The Soviet manned lunar programs were a series of programs pursued by the Soviet
Union to land a man on the Moon in competition with the United States
Apollo program to achieve the same goal set publicly by President John F.
Kennedy on May 25, 1961. The Soviet government publicly denied participating
in such a competition, but secretly pursued two programs in the 1960s:
manned lunar flyby missions using Soyuz 7K-L1 spacecraft launched with the
Proton-K rocket, and a manned lunar landing using Soyuz 7K-L3 and LK Lander
spacecraft launched with the N1 rocket. Following the dual American successes of
the first manned lunar orbit on December 24–25, 1968 and the first Moon landing
on July 20, 1969, and a series of catastrophic N1 failures, both Soviet
programs were eventually brought to an end: the Proton / Zond program was
canceled in 1970, and the N1 / L3 program was terminated de facto in 1974
and officially canceled in 1976. Details of both Soviet programs were kept secret
until 1990, when the government allowed them to be published under the policy of
glasnost. Early concepts
Although the Soviet leadership had made public pronouncements about landing a
man on the Moon and establishing a lunar base as early as 1961, serious plans
were not made until several years later. Sergei Korolyov, the senior Soviet
rocket engineer, was more interested in launching a heavy orbital station and in
manned flights to Mars and Venus. With this in mind Korolyov began the
development of the super-heavy N-1 rocket with a 75 ton payload.
In its preliminary Moon plans, Korolyov's design bureau initially
promoted the Soyuz A-B-C circumlunar complex concept under which a two-man
spacecraft would rendezvous with other components in Earth orbit to assemble a
lunar flyby excursion vehicle. The components would then be delivered by
the proven middle R-7 rocket. After developing the N1, beginning in 1963,
Korolyov began to plan a Moon landing mission using two launches and docking.
Later Korolyov managed to increase the payload of the N1 to 92-93 tons and
increasing the number of engines in its first stage from 24 to 30), providing
enough power to accomplish the mission with a single launch.
Another main space design bureau headed by Vladimir Chelomei proposed a
competing cislunar orbiting mission using a heavy UR-500K rocket and a
two-man LK-1 spacecraft. Later, Chelomei also proposed a Moon landing program
with a super-heavy UR-700 rocket and a LK-700(LK-3) spacecraft.
The Soviet government issued a response to the American Apollo challenge after
three years. According to the first government decree about the Soviet
Manned moon programs, adopted in August 1964, Chelomei was instructed to develop
a Moon flyby program with a projected first flight by the end of 1966, and
Korolyov was instructed to develop the Moon landing program with a first flight
by the end of 1967. Following the change from Nikita
Khrushchev to Leonid Brezhnev in 1964, the Soviet government in September 1965
assigned the flyby program to Korolyov, who redesigned the cislunar mission to
use his own L1 spacecraft and Chelomei's Proton rocket.
Korolyov organized full scale development of both programs, but died
after surgery in 1966. According to a government decree of February 1967, the
first manned flyby was scheduled for mid-1967, and the first manned landing
for the end of 1968. Korolyov's death, along with various technical and
administrative reasons, as well as a lack of financial support, resulted in
both programs being delayed. Launch schedules
As of 1967, the L1/L3 launch schedules were:
L1 2P: Develop Block D stage
3P: Develop Block D stage 4L: Unmanned lunar flyby
5L: Unmanned lunar flyby 6L: Manned lunar flyby
7L: Manned lunar flybys 8L: Manned lunar flybys
9L: Manned lunar flybys 10L: Manned lunar flybys
11L: Manned lunar flybys 12L: Manned lunar flybys
13L: Reserve spacecraft L3
3L: Develop LV & Blocks G&D 4L: Reserve
5L: LOK/LK unmanned 6L: LOK/LK unmanned
7L: Manned LOK/unmanned LK 8L: Manned LOK/unmanned LK
9L: Piloted LOK/unmanned LK with LK landing on Moon
10L: First men land on moon 11L: Reserve
12L: Reserve Cosmonauts
In 1966, two cosmonaut training groups were formed. One group was commanded by
Vladimir Komarov and included Yuri Gagarin, and was to prepare for
qualification flights of the Soyuz in Earth orbit and a Proton-launched
cis-lunar mission. Komarov later died in the Soyuz 1 spaceflight when his
parachute malfunctioned causing his capsule to smash into the earth at high
speed. The second group was led by Alexei Leonov and concentrated on the
landing mission. As a result, Leonov has the strongest claim to have been the
Soviets' first choice for first man on the moon.
After Komarov's death in Soyuz 1 in 1967, Gagarin was taken out of training
and the groups were restructured. Despite the Soyuz 1 setback, the Soviets
successfully rehearsed the automated docking of two unmanned Soyuz craft in
Earth orbit in 1968 and with the manned Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 joint mission in
early 1969 tested the other key mission elements.
A total of 18 missions were related to the N1-L3 project.
