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ORIGINS OF SPACE FLIGHT

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Book

Astronomy

Astronomy: a prequel to space flight

Over many centuries, the idea of space travel has been taking shape with the humanity's improving understanding of the Universe. Before flying machines could attempt to escape the Earth's gravity, generations of astronomers had been bluilding a realistic stage for space exploration, while their tools served as the earliest space research instruments.

EARLIEST EXPERIMENTAL SATELLITES
Sputnik-1

After millennia of dreams, centuries of scientific research and decades of engineering experimentation, the Space Age began in 1957 with the launch of the Earth's first artificial satellite.

Sputnik: The Soviet satellite project | Sputnik-2: Laika's mission | Sputnik-3: The multi-purpose orbital science lab

PILOTED SPACECRAFT

Hot topics:

Belka

Belka and Strelka

Vostok-1K No. 5

Vostok-1K No. 5

3ka

Vostok-3A No. 2

Preparation

Vostok mission

Aftermath

Valentina Tereshkova

Voskhod

Voskhod

voskhod-2

Voskhod-2

Soyuz

Soyuz

2P

7K-L1 (Zond)

reentry

Soyuz-1

LK

LK

space

Space 1967

INSIDER CONTENT

soyuz11

Soyuz-11 accident

Shield-2

Shield-2

LKM

LKM (IC)

Buran

BTS

BTS-002 GLI

Mir

Kliper

Parom

PTK Orel

Inflatable

Inflatables

TGK

TGK PG

Docking

Docking

ppb

Cis-lunar station

ros

ROS

LOS NEM

NEM-based LOS

ryvok

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lunar base

Dragon

ptk

The Soviet Union pioneered human conquest of space sending the first piloted spacecraft into orbit in 1961. Since then, several generations of transport ships and orbital stations were developed in the country. Much more ambitious projects of giant orbital settlements, lunar bases and expeditions to Mars were conceived, but could not be implemented due to their tremendous cost. Yet, along with the United States, Russia had remained one of two nations in the world sending people in space in the 20th century.

HISTORICAL PROJECTS

The pioneers: Early projects of piloted spacecraft, Vostok and Voskhod missions (1946-1966)

Reusable spacecraft

Soyuz spacecraft family

7K-OK: Original Soyuz

The Moon Race: The early Soyuz missions, L1, N-1/L3, L3M projects (1967-1974)

Mars mission: Russian plans for a manned expedition to the Red Planet (1960s-1990s)

First space stations (Salyut series, 1969-1985)

NEW, April 3: Soyuz 7K-TM variant

Almaz military space station program:

Progress cargo ship series

LKS: Vladimir Chelomei's alternative to Buran (1974-1983)

Spiral orbiter | Spiral's technical description

Buran: The Energia-Buran reusable spacecraft program (1974-1993)

Mir space station: The first permanent manned outpost in space (1986-2001)

Kliper space plane: A study of a reusable orbiter to replace Soyuz (2000-2006)

TKS follow-on: Proposals for a follow-on series to the TKS spacecraft by Khrunichev enterprise (2005-2009)


FLYING TODAY

International Space Station, ISS

Chronology of ISS development and assembly

Russian Segment of the ISS

American segment of ISS

European segment of ISS


PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Russian piloted space program strategy in the 2010s and 2020s

Russian ISS segment

Cargo vehicle with increased payload capacity, TGK PG

 

Russian Orbital Station, ROS, project to succeed the ISS


Russia's next-generation crew vehicle, PTK Orel (formerly Federatsiya):

PTK Orel design:

PTK Orel development history:

PTK-M variant (INSIDER CONTENT)

PTK-ROS variant (INSIDER CONTENT)


Retrievable Progress cargo ship

Parom orbital tug

Russian Lunar Orbital Station, LOS

Missions to Lagrangian points

Vision for Space Exploration, VSE: A NASA program for a manned lunar base, which could involve international partners, including Russia

Cis-lunar Gateway (a.k.a. International Manned Platform)

Modules and major components:

Systems and operations:

Russian Lunar Descent and Ascent Complex, LVPK

Ryvok lunar transport vehicle (INSIDER CONTENT)

Russia considers cooperation with China in human space flight (INSIDER CONTENT)

 

PLANETARY SPACECRAFT

Hot topics:

Luna

Lunar missions

Luna-9

Luna-9

Luna-Glob

Luna-Glob

Luna-Resurs

Luna-Resurs

Luna-Grunt

Luna-Grunt

Poligon

Lunny Poligon

landing

5M

Fobos

Phobos (Fobos)

Phobos Grunt main

Phobos-Grunt

Laplas

Laplas

Apophis

Apophis

Intergelio

Intergelio-Zond

MSR

Mars Sample Return

Expedition-M

Expedition-M

Venera-D

Venera-D in 2021

INTO DEEP SPACE

As soon as rockets learned to fly beyond the atmosphere, the spacecraft developers on both sides of the Atlantic drafted the plans for planetary exploration. The Soviet space probes opened the race to the Moon, Venus and Mars. The projects of unmanned missions to Mercury and Jupiter were also under consideration in the former USSR.

