Kosmos-3M
Soviet two-stage liquid-fueled orbital launch vehicle.
The Kosmos-3M, also known by its GRAU index 11K65M, was a Soviet and later Russian rocket from the Kosmos family. This two-stage, liquid-fueled vehicle first launched in 1967 and completed more than 420 successful missions.
Quick Facts
- Function
- Orbital launch vehicle
- Manufacturer
- Yuzhnoye; NPO Polyot
- Country-origin
- Soviet Union, Russia
- Height
- 32.4 m / 106 ft
- Diameter
- 2.4 m / 7 ft 10 in
- Mass
- 109,000 kg / 240,304 lb
- Stages
- 2
- Sites
- Plesetsk Cosmodrome
- Site 132
- Site 133/3
- Kapustin Yar Site 107
Facts from the source article.
History
The Kosmos-3M lifted about 1400 kg of payload into orbit, burning UDMH fuel with AK27I oxidizer, a type of red fuming nitric acid. Its main improvement over the earlier Kosmos-3 was more precise control of the second stage, which let operators adjust the thrust and direct it through nozzles to orient the rocket for deploying multiple satellites at once. For decades, PO Polyot built these vehicles in Omsk, Russia. The rocket was set to be retired in 2011, but in April 2010 the Russian Space Forces commander stated it would be taken out of service by the end of that year. A final launch of Kanopus-ST was planned, but it was canceled in late 2012 because the stored vehicle had exceeded its design life.
Accidents
Between 1967 and 2010, 446 Kosmos-3M rockets flew, with 22 ending in failure. Several stand out. On 22 December 1970, a target vehicle for anti-satellite tests lost thrust right after liftoff, fell back onto its pad at Plesetsk, exploded, and caused severe damage. A propellant loading accident on 26 June 1973 led to another pad explosion at Plesetsk, killing nine people. On 3 June 1975, an Intercosmos scientific satellite mission failed 84 seconds into flight when the first-stage engine cut out. Another first-stage failure occurred on 25 January 1983, about 40 seconds after launch of a military radar calibration satellite, when the RD-219 engine began losing thrust. The onboard computer shut the engine down, and the rocket fell into the Northern Dvina River. Because U.S.-Soviet relations were tense at the time, many suspected the U.S. military had shot it down, and General Secretary Yuri Andropov was personally briefed on that possibility. However, local ice fishers on the Dvina saw the booster crash into the river and reported it to authorities. Telemetry review quickly ruled out sabotage. The cause was high-frequency combustion instability in the RD-219, which had also doomed the 1970 and 1975 missions. The engine was redesigned, and no further first-stage engine failures occurred. More recently, on 21 November 2000, a Kosmos-3M failed to deliver the QuickBird 1 satellite to orbit due to a second-stage malfunction. The rocket and satellite reentered over Uruguay, and the accident investigation reached no firm conclusion.
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