LK-700
LK-700 | |
---|---|
Phase : G / Status : ended in 1974 | |
Type: | Landing module |
Country: | USSR |
Organization: | FSA / Roscosmos |
Mission dates | |
Starting place: | Baikonur / Kazakhstan |
Launcher: | UR-700 |
Mission duration: | 8 days |
Landing place: | 88% of the surface of the moon facing the earth |
Orbit data | |
Apogee : | 200 km |
Perigee : | 200 km |
General spacecraft data | |
Takeoff mass: | 154 t |
Dimensions: | 21.20 × 2.70 × 2.70 m |
Specific spacecraft data | |
Stabilization : | RCS systems (outside the atmosphere) / control fin (in the earth's atmosphere) |
Drive system : | N2O4 / UDMH |
Modules: | * Block 1 TLI level
|
Payload: | LK-700 Block 111: 18.2 t |
Manned mission data | |
Target object: | moon |
Crew: | 3 |
EVA number: | 2 (on the lunar surface) |
EVA duration: | 2–2.5 h |
LK-700 was a Soviet lunar landing and ascent module proposed in 1964 as an alternative to the N1 . It was developed by Vladimir Nikolayevich Tschelomei and was based on a further development of the manned LK-1 probe. The LK-700 would have launched a UR-700 rocket to put three cosmonauts on a direct trajectory to the lunar surface and back again. This direct trajectory would have allowed the Soviet Union to land anywhere on the Earth-facing side of the moon. This draft was discarded in 1964.
Mission flow
Manned flights would have followed unmanned flights. The proposed sequence included two missions:
- May 1972: First unmanned UR-700 / LK-700 flight. Further flights should have taken place in November 1972 and April 1973.
- April 1973: First manned UR-700 / LK-700 flight. Further flights should have taken place in August and October 1973.
After the first LK-700 flights, the "Lunar Expeditionary Complex" would have been dropped on the moon with three flights:
- 1. Flight: Establishment of a lunar base that enables a six-month stay.
- 2nd flight: LK-700 with crew
- 3rd flight: laboratory and rover to explore the lunar surface
Differences to the N1
The LK-700 in combination with a UR-700 booster rocket had two main differences to the N1 by Sergei Koroljow :
- Instead of a landing and a lunar orbit module, it had only one module, with which the landing and the return flight to earth was started.
- In addition, more efficient cryogenic drives were dispensed with.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ What Would a Soviet Moon Landing Have Looked Like? D-News, July 22, 2013, accessed on January 18, 2018 .
- ↑ LK-700 in the Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed May 30, 2016 (English).
- ↑ LEK Lunar Expeditionary Complex in the Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed on May 30, 2016 (English).
- ^ Paul Drye: LK-700: The Soviet Union's Other Road to the Moon. In: False Steps. January 13, 2013, accessed May 31, 2016 .