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Kosmos 936

Conception of Bion 4 in orbit
Names	Bion 4 Biocosmos 4
Mission type	Bioscience
Operator	Institute of Biomedical Problems
COSPAR ID	1977-074A
SATCAT no.	10172
Mission duration	18 days, 11 hours and 4 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Bion
Bus	Zenit 12KS
Manufacturer	TsSKB
Launch mass	4,000 kg (8,800 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	3 August 1977, 14:01:00 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-U
Launch site	Plesetsk 43/3
Contractor	TsSKB
End of mission
Recovered by	Soviet Space Forces
Landing date	22 August 1977, 01:05 UTC
Landing site	51°53′N 61°30′E / 51.883°N 61.500°E / 51.883; 61.500 (Bion 4 spashdown) near Kustanay, Kazakhstan, USSR
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	224 km (139 mi)
Apogee altitude	419 km (260 mi)
Inclination	62.80°
Period	90.70 min
Bion programme← Bion 3Bion 5 → Kosmos (satellites)← Kosmos 935Kosmos 937 →

Kosmos 936 or Bion 4 (Бион 4, Космос 936) was a Bion satellite. The mission involved nine countries in a series of biomedical research experiments. The experiments were primarily follow-ups to the Bion 3 (Kosmos 782) flight. Scientists from the Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the United States and the Soviet Union conducted experiments in physics and biology on the mission.

Spacecraft

The spacecraft was based on the Zenit reconnaissance satellite and launches began in 1973 with primary emphasis on the problems of radiation effects on human beings. Launches in the program included Kosmos 110, 605, 670, 782, plus Nauka modules flown on Zenit-2M reconnaissance satellites. 90 kg of equipment could be contained in the external Nauka module.

Launch

Kosmos 936 was launched on 3 August 1977, at 14:01:00 UTC by a Soyuz-U launch vehicle from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The mission ended after 19.5 days.

Mission

The mission was to conduct various biological studies, continuing the Bion 3 mission experiments. He had two centrifuges on board to put some specimens in an artificial gravity environment. An attempt was made to differentiate, using rats, between the effects caused by space flight itself from those caused by stress. The effects of flight on muscle and bone, on red cell survival, and on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism were also studied, and an experiment with rats on the effects of space radiation on the retina was conducted.

One of the instruments (without a biological part) studied the physical parameters of the components of space radiation. Fruit flies were used in genetics and aging studies. A group of rats of the Rattus norvegicus species were sent, with an average weight of 215 g (7.6 oz) at launch and 62 days of age. Twenty of the rats experienced microgravity and the other ten were subjected to the artificial gravity of the centrifuge.

See also

• 1977 in spaceflight

References

1. ^ "Display: BION-4 1977-074A". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. "Bion". Archived from the original on 20 August 2002. Retrieved 28 May 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Encyclopedia Astronautica Retrieved 16 January 2021
3. "Trajectory: BION-4 1977-074A". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
4. "Cosmos 936". NASA ARC. 3 August 1977. Archived from the original on 15 February 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Bibliography

• Kozlov, D. I. (1996), Mashnostroenie, ed., Konstruirovanie avtomaticheskikh kosmicheskikh apparatov, Moscow, ISBN
• Melnik, T. G. (1997), Nauka, ed., Voenno-Kosmicheskiy Sili, Moscow, ISBN
• "Bion' nuzhen lyudyam", Novosti Kosmonavtiki, (6): 35, 1996

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