1.
Soyuz (rocket family)
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Soyuz is a family of expendable launch systems developed by OKB-1, and manufactured by Progress State Research and Production Rocket Space Center in Samara, Russia. The Soyuz launch vehicle is the most frequently used vehicle in the world. Space Shuttle program ended in 2011, Soyuz rockets became the launch vehicle able to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. All Soyuz rockets use RP-1 and liquid propellant, with the exception of the Soyuz-U2, which used Syntin. In the United States, it has the Library of Congress designation A-2, the Soyuz family is a subset of the R-7 family. The Soyuz launcher was introduced in 1966, deriving from the Vostok launcher and it was initially a three-stage rocket with a Block I upper stage. Later a Molniya variant was produced by adding a fourth stage, a later variant was the Soyuz-U. The production of Soyuz launchers reached a peak of 60 per year in the early 1980s and it has become the worlds most used space launcher, flying over 1700 times, far more than any other rocket. Despite its age and perhaps thanks to its simplicity, this family has been notable for its low cost and very high reliability. In the early 1990s plans were made for a redesigned Soyuz with a Fregat upper stage, the Fregat engine was developed by NPO Lavochkin from the propulsion module of its Phobos interplanetary probes. The creation of Starsem in July 1996 provided new funding for the creation of an ambitious variant. This consisted of a slightly modified Soyuz U combined with the Fregat upper stage, in April 1997, Starsem obtained a contract from the European Space Agency to launch two pairs of Cluster 2 plasma science satellites using the Soyuz-Fregat. After successful test flights of Soyuz-Fregat on February 9,2000 and March 20,2000, another Soyuz-Fregat launched the ESAs Mars Express probe from Baikonur in June 2003. Now the Soyuz-Fregat launcher is used by Starsem for commercial payloads, between February 1,2003 and July 26,2005 with the grounding of the U. S. Space Shuttle fleet, Soyuz was the means of transportation to. This included the transfer of supplies, via Progress spacecraft, NASA is scheduled to resume manned flights from the United States in late 2018 or 2019 through the Commercial Crew Development program. One person from the crew was killed and eight injured. Another failure occurred on June 21,2005, during a Molniya military communications satellite launch from the Plesetsk launch site, the flight ended six minutes after the launch because of a failure of the third stage engine or an unfulfilled order to separate the second and third stages
2.
Launch vehicle
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In spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket used to carry a payload from Earths surface into outer space. A launch system includes the launch vehicle, the launch pad, Earth orbital launch vehicles typically have at least two stages, and sometimes as many as four or more. Expendable launch vehicles are designed for one-time use and they usually separate from their payload and disintegrate during atmospheric reentry. In contrast, reusable vehicles are designed to be recovered intact. The Space Shuttle was a part of a vehicle with components used for multiple orbital spaceflights. SpaceX has developed a rocket launching system to successfully bring back a part—the first stage—of their Falcon 9 and launch it again. A fully reusable VTVL design is planned for all parts of the ITS launch vehicle, Launch vehicles are often classified by the amount of mass they can carry into orbit. For example, a Proton rocket can lift 22,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit, Launch vehicles are also characterized by their number of stages. Rockets with as many as five stages have been successfully launched, additionally, launch vehicles are very often supplied with boosters supplying high early thrust, normally burning with other engines. Boosters allow the engines to be smaller, reducing the burnout mass of later stages to allow larger payloads. Other frequently reported characteristics of vehicles are the launching nation or space agency. For example, the European Space Agency is responsible for the Ariane V, many launch vehicles are considered part of a historical line of vehicles of same or similar name, e. g. the Atlas V is the latest Atlas rocket. A small-lift launch vehicle is capable of lifting up to 2,000 kg of payload into low Earth orbit, a medium-lift launch vehicle is capable of lifting 2,000 to 20,000 kg of payload into LEO. A heavy-lift launch vehicle is capable of lifting 20,000 to 50,000 kg of payload into LEO, a super-heavy lift vehicle is capable of lifting more than 50,000 kg of payload into LEO. It refers to its 1,500 kg to LEO Vega launch vehicle as light lift, sounding rockets have long been used for brief, inexpensive unmanned space and microgravity experiments. Current human-rated suborbital launch vehicles include SpaceShipOne and the upcoming SpaceShipTwo, minimizing air drag requires a reasonably high ballistic coefficient, a ratio of length to diameter greater than ten. This generally results in a vehicle that is at least 20 m long. Leaving the atmosphere as early on in the flight as possible provides a velocity loss due to air drag of around 300 m/s, Launch vehicles of sufficient size are capable of launching payloads smaller than their orbital capability, to the Moon or beyond
3.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
4.
Payload
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Payload is the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of the flight or mission, the payload of a vehicle may include cargo, passengers, flight crew, munitions, scientific instruments or experiments, extra fuel, when optionally carried, is also considered part of the payload. In a commercial context, payload may refer only to revenue-generating cargo or paying passengers, for a rocket, the payload can be a satellite, space probe, or spacecraft carrying humans, animals, or cargo. For a ballistic missile, the payload is one or more warheads and related systems, the fraction of payload to the total liftoff weight of the air or spacecraft is known as the payload fraction. When the weight of the payload and fuel are considered together, in spacecraft, mass fraction is normally used, which is the ratio of payload to everything else, including the rocket structure. There is a natural trade-off between the payload and the range of an aircraft, a payload range diagram illustrates the trade-off. The top horizontal line represents the maximum payload and it is limited structurally by maximum zero-fuel weight of the aircraft. Maximum payload is the difference between maximum zero-fuel weight and operational empty weight, moving left-to-right along the line shows the constant maximum payload as the range increases. More fuel needs to be added for more range, the vertical line represents the range at which the combined weight of the aircraft, maximum payload and needed fuel reaches the maximum take-off weight of the aircraft. If the range is increased beyond that point, payload has to be sacrificed for fuel, the maximum take-off weight is limited by a combination of the maximum net power of the engines and the lift/drag ratio of the wings. The diagonal line after the point shows how reducing the payload allows increasing the fuel when taking off with the maximum take-off weight. The second kink in the curve represents the point at which the fuel capacity is reached. Flying further than that point means that the payload has to be reduced further, the absolute range is thus the range at which an aircraft can fly with maximum possible fuel without carrying any payload.314 m3 and 2 x 0.414 m3 Envelope, each 1. So even when the airplane has been loaded with its maximum payload that the wings can support, launch and transport system differ not only on the payload that can be carried but also in the stresses and other factors placed on the payload. The payload must not only be lifted to its target, it must also arrive safely, to ensure this the payload, such as a warhead or satellite, is designed to withstand certain amounts of various types of punishment on the way to its destination. Most aircraft payloads are carried within the fuselage for similar reasons, outsize cargo may require a fuselage with unusual proportions, such as the Super Guppy. The various constraints placed on the system can be roughly categorized into those that cause physical damage to the payload. Heavy-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Tsiolkovsky rocket equation Shannon Ackert, using the Payload/Range and Takeoff Field Length Charts in the Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning Documents
5.
Low Earth orbit
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A low Earth orbit is an orbit around Earth with an altitude between 160 kilometers, and 2,000 kilometers. Objects below approximately 160 kilometers will experience very rapid orbital decay, with the exception of the 24 human beings who flew lunar flights in the Apollo program during the four-year period spanning 1968 through 1972, all human spaceflights have taken place in LEO or below. The International Space Station conducts operations in LEO, the altitude record for a human spaceflight in LEO was Gemini 11 with an apogee of 1,374.1 kilometers. All crewed space stations to date, as well as the majority of satellites, have been in LEO, objects in LEO encounter atmospheric drag from gases in the thermosphere or exosphere, depending on orbit height. Due to atmospheric drag, satellites do not usually orbit below 300 km, objects in LEO orbit Earth between the denser part of the atmosphere and below the inner Van Allen radiation belt. The mean orbital velocity needed to maintain a stable low Earth orbit is about 7.8 km/s, calculated for circular orbit of 200 km it is 7.79 km/s and for 1500 km it is 7.12 km/s. The delta-v needed to achieve low Earth orbit starts around 9.4 km/s, atmospheric and gravity drag associated with launch typically adds 1. 3–1.8 km/s to the launch vehicle delta-v required to reach normal LEO orbital velocity of around 7.8 km/s. Equatorial low Earth orbits are a subset of LEO and these orbits, with low inclination to the Equator, allow rapid revisit times and have the lowest delta-v requirement of any orbit. Orbits with an inclination angle to the equator are usually called polar orbits. Higher orbits include medium Earth orbit, sometimes called intermediate circular orbit, orbits higher than low orbit can lead to early failure of electronic components due to intense radiation and charge accumulation. Although the Earths pull due to gravity in LEO is not much less than on the surface of the Earth, people, a low Earth orbit is simplest and cheapest for satellite placement. It provides high bandwidth and low communication time lag, but satellites in LEO will not be visible from any point on the Earth at all times. Earth observation satellites and spy satellites use LEO as they are able to see the surface of the Earth more clearly as they are not so far away and they are also able to traverse the surface of the Earth. A majority of satellites are placed in LEO, making one complete revolution around the Earth in about 90 minutes. The International Space Station is in a LEO about 400 km above the Earths surface, since it requires less energy to place a satellite into a LEO and the LEO satellite needs less powerful amplifiers for successful transmission, LEO is used for many communication applications. Because these LEO orbits are not geostationary, a network of satellites is required to provide continuous coverage, lower orbits also aid remote sensing satellites because of the added detail that can be gained. Remote sensing satellites can also take advantage of sun-synchronous LEO orbits at an altitude of about 800 km, envisat is one example of an Earth observation satellite that makes use of this particular type of LEO. The LEO environment is becoming congested with space debris due to the frequency of object launches and this has caused growing concern in recent years, since collisions at orbital velocities can easily be dangerous, and even deadly
6.
