posted 08-12-2015 10:22 AM               

Salyut 7, a new generation of the orbital station was launched in 1982 and from the first day showed itself as long-durance capable — the first expedition lasted 211 days! On Feb 11, 1985 the station developed a chain power shortage and stopped to respond to the Center of Operations. The decision was made to send a repair team on board Soyuz T-13.

Despite a medical ban, the commander chair was taken by Vladimir Dzhanibekov, the most experienced Soviet cosmonaut (logged four flights, including one to Salyut 7), another reason for Dzhanibekov to fly — he was one of only three cosmonauts who had real-life experience of manual docking. Special medical commission was called to confirm his ability to fly. The engineering task was laid upon Victor Savinykh — the most experienced flight engineer in Salyut space stations. The spaceship was especially adapted for the mission — it carried repair equipment and extra supplies. Soyuz T-13 was launched on Jun 6, 1985.

All the guidance towards the station was done by the Anti-Missile Defense forces (rus - PRO), they was able to put Dzhanibekov and Savinykh into 200 meters distance from Salyut-7 for the manual docking approach. This showed the ability to approach any flying object on Earth orbit and for the military it was a good "prove of concept" for in-orbit interception. The first images showed the station was totally unpowered and nobody new what was the extent of damage to the power supply systems and station itself. Docking was uneventful, but there was absolutely no data from the station, no pressure, temperature, atmospheric info, etc. Slowly, using "trial and error" approach, cosmonauts managed to streamline the pressure between the ship and dead station. They entered the station with gas masks and worm closes – temperature was well below 0 C. Fortunately the atmosphere was ok, so no gas mask were needed.

In the first days only one was working in the station, the other one was in the spaceship for safety reasons. One of the biggest problems was that the whole water supply on the station was frozen – Soyuz brought water for 8 days only, Dzhanibekov and Savinykh strictly limited themselves in water to gain more time. In a couple of days cosmonauts managed to start charging the batteries and in another couple of days the most of mission critical system stared to respond. On 16th – the water system came to life - this was actually the point of reincarnation. On June 23, Progress-24 was able to dock the station, bringing all necessary supplies. Salyut-7 remained operational for another year. For the reasons of secrecy this mission got almost no attention in the soviet press. On one scarce occasion, the news program showed a direct transmission with the cosmonauts in warm clothes – after that, all the TV shots were recorded and the crew was asked not to wear hats and gloves during recording.

In June 1995 there was a 10th anniversary event for Soyuz T-13/Salyut-7 flight. A small presentation was held in Tsiolkovsky museum in Kirov, with the participants of this adventure. This cover commemorated this, with the special event cancellation, museum postal cancellation and signatures of Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Victor Savinykh.