Editing Almaz (section)

{{Short description|Soviet military space station program}}
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{{Use American English|date=November 2020}}
[[File:Almaz drawing.svg|thumb|Line drawing of an Almaz space station]]
[[File:Центр Космонавтики и Авиации, Москва 45 - Cosmonautics and Aviation Center, Moscow.jpg|thumb|Almaz space station at [[VDNKh (Russia)]]]]
The '''Almaz''' ({{langx|ru|Алмаз|lit=Diamond}}) program was a highly secret [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] military [[space station]] program, begun in the early 1960s.

Three crewed military [[reconnaissance]] stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: [[Salyut 2]], [[Salyut 3]] and [[Salyut 5]]. 
To cover the military nature of the program, the three launched Almaz stations were designated as civilian [[Salyut programme|Salyut space stations]].
Salyut 2 failed shortly after achieving orbit, but Salyut 3 and Salyut 5 both conducted successful crewed testing. 
Following Salyut 5, the [[Ministry of Defense (Soviet Union)|Soviet Ministry of Defense]] judged in 1978 that the time and resources consumed by station maintenance outweighed the benefits relative to automatic [[reconnaissance satellite]]s. Still, it had some achievements along with the Salyut program, the heritage of the twin program continues, with the [[International Space Station]] module [[Zarya (ISS module)|Zarya]] being one example.{{vague|date=September 2020}}{{Not verified in body|date=April 2021}}

The space stations' cores were known internally as OPS ({{langx|ru|ОПС}}, [[Main Missile and Artillery Directorate|GRAU index]] 11F71 and 11F71B), from "Orbital Piloted Station" ({{langx|ru|Орбитальная Пилотируемая Станция}}).<ref name="RSWops">{{Cite web |last=Zak |first=Anatoly |title=Almaz space station (OPS) 11F71 |url=https://www.russianspaceweb.com/almaz_ops.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521144723/https://www.russianspaceweb.com/almaz_ops.html |archive-date=May 21, 2024 |access-date=September 1, 2012 |website=RussianSpaceWeb.com }}</ref> As part of the Almaz program, the Soviets developed several spacecraft for support roles—the [[VA spacecraft]], the [[Functional Cargo Block]] and the [[TKS (spacecraft)|TKS spacecraft]], which they planned to use in several combinations.<ref name=RSWtks/><ref name=EAapos/>