This document is the start of a comparison of current and historic space stations
For more details on specific stations, see the links interspersed below. Also, see the Encylopedia Astronautica.
I am not currently giving size on this chart; US ISS modules are limited to 4 meters by the diameter of the shuttle cargo bay, and Russian modules are limited to 4 meters by the requirements of the Proton booster and the limitations of the Russian rail system. Only Skylab was a reasonably spacious station, as it was limited to 6.6 meters by the fact that it was built into an SIVB (the Saturn 1B/V upper stage.) Future stations that might have been launched using evolved Saturn V launchers could have been a full 10M in diameter. Such plans were in progress when the Saturn V program was abruptly cancelled in 1968.
| Name | Country | Launched | Reentered | Number of Expeditions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salyut 1[1] | Soviet Union | 4/19/1971 | 10/16/1971 | 1[2] |
| Salyut 2 (Almaz 1)[1] | Soviet Union | 4/3/73 | 4/25/1973 | 0[3] |
| Skylab | USA | 5/14/1973 | 6/11/1979 | 3 |
| Salyut 3 (Almaz 2) | Soviet Union | 6/25/1974 | 1/25/1975 | 1 |
| Salyut 4 | Soviet Union | 12/26/1974 | 2/2/1977 | |
| Salyut 5 (Almaz 3) | Soviet Union | 6/22/1976 | 8/8/1977 | 2/3? |
| Salyut 6 | Soviet Union | 9/29/1977 | 6/19/1981 | |
| Salyut 7 | Soviet Union | 4/19/1982 | 2/7/1991 | |
| Mir | Soviet Union/Russia | 2/20/1986 | 3/23/2001 | |
| ISS | USA/Russia/others |
Publically, all Russian stations prior to Mir were named Salyut. Some stations were civilian in nature and some were military ("Almaz"). All were derived from a common core design originated by Chelomei for the Almaz military station. Soviet politics lead to a parallel effort for civilian stations led by Mishin.
Not listed in this chart are a number of Salyuts that failed to make orbit and did not officially receive the Salyut designation, instead eternally stuck with the mysterious "Kosmos" label.
Mir was an evolved version of the late Salyuts, modified to allow for attachment of multiple additional modules. These additional modules were for the most part based on the FGB ferry module developed for the Almaz stations. The "service module" contributed by the Russians to the ISS is basically the core module for Mir 2; the "functional cargo block" which connects the service module to the US segments is derived from the FGB module.
The first (and only) crew of Salyut 1 was killed when their Soyuz 11 capsule failed on reentry.
After a successful launch, and effective early manuvering, the station suddenly failed and reentered before the first crew could be launched.