Tyazhely Sputnik,also known by its development name as Venera 1VA No. 1,and in the West as Sputnik 7,was a Soviet spacecraft,which was intended to be the first spacecraft to explore Venus. Due to a problem with its upper stage it failed to leave low Earth orbit. In order to avoid acknowledging the failure,the Soviet government instead announced that the entire spacecraft,including the upper stage,was a test of a "Heavy Satellite" which would serve as a launch platform for future missions. This resulted in the upper stage being considered a separate spacecraft,from which the probe was "launched",on several subsequent missions.
Luna E-6 No.2,also identified as No.1,and sometimes known in the West as Sputnik 25,was a Soviet spacecraft which launched in 1963,but was placed into a useless orbit due to a problem with the upper stage of the rocket that launched it. It was a 1,500-kilogram (3,300 lb) Luna Ye-6 spacecraft,the first of twelve to be launched. It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon,a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final Ye-6 spacecraft,Luna 9.
Soyuz is a family of Soviet and later Russian expendable medium-lift launch vehicles initially developed by the OKB-1 design bureau and manufactured by the Progress Rocket Space Centre factory in Samara,Russia. It holds the record for the most launches in the history of spaceflight. Soyuz rockets are part of the R-7 rocket family,which evolved from the R-7 Semyorka,the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile.
The R-7 Semyorka was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War,and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961. A derivative,the R-7A,was operational from 1960 to 1968. To the West it was unknown until its launch. In modified form,it launched Sputnik 1,the first artificial satellite,into orbit,and became the basis for the R-7 family which includes Sputnik,Luna,Molniya,Vostok,and Voskhod space launchers,as well as later Soyuz variants. Various modifications are still in use and it has become the world's most reliable space launcher.
Vostok was a family of rockets derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka ICBM and was designed for the human spaceflight programme. This family of rockets launched the first artificial satellite and the first crewed spacecraft (Vostok) in human history. It was a subset of the R-7 family of rockets.
Luna E-1 No.1,sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1958A,was a Soviet Luna E-1 spacecraft which was intended to impact the Moon. It did not accomplish this objective as it was lost in a launch failure. It was the first of four E-1 missions to be launched.
Luna E-1 No.2,sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1958B,was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1958. It was a 361-kilogram (796 lb) Luna E-1 spacecraft,the second of four to be launched. It was intended to impact the surface of the Moon,and in doing so become the first man-made object to reach its surface.
Luna E-1 No.3,sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1958C,was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1958. It was a 361-kilogram (796 lb) Luna E-1 spacecraft,the third of four to be launched,all of which were involved in launch failures. It was intended to impact the surface of the Moon,and in doing so become the first man-made object to reach its surface.
Soyuz-U was a Soviet and later Russian expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed by the TsSKB design bureau and constructed at the Progress factory in Samara,Russia. The U designation stands for unified,as the launch vehicle was the replacement for both the Voskhod rocket and the original Soyuz rocket. The Soyuz-U is part of the R-7 rocket family,which evolved from the R-7 Semyorka,an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The Molniya,GRAU Index 8K78,was a modification of the well-known R-7 Semyorka rocket and had four stages. The rocket was given the name Molniya due to the large number of Molniya communication satellites the rockets launched.
Luna E-3 No.1,sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1960A,was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1960. It was a 279-kilogram (615 lb) Luna E-3 spacecraft,the first of two to be launched,both of which were lost in launch failures. It was intended to fly around the Moon on a circumlunar trajectory in order to image the surface of the Moon,including the far side. The E-3 spacecraft were similar in design to the E-2A which had been used for the earlier Luna 3 mission. However,they carried higher resolution cameras,and were intended to make closer flybys.
Luna E-3 No.2,sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1960B,was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1960. It was a 279-kilogram (615 lb) Luna E-3 spacecraft,the second of two to be launched,both of which were lost in launch failures. It was intended to fly around the moon on a circumlunar trajectory in order to image the surface of the Moon,including the far side. The E-3 spacecraft were similar in design to the E-2A which had been used for the earlier Luna 3 mission. However,they carried higher-resolution cameras,and were intended to make closer flybys.
Soyuz 7K-L1 No.4L,sometimes identified by NASA as Zond 1967A,was a Soviet spacecraft which was launched in 1967 as part of the Zond programme. It was a 5,390-kilogram (11,880 lb) Soyuz 7K-L1 spacecraft,the first of nine to be launched. Although it was intended to perform a circumlunar flyby of the Moon before returning to the Earth for landing,it failed to achieve Earth orbit.
The RD-107 and its sibling,the RD-108,are a type of rocket engine used on the R-7 rocket family. RD-107 engines are used in each booster and the RD-108 is used in the central core. The engines have four main combustion chambers and either two (RD-107) or four (RD-108) vernier chambers.
The Molniya-M was a Soviet and Russian launch vehicle derived from the R-7 Semyorka Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The Vostok-L,GRAU index 8K72 was a rocket used by the Soviet Union to conduct several early tests of the Vostok spacecraft.
The Vostok-K,GRAU index 8K72K was an expendable carrier rocket used by the Soviet Union for thirteen launches between 1960 and 1964,six of which were crewed. It incorporated several modifications to the core and strap-ons to man-rate them and the Blok E stage also had the improved RD-0109 engine to correct some deficiences in the RD-0105 used on earlier 8K78s. It was a member of the Vostok family of rockets.
The Vostok-2M,GRAU index:8A92M was an expendable carrier rocket used by the Soviet Union between 1964 and 1991. Ninety-three were launched,of which one failed. Another was destroyed before launch. It was originally built as a specialised version of the earlier Vostok-2,for injecting lighter payloads into higher Sun-synchronous orbits. It was a member of the R-7 family of rockets,and the last Vostok.
Mars 1M No.1,designated Mars 1960A by NASA analysts and dubbed Marsnik 1 by the Western media,was the first spacecraft launched as part of the Soviet Union's Mars programme. A Mars 1M spacecraft,it was intended for conducting flight testing system and to study the interplanetary environment between Earth and Mars,however it was lost in a launch failure before it could begin its mission.
The RD-0109 is a rocket engine burning liquid oxygen and kerosene in a gas generator combustion cycle. It has single nozzle and is an evolution of the RD-0105. It was the engine used on the Vostok Block-E that launched Yuri Gagarin to orbit.
