The S5.4 (AKA TDU-1,
GRAU Index 8D66), was a Russian
liquid rocket engine
A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accorda ...
burning
TG-02 and
AK20F in the
gas generator
A gas generator is a device for generating gas. A gas generator may create gas by a chemical reaction or from a solid or liquid source, when storing a pressurized gas is undesirable or impractical.
The term often refers to a device that uses a ...
cycle. It was originally used as the braking (deorbit) engine of the
Vostok Vostok refers to east in Russian but may also refer to:
Spaceflight
* Vostok programme, Soviet human spaceflight project
* Vostok (spacecraft), a type of spacecraft built by the Soviet Union
* Vostok (rocket family), family of rockets derived from ...
,
Voskhod, and
Zenit
Zenit, meaning "zenith", may refer to:
Spaceflight and rocketry
* Zenit (rocket family), a Soviet family of space launch vehicles
* Zenit (satellite), a type of Soviet spy satellite
* Zenit sounding rocket, a Swiss rocket
Sports
* Zenit (sports ...
spacecraft
A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...
, which later switched to solid engines.
The engine produced of thrust with a
specific impulse
Specific impulse (usually abbreviated ) is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine (a rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel) creates thrust. For engines whose reaction mass is only the fuel they carry, specific impulse is ...
of 266 seconds in vacuum, and burned for 45 seconds, enough for the deorbit. It had a main fixed combustion chamber and four small
verniers to supply
vector control
Vector control is any method to limit or eradicate the mammals, birds, insects or other arthropods (here collectively called " vectors") which transmit disease pathogens. The most frequent type of vector control is mosquito control using a varie ...
. It was housed in the service module and had two toroidal tanks for pressurization.
It was designed by
OKB-2, the Design Bureau led by
Aleksei Isaev
Aleksei Mikhailovich Isaev (also Isayev; Russian: Алексе́й Миха́йлович Иса́ев; October 24, 1908, in Saint Petersburg – June 10, 1971, in Moscow) was a Russian rocket engineer.
Aleksei Isaev began work under Leonid Du ...
, for the
Vostok program
The Vostok programme (russian: Восток, , ''Orient'' or ''East'') was a Soviet human spaceflight project to put the first Soviet citizens into low Earth orbit and return them safely. Competing with the United States Project Mercury, it succ ...
. The braking engine for the first manned spacecraft was a difficult task that no design bureau wanted to take. It was considered critical, as a failure would have left a cosmonaut stranded in space. A solid engine was considered, but the ballistic experts predicted a landing error, versus a tenth of that for a liquid engine. It took the coordinated efforts of
Boris Chertok
Boris Yevseyevich Chertok (russian: link=no, Бори́с Евсе́евич Черто́к; – 14 December 2011) was a Russian electrical engineer and the control systems designer in the Soviet Union's space program, and later found employm ...
and
Sergei Korolev
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, ...
to convince Isaev to accept the task.
References
External links
KB KhIMMASH Official Page ''(in Russian, Archived)''
Rocket engines of Russia
Rocket engines of the Soviet Union
Rocket engines using hypergolic propellant
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