A starboard quarter view of the Soviet Korolyov class civilian space associated ship Akademik Sergey Korolyov underway. (1/1/1988)
History
Soviet Union
Name
  • 1970–1996: Akademik Sergey Korolyov
  • 1996: Orol
Owner
  • Black Sea Shipping
  • 1996: Polluks Shipping
Operator
Port of registry
BuilderBlack Sea Shipyard, Nikolayev
Yard number209/704
CompletedDecember 1970
Identification
FateScrapped in Alang, August 1996
Class overview
NameKorolyov (Soviet Project 1908)
BuildersBlack Sea Shipyard, Nikolayev
OperatorsAcademy of Sciences
Completed1
Retired1
General characteristics Akademik Sergey Korolyov
TypeSESS / Vigilship (Veladora)
Tonnage7,067 DWT
Displacement17,115 tons standard, 21,250 tons full load
Length596 ft (182 m)
Beam82 ft (25 m)
Draft26 ft (7.9 m)
Propulsion1 diesel (Bryansk/Burmeister & Wain); 12,000 hp (8,900 kW), 1 shaft
Speed17.5 knots (32 km/h)
Range22,500 nmi (41,670 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h)
Complementapprox. 190 + 170 scientist-technicians
Sensors and
processing systems
  • 2 Don-Kay (Navigation);
  • Tracking and communications equipment includes Quad Ring, Ship Bowl, Ship Globe, and Vee Tube antennas.

The Akademik Sergey Korolyov (Russian: Академик Сергей Королёв) was a space control-monitoring ship or Vigilship (Veladora) constructed in 1970 to support the Soviet space program. Named after Sergey Korolyov, the head Soviet rocket engineer and designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s, the ship also conducted upper atmosphere and outer space research.[1]

In Soviet times, the Akademik Sergey Korolyov was a large communications ship which was part of a fleet of communications ships. These ships greatly extended the tracking range when the orbits of cosmonauts and unmanned missions were not within range of Soviet land-based tracking stations.[2] The ship mainly operated in the Atlantic Ocean monitoring spacecraft trajectory, telemetry data, and guaranteed a communications link with the cosmonauts.[3]

The ship had about 1200 accommodations, including 79 laboratories, in which 188 scientific workers performed their duties.[3]

In 1975, the ship was a part of the Soviet-American Apollo–Soyuz joint test program.[4]

Sold for scrapping and renamed OROL, arriving at Alang on 18 August 1996

See also

References

  1. ↑ Norman Polmar, Guide to the Soviet Navy, Fourth Edition (1986), United States Naval Institute, Annapolis Maryland, ISBN 0-87021-240-0
  2. ↑ Tracking sites and ships, Komsmonavtka Website, Retrieved 6/13/2008
  3. 1 2 Askar, Research ship Akademik Sergey Korolev (2006), (in Russian) Online, Accessed 6/14/2008
  4. ↑ SP-4209 The Partnership: A History of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, (U.S.) NASA, Online Article
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