Salyut Space Station Docking Control Monitor, from the nine Soviet space stations before Mir

Docking control monitor from the Salyut space station, used in the 1970s to control the process of docking and undocking the Soyuz spacecraft with the space station. Salyut was the first space station, and served as a cover for the three military Almaz stations. Despite several docking failures, Salyut allowed the Soviets to battle test the subject of Buzz Aldrin’s PhD thesis – orbital rendezvous.

In 1971, Salyut 1 was the first space station to orbit the Earth. Salyut 2 and 3 were military programs, which after some failures, returned film to Earth and shot down a target satellite with a NR-23 cannon in 1975. To aim the rapid-fire cannon fixed on the forward belly of the station, the entire station would be turned to face the threat.