ROD%SU-AI@sri-unix.UUCP (11/13/83)
From: Rod Brooks <ROD@SU-AI>
a016 0113 12 Nov 83
PM-Cosmonauts,290
Cosmonauts Reportedly Plan Return
WASHINGTON (AP) - Two Soviet cosmonauts who have been in space since
June are planning a descent to Earth later this month in a spacecraft
that may be in danger of losing its fuel, according to a published
report.
The Washington Post reported today that the Soyuz 9 spacecraft
carrying cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Alexander Alexandrov will
have been docked at the Salyut space station for 149 days before it
returns to Earth.
The newspaper, which quoted unidentified U.S. intelligence sources,
said the Soyuz 9's batteries are running down and its volatile
hypergolic fuels, which ignite on mixing, have been evaporating to the
point that the spacecraft's fuel tanks could be almost empty.
Previous Soyuz crews have returned to Earth in spacecraft flown to
the Salyut space station by an exchange crew, which stays aboard
Salyut for a week or two until another, long-term crew arrives. This
way, there is always a crew aboard the Salyut to tend its long-term
experiments.
The suggestion that Lyakhov and Alexandrov will return to Earth
aboard their own Soyuz means that no exchange of crews is
contemplated, the Post said. According to the newspaper, this
indicates that the launch pad explosion in September that almost
killed two cosmonauts who were to take Lyakhov and Alexandrov's places
was as serious a setback to the manned Soviet space program as any
accident the Soviets have suffered in the past 20 years.
The Soviet news agency Tass reported Thursday that the cosmonauts
had begun medical preparations for their return and U.S. sources told
the Post that the two men had been talking with their flight
directors about returning Nov. 24, Nov. 25 or Nov. 26.
ap-ny-11-12 0412EST
***************ROD%SU-AI@sri-unix.UUCP (11/19/83)
From: Rod Brooks <ROD@SU-AI>
MOSCOW (AP) - The official Soviet news agency Tass says two
cosmonauts aboard the orbiting Salyut 7 space station for nearly five
months will return to Earth in a few days.
''The cosmonauts will start preparations in the coming days for
their return,'' Tass said Friday. ''They are to mothball the Salyut 7
station, (and) carry into and stack in the transport ship Soyuz T-9
materials on research conducted in orbit.''
U.S. intelligence sources have said the Soyuz T-9 has weak batteries
and its fuel is nearly evaporated, making the the cosmonauts' return
possibly risky. The Soviets have denied there have been any problems.
Cosmonauts Alexander Alexandrov and Vladimir Lyakhov began their
mission June 27 aboard the Soyuz T-9, which docked the next day with
the space station.
ap-ny-11-19 0347EST
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