Soyuz-B (russian: Союз-Б meaning Union-B) or Soyuz 9K (russian: Союз 9К) was a proposed

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

spacecraft, which was designed for use as an orbital tug. A number of applications were proposed for it, including use as part of the Soyuz A-B-V complex for crewed

circumlunar In orbital mechanics, a circumlunar trajectory, trans-lunar trajectory or lunar free return is a type of free return trajectory which takes a spacecraft from Earth, around the far side of the Moon, and back to Earth using only gravity once the ...

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in or ...

. The Soyuz 9K was intended to have been launched into

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

by the

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

11A511

carrier rocket A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

. Following launch, it would have been refuelled by up to three

Soyuz-V Soyuz-V (russian: Союз-В meaning Union-V) or Soyuz 11K (russian: Союз 11К), sometimes known in the west as Soyuz-C, was a proposed Soviet spacecraft, which was designed for use as a fuel tanker. It would have been used to refuel other ...

tankers, before commencing its mission. It was primarily intended for use in boosting crewed

Soyuz 7K Sergei Korolev initially promoted the Soyuz A-B-V circumlunar complex (''7K-9K-11K'') concept (also known as L1) in which a two-man craft Soyuz 7K would rendezvous with other components (9K and 11K) in Earth orbit to assemble a lunar excursion vehi ...

and

Soyuz-P Soyuz P (russian: Союз Перехватчик meaning Union Interceptor) was a proposed Soviet crewed combat spacecraft and satellite interceptor. The Soyuz P was proposed in December 1962 along with other Soyuz variants to match the United St ...

spacecraft into higher orbits; the Soyuz-A onto a circumlunar trajectory for human Lunar exploration, and the Soyuz-P into a higher orbit to intercept and destroy another spacecraft. The Soyuz 9K consisted of two modules: the main spacecraft, and a docking module, NO (russian: НО). The NO module housed rendezvous and docking systems for the Soyuz-V, as well as equipment for transferring fuel, and additional manoeuvring thrusters. Once the payload spacecraft had docked, the NO would be jettisoned, and the main engine would ignite to propel the Soyuz 9K and its docked payload into a higher orbit. Following the cancellation of both the Soyuz 7K and P programmes; the former in favour of the

LK-1 LK-1 was a projected Soviet crewed lunar flyby spacecraft. It would be launched on a three-stage Proton launch vehicle. The project started in 1962 under the lead engineer Vladimir Chelomey, with the first flight planned for 1967. The LK-1 had ...

spacecraft, and the latter in favour of uncrewed anti-satellite programmes, the Soyuz 9K was no longer required, and it too was cancelled.

References

* * Crewed spacecraft Soyuz program Soviet lunar program {{USSR-spacecraft-stub

See also

References