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Intercosmos
Intercosmos was a space exploration program of
the Soviet Union designed to include members of military forces of
allied Warsaw Pact countries in manned and unmanned missions. The
participation of countries which were not Soviet allies, such as
India, Syria and France was a reflection of non-aligned politics
during the Cold War.
Begun in April 1967 with unmanned research
satellite missions, the first manned mission occurred in February
1978. Intercosmos missions enabled 14 non-Soviet cosmonauts to
participate in Soyuz space flights between 1978 and 1988. The
program was responsible for sending into space the first citizen of
a country other than the USA or USSR; Vladimir Remek of
Czechoslovakia. Intercosmos also resulted in the first black and
hispanic person in space, Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez of Cuba, and the
first Asian person in space, Phm Tuan of Vietnam. Of the countries
involved, only Bulgaria sent two cosmonauts in space.
Soyuz 30
Soyuz 30 was a 1978 manned Soviet space flight
to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the sixth mission to and
fifth successful docking at the orbiting facility. The Soyuz 30
crew were the first to visit the long-duration Soyuz 29 resident
crew.
Soyuz 30 carried Pyotr Klimuk and Miroslaw
Hermaszewski, the first Polish cosmonaut, aloft.
Position Cosmonaut
Commander Pyotr Klimuk
EP-3
Third spaceflight
Research Cosmonaut Miroslaw Hermaszewski, IK
EP-3
First spaceflight
[edit] Backup crew
Position Cosmonaut
Commander Valery Kubasov
Flight Engineer Zenon Jankowski, IK
* Mass: 6,800 kg (15,000 lb)
* Perigee: 197.6 km (122.8 mi)
* Apogee: 261.3 km (162.4 mi)
* Inclination: 51.66°
* Period: 88.83 minutes
The second Intercosmos mission was launched 27
June 1978 to the orbiting Salyut 6 space station. The Soyuz docked
with the space station 29 June, and cosmonauts Klimik and
Hermaszewski were greeted by Vladimir Kovalyonok and Aleksandr
Ivanchenkov, the resident crew who had been on-board for 12 days.
For the third time, the Salyut was a four-man orbiting space
laboratory.
The activities of the Soyuz 30 crew, however,
were severely curtailed so as not to interfere with the Soyuz 29
crew. On the Soyuz 29 crew's rest day, the international crew had
to stay in their Soyuz to perform their experiments. Nevertheless,
Hermaszewski conducted many experiments. One was crystallization
experiments which produced 47 grams of cadmium tellurium mercury
semiconductors for use by infra-red detectors on board the station.
The yield was far greater - 50 % compared to 15 % - than
ground-based experiments.
The Soyuz 30 crew was trained, as all
international crews, in the use of the MKF-6M camera. Training in
part took place on a Tu-134 flying at 10 km to best mimic
conditions on the station. Hermaszewski photographed Poland in
co-ordination with aircraft taking close-up photos, but bad weather
over Poland limited the photo sessions. They additionally filmed
the Aurora Borealis.
Hermaszewski participated in medical experiments
which measured lung capacity and the heart during exercise and in a
pressure suit. One experiment, which all four on board the station
participated in, was Smak, a taste experiment which sought answers
to why some food was less palatable in weightlessness.
The Soyuz 30 crew packed their experiments into
their capsule and returned to earth 5 July, landing in a Rostov
state farm field 300 km west of Tselinograd.
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