[X] My Assistant

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

according to the last information at roscosmos.ru

Russia now officially targeting 2027 for her first manned mission to the moon surface

[Big_Gazza]

B)-->

That's not quite true.
Soviet Voskhod did not have any crew escape system. Buran's rapid escape tunnel would be of no use when it get airborne. It was vulnerable just as space shuttle is if not more.
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Yes, I stand corrected! The ejection seats (and pressure suits) were removed to fit the three (very brave) occupants. The 2-man Voskhod 2 re-introduced the pressure suits, but still no crew escape. Yeeeshh!! What a death trap waiting to happen!

And yes, the Buran escape tunnel was only intended as a means of escape in the event of catastrophic failure while on the pad. Once it was airborne, the cosmonauts main protection was faith in the engineers and a few muttered Hail Mary's (or the Orthodox equivalent!).

Oh yes, about the restart ability. I've read this in several sources, but a quick google came up with this from http://www.geocities.com/launchreport/proton.html. Not what I would call an authoritive source, but good enough.

"Proton's RSC Energia Block DM fourth stage is derived from the Block D stage developed for the Soviet lunar landing program during the 1960s. The stage is powered by a restartable 11D58M (RD-58M) gimbaled main engine that burns liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene to deliver 8,5 tons of thrust."

The gist is that the 4th stage is based on Block-D lunar hardware, so its been around for a long time. It has a good history of Mars and Venus injection maneourves, so the failure on Mars 96 was very atypical and indeed unfortunate.