Soyuz Kontakt
Docking system for Soviet lunar orbit rendezvous.
via Wikipedia: Soyuz Kontakt · see source
Soyuz Kontakt was the docking hardware developed for the Soviet crewed lunar spacecraft program. It was designed for the Soviet lunar orbit rendezvous of the Soyuz 7K-LOK crewed lunar orbiter spacecraft and the Soviet LK lunar lander. The Soviet crewed moon program was canceled in 1974 after four failures of the N-1 Rocket super heavy-lift launch vehicle and the success of the U.S. Apollo program. Four Soyuz Kontakt cosmonaut crews were trained in the docking system, and three tests using six spacecraft were planned, but all planned Soyuz Kontakt missions were canceled after the failure of the N-1 and the death of the Soyuz 11 crew in June 1971.
Quick Facts
- Height
- 7.95 m (26.08 ft)
- Span
- 9.80 m (32.10 ft)
- Gross mass
- 6,560 kg (14,460 lb)
- Crew capacity
- 3
- Habitable volume
- 9 m3
Facts from the source article.
Design
The Soyuz Kontakt docking system was part of the Soviet effort to send cosmonauts to the Moon. It used a three-pronged grappler on the active spacecraft, which would attempt a soft docking with a passive craft fitted with a hexagonal grid. A cosmonaut would rely on a manual optical alignment system to complete the maneuver. After docking, the crew would perform a spacewalk to transfer to the LK lunar lander, the passive vehicle. Before any lunar mission, several earth-orbit training dockings were planned. Two Soyuz 11A511 rockets would launch a modified Soyuz 7K-OK crewed spacecraft and another modified 7K-OK with the grid adaptation as the passive target. The crew would dock and transfer as a test. The Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft, designed for three people, had a habitable volume of 9 cubic meters. It measured 7.95 meters tall, had a span of 9.80 meters, and a gross mass of 6,560 kilograms. Cosmonauts trained for this test mission, but it never launched.
Cancelled Soyuz Kontakt test missions
Four Soyuz Kontakt cosmonaut crews were trained in the docking system. Three tests using six spacecraft were planned. The failure of the N-1 and the death of the Soyuz 11 crew in June 1971 led to the redesign of the Soyuz spacecraft. All planned Soyuz Kontakt missions were canceled for the near future at that time. Soyuz Kontakt 1 would have flown with Soyuz s/n 21, which would have installed the passive Kontakt docking system, the same type that was on the LK lunar lander. For the test, Soyuz s/n 20 would have had the active docking target unit. The extravehicular activity crew would have transferred wearing the Krechet spacesuit. Soyuz s/n 21 was planned to launch in early 1972 with a cosmonaut crew of two, Anatoly Filipchenko and Georgy Grechko. Soyuz Kontakt 2 was planned for an early 1972 launch with prime cosmonaut crew Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov; an LK lunar lander was planned to be used, not a passive Soyuz. Soyuz Kontakt 3 was planned for 1972 with prime cosmonaut crew Lev Vasiliyevich Vorobyov and Vladimir Yazdovsky. Soyuz Kontakt 4 was also planned for 1972 with prime cosmonaut crew Oleg Vasilyevich Dobrovolsky and Vitaly Sevastyanov; it planned to use an LK lunar lander.
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