R-7 (rocket family)
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The R-7 family of rockets is a series of rockets, derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka, the worlds first ICBM. More R-7 rockets have been launched than any family of large rockets. When Soviet nuclear warheads got lighter, the R-7 turned out to be impractical as a ballistic missile and it was not necessary to launch such heavy payloads in a military application. The rockets remained useful in the Soviet and then Russian space programmes with long term development, the R-7 family consists of both missiles and orbital carrier rockets. Derivatives include the Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz rockets, which as of 2014 have been used for all Soviet, the type has a unique configuration where four break-away liquid-fueled engines surround a central core. The core acts as, in effect, a stage after the other four engines are jettisoned. Later modifications were standardised around the Soyuz design, the Soyuz-U, Soyuz-FG and Soyuz-2 are currently in use. The Soyuz-U and FG are to be retired over the few years. R-7 rockets are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Guiana Space Centre, all the R-7 family rockets are listed here by date of introduction. Most of the early R-7 variants have been retired, active versions are shown in green. The Korolev cross is an effect observed in the smoke plumes of the R-7 series rockets during separation of the four liquid-fueled booster rockets attached to the core stage. As the boosters fall away from the rocket, they pitch over symmetrically due to forces acting on them. The effect is named after Sergey Korolev, who designed the R-7, when the rocket is launched into clear skies, the effect can be seen from the ground at the launch site. 1957 in spaceflight List of R-7 launches Comparison of orbital launchers families Rocket R-7 from S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, a Russian rocket and space contractor
7.
Soyuz-U2
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The Soyuz-U2 was a Soviet, later Russian, carrier rocket. It was derived from the Soyuz-U, and a member of the R-7 family of rockets and it featured increased performance compared with the baseline Soyuz-U, due to the use of syntin propellant, as opposed to RP-1 paraffin, used on the Soyuz-U. The increased payload of the Soyuz-U2 allowed heavier spacecraft to be launched, while lighter spacecraft could be placed in higher orbits, compared to those launched by Soyuz-U rockets. In 1996, it was announced that the Soyuz-U2 had been retired, the final flight, Soyuz TM-22, occurred on 3 September 1995 from Gagarins Start in Baikonur. It also supplied the stations with Progress cargo spacecraft, Progress 20 to Salyut 7, Progress 25 to 42 to Mir, followed by the new generation Progress M-1 to M-18, other missions included the Gamma telescope and three Orlets reconnaissance satellites. In total, Soyuz-U2 was launched 72 times and experienced no failures over its operational lifetime
8.
Soyuz-FG
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The Soyuz-FG launch vehicle is an improved version of the Soyuz-U, from the R-7 family of rockets, designed and constructed by TsSKB-Progress in Samara. It made its flight on May 20,2001, carrying a Progress M1-6 cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station. Since October 30,2002 the Soyuz-FG has been the vehicle used by the Russian Federal Space Agency to launch Soyuz-TMA. Another version of the Soyuz-FG is the Soyuz-FG/Fregat with Fregat as its 3rd stage, a European-Russian company Starsem owns all rights to launches using this version. As of December 2014 there have been 10 launches of Soyuz-FG/Fregat with commercial payloads and its maiden flight occurred on June 2,2003. The analog control system of this spacecraft significantly limits its capabilities, the Soyuz-FG is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, using launch site LC-1/5 for Soyuz-FG and LC-31/6 for Soyuz-FG/Fregat. Soyuz Soyuz programme Russian Federal Space Agency Starsem McDowell, Jonathan, Russian Federal Space Agency about Soyuz-FG LVs manufacturer TsSKB-Progress about Soyuz-FG
9.
Baikonur Cosmodrome
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Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport located in southern Kazakhstan. It is the worlds first and largest operational space launch facility, the spaceport is located in the desert steppe of Baikonur, about 200 kilometres east of the Aral Sea and north of the river Syr Darya. It is near the Tyuratam railway station and is about 90 metres above sea level, currently leased by the Kazakh Government to Russia until 2050, the spaceport is managed jointly by the Roscosmos State Corporation and the Russian Aerospace Forces. The shape of the area leased is an ellipse, measuring 90 kilometres east–west by 85 kilometres north–south, with the cosmodrome at the centre and it was originally built by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s as the base of operations for the Soviet space program. Under the current Russian space program, Baikonur remains a busy spaceport, with commercial, military. All manned Russian spaceflights are launched from Baikonur, both Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, and Vostok 1, the first manned spaceflight, were launched from Baikonur. The launch pad used for missions was renamed Gagarins Start in honor of Russian Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, pilot of Vostok 1. The Soviet government issued the decree for Scientific Research Test Range No.5 on 12 February 1955 and it was actually founded on 2 June 1955, originally a test center for the worlds first intercontinental ballistic missile, the R-7 Semyorka. NIIP-5 was soon expanded to include facilities for space flights. The site was selected by a led by Gen. Vasily Voznyuk, influenced by Sergey Korolyov, the Chief Designer of the R-7 ICBM. It had to be surrounded by plains, as the control system of the rocket required receiving uninterrupted signals from ground stations hundreds of kilometres away. Additionally, the trajectory had to be away from populated areas. Also, it is an advantage to place a space launch site closer to the equator, taking these constraints into consideration, the commission chose Tyuratam, a village in the heart of the Kazakh Steppe. A supporting town was built around the facility to provide housing, schools and it was raised to city status in 1966 and named Leninsk. The American U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance plane found and photographed the Tyuratam missile test range for the first time on 5 August 1957, there are conflicting sources about origins of the name Baikonur. Other sources state that Baikonur was name of the Tyuratam region even before the cosmodrome existed, the main cosmodrome-supporting town Leninsk was renamed to Baikonur on 20 December 1995 by Boris Yeltsin. In 1997, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation changed the path and removed the ejected rocket stages near Nyurbinsky District. Scientific literature collected enough data that confirmed adverse effects of rockets on environment, heptyl, or UDMH, a fuel used in Russian rocket engines, is considered to be highly toxic
10.
Gagarin's Start
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Gagarins Start is a launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, used for the Soviet space program and now managed by Roscosmos State Corporation. The launchpad for the worlds first human made by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1 in 1961. It is also referred to as NIIP-5 LC1, Baikonur LC1 or GIK-5 LC1. On 17 March 1954 the Council of Ministers ordered several ministries to select a site for a ground to test the R-7 rocket by 1 January 1955. A special reconnaissance commission considered several possible geographic regions and selected Tyuratam in the Kazakh SSR and this selection was approved on 12 February 1955 by the Council of Ministers, with a completion of construction targeted for 1958. Work on the construction of Site No.1 began on 20 July 1955 by military engineers. Day and night more than 60 powerful trucks worked at the site,15,000 cubic metres of earth were excavated and removed per day, during winter explosives were widely utilized. By the end of October 1956 all primary building and installation of infrastructure for R-7 tests was completed. The Installation and Testing Building named Site No.2 was built, by April 1957 all remaining work was completed and the site was ready for launches. The R-7 missile made its voyage from LC-1 on May 15,1957. On 4 October 1957 the pad was used to launch the worlds first artificial satellite, the pad was also used to launch Luna program spacecraft, Mars probe program spacecraft, Venera program spacecraft, many Cosmos satellites and others. From 1957 through 1966 the site hosted ready-to-launch strategic nuclear ICBMs in addition to spacecraft launches, the 500th launch from this site was of Soyuz TMA-18M on 2 September 2015. In 1961, the launch schedule of the Soviet space program resulted in the opening of a sister pad at Baikonur. LC-1 has been the primary facility for manned launches, with occasional Soyuz flights from LC-31/6, LC-1 was damaged several times by booster explosions during the early years. Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 31 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14, the equivalent for the United States first manned spaceflights. «Korolev, Facts and myths» - J. K. Golovanov, M, Nauka,1994, - ISBN 5-02-000822-2, Rockets and people – B. E. Chertok, M, kuznetsk, Voronezh, IPF Voronezh,1997, ISBN 5-89981-117-X, Look back and look ahead. Notes of a military engineer - Rjazhsky A. A.2004, SC. first, rocket and space feat Baikonur - Vladimir Порошков, the Patriot publishers 2007. ISBN 5-7030-0969-3 Unknown Baikonur - edited by B. I, ISBN 5-8155-0051-8 Bank of the Universe - edited by Boltenko A. C
11.
Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 31
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Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, is a launch site used by derivatives of the R-7 Semyorka missile. However, Site 1/5 has undergone modifications that allow the manned ISS missions to be launched from it, only few manned missions to the International Space Station are launched from Site 31/6, when Site 1/5 is unavailable. It was first used on 14 January 1961, for an R-7A ICBM test mission and it is currently used for commercial Soyuz-FG/Fregat missions, and Soyuz-2 launches. In the 1970s and early 1980s, several manned missions were launched from the site. «Korolev, Facts and myths» - J. K. Golovanov, M, Nauka,1994, - ISBN 5-02-000822-2, Rockets and people – B. E. Chertok, M, kuznetsk, Voronezh, IPF Voronezh,1997, ISBN 5-89981-117-X, Look back and look ahead. Notes of a military engineer - Rjazhsky A. A.2004, SC. first, rocket and space feat Baikonur - Vladimir Порошков, the Patriot publishers 2007. ISBN 5-7030-0969-3 Unknown Baikonur - edited by B. I
12.
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
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Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk, dates from 1957. Originally developed as an ICBM site for the R-7 missile, it served for numerous satellite launches using the R-7. With the end of the Soviet Union, Baikonur became foreign territory, consequently Plesetsk has seen considerably more activity since the 2000s. It is situated in a region of taiga, or flat terrain with boreal pine forests, the Soyuz rocket, Cosmos-3M, Rockot, Tsyklon, and Angara are launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The heavy Proton and Zenit rockets can only be land-launched from Baikonur, on 11 January 1957 the Soviet government passed the resolution about the foundation of special military object with secret name Angara. This secret object had to be situated in Plesetsk District, Arhangelsk Oblast and it was named after the town of Plesetsk. The first Soviet Combat formation of intercontinental ballistic missiles R-7 of general designer Sergei Korolev had to be located in that place, the official birthday of the proving ground was 15 July 1957. That day Colonel Gregorjev assumed his post as the unit commander. By 15 July 1961, four missile complexes for R-7 ICBMs were at combat status, in the summer of 1963, the leadership of the state is decided on the use of launch facilities in Plesetsk for launching spacecraft. In September 1963 the Council of Ministers of the USSR 3rd ALM, three test management, employees of combat duty, tests of rocket and space complexes, holding and processing of telemetry and trajectory measurements. And from 1964 on the basis of rocket connection started the establishment of research proving ground missiles and space weapons. Such conversion were the geographical location and a significant number of systems already deployed by the end of 1964 were on duty, four launchers R-7A, seven PU P-16U. Since then, the landfill has developed in two directions, rocket and space,17 March 1966 was the space birthday of Plesetsk. That day was the first missile launching of the rocket booster Vostok with space vehicle Cosmos 112, since that time the rocket base Angara has become cosmodrome Plesetsk. Construction started in 1957 and it was declared operational for R-7 rockets in December 1959, the urban-type settlement of Plesetsk in Arkhangelsk Oblast had a railway station, essential for the transport of missile components. A new town for the support of the facility was named Mirny, Russian for peaceful. By 1997, more than 1,500 launches to space had made from the site, more than for any other launch facility. Meteor 1-2 satellite launch from Plesetsk on 6 October 1969 was one of the earliest launches observed and photographed from Finland
13.
Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 16
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Site 16, also known as SK-2, is a launch complex at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. It consists of a pad, Site 16/2, and has been used by R-7 derived rockets since 1960. Site 16 was originally built for use by R-7A Semyorka missiles, after its retirement from service in 1966, it was cannibalised for parts which were needed to repair Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome following the explosion of a Soyuz-U rocket. Work to rebuild the complex began in 1979, and was completed in 1981, the first launch from Site 16 was conducted by a Molniya-M with an Oko satellite on 19 February 1981. Site 16 has been used for Soyuz-U and Molniya-M launches, and is still in service as of 2012
14.
Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 41
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Site 41, also known as Lesobaza and SK-1, was a launch complex at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. It consisted of a pad, Site 41/1, and was used by R-7 derived rockets between 1959 and 1989. Site 41 was originally built for use by R-7A Semyorka missiles, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, an armed missile was placed on Site 41. It would have had a time of 8-12 hours should an order have been given to launch it. No launches were conducted from Site 41 whilst it was operational, in 1963, the complex was converted for use by carrier rockets. The first launch from the complex was a suborbital test of an R-7A Semyorka missile, the first orbital launch from the complex occurred on 17 March 1966, when a Vostok-2 rocket launched Kosmos 112. In total,308 orbital and two launches were conducted from the complex, using R-7A, Vostok-2, Vostok-2M, Voskhod. The last launch to use the complex was of a Soyuz-U with Bion 9 on 15 September 1989, since this launch, the pad has been disassembled
15.
Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43
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Site 43, also known as SK-3 and SK-4, is a launch complex at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. It consists of a two pads, Sites 43/3 and 43/4, and has been used by R-7 derived rockets since the early 1960s, the site was originally built for use by R-7A Semyorka missiles. The first launch to use the complex was an R-7A test on 21 December 1965, the first launch from 43/4 followed on 25 July 1967. After its retirement from service as a base, it was converted for use as a space launch complex. The first orbital launch was of a Voskhod rocket with Kosmos 313 on 3 December 1969, both pads were damaged by explosions in the 1980s. At 16,01 GMT on 18 March 1980,48 were killed when a Vostok-2M exploded during fueling operations at Pad 4, the disaster killed 50 people and injured dozens more, while damaging the pad so severely that it was not used again until 1984. On 18 June 1987, a Soyuz-U rocket exploded at liftoff on Pad 3, both were rebuilt, and are in service as of 2009
16.
Soyuz (spacecraft)
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Soyuz is a series of spacecraft designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s that remains in service today. The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraft and was built as part of the Soviet manned lunar programs. The Soyuz spacecraft is launched on a Soyuz rocket, the most frequently used, the Soyuz rocket design is based on the Vostok launcher, which in turn was based on the 8K74 or R-7A Semyorka, a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile. All Soyuz spacecraft are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the first Soyuz flight was unmanned and started on November 28,1966. The first Soyuz mission with a crew, Soyuz 1, launched on 23 April 1967 but ended with a due to a parachute failure. Soyuz 3, launched on October 26,1968, became the programs first successful manned mission, the only other flight to suffer a fatal accident, Soyuz 11, killed its crew of three when the cabin depressurized prematurely just before reentry. These were the humans to date to have died above the Kármán line. Despite these early incidents, Soyuz is widely considered the worlds safest, most cost-effective human spaceflight vehicle, Soyuz spacecraft were used to carry cosmonauts to and from Salyut and later Mir Soviet space stations, and are now used for transport to and from the International Space Station. At least one Soyuz spacecraft is docked to ISS at all times for use as a craft in the event of an emergency. The spacecraft is intended to be replaced by the six-person Federation spacecraft, the orbital and service modules are single-use and are destroyed upon re-entry in the atmosphere. The orbital and reentry portions are habitable living space, Soyuz can carry up to three crew members and provide life support for about 30 person days. The life support system provides an atmosphere at sea level partial pressures. The atmosphere is regenerated through KO2 cylinders, which absorb most of the CO2 and water produced by the crew and regenerates the oxygen, the vehicle is protected during launch by a payload fairing, which is jettisoned along with the SAS at 2-1/2 minutes into launch. It has a docking system. The ship can be operated automatically, or by a pilot independently of ground control, inspired by the Mercury LES, Soviet designers began work on a similar system in 1962. This included developing a complex sensing system to monitor various launch vehicle parameters, the SAS could also be manually activated from the ground, but unlike American spacecraft, there was no way for the cosmonauts to trigger it themselves. Four folding stabilizers were added to improve stability during descent. Two test runs of the SAS were carried out in 1966-67, the basic design of the SAS has remained almost unchanged in 50 years of use and all Soyuz launches carry it
17.
Progress (spacecraft)
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The Progress is a Russian expendable cargo spacecraft. Its purpose is to deliver supplies needed to sustain human presence in orbit, while it does not carry a crew it can be boarded by astronauts when docked with a space station, hence it being classified as manned by its manufacturer. Progress is derived from the manned Soyuz spacecraft and launches on the same vehicle, Progress has supported space stations as early as Salyut 6 and as recently as the International Space Station. Each year there are three and four Progress flights to the ISS. A Progress remains docked until shortly before being replaced with a new one or a Soyuz, then it is filled with waste, disconnected, and de-orbited, at which point it burns up in the atmosphere. Due to the variation in Progress vehicles flown to the ISS, Progress was developed because of the need for a constant source of supplies to make long duration space missions possible. It was determined that cosmonauts needed an inflow of consumables, plus there was a need for maintenance items, such payloads were impractical to launch with passengers in the restricted space of a Soyuz. As of December 1,2016 there have been 155 Progress flights with three failures, all three failures have occurred since 2011. Progress is of much the size and shape as Soyuz. It consists of three modules, A pressurized forward module and this carries the supplies for the crew such as scientific equipment, clothes, prepackaged and fresh food, and letters from home. The docking drogue is similar to that of the Soyuz but features ducting for the UDMH fuel, the reentry module of the Soyuz was replaced with an unpressurized propellant and refueling compartment with ducting along the outside of the spacecraft. This meant that if a leak occurred, the gas would not enter the stations atmosphere. The fuel is carried in two tanks, the propulsion module, at the rear of the spacecraft, remained unchanged and contains the orientation engines used for the automatic docking. It may be used to boost the orbit of the station once docked, reduction in mass was possible because the Progress was designed to be unmanned and disposable. This means that there is no need for life support systems. A small amount of weight is saved due to the lack of rescue crews system. The spacecraft also has no ability to split into separate modules, after undocking, the spacecraft performs a retrofire and burns up in the atmosphere. There were many variations between the different flights, but the major upgrades are reflected in the change of name
18.
