What is "almaz"

The Almaz (, "Diamond") program was a highly secretive 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 space stations. Salyut 2 failed shortly after achieving orbit, but Salyut 3 and Salyut 5 both conducted successful manned testing. Following Salyut 5, the Soviet Ministry of Defence judged in 1978 that the time consumed by station maintenance outweighed the benefits relative to automatic reconnaissance satellites.

The space stations cores were known internally as OPS (, GRAU index 11F71 and 11F71B), from "Orbital Piloted Station" . As part of the Almaz program several spacecraft for supportive roles were developed: The VA spacecraft, the Functional Cargo Block and the TKS spacecraft, which were to be used in several combinations. The heritage of the Almaz program continues to this day with the ISS module Zarya being one example.

Almaz means "diamond" in Amharic, Arabic and a number of other languages; it may refer to:

• Almaz, a series of Soviet space stations launched in the 1970s
• NPO Almaz, a former Soviet military enterprise
• Almaz-Antey, a Russian military enterprise
• Almaz shipbuilding company
• Russian cruiser Almaz launched in 1903
• Almaz, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province
• " Almaz", a song by US singer Randy Crawford from her 1986 album Abstract Emotions
• Almaz, a character in the video game Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
• Almaz (camera), a Russian-made 135 mm camera with K-mount
• Ahmet Almaz, Turkish journalist, translator, and non-fiction writer
• Excalibur Almaz, spacecraft company in the Isle of Man

"Almaz" is a single by American female soul singer Randy Crawford. A heartfelt piano ballad, it signalled a comeback for the artist, who reached the top five in the UK singles chart with the song. "Almaz" is one of the few songs Randy Crawford has written by herself, and the first of her own compositions that was released as a single.