Soyuz-R space station

A military reconnaissance version of Soyuz, developed by Kozlov at Samara from 1963-1966. It was to consist of an the 11F71 small orbital station and the 11F72 Soyuz 7K-TK manned ferry.

The Soyuz-R system consisted of two separately launched spacecraft, with the docked complex having a total mass of 13 metric tons. The small orbital station 11F71 would be equipped with photo-reconnaissance and ELINT equipment. This station was based on the Soyuz 7K, but the descent apparatus and living module were replaced with a storage section for modular equipment (this would later be developed further as a free-flyer spacecraft for the giant MOK orbital complex 19K, finally resulting in the 1990 (!) autonomous spacecraft 19KA30 Gamma). It was interesting to note that the external appearance of the Soyuz-R was very similar to pictures published on 1 November 1967 of the docking of Kosmos 186 and 188. These spacecraft were actually 11F615 7K-OK Soyuzes, but at that time the configuration was still secret. Therefore the configuration of the by-then cancelled 7K-R was used for the public release.

To dock with the Soyuz R 11F71 station Samara developed the transport spacecraft 11F72 Soyuz 7K-TK. This version of the Soyuz was equipped with rendezvous and docking equipment, including a hatch in the docking collar that allowed the cosmonauts to enter the station without donning space suits.