Continuing the theme, TCS and Diamond

Since the previous topic about the H-1 rocket seemed to be liked by the browsers, I would venture to continue.

Today I will talk about another little-known general public space episode - the military station "Almaz" and the heavy transport ship TKS (Transport Supply Ship).

DOS "Almaz"

The program of the Almaz orbital stations became a symmetrical response to the American MOL program (Manned Orbital Laboratory) and solved the same tasks (looking ahead, I will say that MOL stations have never been in space, unlike Diamonds). The main task of Almaz was to conduct photographic and electronic reconnaissance, control ground military facilities and counter the orbital military targets of a potential enemy.
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The initial design of the system "Almaz" -TKS

1 and 7 - return vehicles; 2 and 4 - solar panels; 3 - functional cargo block TKS; 5 - station "Almaz"; 6 - side view radar

The equipment installed on its board, by the standards of that time, was the most advanced, very complex and expensive. In particular, a unique camera with a focal length of 10 m and a mirror diameter of about 2 m, comparable in resolution with the modern American Hubble telescope, was to become the main means of observation from orbit.

The crew of the station "Almaz" consisted of two astronauts, the station, in addition to photographic equipment, was equipped with special radio equipment, a descent capsule for delivering the film to the Earth. The armament consisted of an aircraft cannon mounted along the axis of the station.

The stations of the Diamond series were put into orbit by the Proton carrier rocket (UR500K).

For the delivery of the crew and the reserves to the station, their own supply ship (TKS) was developed, designed to be outputted by the same UR500K missile. At first it was supposed to supply the station and the TKS with similar return vehicles designed to descend the crew from orbit, but this idea was soon abandoned. The returned device remained only on the transport ship.

Tks

Brief characteristics of the ship TKS:

Crew	3 persons
Autonomous flight duration	up to 4 days
The duration of the flight as part of the station "Almaz"	up to 90 days
Mass in orbit	17.6 t
Payload mass	up to 12 t

The structure of the TKS consisted of two units - FGB (functional cargo block) and VA (returnable vehicle).

The VA was intended to return three astronauts or 500 kg of cargo to Earth. After a successful landing, the heat shield could be restored and the VA used again, the estimated life was 10 flights. This allows us to speak of the TKS as a reusable ship.

In the future, it was supposed to increase the size of the BA and the crew size to bring to five or six people.

TKS flights

All TKS flights are tabulated:

Flight dates	The official name of the ship	Purpose of flight
December 5, 1976	Cosmos-881 and Cosmos-882	testing of descent vehicles
March 30, 1978	Cosmos-997 and Cosmos-998	testing of descent vehicles
January 5, 1979	-	launch vehicle crash
May 23, 1979	Cosmos-1100 and Cosmos-1101	testing of descent vehicles
July 17, 1977 - February 3, 1978	Cosmos-929	flight tests of the ship
April 25, 1981 - July 29, 1982	Cosmos-1267	docking with the Salyut-6 station, flight as part of the station, correction of its orbit
March 2, 1983 - September 19, 1983	Cosmos-1443	docking with the Salyut-7 station, delivery of goods, fuel and equipment, flight as part of the station, correction of its orbit
September 27, 1985 - February 7, 1991	Cosmos-1686	military technical experiments, docking with the Salyut-7 station, delivery of goods, fuel and equipment, flight as part of the station, correction of its orbit
March 31, 1987 - March 23, 2001	module "Quantum"	astrophysical experiments, flight as part of the Mir station
May 15, 1987	"Polyus" ("Skif-DM")	functional service unit of the orbital combat laser platform (launch accident)
November 26, 1989 - March 23, 2001	module "Kvant-2"	life support systems of the station, flight as part of the Mir station
June 10, 1990 - March 23, 2001	Crystal module	astrophysical, biological and medical research, technological experiments, flight as part of the Mir station
May 20, 1995 - March 23, 2001	module "Spectrum"	Earth remote sensing, flight as part of the Mir station
April 23, 1996 - March 23, 2001	module "Nature"	study of the Earth’s natural resources, flight as part of the Mir station
November 20, 1998 - current year	Functional cargo block "Dawn" (ISS)	flight as part of the International Space Station

The not very good fortune of the TKS, the absence of manned launches, although all the necessary permits for manned flights were obtained, are primarily associated not with the ship itself, but with its Proton carrier rocket.
The toxicity of the Proton LV fuel (asymmetric dimethylhydrazine known as heptyl and nitrogen tetroxide) is used at all rocket levels is higher than that of the Phosgen type chemical warfare agent, therefore any accident at the start could lead to the death of the entire crew.
The leadership of the space industry has not decided on manned launches on the Proton, either as part of the lunar program or under the Almaz program.
But this did not prevent the TKS-y from serving the cosmonautics quite well even after the official closure of the program - the remaining ships were converted into Mir station modules, and one, called Zarya, is still in orbit as part of the ISS.

Sources:

www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/content/numbers/236/41.shtml
www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/content/numbers/238/33.shtml
www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/content/numbers/244/39.shtml
ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%80 %D1%82 %D0BB%D1 % 8B% D0% B9_% D0% BA% D0% BE% D1% 80% D0% B0% D0% B1% D0% BB% D1% 8C_% D1% 81% D0% BD% D0% B0% D0% B1 % D0% B6% D0% B5% D0% BD% D0% B8% D1% 8F
ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B7_%28%D0%BE%D1%80% D0%B1%D0% B8% D1%82 % D0% B0% D0% BB% D1% 8C% D0% BD% D0% B0% D1% 8F_% D1% 81% D1% 82% D0% B0% D0% BD% D1% 86% D0% B8% D1 % 8F% 29
www.astronaut.ru/bookcase/books/afanasiev2/text/11.htm
www.astronaut.ru/bookcase/books/afanasiev2/text/12.htm