RD-107
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The RD-107 and its sibling, the RD-108, are a type of rocket engine initially used to launch R-7 Semyorka missiles. RD-107 engines were used on space launch vehicles based on the R-7. As of 2015, very similar RD-107A and RD-108A engines are used to launch the Soyuz FG, Soyuz-2. 1a and Soyuz-2. 1b, the RD-107 was designed under the direction of Valentin Glushko at the Gas Dynamics Laboratory-Experimental Design Bureau between 1954 and 1957. It uses liquid oxygen and kerosene as propellants, operating in a gas generator cycle, as was typical by all the descendants of the V-2 rocket technology, the turbine is driven by steam generated by catalytic decomposition of H2O2. The steam generator uses solid F-30-P-G catalyst and these are based on variable sized pellet covered in an aqueous solution of potassium permanganate and sodium as active catalyst. Each engine uses four fixed main combustion chambers, the RD-107 has an additional two vernier combustion chambers that can gimbal in a single plane, to supply thrust vectoring. The RD-108 has four of such vernier combustion chambers to supply vector control to the Blok-A stage. The single-axle turbopump unit includes the steam turbine, an oxidizer pump, a fuel pump. One important innovation of this engine was the capability to use variable mixture ratio between fuel and oxidizer, the natural variations in manufacturing between each engine meant that without an active propellant consumption control, each boosters would deplete oxygen and fuel at different rates. This might result in as much as tens of tonnes of propellant near the end of their burn and it would generate enormous strains on the structure and control authority due to the mass imbalance. Thus, the engines and the system was developed to ensure the simultaneous consumption of propellant mass among the four R-7 boosters. The RD-107 and RD-108 engines are produced at the JSC Kuznetsov plant in Samara, Russia, under the supervision of the Privolzhskiy branch of NPO Energomash, the Privolzhsky branch was organized as a branch of OKB-456 in 1958, specifically for the manufacture of RD-107 and RD-108 engines. The branch was led by Y. D, solovjev until 1960, then by R. I. Zelenev until 1975, then by A. F. Udalov until 1978, and is currently led by A. A. Modifications to the RD-107 design have led to production of several versions of the engine, RD-107. Used on the R-7, Sputnik, Vostok and Voskhod, rD-107K, Improved version of the 8D74. RD-107ММ, Increased thrust over the 8D74K by 5%, used on the Molniya-M and Soyuz. Used on the Soyuz-U and Soyuz-U2, rD-107А, Improved version of the 11D511 with new injector design that eliminated the high frequency combustion instabilities. Used on the Soyuz-FG, Soyuz-STA and Soyuz-STB, rD-107А, Chemical ignited version of the 14D22
19.
Specific impulse
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Specific impulse is a measure of the efficiency of rocket and jet engines. By definition, it is the total impulse delivered per unit of propellant consumed and is equivalent to the generated thrust divided by the propellant flow rate. If mass is used as the unit of propellant, then specific impulse has units of velocity, if weight is used instead, then specific impulse has units of time. Multiplying flow rate by the gravity before dividing it into the thrust. In rockets, this means the engine is more efficient at gaining altitude, distance and this is much less of a consideration in jet engines that employ wings and outside air for combustion to carry payloads that are much heavier than the propellant. Specific impulse includes the contribution to impulse provided by air that has been used for combustion and is exhausted with the spent propellant. Jet engines use air, and therefore have a much higher specific impulse than rocket engines. The specific impulse in terms of propellant mass spent is in units of distance per time and this is higher than the actual exhaust velocity because the mass of the combustion air is not being accounted for. Actual and effective exhaust velocity are the same in rocket engines not utilizing air, Specific impulse is inversely proportional to specific fuel consumption by the relationship Isp = 1/ for SFC in kg/ and Isp = 3600/SFC for SFC in lb/lbf-hr. The amount of propellant is normally measured either in units of mass or weight, however, if propellant weight is used, an impulse divided by a force turns out to be a unit of time, and so specific impulses are measured in seconds. These two formulations are both used and differ from each other by a factor of g0, the dimensioned constant of gravitational acceleration at the surface of the Earth. Note that the rate of change of momentum of a rocket per unit time is equal to the thrust, the higher the specific impulse, the less propellant is needed to produce a given thrust during a given time. In this regard a propellant is more efficient the greater its specific impulse and this should not be confused with energy efficiency, which can decrease as specific impulse increases, since propulsion systems that give high specific impulse require high energy to do so. It is important that thrust and specific impulse not be confused, the specific impulse is a measure of the impulse produced per unit of propellant expended, while thrust is a measure of the momentary or peak force supplied by a particular engine. In many cases, propulsion systems with high specific impulses—some ion thrusters reach 10,000 seconds—produce low thrusts. When calculating specific impulse, only propellant that is carried with the vehicle use is counted. Air resistance and the inability to keep a high specific impulse at a fast burn rate are why all the propellant is not used as fast as possible. If an engine weighs more in order to gain a specific impulse, it may not be as efficient in gaining altitude, distance
20.
Liquid oxygen
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Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen. Liquid oxygen has a blue color and is strongly paramagnetic. Liquid oxygen has a density of 1.141 g/cm3 and is cryogenic with a point of 54.36 K. Because of its nature, liquid oxygen can cause the materials it touches to become extremely brittle. Liquid oxygen is also a powerful oxidizing agent, organic materials will burn rapidly and energetically in liquid oxygen. Further, if soaked in liquid oxygen, some such as coal briquettes, carbon black, etc. can detonate unpredictably from sources of ignition such as flames. Petrochemicals, including asphalt, often exhibit this behavior, the tetraoxygen molecule was first predicted in 1924 by Gilbert N. Lewis, who proposed it to explain why liquid oxygen defied Curies law. Modern computer simulations indicate that there are no stable O4 molecules in liquid oxygen, O2 molecules do tend to associate in pairs with antiparallel spins. Conversely, liquid nitrogen or liquid air can be oxygen-enriched by letting it stand in air, atmospheric oxygen dissolves in it. In commerce, liquid oxygen is classified as a gas and is widely used for industrial and medical purposes. Liquid oxygen is obtained from the oxygen found naturally in air by fractional distillation in an air separation plant. Liquid oxygen is a cryogenic liquid oxidizer propellant for spacecraft rocket applications, usually in combination with liquid hydrogen. Liquid oxygen is useful in this role because it creates a specific impulse. It was used in the very first rocket applications like the V2 missile and Redstone, R-7 Semyorka, Atlas boosters, many modern rockets use liquid oxygen, including the main engines on the now-retired Space Shuttle. U. S. Army has long recognized the importance of liquid oxygen. In 1985 it started a program of building its own facilities at all major consumption bases. By 1845, Michael Faraday had managed to liquefy most gases then known to exist, six gases, however, resisted every attempt at liquefaction and were known at the time as permanent gases. They were oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, in 1877, Louis Paul Cailletet in France and Raoul Pictet in Switzerland succeeded in producing the first droplets of liquid air
21.
RD-0110
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The RD-0110 is a rocket engine burning liquid oxygen and kerosene in a gas generator combustion cycle. It has four fixed nozzles and the output of the gas generator is directed to four secondary vernier nozzles to supply vector control of the stage and it has an extensive flight history with its initial versions having flown more than 55 years ago. OKB-154 of S. A. Kosberg was tasked with developing an engine for the unmanned Molniya Block-I stage, thus, the RD-0107 was developed in the 1960 to 1961 period, based on the RD-0106 engine that powered the SS-8 Sasin ICBM, also designed by OKB-154. It also leveraged the experience in the field from the Vostok Block-E RD-0105/RD-0109 development, the engine had its debut flight on October 10,1960, and the last Molniya flight was on October 22,1967. For the crewed carrying Voskhod Block-I, a version of the engine that complied with the human rating 3K Regulations was needed, during 1963 OKB-154 developed this new version of the engine. Known with by the GRAU index 8D715P, the RD-0108 kept the same characteristics and this engine had its first flight on November 16,1963 and last flew on June 29th,1976. For the Molniya-M Block-I, OKB-154 did an improvement program that put emphasis on the reliability of the engine. This project gave birth to the RD-0110, a particular problem observed during acceptance testing were high frequency instabilities, particularly during the start sequence. But it was solved by installing of longitudinal ribs on the combustion chamber. The development of the RD-0110 was performed in 9 months during 1963 and it is also used on the Soyuz third stage in all models until the RD-0124 debut on the 2. 1b. It has flown over 1350 times, and accumulated more than 336, 500s of burn time, the RD-0110 was created in a period when KbKhA had just started to design rocket engines. After many studies, simplicity and reliability were the drivers of the design. For this reason a single shaft integrating the LOX pump, the RG-1 pump, to provide acceptable suction performance, the RD-0110 turbopump has a dual inlet design with back to back centrifugal impellers. This allows it to work at low inlet pressures without requiring additional booster pumps. The turbine is driven by a fuel gas generator. The ignition system for both the gas generator and the chamber is done by pyrotechnic devices. The engine control is handled by a regulator, a throttle and it can throttle between 100% and 90. 5% with the option of short 107% in case of an emergency. During development, combustion instability issues were observed, the problem was found to be intimately related to the injection system design
22.
