Salyut would lose one complete "room" of the cosmic house (with a volume of about 6m3) that could accommodate equipment and scientific instruments. To add even one more component to a Salyut was not simple, as virtually its entire surface was covered with solar batteries, windows, television cameras, and various sensors. The nose fairing covering the station in the active phase of the launch also had restricted designers. Feoktistov stressed, however, the need to equip future space stations with several mooring ports to handle units for specialized research: technological, astronomical, and geophysical. (FBIS, Tass Intl Svc in Russian, Sept 26/78)
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