Kosmos 47 (russian: Космос 47 meaning ''Cosmos 47'') is the designation of an uncrewed test flight of a prototype Soviet
Voskhod spacecraft, the first multiple-occupant spacecraft. Launched on 6 October 1964, the successful flight paved the way for the first crewed mission,
Voskhod 1
Voskhod 1 (russian: Восход-1, lit=Sunrise-1) was the seventh crewed Soviet space flight. Flown by cosmonauts Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov, and Boris Yegorov, it launched 12 October 1964, and returned on the 13th. Voskhod 1 was t ...
, which occurred just 6 days later on 12 October 1964.
The spacecraft was one of many designated under the
Kosmos system, which is applied to a wide variety of spacecraft of different designs and functions including test flights of crewed vehicles.
Launch
The launch took place on 6 October at 07:12 GMT
from
Gagarin's Start
Gagarin's Start (russian: Гагаринский старт, ''Gagarinskiy start''), also known as Baikonur Site 1 or Site 1/5 is a launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that was used for the Soviet space program and is now manag ...
, Site 1/5 at
Baikonur Cosmodrome
''Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy'' rus, Космодром Байконур''Kosmodrom Baykonur''
, image = Baikonur Cosmodrome Soyuz launch pad.jpg
, caption = The Baikonur Cosmodrome's " Gagarin's Start" Soyu ...
onboard a
Voskhod rocket
The Voskhod rocket (russian: Восход, ''"ascent"'', ''"dawn"'') was a derivative of the Soviet R-7 ICBM designed for the human spaceflight programme but later used for launching Zenit reconnaissance satellites. It consisted of the Moln ...
s/n R15000-02. Kosmos 47 was operated in a
low Earth orbit, it had a
perigee of , an
apogee
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion.
General description
There are two apsides in any ellip ...
of , an
inclination
Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object.
For a satellite orbiting the Earth ...
of 64.8° and an
orbital period of 90.0 minutes. On 7 October 1964, testing of all the spacecraft's systems occurred in the space of 24 hours. The landing took place on 7 October 1964 at around 07:30 GMT. The spacecraft was deorbited with its return capsule descending by parachute for recovery by Soviet Forces.
Spacecraft
The Voskhods spacecraft were adaptations of the single place Vostok spacecraft meant to conduct flights with up to three crew and for spacewalks in advance of the American Gemini program. Work on the 3KV and 3KD versions of the basic Vostok spacecraft began with the decree issued on 13 April 1964. In order to accommodate more than one crew, the seats were mounted perpendicular to the Vostok ejection seat position, so the crew had to crane their necks to read instruments, still mounted in their original orientation. The "Elburs" soft landing system replaced the ejection seat and allowed the crew to stay in the capsule. It consisted of probes that dangled from the parachute lines. Contact with the Earth triggered a solid rocket engine in the parachute which resulted in a zero velocity landing.
See also
*
1964 in spaceflight
Deep Space Rendezvous
Orbital launch summary
By country
By rocket
By orbit
References
Footnotes
{{Orbital launches in 1964
Spaceflight by year ...
References
External links
Voskhod - A Summary
Spacecraft launched in 1964
Kosmos satellites
1964 in the Soviet Union
Spacecraft which reentered in 1964
{{USSR-spacecraft-stub