VA spacecraft

The Vozvraschaemyi Apparat (VA, Russian: Возвращаемый Аппарат, lit. 'Return Vehicle', GRAU index 11F74) was a Soviet crew capsule, intended to serve as a crewed launch and reentry vehicle. Initially designed for the LK-1 human lunar flyby spacecraft for one of the Soviet crewed lunar programs, then the LK-700 redesign, it was later repurposed for the Almaz military space station program.

The VA capsule on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum was labeled as Merkur, following a mistranslation of the original documentation – while incorrect, the name is being used in the West for the VA spacecraft and capsule. The VA spacecraft was capable of independent flight – up to 31 hours in its last incarnation – it needed however to be combined with additional hardware (containing propulsion and storage) to achieve a longer flight duration. Different usage scenarios for the VA spacecraft were planned:

For the lunar flyby spacecraft LK-1 and LK-700, the plans by Vladimir Chelomei's design bureau OKB-52 were to mate a VA spacecraft together with an Equipment-Rocket System Block (PAB) and Translunar Injection Stage (RB). For the Almaz space station program, the plans envisaged two configurations for the crewed VA spacecraft: A VA spacecraft would have launched the initial crew of an Almaz-OPS space station, the VA spacecraft launched together with the station itself; This combination was known as "Almaz APOS". A VA spacecraft would have been launched mated together with a Functional Cargo Block (FGB) to resupply an Almaz station, in both crewed and uncrewed flights; This combination was known as the TKS spacecraft. VA was the first spacecraft to be launched into orbit twice, as Kosmos 929 was recovered and launched again as Kosmos 998. Gemini 2 was launched into space twice, but both launches were suborbital. While the VA spacecraft performed successful uncrewed test flights, both with and without a Functional Cargo Block, it never served in its intended role as a lunar vehicle due to cancellation of the soviet crewed lunar program, and it was never launched together with an Almaz space station.

Design

LK-1 – crewed lunar flyby spacecraft

First work on the VA spacecraft began on 13 May 1961 by Vladimir Chelomey's OKB-52 design bureau, in response to the US Apollo program. The VA spacecraft consisted of three main parts:

The VA capsule, which formed the pressurized habitable section for the crew The NO front compartment (Russian: Носовой Отсек НО, lit. "nose compartment"), housing the deorbit block (BSO), additional batteries, communication equipment, the parachute and soft landing engines The SAS launch escape system (Russian: Система Аварийного Спасения САС) – similar to Soyuz and Apollo – mounted on top of the nose section, jettisoned after first stage had burned out Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov called the Almaz VA return capsule "our Apollo". The shape of the VA capsule was vaguely like that of the Apollo Command Module (CM), however some of the VA's support hardware was housed on top of the capsule in the nose compartment – unlike Apollo with the Apollo Service Module (SM) below the Apollo CM. While the VA spacecraft was capable of independent flight of about one day, it needed to be mated to additional hardware for a longer flight duration. For a lunar mission, the LK-1 spacecraft would have been formed by mating the VA spacecraft with two components:

The Equipment-Rocket System Block (PAB). It included – analogous to the Apollo's SM – solar panels and electrical power systems, communications systems like a parabolic antenna and thrusters for midcourse maneuvers. The Translunar Injection Stage (RB).

Almaz space station support craft After the cancellation of the LK-1 crewed lunar spacecraft effort, the VA spacecraft was repurposed by Chelomey as support craft for his military Almaz space station program – again a response to a US program, the USAF's military Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) and Gemini B effort.

Almaz APOS

The initial plans called for crew and station to be launched together with one Proton rocket launch, just like the US MOL/Gemini combination. For this a VA spacecraft would have been mated on top of an Almaz OPS space station core (11F71) – this was known as Almaz APOS. The crew would have ridden into space in the VA capsule; Once in orbit, the crew would have entered the Almaz station through a hatch in the heat shield – just like MOL/Gemini. The VA capsule would then remain unoccupied until the end of the mission, when it would serve as the reentry vehicle for the crew. The Almaz APOS concept evolved into the Almaz-OPS stations of the Salyut programme, which were however never launched together with their crew, nor together with a VA capsule.

TKS spacecraft

For the flights of the subsequent crews of an Almaz space station, the VA spacecraft would have been mated with a Functional Cargo Block (FGB, 11F77) instead. Together the VA and the FGB would form the crewed TKS spacecraft (11F72) for crew and resupply flights to Almaz space stations – the VA would serve in its role as launch and reentry vehicle for the crew, while the FGB would serve as a propulsion system, pressurized cargo carrier and contain the docking hardware.

A few TKS spacecraft flew uncrewed missions, but never to an Almaz-OPS station. The FGB would however continue to find use and form the basis for several space station modules – the FGB concept is as of 2012 still in use for the Zarya FGB, albeit in modified form.

Test flights

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