Salyut 5 at 50: The Soviet space station that sickened one crew and nearly drowned another

The last inhabited Almaz outpost was short-lived, secretive, and remarkably accident-prone

It is half a century since the Soviet Union launched the final crewed Almaz space station, also known as Salyut 5, which was home to two crews, while a third mission failed to dock and nearly came to a watery end.

The Almaz stations were launched for the Soviet military and are better known as Salyut 2, 3, and 5. There were additional stations under construction, but the crewed program was canceled after Salyut 5.

While we hesitate to use the word "cursed," Salyut 5 was certainly an eventful program for its crews. The station was launched on June 22, 1976, atop a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur. Known internally as OPS spacecraft (Orbital Piloted Stations), the Almaz stations had a pair of solar arrays, reconnaissance equipment, and a cannon mounted at the base of each station, which was test-fired...

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