AKA: 11F76. Status: Study 1977.
The capsule could be loaded manually by cosmonauts aboard the station, or film could be loaded automatically when the station was unmanned.
The capsule came in two parts: a re-entry protection shell, and an internal payload.
At capsule ejection the Almaz pointed down at an 8:00 angle from the horizontal. The capsule was ejected at a 5:00 angle. After separation it spun up, fired the retro, and then spun down, all at the 5:00 angle. It then separated the retro assembly. Following reentry, it deployed a small drogue chute, followed by a main chute. The reentry shell was separated before the main chute, and only the internal payload landed separately.
The outer heat shield was as follows:
Lift eye-bolts (4) ------------------ / /\ Gone | O -- / | \ | | | 1 /| |\ | 3 --- -------------------- ---- | 5 C | -------------------- | | 0 a | \ / | | p | | | 8 | | s | | | 3 | | u | | | 8 | | l | | | | | e | \ / | | --- ----------- ----------- 780 |---------------| Payload volume .... 90 cu cm 850 |-----------------| Payload mass ...... 120 kgThe interior section was:
____ beacon / ________ o |o| / |o|\|| |o|--------|o|-- |o| |o| | ---- cloth covered =================== | | | | ---- cloth covered \ / ------------
The return capsule from Salyut 5 was sold at a Sotheby's auction in the early 1990's. The shell shad a dent in the bottom: not very big, surprisingly. Internally, there was the label with the serial number 11F76-0505. This Earth Return Capsule was launched into space with the Salyut 5 space station on 22 June 1976 and returned to earth on 26 February 1977. The estimated price was $80,000-$100,000. The actual price as sold was $48,875. The engineers at the auction indicated that the plan was to eventually have six of these return capsules on board each Almaz.