Soyuz Kontakt ''(Soyuz Contact)'' was the docking hardware of the Soviet crewed spacecraft program. The Soviet lunar human program was canceled in 1974 after many failures. Four failures of 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 ...

super heavy-lift launch vehicle and the success of the U.S. Apollo program ended the Soviet crewed moon program.

Background

The first docking of two spacecraft was achieved on March 16, 1966, when

Gemini 8 Gemini 8 (officially Gemini VIII) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was the sixth crewed spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was launched on March 16, 1966, and was the 14th crewed American fli ...

rendezvoused and docked with an uncrewed Agena Target Vehicle.

Soyuz 4 Soyuz 4 (russian: Союз 4, ''Union 4'') was launched on 14 January 1969, carrying cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov on his first flight. The aim of the mission was to dock with Soyuz 5, transfer two crew members from that spacecraft, and retur ...

and

Soyuz 5 Soyuz 5 (russian: Союз 5, ''Union 5'') was a Soyuz mission using the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union on 15 January 1969, which docked with Soyuz 4 in orbit. It was the first docking of two crewed spacecraft of any nat ...

performed the first docking of two crewed spacecraft on January 16, 1969, coupled with a spacewalk. Then, the

Apollo 9 Apollo 9 (March 313, 1969) was the third human spaceflight in NASA's Apollo program. Flown in low Earth orbit, it was the second crewed Apollo mission that the United States launched via a Saturn V rocket, and was the first flight of the ful ...

spacecraft/

command and service module The Apollo command and service module (CSM) was one of two principal components of the United States Apollo spacecraft, used for the Apollo program, which landed astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. The CSM functioned as a mother sh ...

(CSM) completed a rendezvous and docked with the Lunar Module (LM) on March 3, 1969, using a transfer tunnel."Apollo 9 Characteristics"
Ezell 1988; Table 2-37

Design

Soyuz Kontakt was designed for the Soviet

lunar orbit rendezvous Lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) is a process for landing humans on the Moon and returning them to Earth. It was utilized for the Apollo program missions in the 1960s and 1970s. In a LOR mission, a main spacecraft and a smaller lunar lander travel to ...

of the

Soyuz 7K-OK Soyuz 7K-OK was the first generation of Soyuz spacecraft and was flown between 1967 and 1971. The 7K-OK was used for the first ferry flights to the Salyut space station program, beginning a long history of space station service that continu ...

crewed lunar orbiter

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 ...

and Soviet LK lunar lander for the

Soviet space program The Soviet space program (russian: Космическая программа СССР, Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR) was the national space program of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), active from 1955 until the dissoluti ...

. The Soyuz Kontakt docking system used a three-pronged grappler on the active moving spacecraft. The active spacecraft would then attempt a soft docking between the two spacecraft. The passive non-moving craft would be fitted with a hexagonal grid for the active craft to dock to. To dock, the cosmonaut would have used a manual optical alignment system. Once docked, the crew would then perform an

EVA Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in t ...

(or extravehicular activity) to transfer to the LK lander (the passive craft). Before the lunar launch, there were to be several earth-orbit training dockings. For the tests, two Soyuz 11A511 rockets would have put the active Soyuz 7K-OK crewed spacecraft on earth orbit along with another, modified 7K-OK (with the grid adaptation) to be the passive craft. The crew would have docked and then transferred for the test. The Soyuz 7K-OK crewed spacecraft has space for a crew of three, with a habitable space of 9 m³. The vehicle was 7.95 m (26.08 ft) tall with a span of 9.80 m (32.10 ft), and a gross mass of 6,560 kg (14,460 lb). The crew 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 Soyuz 11 (russian: link=no, Союз 11, lit=Union 11) was the only crewed mission to board the world's first space station, Salyut 1 ( Soyuz 10 had soft-docked, but had not been able to enter due to latching problems). The crew, Georgy Dob ...

crew in June 1971 lead to the redesign of the Soyuz spacecraft. All planned Soyuz Kontakt missions were canceled for the near future at that time.

Soyuz Kontakt 1

Soyuz Kontakt 1 would have flown with Soyuz s/n 21. Soyuz Kontakt 1 would have installed the passive Kontakt docking system. The same type of docking system 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 Major General Anatoly Vasilyevich Filipchenko (26 February 1928 – 7 August 2022) was a Soviet cosmonaut of Ukrainian descent. He flew on the Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 16 missions. He was born in Davydovka, Voronezh Governorate, RSFSR. After leavi ...

and Georgy Grechko.

Soyuz Kontakt 2

Soyuz Kontakt 2 was planned for an early 1972 launch. Soyuz Kontakt 2 prime cosmonaut crew was to be

Vasily Lazarev Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev (russian: Васи́лий Григо́рьевич Ла́зарев; 23 February 1928 31 December 1990) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 12 spaceflight as well as the abortive Soyuz 18a launch on 5 April 1 ...

and

Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov (russian: Олег Григорьевич Макаров; 6 January 1933 28 May 2003) was a Soviet cosmonaut. Early life and education Makarov was born in Udomlya, Tver Oblast, USSR. He graduated from Bauman Moscow ...

. An LK lunar lander was planned to be used, not a passive Soyuz. (The first LK was a single cosmonaut transport; a later variant would have had a two-man crew.)

Soyuz Kontakt 3

Soyuz Kontakt 3 was planned for 1972. Soyuz Kontakt 3's prime cosmonaut crew would have been Lev Vasiliyevich Vorobyov and Vladimir Yazdovsky.

Soyuz Kontakt 4

Soyuz Kontakt 4 was also planned for 1972. Soyuz Kontakt 4's prime cosmonaut crew would have been Oleg Vasilyevich Dobrovolsky and

Vitaly Sevastyanov Vitaly Ivanovich Sevastyanov (russian: Вита́лий Ива́нович Севастья́нов; 8 July 1935 – 5 April 2010) was a Soviet cosmonaut and an engineer who flew on the Soyuz 9 and Soyuz 18 missions. He trained as an engin ...

. Soyuz Kontakt 4 planned to use a LK lunar lander.''Soyuz Kontakt 4''
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