Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and
landing 140 km southeast of Dzheskasgan.
Following a one-day solo
flight
Soyuz 14 docked with the space station
Salyut 3 on
July 04, 1974. The crew transferred into the space station and stayed there 14
days.
Presumable
military activities (observation of rocket
bases) and some medical and biological experiments were performed. The
cosmonauts exercised for two hours each day to counter the effects of
weightlessness. At the time, the military nature of this mission and the
station itself were not acknowledged by Soviet authorities.
Increased
solar activity raised safety issues, but it was decided radiation levels were
within safe limits, so the flight continued.
Experiments were described
by the Soviets, but analysts presumed that much time was taken up with
unreported military activities. Claims were made in the aerospace press that
objects were laid out at the Baikonur Cosmodrome to photograph to test a
high-resolution camera system on board. Some of the experiments the Soviets
described included studies of the heart and circulatory systems in orbit,
studies of intracranial pressure, monitoring of blood composition, measuring of
lung capacity and inhalation/exhalation rates and the testing of a water
purification system which condensed moisture from the station's
atmosphere.
The
Soyuz spacecraft is composed of three elements
attached end-to-end - the Orbital Module, the Descent Module and the
Instrumentation/Propulsion Module. The crew occupied the central element, the
Descent Module. The other two modules are jettisoned prior to re-entry. They
burn up in the atmosphere, so only the Descent Module returned to Earth.
The
deorbit burn lasted 188 seconds. Having shed two-thirds of its mass, the
Soyuz reached Entry Interface - a point 400,000 feet
(121.9 kilometers) above the Earth, where friction due to the thickening
atmosphere began to heat its outer surfaces. With only 23 minutes left before
it lands on the grassy plains of central Asia, attention in the module turned
to slowing its rate of descent.
Eight minutes later, the spacecraft was
streaking through the sky at a rate of 755 feet (230 meters) per second. Before
it touched down, its speed slowed to only 5 feet (1.5 meter) per second, and it
lands at an even lower speed than that. Several onboard features ensure that
the vehicle and crew land safely and in relative comfort.
Four parachutes,
deployed 15 minutes before landing, dramatically slowed the vehicle's rate of
descent. Two pilot parachutes were the first to be released, and a drogue chute
attached to the second one followed immediately after. The drogue, measuring 24
square meters (258 square feet) in area, slowed the rate of descent from 755
feet (230 meters) per second to 262 feet (80 meters) per second.
The main
parachute was the last to emerge. It is the largest chute, with a surface area
of 10,764 square feet (1,000 square meters). Its harnesses shifted the
vehicle's attitude to a 30-degree angle relative to the ground, dissipating
heat, and then shifted it again to a straight vertical descent prior to
landing.
The main chute slowed the
Soyuz to a descent rate of only 24 feet (7.3 meters)
per second, which is still too fast for a comfortable landing. One second
before touchdown, two sets of three small engines on the bottom of the vehicle
fired, slowing the vehicle to soften the landing.
All objectives were
successfully completed. The capsule landed within 2 km of the aim
point.