Fregat
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Fregat is an upper stage developed by NPO Lavochkin in the 1990s, which is used in some Soyuz and Zenit rockets. Its liquid propellant engine uses UDMH and N2O4, Fregat upper stage is designed for injecting large payloads into a low, medium-height or high geosynchronous orbit. Fregat is an upper stage, in addition to orbital insertion. Fregat stages are used as the fourth stage of some Soyuz launch vehicles. The stage can be restarted up to 25 times, NPO Lavochkin has built many interplanetary probes, the main part of the stage is six intersecting spheres placed on a single plane, four of which contain propellants. The remaining two contain the control equipment, the main engine is placed between the spheres, so Fregat is a tightly-packed stage with a diameter much larger than its height. The Arianespace-operated flight of a Fregat MT ended in failure on 22 August 2014 after the vehicle deposited two EU/ESA Galileo navigation satellites into the wrong orbit, the lift off at 1227 GMT from the Sinnamary launch site near Kourou, French Guiana, appeared to go well. However, a failure was only apparent later when, after the firing of the Fregat MT upper stage had taken place. The Independent Inquiry Board formed to analyze the causes of the announced its definitive conclusions on October 7,2014 following a meeting at Arianespace headquarters in Évry. The failure occurred during the flight of the Fregat fourth stage and it occurred about 35 minutes after liftoff, at the beginning of the ballistic phase preceding the second ignition of this stage. This orientation error was the result of the loss of inertial reference for the stage and this failure was due to a temporary interruption of the joint hydrazine propellant supply to these thrusters. The interruption in the flow was caused by freezing of the hydrazine, the freezing resulted from the proximity of hydrazine and cold helium feed lines, these lines being connected by the same support structure, which acted as a thermal bridge. Ambiguities in the design allowed the installation of this type of thermal bridge between the two lines. In fact, such bridges have also seen on other Fregat stages now under production at NPO Lavochkin. The design ambiguity is the result of not taking account the relevant thermal transfers during the thermal analyses of the stage system design. The root cause of the failure of flight VS09 is therefore a shortcoming in the system thermal analysis performed during stage design, fregat-M/Fregat-MT tanks have ball-shaped additions on the tops of the tanks. These additions increase the capability of the propellant from 5,350 kilograms to 6,640 kilograms. A version called Fregat-SB can be used with Zenit-2SB rocket and this version is a variation of Fregat-M with a block of drop-off tanks which makes increased payload capability possible
23.
S5.92
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The S5.92 is a Russian rocket engine, currently used on the Fregat upper stage. S5.92 burns a mixture of UDMH and nitrogen tetroxide in the gas-generator cycle. The highest produces 19.61 kilonewtons of thrust, an impulse of 327 seconds. The lower throttle level produces 13.73 kilonewtons of thrust, specific impulse of 316 seconds, and it is rated for 50 ignitions, and 300 days between ignitions. It was originally designed by the famous A. M, isayev Chemical Engineering Design Bureau, for the two spacecraft of the Phobos program. While the Mars missions were unsuccessful, the manufacturer, NPO Lavochkin. Thus, the engine was adapted for use on the optional Fregat upper stage of the Soyuz, Fregat - The upper stage that is powered by the S5.92. Soyuz - A medium lift rocket that uses the Fregat stage, zenit-3F - A heavy lift rocket that uses the Fregat stage. Aeronautics KB KhIMMASH Official Page NPO Lavochkin Fregat Page
24.
Dinitrogen tetroxide
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Dinitrogen tetroxide, commonly referred to as nitrogen tetroxide, is the chemical compound N2O4. It is a reagent in chemical synthesis. It forms a mixture with nitrogen dioxide. Dinitrogen tetroxide is an oxidizer that is hypergolic upon contact with various forms of hydrazine. Dinitrogen tetroxide could be regarded as two nitro groups bonded together and it forms an equilibrium mixture with nitrogen dioxide. The molecule is planar with an N-N bond distance of 1.78 Å, the N-N distance corresponds to a weak bond, since it is significantly longer than the average N-N single bond length of 1.45 Å. Unlike NO2, N2O4 is diamagnetic since it has no unpaired electrons, inevitably, some dinitrogen tetroxide is a component of smog containing nitrogen dioxide. Nitrogen tetroxide is made by the oxidation of ammonia, steam is used as a diluent to reduce the combustion temperature. The gas is essentially pure nitrogen dioxide, which is condensed into dinitrogen tetroxide in a brine-cooled liquefier, dinitrogen tetroxide can also be made through the reaction of concentrated nitric acid and metallic copper. This synthesis is more practical in a setting and is commonly used as a demonstration or experiment in undergraduate chemistry labs. The unstable species further react to form nitrogen dioxide which is purified and condensed to form dinitrogen tetroxide. Nitrogen tetroxide is used as an oxidizer in one of the more important rocket propellants because it can be stored as a liquid at room temperature and it became the storable oxidizer of choice for many rockets in both the United States and USSR by the late 1950s. It is a propellant in combination with a hydrazine-based rocket fuel. One of the earliest uses of this combination was on the Titan family of rockets used originally as ICBMs and then as launch vehicles for many spacecraft. Used on the U. S. Gemini and Apollo spacecraft and also on the Space Shuttle, it continues to be used as stationkeeping propellant on most geo-stationary satellites, and many deep-space probes. It now seems likely that NASA will continue to use this oxidizer in the next-generation crew-vehicles which will replace the shuttle and it is also the primary oxidizer for Russias Proton rocket. When used as a propellant, dinitrogen tetroxide is usually referred to simply as Nitrogen Tetroxide, most spacecraft now use MON instead of NTO, for example, the Space Shuttle reaction control system used MON3. On 24 July 1975, NTO poisoning affected the three U. S. astronauts on board the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project during its final descent, one crew member lost consciousness during descent
25.
Soyuz (rocket)
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The Soyuz was a Soviet expendable carrier rocket designed in the 1960s by OKB-1 and manufactured by State Aviation Plant No.1 in Kuybyshev, Soviet Union. It was commissioned to launch Soyuz spacecraft as part of the Soviet human spaceflight program, first with 8 unmanned test flights, the original Soyuz also propelled four test flights of the improved Soyuz 7K-T capsule between 1972 and 1974. In total it flew 30 successful missions over 10 years and suffered two failures, the Soyuz 11A511 type, a member of the R-7 family of rockets. Derived from the Voskhod 11A57 type, It was a rocket, with four liquid-fuelled strap-on boosters clustered around the first stage. The new, uprated core stage and strap-ons became standard for all R-7 derived launch vehicles to replace the older variants in use on the 8A92, 11A57. The Molniya 8K78M booster also adopted the RD-110 during 1965, other direct variants were Soyuz-L for low Earth orbit tests of the LK lunar lander and Soyuz-M built for a quickly abandoned military spacecraft and used for reconnaissance satellites instead. They stated that Soyuz 19 would be using the newer 11A5511U booster model so that the Soyuz 18-1 malfunction had no bearing on it, Soyuz rockets were assembled horizontally in the MIK Building at the launch site. The rocket was rolled out, and erected on the launch pad
26.
