History
The Almaz program was a military space program of the Soviet Union.
The rocket and space complex "Almaz" developed at NPOM comprised orbital manned space station, transport vehicle, reusable return vehicle (RRV) for 3 persons, a cargo capsule delivering information to the Earth, and ground support facilities.
This space complex was successfully tested both on the ground and in space. Three crews of Soviet cosmonauts worked on the manned orbital space stations. The RRVs went through nine flight tests, with two RRVs flown to orbit several times, demonstrating their reusability.
The rich legacy of the Almaz program continues to live in all space stations built to date. The orbital manned Almaz space station is the origin of the Salyut and Mir space stations, and the International Space Station (ISS) inherited from Almaz the configuration of its main service module "Zvezda".
The Almaz transport vehicle provided the basis for the ISS module "Zarya," and also for the Salyut-7 space station module Kosmos-1686 and a line of modules for the Mir space station.
