1969
In 1969, during the creation of the Salyut OS, the Soyuz spacecraft was modernized, which ensured the transfer of the crew to the station through the inner hatch in the spacecraft docking unit without the cosmonauts going into outer space. Thus, on the new ships, which received the index 7K-T, there was no need for the "Yastreb" spacesuits. And the use of rescue suits on ships of this type was not provided for by the documentation.
1971
Unfortunately, such self-confidence had to pay a high price: on June 30, 1971, the second flight of the ship of this series (Soyuz-11) ended with the death of the entire crew due to the cabin depressurization. And Zvezda was given the task of developing a rescue suit as soon as possible.
The piquancy of the situation was that the previously created spacesuits (SK-1, Berkut and Yastreb) were not suitable for these purposes, since either they were not combined with the new chair, or were intended for extravehicular activities.
The Zvezda enterprise considered two main options for "rescue equipment".
First, the use of a high-altitude compensating suit (VKK-47).
Secondly, the use of the Sokol aviation spacesuit.
As a result of the fittings of the models and the analysis of possible schemes of oxygen supply, as well as the mass, the choice fell on aviation "Falcon".
Naturally, the aviation SC "Sokol" demanded significant improvements to facilitate the SC:
- Instead of a metal helmet with a sealed neck bearing, a "soft" helmet was designed, the front part of which was a folding glazing, and the back part was a continuation of the spacesuit shell.
Along the lower edge of the glazing, there was a helmet connector, consisting of two half-frames hinged in the temporal zone.
- Were dismantled all unnecessary elements in the form of lacing the surface of the shell.
- We gave up the ventilation suit.
- The pressure regulator moved from the thigh of the left leg to the abdomen, etc.
The SC was used in a set with cotton linen, a headset and medical sensors, and closing the spacesuit ensured ergonomic placement of the astronaut in the "embryo" position, due not only to the dimensions of the chair and the size of the CA, but also to the tolerance of overloads.
The new spacesuit was named "Sokol-K" (space).
The launch time of the next Soyuz spacecraft depended on the timing of the development of the space suit. And since Zvezda had a backlog of aviation Falcons, by the end of 1971, 5 existing Falcon aviation spacesuits were completed, with which laboratory tests were carried out and a complete package of technical documentation was developed.
1972
In the first half of 1972, 8 more Sokol-K samples were manufactured.
In 1972, a full range of factory technical and physiological tests was completed.
1973
And on September 27, 1973, the regular use of spacesuits of the Sokol (Sokol-K) family began on the Soyuz spacecraft.
2021
The technical solutions incorporated in Sokol-K turned out to be so successful that Sokol (Sokol-KV2 modification) continues to operate at the present time, without losing its potential for further modernization (Sokol-M). But that's a completely different story.