Salyut 7 (film): Difference between revisions

A central part of the film's plot is the idea that [[NASA]] was conducting a mission to recover the disabled Salyut 7 to steal Soviet secrets with [[Space Shuttle Challenger]], returning the station to Earth inside the shuttle's cargo bay. The film ends with a fictitious scene showing Challenger rendezvousing with the Salyut 7 station and the astronauts onboard saluting the cosmonauts on Salyut 7 who were on an emergency EVA to fix the station's solar sensor. That plot possibly originates in a similar theory set forth by ''The Battle for Salyut: A Space Detective'', a Russian documentary that was created by a media branch of Roskosmos.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hendrickx |first1=Bart|title=The Space Review: Kidnapping a Soviet Space Station |url=https://www.thespacereview.com/article/2554/1 |publisher=Vesti.lv |access-date=31 May 2020 |language=En |date=14 July 2014}}</ref> [[Jean-Loup Chrétien]] who flew on both Franco-Soviet and then later Franco-American space missions, serves as the inspiration for the French astronaut sent on the American mission to recover Salyut 7 in the film. Jean-Loup was indeed on the backup crew of the [[STS-51-G]] flight of [[Space Shuttle Discovery]] that was launched 11 days after the start of [[Soyuz T-13]] on June 17, 1985. However Jean-Loup did not fly on STS-51-G, instead with fellow French astronaut [[Patrick Baudry]] onboard. The only launch of Challenger concurrent Soyuz T-13 was [[STS-51-F]] launched on July 29, 1985; well after the Soyuz T-13 crew had completed their primary emergency repairs. [[STS-51-I]] also flew concurrent to the Soyuz T-13 mission. While STS-51-F had the largest launch inclination of these three shuttle missions at 49.5 degrees, the Challenger would unlikely have been unlikely to be able to rendezvous with Salyut 7 which was at a 51.6 degree inclination.