Salyut 7 Crisis (1983: Doomsday)

The Salyut 7 Crisis was a crisis caused by Doomsday, resulting in the immediate cut-off of supplies and resources between the Earth and the Salyut 7 space station.

Pre-Doomsday
When Soyuz T-7 detached from Salyut 7 on the 10th of December in 1982, three people were left on the station:


 * Leonid Popov - Commander
 * Aleksandr Serebrov - Flight Engineer
 * Svetlana Savitskaya - Research Cosmonaut

Soyuz T-8 had been meant to meet up with them in April, but they were forced to return after almost using the propellant past a limit that would be required for a safe de-orbiting. Soyuz T-9 would successfully launch and dock in July, bringing with it:


 * Vladimir Lyakhov - Commander
 * Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov - Flight Engineer

Both were meant to return with the results of experiments conducted upon Salyut 7 in the Merkur Capsule, which would soft-land in Central Asia. The FGB component would then be de-orbited and burn up in the atmosphere.

Doomsday
In the minds of many, these cosmonauts had by far the most horrific view of the event of September 26th, 1983. Not having received any warning from Kalingrad, it only dawned on them after a short while what they were truly seeing unravel upon the Earth's surface. "We knew that our families were gone," said Leonid Popov, in an interview documenting the events, "One look at the ever expanding light across the Motherland was enough to tell us there was going to be no returning home. I spent most of that day watching the world destroy itself, ever so slowly, wishing that it would just stop. Vladimir was at the communications, trying to communicate hopelessly with Kalingrad.......Kennedy......anywhere he thought a signal could possibly be returned. Svetlana was in her bunk crying most of the night and into the next day. Those images........those I knew which brought death upon our peoples........they will forever be seared into my mind...." Leonid the next day ordered a SOS to be constantly broadcast over the radio, in hopes that it would be picked up by someone, somewhere. He also instituted strict rations among the crew to allow them to live as long as possible, though nothing could be done about the oxygen, which was expected to last until early next year at best. All unnecessary electronics equipment was also shut down, in order to conserve fuel and prevent premature reentry.

"Salyut 7......Come In.....Salyut 7?"
To Be Continued.......