Working on an alternate-history SF story that involves an orbital rescue in 1975 requiring use of the Soyuz 18 capsule. This had room for carrying up to 3 cosmonauts to orbit but only carried 2 to the Soviet Salyut 4 station in 1975. If they tried to return to Earth in it with 3 people instead of 2, would that have been possible? I assume they didn't launch from Earth with an empty 3rd seat; why waste the mass? But would there have been room for a 3rd person on return, assuming they cobble together some kind of cushion/seat? Anyone know how the actual interior of Soyuz 18 was configured? Thanks all.
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$\begingroup$ Related, not a duplicate: space.stackexchange.com/q/12926/6944 $\endgroup$– Organic MarbleMay 10, 2019 at 15:21
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1$\begingroup$ I clearly remember Shenzhou 11 launched with an empty seat (with cargo strapped to it) english.cas.cn/newsroom/news/201610/t20161019_168764.shtml. $\endgroup$– user3528438May 10, 2019 at 15:48
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$\begingroup$ It's plausible, but in any case why let facts get in the way of a good scifi story? $\endgroup$– GdDMay 10, 2019 at 16:28
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No. At least, not easily. Soyuz 18 used a variant of the Soyuz capsule (the 7K-ST) that could only handle two crew. After Soyuz 11 tragedy, the spacecraft was redesigned so that the space that would be taken up by another crew member was instead taken up by life support. So there would be a major redesign of the spacecraft required in order to do that (which happened when the Soyuz-T was designed).
answered May 13, 2019 at 11:03
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$\begingroup$ After Soyuz 18 left Salyut 4, apparently an uncrewed Soyuz 20, with 'biological samples' was sent up to Salyut 4 for a few months. Anyone have knowledge of how its interior was laid out (any seats?). Or what the 'samples' were? Did it have a conventional reentry, IOW would g-forces be same as a crewed capsule? Thanks for any input. $\endgroup$– WbogenMay 30, 2019 at 1:50