Coupling by Computer

Hard on the heels of its successful Venus landing, and just in time for the 50th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia announced last week that its space scientists had carried out an automatic rendezvous, docking and separation of two unmanned earth satellites.

Probably launched from the Tyuratam Cosmodrome in central Kazakhstan, the first of the satellites, Cosmos 186, lifted off on Oct. 27. Western scientists immediately noted that it was traveling in an orbit remarkably similar to that of Soyuz 1, which crashed on landing last April, killing Soviet Cosmonaut Vladimir M. Komarov. Three days later, a cylindrical object called Cosmos 188 was rocketed aloft into the same orbital track, a scant 14.9 miles from Cosmos 186. The accuracy was remarkable, but it had to be. Western space experts have learned that Russian spacecraft radar lacks power for long-range precision, and what was to come depended largely on the radar equipment aboard 186 and 188.

Pas de Deux. From the moment of 188's launching, Russian scientists say, computers aboard Cosmos 186, reportedly large enough to carry a crew of five, began the sophisticated automatic process of finding and linking up with Cosmos 188, the passive, beaconlike partner in the space pas de deux. Then, while 188 was still in its first orbit, the two spacecraft oriented their docking mechanisms toward one another. Painstakingly, 186 moved closer. Then, high over the Ascension Island area in the South Atlantic, 186 slipped its pronged nose into a docking collar mounted on 188, linking the electrical circuits of the two vehicles. For 31 hours, the two spacecraft formed a single entity and performed scientific tasks jointly. Then 186 and 188 were brought separately and safely back to earth in soft landings in the U.S.S.R.

In an announcement following the feat, Tass hinted windily at the purpose of the unmanned docking maneuver. The mission, it said, was a step toward the "creation in orbit of big scientific space stations capable of carrying out complex and multifaceted exploration of outer space and planets." Sir Bernard Lovell, Director of Britain's Jodrell Bank observatory, agreed that this was "a logical explanation." But Lovell, as well as other Western observers, believes that the space docking project could also be part of a Soviet effort toward orbiting the moon from a space platform circling the earth. All this is necessary because the Russians, so far, do not seem to have developed a vehicle--such as the U.S.'s Saturn 5 --with sufficient thrust to send up a complete exploration unit on a direct flight to the vicinity of the moon.

Serious Question. Somewhat surprisingly, Mstislav V. Keldysh, president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, had little to say about the Soviet space spectacular at a press conference that took place while the docking was achieved. Instead, he commented on suggestions by the U.S., which has already performed manned dockings and plans to trigger off the maiden launching of giant Saturn 5 this week, that the two countries cooperate. "This is a very serious question," Keldysh said. "We have received no invitation, but I think this could be discussed."

In addition to the mellow overture, Keldysh insisted that "there will be no manned launchings before the holidays." But Western space officials were keenly aware that Cosmos 186 had probably solved the soft-landing problems that turned Soyuz 1 into a funeral pyre. And noting that the U.S.S.R. has reportedly asked India for permission to land a manned capsule on its territory in the future, they speculated at week's end that the eventual result of last week's rendezvous will be a circumlunar mission destined to end with a landing in--or near--India.

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