R-7 Semyorka
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The R-7 was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the worlds first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961, but was never deployed operationally, a derivative, the R-7A, was deployed from 1959 to 1968. To the West it was known by the NATO reporting name SS-6 Sapwood, the widely used nickname for the R-7 launcher, semyorka, means the 7 in Russian. The R-7 was 34 m long,3, a single thermonuclear warhead was carried with a nominal yield of 3 megatons of TNT. The initial launch was boosted by four strap-on liquid rocket boosters making up the first stage, each strap-on booster included two vernier thrusters and the core stage included four. The guidance system was inertial with radio control of the vernier thrusters, following first ground tests in late 1953 the initial design was heavily reworked and the final design was not approved until May 1954 and Korolev reportedly reviewed more than 100 design proposals. In 1954 draft project was completed, for the first time in the history of the development of the conceptual design firm Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was created, received the room volume №14. This volume was developed under the leadership of the Arcady Ilyich Ostashev, contrary to statements that the R-7 was based largely on experience and assistance of German scientists, the missile is noteworthy for looking beyond past achievements that had used German ideas. For example, instead of using jet vanes for control, which increased resistance generated at the engine nozzle exhaust outlet and these same engines served as the last stage’s vernier thrusters. Because of clustered design, each booster had its own propellant tanks, the design team had to develop a system to regulate the propellant component consumption ratio and to synchronize the consumption between the boosters. Starting from the R-1, which was a copy of the German V-2 and it turned out that assembling a cluster of a central core and four boosters on the pad is almost impossible without it falling apart. Also, a wind gust could knock the missile off of the pad, the solution was to eliminate the pad and to suspend the entire rocket in the trusses that bear both vertical weight load as well as horizontal wind forces. The launch system simulated flight conditions with strap-on boosters pushing the central core forward, the new missiles GRAU index was 8K71. The first flight vehicle was delivered to Baikonour Cosmodrome on 1 May. A fire broke out in the Blok D strap-on almost immediately at liftoff and it broke away from the booster at T+88 seconds, which crashed 400 km downrange. The next attempt on 11 June, an electrical short caused the missile to start rolling uncontrollably, the first successful long flight, of 6,000 km, was made on 21 August 1957. The dummy warhead impacted in the Pacific Ocean and five days later, a modified version of the missile placed Sputnik 1 in orbit from Baikonur on 4 October 1957 and Sputnik 2 on 3 November 1957. The next ICBM test took place on 30 January 1958, but the failed to separate cleanly and damaged plumbing in the core stage
27.
Samara
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Samara, known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev, is the sixth largest city in Russia and the administrative center of Samara Oblast. It is situated in the part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga. The Volga acts as the western boundary, across the river are the Zhiguli Mountains. The northern boundary is formed by the Sokolyi Hills and by the steppes in the south, the land within the city boundaries covers 46,597 hectares. The metropolitan area of Samara-Tolyatti-Syzran within Samara Oblast contains a population of three million. Formerly a closed city, Samara is now a large and important social, political, economic, industrial and it has a continental climate characterised by hot summers and cold winters. Samaras riverfront is considered one of the recreation places both for local citizens and tourists. After the Soviet novelist Vasily Aksyonov visited Samara, he remarked, I am not sure where in the West one can find such a long, ahmad ibn Fadlan visited the area that is now Samara around the year 921 AD while on his journey up the Volga. The Volga port of Samara appears on Italian maps of the 14th century, before 1586, the Samara Bend was a pirate nest. Lookouts would spot a boat and quickly cross to the other side of the peninsula where the pirates would organize an attack. Officially, Samara started with a built in 1586 at the confluence of the Volga. This fortress was a frontier post protecting the then easternmost boundaries of Russia from forays of nomads, a local customs office was established in 1600. As more and more pulled into Samaras port, the town turned into a center for diplomatic and economic links between Russia and the East. Samara also opened its gates to peasant war rebels headed by Stepan Razin and Yemelyan Pugachyov, welcoming them with traditional bread, the town was visited by Peter the Great and later Tsars. In 1780, Samara was turned into a town of Simbirsk Governorate overseen by the local Governor-General, and Uyezd and Zemstvo Courts of Justice. On January 1,1851, Samara became the center of Samara Governorate with a population of 20,000. This gave a stimulus to the development of the economic, political and cultural life of the community, in 1877, during the Russian-Turkish War, a mission from the Samara city government Duma led by Pyotr V. The quick growth of Samaras economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was determined by the scope of the bread trade and flour milling business
28.
Zenit (satellite)
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Zenit was a series of military photoreconnaissance satellites launched by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1994. To conceal their nature, all flights were given the public Kosmos designation, over a 33 year period, over five hundred Zenits were flown making it the most numerous type of satellite in the history of spaceflight. The basic design of the Zenit satellites was similar to the Vostok manned spacecraft, sharing the return and it consisted of a spherical re-entry capsule 2.3 m in diameter with a mass of around 2400 kg. This capsule contained the system, its film, recovery beacons, parachutes. The total length in orbit was around 5 m and the mass was between 4600 kg and 4740 kg. Unlike the American Corona spacecraft, the capsule carried both the film and the cameras and kept them in a temperature controlled pressurised environment. This simplified the design and engineering of the system but added considerably to the mass of the satellite. An advantage was that cameras could be reused, early Zenits were launched using the Vostok rocket, later versions used the Voskhod and the Soyuz rockets. The first flights were launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome but subsequent launches also took place at Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Most Zenits flew in an elliptical orbit with a perigee of around 200 km. By 1958, the OKB-1 design bureau was simultaneously working on Object OD-1 and this may have been a political manoeuvre that would enable him to continue the manned space program and avoid diverting more of OKB-1’s resources into Object OD-1. Spacecraft 1K would be a prototype, 2K was to be a reconnaissance satellite. The name Vostok was also used for all three of these craft. But in 1961 the name became known as the name of Yuri Gagarins spacecraft so the Vostok 2 reconnaissance satellite was renamed Zenit 2. The first Zenit launch attempt took place on 11 December 1961, but there was a fault in the third stage. The second attempt — publicly referred to as Kosmos 4 — was successfully launched on 26 April 1962, however a failure in the orientation system meant few useful pictures were obtained, usable pictures had a resolution of about 5 to 7 meters. Launch #3 on June 1 failed dramatically when the one of the 8A92 boosters strap-ons shut down at liftoff and fell onto the pad, the rest of the launch vehicle crashed 300 meters away. This accident caused damage to LC-1, delaying the flights of Vostok 3
29.
International Space Station
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The International Space Station is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. Its first component launched into orbit in 1998, and the ISS is now the largest man-made body in space, the ISS consists of pressurised modules, external trusses, solar arrays, and other components. ISS components have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets, the ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields. The station is suited for the testing of systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon. The ISS maintains an orbit with an altitude of between 330 and 435 km by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda module or visiting spacecraft and it completes 15.54 orbits per day. The ISS is the space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz. The station has continuously occupied for 16 years and 156 days since the arrival of Expedition 1 on 2 November 2000. This is the longest continuous presence in low Earth orbit. It has been visited by astronauts, cosmonauts and space tourists from 17 different nations, Soyuz has very limited downmass capability. The ISS programme is a joint project among five participating space agencies, NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, the ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station is divided two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment and the United States Orbital Segment, which is shared by many nations. As of January 2014, the American portion of ISS is being funded until 2024, Roscosmos has endorsed the continued operation of ISS through 2024 but has proposed using elements of the Russian Orbital Segment to construct a new Russian space station called OPSEK. On 28 March 2015, Russian sources announced that Roscosmos and NASA had agreed to collaborate on the development of a replacement for the current ISS. NASA later issued a statement expressing thanks for Russias interest in future co-operation in space exploration. According to the original Memorandum of Understanding between NASA and Rosaviakosmos, the International Space Station was intended to be a laboratory, observatory and factory in low Earth orbit. It was also planned to provide transportation, maintenance, and act as a base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars. In the 2010 United States National Space Policy, the ISS was given roles of serving commercial, diplomatic. The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research, the ISS simplifies individual experiments by eliminating the need for separate rocket launches and research staff
30.
Voskhod (rocket)
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The Voskhod rocket was a derivative of the Soviet R-7 ICBM designed for the human spaceflight programme but later used for launching Zenit reconnaissance satellites. It consisted of the Molniya 8K78M third stage minus the Blok L, in 1966, all R-7 variants were equipped with the uprated core stage and strap-ons of the Soyuz 11A511. The Blok I stage in the Voskhod booster used the RD-107 engine rather than the RD-110 in the Soyuz, the sole exception to this were the two manned Voskhod launches, which had RD-108 engines, a man-rated RD-107 but with the same performance. All 11A57s launched after 1965 were functionally an 11A511 without the Soyuzs payload shroud, around 300 were flown from Baikonur and Plesetsk through 1976. The newer 11A511U core had been introduced in 1973, but the stock of 11A57s took another three years to use up. Stage Number,0 - Strap-on boosters,4 x Voskhod 11A57-0 Gross Mass,43,400 kg Empty Mass,3,800 kg
31.
Vostok-2 (rocket)
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The Vostok-2, GRAU index 8A92 was an expendable carrier rocket used by the Soviet Union between 1962 and 1967. Forty five were launched, of which five failed and it was derived from the earlier Vostok-K, with uprated engines. It was a member of the R-7 family of rockets, the Vostok-2 made its maiden flight on 1 June 1962, from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. One of the engines failed 1.8 seconds after launch. The resulting explosion damaged the complex, and necessitated delays to several other launches that had been scheduled from that complex, including Vostok 3. Thirteen months later, on 10 July 1963, an almost identical failure occurred, the other three failures were caused by a second stage malfunction, a second stage guidance problem, and a problem with the first stage. The Vostok-2 was used exclusively to launch Zenit-2 reconnaissance satellites, launches occurred from sites 1/5 and 31/6 at Baikonur, and Site 41/1 at Plesetsk. In 1967, it was retired in favour of the Voskhod
32.