Moon flyby UR-500K(Proton)/L1(Zond) program
Launched by a 3-staged Proton rocket, the L1(Zond) was a spacecraft from the
Soyuz family and consisted of two or three modified modules of the main craft
Soyuz 7K-OK with a total weight of 5.5 tons. The Apollo orbital spacecraft for
the lunar flyby also had two modules but was five times heavier, carried a crew
of three and entered lunar orbit, whereas the L1 performed a flight around
the Moon and came back on a return trajectory. Planned for 8 December 1968
for priority over the US, a first manned mission of the L1 was cancelled due to
insufficient readiness of the capsule and rocket. After Apollo 8 won the first
phase of the Moon Race at the end of 1968, the Soviet leadership lost
political interest in the L1 program. A few reserve units of L1 made unpiloted
flights, but by the end of 1970 this program was cancelled.
Moon landing N1/L3 program The manned landing plan adopted a
similar method to the single launch and lunar orbit rendezvous of the Apollo
project. For mission safety, weeks before the manned mission, an LK-R
unmanned L3 complex and two Lunokhod automated rovers would be sent to the
Moon, to work as radio beacons for manned LK, with the LK-R used as a
reserve escape craft. The Lunokhods were also equipped with manual controls for
the cosmonauts, both for transfer to LK-R in necessity and for regular
research. The N1 rocket would then carry the L3
Moon expedition complex, comprising two spacecraft and two boosters. A variant
of the Soyuz craft, the "Lunniy Orbitalny Korabl" command ship, would
carry two men, with three modules like the regular Soyuz 7K-OK, but was heavier
by a few tons. The 7K-OK was half the mass of the three-man Apollo orbital
command ship. The "Lunniy Korabl" accommodated only one cosmonaut, so in
the Soviet plan only one cosmonaut would land on the Moon. The mass of the LK was
40% of the mass of the Apollo lunar lander.
The L3 complex to be placed in LEO by the N1 was 93 tons. The mass of the LOK
and LK was 40% of the Apollo complex, but was equivalent to the L3 complex
without Block G. The booster for the LEO toward the Moon for the Apollo vehicle
was provided by the last stage of the Saturn V, while for the Block D, LOK and
LK, this was to be provided by Block G of the same L3 complex.
During the L3 complex's journey to the Moon, there would be no need to un-dock
and re-dock the orbital and landing craft as was done in Apollo, because the
cosmonaut would transfer from the LOK to LK by a 'spacewalk'. On the Apollo
missions, the transfer was done using an internal passage.
Block D was to slow the LOK and LK into lunar orbit, while with Apollo this
phase was undertaken by firing the engine on the service module to slow the
complex and enter lunar orbit, since the Apollo complex traveled with the Command
Module and Lunar Excursion Module facing back towards the Earth.
Once in orbit, the LK with Block D would separate from the LOK and descend toward
the surface of the Moon using the Block D engine. After Block D exhausted its
fuel, the LK was to separate and complete landing using its own engine.
On the Moon, the cosmonaut would take moon walks, use Lunokhods, collect
rocks, and plant the Soviet flag. After a few hours on the lunar surface,
the LK's engine would fire again using its landing structure as a launch pad,
as with Apollo. To save weight, the engine used for landing would blast the
LK back to lunar orbit for an automated docking with the LOK. The cosmonaut then
would spacewalk back to the LOK carrying rock samples. The LK would then be cast
off, after which the LOK would fire its rocket for the return to Earth.
After the US moon landing in 1969, the justification for the Soviet lunar
landing program largely evaporated, although development and testing
continued into the early 1970s. In 1970–1971 the LK was ready after three
unmanned test flights in LEO. The LOK launched once. The Krechet lunar
spacesuit and support systems were tested.
Four N1 test launches in 1969, 1971, and 1972 were failures, despite improvements
after each crash. The second launch, on 3 July 1969, resulted in the destruction
of the rocket and the entire launch complex, which delayed the N1-L3 program
for two years. In an automatic Moon flyby, these first
two launches of the N1 carried the 7K-L1S spacecraft. The dummy 7K-LOK and
regular 7K-LOK with dummy LKs were used in the third and fourth launches.
The complete L3 lunar expedition complex with the 7K-LOK and LK for the Moon
flyby and landing was prepared for a fifth launch, using a modified N1 rocket
on August, 1974. If this mission and the next had been successful, it would have
led to the decision to launch up to five Soviet manned N1-L3 expeditions in
1976–1980. To gain technical and scientific interest in the program, the
modified multi-launched N1F-L3M missions were planned to have significantly more
time on the Moon's surface than Apollo. However, N1-L3 program was cancelled in
May 1974, and Soviet manned space efforts subsequently concentrated on the
development of space stations and on several design and ground preparatory
processes for a Mars mission, which continues to the present day, but has
unclear objectives. A moon base, Zvezda, that was proposed
later, developed mockups of expedition vehicles and surface modules, and
"Vulkan-LEK" project were not adopted for economic reasons. As some recompense
and as a replacement for the manned landing program, the Soviets fulfilled a
program of automated delivery of lunar soil and Lunokhods automated moon
rovers. The launch pad and MIK of N1 was
redesigned for the Energia-Buran shuttle program. Five LKs and three LOKs remain,
at least, with some kept in the designer's and producer's company
museums. Nearly 150 engines produced for first stages of N1F were kept by
manufacturer, then sold for use on US launchers around 2000.
Gallery See also
Apollo program Moon exploration
First on the Moon - a Russian mockumentary
Soviet space program conspiracy accusations
References External links
The Soviet Manned Lunar Programme THE SOVIET MANNED LUNAR PROGRAM
Why did the Soviet Union lose the Moon Race?