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Kosmos 140

Mission type	Test flight
Operator	Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1)
COSPAR ID	1967-009A
SATCAT no.	02667
Mission duration	2 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Soyuz 7K-OK No.3
Spacecraft type	Soyuz 7K-OK
Manufacturer	Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1)
Launch mass	6450 kg
Landing mass	2500 kg
Dimensions	7.13 m (23.4 ft) long 2.72 m (8 ft 11 in) wide
Start of mission
Launch date	7 February 1967, 03:21 GMT
Rocket	Soyuz 11A511 s/n U15000-03
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 1/5
Contractor	Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1)
End of mission
Landing date	9 February 1967
Landing site	Aral Sea, Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	165.0 km
Apogee altitude	218.0 km
Inclination	51.7°
Period	88.5 minutes
Soyuz programme← Soyuz 7K-OK No.1Soyuz 1 →

Kosmos 140 (Russian: Космос 140 meaning Cosmos 140), Soyuz 7K-OK No.3, was an uncrewed flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. It was the third attempted test flight of the Soyuz 7K-OK model, after orbital (Kosmos 133) and launch (Soyuz 11A511) failures of the first two Soyuz spacecraft.

History

The follow-up to Kosmos 133 (Soyuz 7K-OK No.2), 28 November 1966, was planned for 14 December 1966 (Soyuz 7K-OK No.1) but ended disastrously. At liftoff, the Blok A core stage of the 11A57 booster ignited, but not the strap-ons. A shutdown command was immediately sent and pad crews began to move the service towers back in place and drain the propellants. This task was completed for the core stage and strap-ons, and then about 27 minutes after the attempted launch, the launch escape system (LES) suddenly fired. Its exhaust caused the Blok I third stage propellant tanks to overheat and explode, killing one person on the ground and damaging the Soyuz and core stage/strap-ons beyond repair. LC-31 was also badly damaged and took seven months of repair work in the frigid Kazakhstan winter to be restored to use. The reason for the LES firing was thought to be either a timer being activated due to the Earth's rotation affecting the gyroscope package in the launch vehicle or perhaps one of the service towers bumping it.

Launch

In February 1967, the backup booster and spacecraft were set up at LC-1 and the planned mission could be carried out. Kosmos 140 was operated in a low Earth orbit, on 7 February 1967, it had a perigee of 165 km (103 mi), an apogee of 218 km (135 mi), an inclination of 51.7°, and an orbital period of 88.5 minutes.

Return

The spacecraft suffered attitude control problems and excessive fuel consumption in orbit, but remained controllable. An attempted maneuver on the 22nd orbit still showed problems with the control system. It malfunctioned yet again during retrofire, leading to a steeper than planned ballistic reentry and a 30 centimetres (12 in) hole being burned in the heat shield.

Although the event would have been lethal to any human occupants, the capsule's recovery systems operated and the capsule crashed through the ice of the frozen Aral Sea, hundreds of kilometers short of its landing zone. The spacecraft finally sank in 10 metres of water and had to be retrieved by divers. The test performance was nonetheless deemed "good enough"; the crewed docking missions of Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 2 was approved for the next flight.

References

1. ^ "Cosmos 140: Display 1966-109A". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. NASA. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. ^ "Cosmos 140: Trajectory 1967-009A". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. NASA. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
3. "Soyuz spacecraft flights". S.P.Korolev RSC Energia. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2009.

v t e Soyuz programme
List of Soyuz missions List of Soviet human spaceflight missions List of Russian human spaceflight missions
Main topics	Soyuz (rocket family) Soyuz (spacecraft) Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1/5 Site 31/6 Soyuz abort modes Cosmonaut ranks and positions
Past missions (by spacecraft type)	Soyuz 7K-OK (1966–1970) Kosmos 133† Soyuz 7K-OK No.1† (uncrewed) Kosmos 140 Soyuz 1† Kosmos 186 188 212 213 238 Soyuz 2 (uncrewed) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Soyuz 7K-L1 (1967–1970) (Zond lunar programme) Kosmos 146 154† Zond 1967A† 1967B† Zond 4 1968A† 1968B† 5 6 1969A† Zond-M 1† M 2† Zond 7 8 9 10 Soyuz 7K-L1E (1969–1970) Soyuz 7K-L1E No.1† Kosmos 382 Soyuz 7K-LOK (1971–1972) Soyuz 7K-LOK No.1† No.2† Soyuz 7K-OKS (1971) Soyuz 10† 11† Soyuz 7K-T (1972–1981) Kosmos 496 573 Soyuz 12 Kosmos 613 Soyuz 13 Kosmos 656 Soyuz 14 15† 17 18a† 18 20 (uncrewed) 21 23† 24 25† 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 (uncrewed landing) 33† 34 (uncrewed launch) 35 36 37 38 39 40 Soyuz 7K-TM (1974–1976) Kosmos 638 672 Soyuz 16 19 (Apollo–Soyuz) 22 Soyuz 7K-S (1974–1976) Kosmos 670 772† 869† Soyuz-T (1978–1986) Kosmos 1001† 1074 Soyuz T-1 (uncrewed) T-2 T-3 T-4 T-5 T-6 T-7 T-8† T-9 T-10a† T-10 T-11 T-12 T-13 T-14 T-15 Soyuz-TM (1986–2002) Soyuz TM-1 (uncrewed) TM-2 TM-3 TM-4 TM-5 TM-6 TM-7 TM-8 TM-9 TM-10 TM-11 TM-12 TM-13 TM-14 TM-15 TM-16 TM-17 TM-18 TM-19 TM-20 TM-21 TM-22 TM-23 TM-24 TM-25 TM-26 TM-27 TM-28 TM-29 TM-30 TM-31 TM-32 TM-33 TM-34 Soyuz-TMA (2002–2012) Soyuz TMA-1 TMA-2 TMA-3 TMA-4 TMA-5 TMA-6 TMA-7 TMA-8 TMA-9 TMA-10 TMA-11 TMA-12 TMA-13 TMA-14 TMA-15 TMA-16 TMA-17 TMA-18 TMA-19 TMA-20 TMA-21 TMA-22 Soyuz-TMA-M (2010–2016) Soyuz TMA-01M TMA-02M TMA-03M TMA-04M TMA-05M TMA-06M TMA-07M TMA-08M TMA-09M TMA-10M TMA-11M TMA-12M TMA-13M TMA-14M TMA-15M TMA-16M TMA-17M TMA-18M TMA-19M TMA-20M Soyuz MS (2016–present) Soyuz MS-01 MS-02 MS-03 MS-04 MS-05 MS-06 MS-07 MS-08 MS-09 MS-10† MS-11 MS-12 MS-13 MS-14 (uncrewed) MS-15 MS-16 MS-17 MS-18 MS-19 MS-20 MS-21 MS-22 (uncrewed landing) MS-23 (uncrewed launch) MS-24 MS-25
Current missions	MS-26
Future missions	2025 MS-27 MS-28 2026 MS-29
Uncrewed missions are designated as Kosmos instead of Soyuz; exceptions are noted "(uncrewed)". The † sign designates failed missions. Italics designates cancelled missions.

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