Russian unmanned planetary exploration program in 2013

Russian unmanned planetary exploration program in 2014


ROBOTIC MISSIONS TO THE MOON

Historical missions:

Luna-1

Luna-9

Luna-10

Luna-13

Luna-24

Plans for the future:

Luna-Glob

Luna-Resurs (Origin of the project)

Rethinking Russian lunar plans in 2012

Luna-Grunt

Lunny Poligon

Plans for robotic missions to the Moon in 2023


ROBOTIC MISSIONS TO MARS

HISTORICAL MISSIONS:

Zond-2

Mars-69

5M Mars sample return project

Phobos (Fobos)

Mars-96

Phobos-Grunt (Fobos-Grunt)

FLYING TODAY:

ExoMars home page

ExoMars 2016

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE:

ExoMars rover mission

Phobos-Grunt-2 (Bumerang)

Mars-NET

Mars sample return


ROBOTIC MISSIONS TO VENUS

Historical missions:

Venera-7

Venera-72 No. 671 (Kosmos-482)

Venera-9 and 10

Plans for the future:

Venera-D


ROBOTIC MISSIONS BEYOND MARS AND VENUS

Historical missions:

3MV (Zond) project

Plans for the future:

Intergelio-Zond mission to explore our Sun

Solnechny Parus solar-sailing mission

Laplas mission to Jupiter and its moons

Missions to Mercury

Missions to comets and asteroids

MILITARY SPACECRAFT

Hot topics:

asat

ASAT

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MMKK

MMKK

Insider Content

tundra

EKS (Tundra)

Bars-M

Bars-M

Persona

Persona

Geo-IK-2

Geo-IK-2

GLONASS-K

GLONASS-K

MILITARY SATELLITES

A vast majority of satellites that the Soviet Union had launched from 1961 to 1991 carried out military missions. Publicly, however, the USSR denied the very existence of the military space program. Not surprisingly, numerous military space projects were not publically known until the last decade of the 20th century. As their US counterparts, the Russian satellites served as spies for the government, as space sentries looking for the incoming missiles, provided secret communications and weather forecasting and scanned surface of the oceans in search for potential targets for the Soviet cruise missiles.

NEW, March 4: Russian anti-satellite systems

 

COMMERCIAL AND APPLICATION SPACECRAFT

Hot topics:

buro

Resurs-P

Resurs-P

Kanopus

Kanopus series

Elektro

Elektro-L

Luch-5A

Luch-5A

Gonets-M1

luch-5VM


 

BUSINESS IN SPACE: Application and commercial satellites

Although most Soviet satellites had originated as defense-related systems, they eventually began contributing into civilian sectors of economy. Huge progress in satellite communications, weather forecasting and observations of the Earth's surface created a great demand for dedicated non-military satellites. While many application spacecraft still have a dual purpose, their transfer under jurisdiction of civilian agencies, along with their declassified and often commercial nature put such spacecraft into a distinct category.

NEW, Oct. 8: Russian space science in 2024 (INSIDER CONTENT)

Remote-sensing satellites:

Status of remote-sensing satellite systems in 2019 (INSIDER CONTENT)

Communications satellites

SCIENTIFIC SPACECRAFT

Hot topics:

Vozvrat-MKA

Vozvrat-MKA

Bion

Bion

karat

Karat platform

Spektr-RG

Spektr-RG

Spektr-UF

Spektr-UF

SPACELABS: Science satellites

The very first satellite launched by the USSR in 1957 helped to advance the understanding of the upper atmosphere. Since then, Russian spacecraft have been making significant contributions in the mankind's understanding of the Solar System and the broader Universe. The Earth-orbiting satellites studied cosmic radiation, distant objects and physical phenomena in deep space. They also helped to advance material science and space biology.

Astrometria star-mapping satellite

AUOS spacecraft bus

Bion project home page

COROT astronomy satellite

Cosmos-1 solar sailing spacecraft

Foton material science satellite

Foton-M4

Gaia satellite

Karat (MKA-FKI) platform home page

Kompas

Koronas-Foton

Lomonosov (a.k.a Mikhailo Lomonosov)

Navigator platform

Spektr-R (Radioastron) observatory

Spektr-RG (Rentgen) X-ray observatory

Spektr-UF (Ultrafiolet, WSO) ultraviolet observatory

Spektr-M (Millimetron) orbital observatory

VKZ probe

Vozvrat-MKA