Molniya-M
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The Molniya-M, designation 8K78M, was a Russian carrier rocket derived from the R-7 Semyorka ICBM. The original 8K78 booster had been the product of a development program. As 1962 ended, there had been 12 launches of 8K78s,10 of which failed, the two successful launches had had their probes fail en route to their respective planetary targets. As such, work began at the Korolev Bureau to improve the basic 8K78 vehicle, the core and strap-ons engines were enhanced still further and the Kosberg Bureau completely redesigned the Blok I stage. The Blok L engine was also slightly enhanced, the 8K78M was first launched in 1964, however, the existing stock of 8K78s had not been used up yet and they continued to fly until 1967. During 1967, the core stage and strap-ons from the Soyuz 11A57 were adopted. It made 297 launches and experienced 21 failures and it will be replaced by the Soyuz-2/Fregat. Although originally developed for planetary probes, those had switched to the larger Proton booster by the 1970s due to increasing mass, there were four main variants of the Molniya-M, which varied in terms of their upper stage. Originally, the Block L stage was used, however, uprated versions replaced this with more powerful, or specialized, stages, for different missions. The Molniya-M/2BL, used to launch Oko missile defense spacecraft, had a Block 2BL upper stage, The Molniya-M/ML had a Block ML upper stage, following a launch on 30 September 2010, the Russian Space Forces confirmed that it had been retired from service
33.
Globalstar
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Globalstar is a low Earth orbit satellite constellation for satellite phone and low-speed data communications, somewhat similar to the Iridium satellite constellation and Orbcomm satellite systems. The Globalstar second-generation constellation will consist of 24 Low Earth Orbiting satellites, the Globalstar project was launched in 1991 as a joint venture of Loral Corporation and Qualcomm. At that time, the predicted the system would launch in 1998. Globalstar received its US spectrum allocation from the FCC in January 1995, in February 2000, it launched the last of 52 satellites—48 satellites and four in-orbit spares. Another eight unlaunched satellites were maintained as ground spares, in October 1999, the system began friendly user trials with 44 of 48 planned satellites. In December 1999, the system began limited commercial service for 200 users with the full 48 satellites, in February 2000, it began full commercial service with its 48 satellites and 4 spares in North America, Europe and Brazil. On February 15,2002, the predecessor company Globalstar and three of its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, in 2004, restructuring of the old Globalstar was completed. Thermo Capital Partners, became the principal owner, Globalstar LLC was formed as a Delaware limited liability company in November 2003, and was converted into Globalstar, Inc. on March 17,2006. In 2007, Globalstar launched eight additional first-generation spare satellites into space to compensate for the premature failure of their in-orbit satellites. Between 2010 and 2013, Globalstar launched 24 second-generation satellites in an effort to restore their system to full service. Between 2010 and 2011, Globalstar moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Covington, Louisiana in part to take advantage of the tax breaks. Globalstar is a provider of mobile satellite voice and data services, Globalstar offers these services to commercial and recreational users in more than 120 countries around the world. The Companys products include mobile and fixed satellite telephones, simplex and duplex satellite data modems, in late 2007, Globalstar subsidiary SPOT LLC launched a handheld satellite messaging and tracking personal safety device known as the SPOT Satellite Messenger. Many land based and maritime industries make use of the various Globalstar products and services from areas beyond the reach of cellular. Globalstar data solutions are used for a variety of asset and personal tracking, data monitoring and Supervisory Control, a network of ground gateway stations provides connectivity from the 40 satellites to the public switched telephone network and Internet. A satellite must have a Gateway station in view to provide service to any users it may see, twenty Four Globalstar Gateways are located around the world, including 7 in North America. Globalstar Gateways are the largest cellular base stations in the world with a capacity for over 10,000 concurrent phone calls over a coverage area that is roughly 50% of the size of the USA. Globalstar supports CDMA technology such as the receiver and soft handoffs
34.
Khimki
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Khimki is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia,19 kilometres northwest of central Moscow. Khimki is asserted by many as the nearest point German forces reached in their advance on Moscow in World War II, Khimki was initially a railway station that existed since 1850 on the Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway. The Moskva-Volga Canal was constructed between 1932 and 1937 on which Khimki lies on the west bank, Khimki was then officially founded in 1939. The German attack starting the Battle of Moscow began on 2 October 1941, the attack on a broad front brought German forces to occupy the village of Krasnaya Polyana to Moscows North West. Krasnaya Polyana was taken on 30 November, many sources state that at least one German army patrol visited Khimki. Similarly many sources state this as the closest point the Germans reached to Moscow, among the sources stating the Germans visited Khimki the details of the date and unit involved are inconsistent and disputed. One story of events asserts a skirmish took place in Khimki on 16 October at the Leningradskoe Shosse bridge involving a German motorcycle unit, another account is a patrol reached Khimki around 30 November or early December before returning to its main unit without combat. The dates mentioned for this second account vary, a myth surrounding this is that the Germans would have been able to see the Kremlin in the distance from Khimki. The Soviet Army counter offensive for removing the threat to Moscow started on 5 December on the North-Western Front. The South-Western Front and Western Fronts began their offensives on 6 December, the German forces were driven back. Moscow was never under such close land threat again during the war, a memorial in the form of a giant tank trap is located at the Kilometer 23 point 55°54′46. 103″N 37°24′10. 577″E) of Leningradskoye Highway. The memorial is one mile south east of Planernaya Railway Station, the memorial was unveiled on 6 December 1966 as a 25th anniversary recognition of the launch of the Soviet counter offensive. This location is just short of an intersection with the Moscow-St Petersburg railway and this memorial and shopping centre on the Northern side of Khimki has a direct distance of 22 kilometres from Moscow city centre. At the time of the conflict this location was outside Khimki and this memorial is different to the Khimki War Memorial moved in 2007 to in Novoluzhinskoe cemetery. Khimki was home to several Soviet aerospace defense development centers that became the principal employers for the majority of the city population, for this reason, Khimki was off limits for all foreigners visiting the country, despite its location on a highway between Moscow and its major international airport. In 2010 the city saw protests over the construction of the new Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway through the Khimki Forest, currently, the city of Khimki is directly adjacent to the territory of the city of Moscow. Population,207,425,141,000,132, within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Khimki City Under Oblast Jurisdiction—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, Khimki City Under Oblast Jurisdiction is incorporated as Khimki Urban Okrug, the city enjoys a great deal of commercial activity due to its location between Moscow and one of its main airports, Sheremetyevo
35.
Soyuz-2
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Soyuz-2, GRAU index 14A14, is the collective designation for the new version of the Russian Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a carrier rocket for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. The first-stage boosters and two core stages feature uprated engines with improved injection systems, compared to the versions of the Soyuz. Soyuz-2 is often flown with a stage, which allows it to lift payloads into higher orbits, such as Molniya. The upper stage is equipped with independent flight control and telemetry systems from those used in the rest of the rocket, the NPO Lavochkin manufactured Fregat is the most commonly used upper stage. Commercial Soyuz-2 flights are contracted by Starsem, and have launched from Site 31 at Baikonur and ELS, the Soyuz-2 version ST-B can deliver 3,250 kg to geostationary transfer orbit from this equatorial site. In 2016 the new Vostochny Cosmodrome started operating Soyuz-2 flights as well, tsSKB-Progress has halted production of Soyuz-U in April 2015, the final flight of a Soyuz-U rocket took place on February 22,2017, carrying Progress MS-05 to the International Space Station. Soyuz-2 family includes 2. 1a,2. 1b and 2. 1v, the first two variants are modifications to the Soyuz-U launcher. The latter is a version without side boosters. The 2. 1a version includes conversion from analog to digital control system and uprated engines on the booster. The new digital control and telemetry systems allow the rocket to launch from a fixed rather than angled launch platform. A digital control system enables the launch of larger commercial satellites with wider and longer payload fairings such as the ST-type fairing. These fairings introduce too much aerodynamic instability for the old system to handle. This stage continues to use the RD-0110 engine, the 2. 1a/ST version is sometimes called Soyuz ST-A. The first launch, from Guiana, was a success, the 2. 1b version adds an upgraded engine with improved performance to the second stage. First launch took place from Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43 on 26 July 2008 with classified military payload, the 2. 1b/ST version is sometimes called Soyuz ST-B. The first launch, from Guiana, was a success, for the first two Galileo IOV satellites, the first draft of the 2. 1v version was finished in 2009. It is a version of the Soyuz-2 without the side boosters
36.
Syntin
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Syntin is a hydrocarbon with the molecular formula C10H16 used as a rocket fuel. It is a mixture of cis and trans isomers and it has a density of 0.851 g/mL, and a boiling point of 158 °C. Due to the presence of three strained cyclopropane rings, the molecule has high enthalpy of formation, ΔfH°=133 kJ/mol. Thus, it has advantages over the traditional fuels, such as RP-1, due to higher density, lower viscosity. Syntin was used in the Soviet Union and later Russia in 1980s-1990s as fuel for the Soyuz-U2 rocket and it was first synthesized in USSR in the 1960s and brought to mass production in the 1970s. It was prepared in a synthetic process from common hydrocarbon sources, After dissolution of the USSR. Syntin is a molecule with two stereocenters at the cyclopropane ring. Thus, the four stereoisomers may exist, In practice. Dicyclopentadiene A. P. Mesheheryakov, V. G. Glukhovtsev, A. D. Petrov, “Synthesis of 1-methyl-1, 2-dicyclopropylcyclopropane”, Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR,1960,130, 779-81. T. Edwards, “Liquid Fuels and Propellants for Aerospace Propulsion, 1903-2003”, Journal of Propulsion and Power,2003,19, V. Azov, D. Vorontsov, The last battle of hydrocarbons
37.
