Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; landing
220 km northeast of Dzheskasgan.
Following a two day solo flight Soyuz
T-13 docked with Salyut 7 on June 08, 1985. Vladimir
Dzhanibekov piloted his ship to intercept the forward port of
Salyut 7, matched the station's rotation and achieved soft dock with the
station. The cosmonauts became the
fourth resident
crew of the station.
When arriving on the space station, the station
had been vacant since eight month and it had been crippled by a solar array
problem. Soyuz T-13 was the first Soyuz to dock manually with an inert Salyut.
For the purpose it was slightly modified to include control levers in the
descent module for proximity operations.
This mission became one of the
most impressive feats of inspace repairs in history. As the crew approached the
inert station, they saw that its solar arrays were pointing randomly as it
rolled slowly about its long axis. They used a handheld laser rangefinder to
judge their distance, and conducted a fly-around inspection to be certain the
exterior was intact. Vladimir
Dzhanibekov noted that the thermal blankets on the transfer
compartment had turned a dull gray from prolonged exposure to sunlight. Upon
achieving hard dock the crew confirmed through the electrical connectors in the
docking collars that the Salyut 7 electrical system was dead. They carefully
sampled the air in the station before opening the hatch. The station air was
very cold, but breathable. Frost covered the walls and apparatus. The
cosmonauts wore winter garb, including fur-lined hats, as they entered the
station. The first order of business was to restore electric power. Of the
eight batteries, all were dead, and two were destroyed. Vladimir
Dzhanibekov determined that a sensor had failed in the solar
array pointing system, preventing the batteries from recharging. A telemetry
radio problem prevented the
TsUP from detecting the problem. Salyut 7 had quickly
run down its batteries, shutting down all its systems and accounting for the
break in radio contact. The cosmonauts set about recharging the batteries. They
used Soyuz T-13 to turn the station to put its solar arrays in sunlight. On
June 10, 1985 they turned on the air heaters. The cosmonauts relied on the
Soyuz T-13 air regeneration system until they could get the Salyut 7 system
back in order. Three days later the the attitude control system was
successfully reactivated. That was neccessary, because now a Progress bearing
replacement parts could dock with Salyut 7. Wall heaters were turned on only
after all the frost had evaporated, in order to prevent water from entering
equipment. Normal atmospheric humidity was achieved only at the end of July
1985. The station's water tanks thawed by the end of June 1985. Freezing
destroyed the water heater, so the cosmonauts used a powerful television light
to heat fluids.
After that scientific work was performed, including
medical and astronomical research and work with the ASTRA apparature.
Approaching- and docking systems were tested.
A difficult
EVA
was conducted by Vladimir
Dzhanibekov and Viktor
Savinykh on August 02, 1985 (5h 00m) to replace two detectors
and to expand one solar panel with two segments.
Vladimir
Dzhanibekov returned with Soyuz T-13 spacecraft (and
cosmonaut Georgi
Grechko), Viktor
Savinykh continued his work on the space station.
