Soyuz 7K-L1

Soyuz 7K-L1
Manufacturer Korolev
Country of origin Soviet Union
Operator Soviet space program
Applications Carry cosmonauts around the Moon and back to Earth
Production
Status Canceled
Built 15
Launched 14
Related spacecraft
Derived from Soyuz 7K-OK
Derivatives Soyuz 7K-LOK
Artist's impression of the Soyuz 7K-L1 en route to the Moon.
An L1 lunar complex with Proton booster top stage is being prepared in the assembly hangar
Proton booster with L1 spacecraft rollout

The Soyuz 7K-L1 "Zond" spacecraft was designed to launch men from the Earth to circle the Moon without going into lunar orbit in the context of the Soviet manned moon-flyby program in the Moon race. It was based on the Soyuz 7K-OK[1] with several components stripped out to reduce the vehicle weight. The most notable modifications included the removal of the orbital module (the orbital module was replaced by a support cone and a high-gain parabolic antenna) and a reserve parachute; and the addition of the gyro platform and star navigation sensors for the far space navigation. The spacecraft was capable of carrying two cosmonauts. In the beginning, there were serious reliability problems with both the new Proton rocket, the Proton 7K-L1, and the similar new Soyuz spacecraft.

While Chief Designer Sergei Korolev had originally envisioned a manned lunar spacecraft launched in pieces by R-7 boosters and assembled in Earth orbit, the advent of Vladimir Chelomei's large UR-500 booster theoretically made it possible to do the job in a single launch. However, Chelomei also proposed his own, competing lunar spacecraft, the LK-1, and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev gave his approval in August 1964. Two months later, Khrushchev was expelled from power and Chelomei lost his principal patron. At the end of the year, Korolev revived his proposal for the Soyuz spacecraft, but concealed his true intentions by billing it as merely an Earth orbital vehicle for testing rendezvous and docking maneuvers. In October 1965, a mere three months before his death, Korolev was granted official approval for developing a manned lunar spacecraft, which would be a modified Soyuz. This would be launched towards the Moon on a UR-500 topped with the Blok D stage under development by the OKB-1 Bureau.

As noted above, Korolev originally intended for the lunar Soyuz to be assembled in pieces in Earth orbit as he either did not believe the UR-500 had enough lift capacity or was safe enough to do it in a single launch. However, when he died in January 1966, his successor as head of OKB-1, Vasily Mishin, argued that it was definitely possible to strip down the Soyuz enough for a launch on a UR-500.

With the first four unmanned test starts (see below) being partially successful or unsuccessful, including two under common open name "Kosmos" as for any Soviet test spacecraft, the mission of 2–7 March 1968 and subsequent ones were the flights of the L1 spacecraft under the open designation "Zond" that were given by Soviets for test missions to far space.

After the successful US Apollo 8 manned flight around the Moon, the Soviet manned moon-flyby missions lost political motivation. The first manned flight of the L1/Zond spacecraft with Alexey Leonov and Valery Bykovsky planned for the end of 1970 was cancelled. In addition, the Proton booster was far from being man-rated and its poor launch record made it undesirable for manned flights.

All L1/Zond spacecraft made only unmanned flights from 1967–70, from (Zond 4 to Zond 8), and four of these five Zond flights suffered malfunctions.

Test flights conducted around the Moon showed problems using their star sensors for navigation. These problems caused ballistic reentry due to the failed guidance. One direct descent re-entry was performed on a steep ballistic trajectory with deceleration of up to 20 Gs and splashed down in the Indian Ocean. Three others performed a maneuver known as "skip reentry" to shed velocity. One of those also performed an unsafe (for humans) descent of up to 20 Gs of deceleration, the other suffered main parachute failure, and only one flight - Zond 7 - would have been safe for cosmonauts.

Instrumentation flown on these missions gathered data on micrometeor flux, solar and cosmic rays, magnetic fields, radio emissions, and solar wind. Many photographs were taken and biological payloads were also flown. Zond 5 was the first spacecraft to carry a group of terrestrial creatures (tortoises being the most complex) on a circumlunar flight and return relatively safely to Earth. Zond 5 splashed down in the Indian Ocean after descending steeply with a 20 G deceleration rate. Although unsafe for humans, these high Gs apparently didn't affect the tortoises' health, and they were reportedly able to breed afterwards.[2]

Two modifications of main Soyuz 7K-L1 "Zond" version were created: the powered (up to 7 tonne mass) Soyuz 7K-L1S "Zond-M" that were failed attempted to launch for Moon flyby on N1 rocket two times due to Soyuz 7K-LOK orbital ship-module of L3 lunar expedition complex was not ready; the Soyuz 7K-L1E "Zond-LOK" as dummy mockup of Soyuz 7K-LOK and were successfully launched on Low Earth Orbit on Proton rocket as Kosmos 382 and failed launched for Moon orbiting on third N1 rocket.

Despite of closest readiness for primary goal, no official open name for manned Soyuz 7K-L1 "Zond" was adopted. According to Mishin's and Kamanin's memoirs, the names "Rodina" (motherland), "Ural" (Ural mountains), "Akademik Korolyov" (academician Korolyov). Also, "Zarya" (dawn) and "Znamya" (banner) were proposed for both lunar Soyuz 7K-L1 flyby and Soyuz 7K-LOK orbital ships.

The information display systems (IDS) on the L1 was called "Saturn" and featured some differences from the standard 7K-OK "Sirius-7K" IDS.

Along with the remaining 7K-L1s, the Soviet moon-flyby program was closed in 1970 without the achievement of its manned primary goal. The intended manned use of L1/Zond spacecraft was documented in official Soviet sources at first time but from 1968 until 1989 this and the moon-landing N1-L3 programs were classified and the Soviet government denied the existence of both. Near 1968 a rare open Soviet sources (Big Soviet Encyclopedia's Yearbook, Kosmonavtika small encyclopedia) sporadically referred to Zond's as tests of space ships for lunar missions (omitting but meaning words manned - in difference to term space apparate used by Soviets for non-manned spacecraft).

Planned schedule

Proton 7K-L1 launch vehicle configuration

As of 1967, the Soyuz 7K-L1 launch schedule was:

Mission

In July 1968 it was proposed that L1 spacecraft would be launched every month, and the first manned mission would be in December 1968 or January 1969 after 3-4 successful unmanned flights. In December 1968 dates for three manned L1 missions were set to March, May, and July 1969. Finally, in September 1969 one manned L1 mission was formally set for April 1970.

Built spacecraft

Fifteen Soyuz 7K-L1 were built.

Test missions

References

  1. ↑ http://www.astronautix.com/craft/soyz7kl1.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/content/numbers/252/43.shtml (in Russian)

External links

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