[X] My Assistant

[GregM]

.

[Guest_DonPMitchell_*]

As promised, here are some Soviet rocket photos:

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Korolev's R-7 is arguably the most important rocket in the history of spaceflight. The first photo (left) shows its original form as the world's first ICBM, carrying the "Object-G" thermonuclear warhead seen in the next photo. It's 50-year career as a space rocket began with the launch of Sputnik-1 (right), and the first of the "Object-D" payloads (strictly speaking, Sputnik-3 was Object-D).

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Interplanetary variations quickly followed. An additional third stage (Block-E) created the Luna rocket, the first vehicle able to reach escape velocity (notwithstanding unsubstantiated claims about aerobee pellets or manhole covers on nuclear tests). The "Object-E" series of payloads were launched over the north pole with unprecedented accuracy, thanks to a radio ranging and guidance system controlled by ground-based computers. A similar rocket also launched the "Object-K" series of payloads, including the Zenit and Vostok spacecrafts. I have never found a really good photo of the Luna rocket. Please post one here if you have.

The last picture is the Molniya rocket, a four-stage vehicle for interplanetary flight. The third stage (Block-I) was an enlarged R-9 second stage. The fourth stage (Block-L) was placed in a parking orbit and then launched from there, the first vehicle to perform that important maneuver. Escape-stage technology is still an important milestone in space technology, only achieved by Russia and the United States thusfar. Block-L also contained the world's first deployed staged-combustion rocket engine. It was also used to orbit the "Molniya" communications satellites, for which the rocket was later named.

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Chelomei's Proton rocket was the second major interplanetary launch vehicle developed by the Russians. Its first form was the two-stage rocket seen at left, designed for ballistic delivery of super bombs and orbital nuclear platforms. It was actually used to launch the series of "Proton" satellites, for which the rocket was later named. The Proton satellites, some weighing 16 tons, were designed to study super-energetic cosmic rays. Proton contained the first large staged-combustion engines, six of which powered the first stage. The cylinders around the base are fuel tanks, not booster stages. Fueled by a toxic mix of NDMH and N2O4, its successor, the Angora is designed to use LOX/Kerosene.

Next is seen the three-stage version of the Proton, used to launch space-station sections. The Salyut space stations were actually two families of stations, the Almaz stations designed by Chelomei, and the actual Salyut stations designed by Korolev's bureau.

Two four-stage versions are next seen, one for launching the L-1 spacecrafts (Zond-4 to 8) for circumlunar lights. Zond-9 was built to carry a man around the Moon, but it was not launched because of safety concerns. The last image is the carrier for the Mars-3 probe. The fourth stage, in both Zond and Mars/Venus rockets, was "Block-D", Russia's second escape stage. Block-D was originally designed for the N-1 Moon rocket.

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The ill-fated N-1 rocket, designed to carry the LOK and LK vehicles for Russia's manned Moon landing; and also to launch the TMK interplanetary manned explorer, and Korolev's Salyut space stations. The first stage was powered by 30 NK-33 rocket engines and developed 5.1 million tons of thrust. Four launches failed. Glushko, who had been working behind the scenes for years to stop the N-1 program was finally able to marshall the necessary political support to not only cancel N-1, but to take over Korolev's bureau.

The first photo on the left contains two views of the N-1 that I generated from movie frames. The next two photos show the LOK lunar vehicle and the LK lunar lander. The LOK was essentially the modern Soyuz spacecraft. The last diagram shows the internal arrangement of spherical fuel tanks and the placement of the LOK and LK vehicles in the Moon version of N-1.

[dvandorn]

The LOK was essentially the modern Soyuz spacecraft.

Ummm... yes and no. The LOK was one of a family of spacecraft, most designed to be manned (if not all flown manned), which all shared a lot of hardware. But there were very specific differences, especially between the LOK and the various Earth-orbital versions (including modern Soyuz and Progress craft).

The LOK had a rather smaller "orbital compartment" than the Earth-orbital Soyuz, built to serve mostly as an airlock for the mission commander to get to and from the LK "lunar cabin" before and after his descent to the lunar surface. Its docking system (Kontakt) was an entirely different system. While neither the early Soyuz nor the Kontakt docking systems allowed intravehicular transfer via pressurized tunnel, the Kontakt system was much more forgiving of error and could deal with a lot of docking attitudes and velocities. (I believe it was tested on unmanned test flights of the LOK and LK in LEO in the late '60s.)

The LOK's descent module was also a little different, mostly due to a beefed-up heatshield. And, IIRC, the LOK's service module was a little longer than the standard orbital Soyuz, to make room for somewhat larger propellant tanks.

Also -- the modern Soyuz is an evolved spacecraft that bears the mark of a number of different redesigns over the past 40 years. The LOK is about as close to the modern Soyuz spacecraft as was Soyuz 4, for example. The configurations were virtually identical from the outside, but there have been a lot of really substantial changes "under the hood" that make the modern spacecraft quite a bit different from those late-60s versions (the replacement of many mechanical sequencers with electronic digital systems, for example).

-the other Doug