Mir
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Mir was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, run by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. Mir was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996 and it had a greater mass than any previous spacecraft. At the time it was the largest artificial satellite in orbit and it holds the record for the longest single human spaceflight, with Valeri Polyakov spending 437 days and 18 hours on the station between 1994 and 1995. Mir was occupied for a total of twelve and a half out of its fifteen-year lifespan. Following the success of the Salyut programme, Mir represented the stage in the Soviet Unions space station programme. The first module of the station, known as the module or base block, was launched in 1986. Proton rockets were used to all of its components except for the docking module. When complete, the station consisted of seven pressurised modules and several unpressurised components, power was provided by several photovoltaic arrays attached directly to the modules. The station was maintained at an orbit between 296 km and 421 km altitude and traveled at an speed of 27,700 km/h. Mir was deorbited in March 2001 after funding was cut off, the cost of the Mir programme was estimated by former RKA General Director Yuri Koptev in 2001 as $4.2 billion over its lifetime. Mir was authorized on a 17 February 1976 decree, to design a model of the Salyut DOS-17K space stations. Four Salyut space stations had been launched since 1971, with three more being launched during Mirs development, by August 1978, this had evolved to the final configuration of one aft port and five ports in a spherical compartment at the forward end of the station. It was originally planned that the ports would connect to 7. 5-tonne modules derived from the Soyuz spacecraft and these modules would have used a Soyuz propulsion module, as in Soyuz and Progress, and the descent and orbital modules would have been replaced with a long laboratory module. However, following a February 1979 governmental resolution, the programme was consolidated with Vladimir Chelomeis manned Almaz military space station programme, the docking ports were reinforced to accommodate 20-tonne space station modules based on the TKS spacecraft. NPO Energia was responsible for the space station, with work subcontracted to KB Salyut, due to ongoing work on the Energia rocket and Salyut 7, Soyuz-T. KB Salyut began work in 1979, and drawings were released in 1982 and 1983, by early 1984, work on Mir had halted while all resources were being put into the Buran programme in order to prepare the Buran spacecraft for flight testing. Funding resumed in early 1984 when Valentin Glushko was ordered by the Central Committees Secretary for Space and Defence to orbit Mir by early 1986 and it was clear that the planned processing flow could not be followed and still meet the 1986 launch date. It was decided on Cosmonauts Day 1985 to ship the flight model of the block to the Baikonur cosmodrome and conduct the systems testing
38.
Human spaceflight
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Human spaceflight is space travel with a crew or passengers aboard the spacecraft. The first human spaceflight was launched by the Soviet Union on 12 April 1961 as a part of the Vostok program, humans have been continuously present in space for 16 years and 153 days on the International Space Station. All early human spaceflight was crewed, where at least some of the passengers acted to carry out tasks of piloting or operating the spacecraft, after 2015, several human-capable spacecraft are being explicitly designed with the ability to operate autonomously. Since the retirement of the US Space Shuttle in 2011, only Russia and China have maintained human spaceflight capability with the Soyuz program, currently, all expeditions to the International Space Station use Soyuz vehicles, which remain attached to the station to allow quick return if needed. The United States is developing commercial crew transportation to facilitate access to ISS and low Earth orbit. While spaceflight has typically been an activity, commercial spaceflight has gradually been taking on a greater role. NASA has also played a role to stimulate private spaceflight through programs such as Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, the vehicles used for these services could then serve both NASA and potential commercial customers. Commercial resupply of ISS began two years after the retirement of the Shuttle, and commercial crew launches could begin by 2017 and these rockets were large enough to be adapted to carry the first artificial satellites into low Earth orbit. The USSR launched the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin into an orbit in Vostok 1 on a Vostok 3KA rocket. The US launched its first astronaut, Alan Shepard on a flight aboard Freedom 7 on a Mercury-Redstone rocket. Unlike Gagarin, Shepard manually controlled his spacecrafts attitude, and landed inside it, the first American in orbit was John Glenn aboard Friendship 7, launched 20 February 1962 on a Mercury-Atlas rocket. The USSR launched five more cosmonauts in Vostok capsules, including the first woman in space, the US launched a total of two astronauts in suborbital flight and four in orbit through 1963. US President John F. Kennedy raised the stakes of the Space Race by setting the goal of landing a man on the Moon, Geminis objective was to support Apollo by developing American orbital spaceflight experience and techniques to be used in the Moon mission. They were able to launch two orbital flights in 1964 and 1965 and achieved the first spacewalk, made by Alexei Leonov on Voskhod 2 on 8 March 1965, but Voskhod did not have Geminis capability to maneuver in orbit, and the program was terminated. In July 1969, Apollo 11 accomplished Kennedys goal by landing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon 21 July, a total of six Apollo missions landed 12 men to walk on the Moon through 1972, half of which drove electric powered vehicles on the surface. The crew of Apollo 13, Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise, survived a catastrophic in-flight spacecraft failure, meanwhile, the USSR secretly pursued human lunar orbiting and landing programs. On losing the Moon race, they concentrated on the development of stations, using the Soyuz as a ferry to take cosmonauts to. They started with a series of Salyut sortie stations from 1971 to 1986, after the Apollo program, the US launched the Skylab sortie space station in 1973, manning it for 171 days with three crews aboard Apollo spacecraft
39.
Soyuz 16
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Soyuz 16 was a 1974 manned test flight for a joint Soviet-US space flight which culminated in the Apollo-Soyuz mission in July 1975. The two-man Soviet crew tested a docking ring and other systems to be used in the joint flight. The Soviet Union and the United States of America, Cold War rivals, had signed several arms control treaties in the 1960s and 1970s, in 1972, a treaty was signed to participate in a joint manned space flight as a symbol of this detente. Early concepts for a joint flight included docking a Soyuz craft to the American Skylab space station, or an Apollo vehicle docking with a Salyut space station. Three test flights of a version of the ASTP spacecraft were flown, Cosmos 638, launched 3 April 1974, Cosmos 652, launched 15 May 1974. These three flights, and Soyuz 16, were all launched with a version of a Soyuz booster. In an unprecedented move, Soviet planners offered to inform their NASA counterparts of the time of the launch, NASA officials refused to agree to that condition and, accordingly, were informed of the launch an hour after it occurred, on 2 December 1974. The crew also tested modified environmental systems, new panels and improved control systems. Air pressure was reduced from 760 mm to 540 mm and oxygen raised from 20% to 40% to test reducing the transfer time to Apollo from two to one hour. On 7 December, the ring was jettisoned with explosive bolts to test emergency measures if the capture latches got stuck during the ASTP flight. The craft landed 8 December near Arkalyk and was hailed a complete success, the mission duration, six days, matched the ASTP mission duration to within 10 minutes
40.
Apollo (spacecraft)
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The Apollo spacecraft was composed of three parts designed to accomplish the American Apollo programs goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to Earth. The expendable spacecraft consisted of a combined Command/Service Module and a Lunar Module, the design was based on the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous approach, two docked spacecraft were sent to the Moon and went into lunar orbit. While the LM separated and landed, the CSM remained in orbit, after the lunar excursion, the two craft rendezvoused and docked in lunar orbit, and the CSM returned the crew to Earth. The Command Module was the part of the space vehicle that returned with the crew to the Earths surface. The LES was jettisoned during launch upon reaching the point where it was no longer needed, two unmanned CSMs, one unmanned LM and one manned CSM were carried into space by Saturn IB launch vehicles for low Earth orbit Apollo missions. After conclusion of the Apollo program, four CSMs were launched on Saturn IBs for three Skylab Earth orbital missions and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. The major part of the Apollo spacecraft was a vehicle designed for Earth orbital, translunar, and lunar orbital flight. This consisted of a command module supported by a service module, the Command Module was the control center for the Apollo spacecraft and living quarters for the three crewmen. It was the part of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle that returned to Earth intact. The oxygen was used for breathing, and the fuel cells produced water for drinking. On Apollo 15,16 and 17 it also carried an instrument package, with a mapping camera. A major portion of the module was taken up by propellant. Capable of multiple restarts, this placed the Apollo spacecraft into and out of lunar orbit. The Service Module remained attached to the Command Module throughout the mission and it was jettisoned just prior to reentry into the Earths atmosphere. The Lunar Module was a vehicle designed to land on the Moon and return to lunar orbit. It consisted of a descent stage and an ascent stage and it supplied life support systems for two astronauts for up to four to five days on the Apollo 15,16 and 17 missions. The spacecraft was designed and manufactured by the Grumman Aircraft Company, the descent stage contained the landing gear, landing radar antenna, descent rocket engine, and fuel to land on the moon. The Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter, built by North American Aviation, was an aluminum structure which supported the Service Module above the Saturn S-IVB rocket stage
