Almaz in the context of "Zarya (ISS module)"

The militarisation of space involved the placement and development of weaponry and military technology in outer space. The early exploration of space in the mid-20th century had, in part, a military motivation, as the United States and the Soviet Union used it as an opportunity to demonstrate ballistic-missile technology and other technologies having the potential for military application. Outer space has since been used as an operating location for military spacecraft such as imaging and communications satellites, and some ballistic missiles pass through outer space during their flight. As of 2018, known deployments of weapons stationed in space include only the Almaz space-station armament and pistols such as the TP-82 Cosmonaut survival pistol (for post-landing, pre-recovery use).

Salyut 1 (Russian: Салют-1, lit. 'Salute 1'), also known as DOS-1 (Durable Orbital Station 1), was the world's first space station. It was launched into low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. The Salyut program subsequently achieved five more successful launches of seven additional stations. The program's final module, Zvezda (DOS-8), became the core of the Russian Orbital Segment of the International Space Station and remains in orbit today.

Salyut 1 was adapted from an Almaz airframe and comprised five components: a transfer compartment, a main compartment, two auxiliary compartments, and the Orion 1 Space Observatory. It was visited by the Soyuz 10 and Soyuz 11 missions. While the crew of Soyuz 10 was able to soft dock, the hard-docking failed, forcing the crew to abort their mission. The Soyuz 11 crew successfully docked, spending 23 days aboard Salyut 1 conducting experiments. The Soyuz 11 crew died of asphyxia caused by a valve failure just before reentry, making them the only humans to have died above the Kármán line.

The Salyut programme (Russian: Салют, IPA: [sɐˈlʲut], meaning "salute" or "fireworks") was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed military reconnaissance space stations over a period of 15 years, from 1971 to 1986. Two other Salyut launches failed. In one respect, Salyut had the space-race task of carrying out long-term research into the problems of living in space and a variety of astronomical, biological and Earth-resources experiments, and on the other hand, the USSR used this civilian programme as a cover for the highly secretive military Almaz stations, which flew under the Salyut designation. Salyut 1, the first station in the program, became the world's first crewed space station.

Salyut flights broke several spaceflight records, including several mission-duration records, and achieved the first orbital handover of a space station from one crew to another, and various spacewalk records. The ensuing Soyuz programme was vital for evolving space station technology from a basic, engineering development stage, from single docking port stations to complex, multi-ported, long-term orbital outposts with impressive scientific capabilities, whose technological legacy continues as of 2023. Experience gained from the Salyut stations paved the way for multimodular space stations such as Mir and the International Space Station (ISS), with each of those stations possessing a Salyut-derived core module at its heart.

The TKS spacecraft (Russian: Транспортный корабль снабжения, Transportnyi Korabl’ Snabzheniia, lit. Transport Supply Spacecraft; GRAU index 11F72) was a Soviet spacecraft system developed in the late 1960s to deliver crew, cargo, and fuel to the military Almaz space stations. It consisted of two linked but independently operable parts: the VA spacecraft, a compact capsule for crew launch and re-entry, and the Functional Cargo Block (FGB), which provided cargo space, docking hardware, and the main orbital maneuvering engines. When the VA returned to earth, the FGB could be left behind at the station.

Although designed for both crewed and uncrewed flights, the TKS was never used operationally. Only four test missions were launched, three of which docked with civilian Salyut stations. The spacecraft’s lasting contribution was its FGB design, which became the basis for station modules used on Mir and the International Space Station.