Soyuz 7K-L1E was a

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, ...

uncrewed modified

Soyuz 7K-L1 The Soyuz 7K-L1 "Zond" spacecraft was designed to launch men from the Earth to circle the Moon without going into lunar orbit in the context of the Soviet crewed Moon-flyby program in the Moon race. It was based on the Soyuz 7K-OK. Several mo ...

spacecraft. Also called a dummy

Soyuz 7K-LOK The Soyuz 7K-LOK, or simply LOK (russian: Лунный Орбитальный Корабль, translit=Lunniy Orbitalny Korabl meaning "Lunar Orbital Craft") was a Soviet crewed spacecraft designed to launch men from Earth to orbit the Moon, deve ...

. Two were built, one Soyuz 7K-L1E was successfully 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 ...

Proton rocket Proton (Russian: Протон) (formal designation: UR-500) is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965. Modern versions of the launch system are sti ...

and is known as

Kosmos 382 Kosmos 382 was a Soviet Soyuz 7K-L1E modification of a Soyuz 7K-L1 "Zond" spacecraft and was successfully test launched into Low Earth Orbit on a Proton rocket designated as (Soyuz 7K-L1E No.2) on December 2, 1970. The main purpose of the missi ...

. The other Soyuz 7K-L1E was placed on a

N1 rocket The N1/L3 (from , "Carrier Rocket"; Cyrillic: Н1) was a super heavy-lift launch vehicle intended to deliver payloads beyond low Earth orbit. The N1 was the Soviet counterpart to the US Saturn V and was intended to enable crewed travel to the ...

, which failed at launch. The

Soyuz spacecraft Soyuz () is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s, having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau (now Energia). The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraf ...

was first used in 1967 as the main crewed spacecraft and is still in use. Many Soyuz variations have been built and the Soyuz 7K-L1E was an unmanned variation.

Soyuz 7K-L1E No.1

Soyuz 7K-L1E No.1 was launched on 26 June 1971 at 23:15:08 (11:15pm Moscow time) from

Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 110 Site 110 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome is a launch facility which was used by the N1 rocket during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and by the Energia rocket during the 1980s. Site Site 110 consists of two launch pads: The right (or east) pad, calle ...

/37. The spacecraft was built to test the

Blok D Blok D (russian: Блок Д meaning Block D) is an upper stage used on Soviet and later Russian expendable launch systems, including the N1, Proton-K and Zenit. The stage (and its derivatives) has been included in more than 320 launched roc ...

rocket and the

N-1 rocket The N1/L3 (from , "Carrier Rocket"; Cyrillic: Н1) was a super heavy-lift launch vehicle intended to deliver payloads beyond low Earth orbit. The N1 was the Soviet counterpart to the US Saturn V and was intended to enable crewed travel to the ...

. This was the third launch of the N-1. The previous two N-1 launches had failed. The N-1 Rocket was a

super heavy-lift launch vehicle A super heavy-lift launch vehicle can lift to low Earth orbit more than by United States (NASA) classification or by Russian classification. It is the most capable launch vehicle classification by mass to orbit, exceeding that of the heavy-lif ...

design to go to the noon, as a counterpart to the U.S.

Saturn V Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, with multistage rocket, three stages, and powered with liquid-propellant r ...

rocket in the

space race The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the tw ...

. The first stage of the N-1 serial 6L failed at launch. Soyuz 7K-L1E had no escape rescue system and was lost. The Block D was designed to work with the N-1 to take the LK lunar lander to near the surface of the Moon. The Block D stage is still in use, but is used atop a Proton rocket. Had Soyuz 7K-L1E No.1 worked the upper stage was planned to go through maneuvers simulating those that would be used on a lunar mission. The Block D rocket would have taken the LK lunar lander to near the surface of the Moon.

Soyuz 7K-L1E No.2

Soyuz 7K-L1E No.2 was an uncrewed Soyuz 7K-L1, launch on a Proton, with an N-1 upper stage and the Soyuz 7K-L1E control spacecraft into Earth orbit on 2 December 1970. This flight was a success and was then designated "Cosmos 382" - "Kosmos 382". Kosmos being the title given Soviet

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

s since 1962. Kosmos-382 carried experiments and simulating the lunar orbit insertion burn, for planned later manned missions to the Moon.

References

External links

Kosmos 382 @ Gunther's Space Page
{{Orbital launches in 1970 Spacecraft launched in 1971 Spacecraft launched in 1970 1970 in spaceflight 1971 in spaceflight

Soyuz 7K-L1E No.1

Soyuz 7K-L1E No.2

See also

References

External links