The Voskhod programme (russian: Восход, , ''Ascent'' or ''Dawn'') was the second

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, ...

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

project. Two one-day crewed missions were flown using the

Voskhod spacecraft The Voskhod (, ''"Sunrise"'') was a spacecraft built by the Soviet Union's space program for human spaceflight as part of the Voskhod programme. It was a development of and a follow-on to the Vostok spacecraft. Voskhod 1 was used for a three ...

and

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

, one in 1964 and one in 1965, and two dogs flew on a 22-day mission in 1966. Voskhod development was both a follow-on to the

Vostok programme 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 ...

and a recycling of components left over from that programme's cancellation following its first six flights. The Voskhod programme was superseded by the

Soyuz programme The Soyuz programme ( , ; russian: link=no, Союз , meaning "Union") is a human spaceflight programme initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. The Soyuz spacecraft was originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a So ...

Design

The Voskhod spacecraft was basically a Vostok spacecraft that had a backup, solid-fueled retrorocket added to the top of the descent module. As it was much heavier, the launch vehicle would be the 11A57, a Molniya 8K78M with the Blok L stage removed and later the basis of the Soyuz booster. The ejection seat was removed and two or three crew couches were added to the interior at a 90-degree angle to that of the Vostok crew position. However, the position of the in-flight controls was not changed, so the crew had to crane their heads 90° to see the instruments. In the case of Voskhod 2, an inflatable exterior airlock was also added to the descent module opposite the entry hatch. The airlock was jettisoned after use. This apparatus was needed because the vehicle avionics and environmental systems were air-cooled, and depressurization in orbit would cause overheating. A solid-fueled

braking rocket A retrorocket (short for ''retrograde rocket'') is a rocket engine providing thrust opposing the motion of a vehicle, thereby causing it to decelerate. They have mostly been used in spacecraft, with more limited use in short-runway aircraft land ...

was also added to the parachute lines to provide for a softer landing at touchdown. This was necessary because, unlike the Vostok, the Voskhod descent module landed with the crewmen still inside. Unlike Vostok and the later Soyuz, Voskhod had no launch abort system, meaning that the crew lacked any means of escape from a malfunctioning launch vehicle. Voskhod had a solid-fueled backup retrorocket on top of the capsule in case the main one failed (as it did on

Voskhod 2 Voskhod 2 (russian: Восход-2, , ''Sunrise-2'') was a Soviet crewed space mission in March 1965. The Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable air ...

). While Vostok lacked this feature, it was not considered a problem since the spacecraft would decay from orbit within 10 days. Relatively lightweight, Voskhod was well below the 11A57 booster's lift capacity, meaning that it launched into a much higher orbit and would not decay as quickly.

Flights

The Voskhod flights, with launch dates:

Uncrewed

Kosmos 47 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 ...

– Uncrewed test flight of the Voskhod hardware. *

Kosmos 57 Kosmos 57 (russian: Космос 57 meaning ''Cosmos 57'') was an unmanned Soviet spacecraft launched on 22 February 1965. The craft was essentially an unmanned version of Voskhod 2. Its primary mission was to test the Volga airlock. The test wa ...

– Uncrewed test flight, unsuccessful. *

Kosmos 110 Kosmos 110 (russian: Космос 110 meaning Kosmos 110) was a Soviet spacecraft launched on 22 February 1966 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Voskhod rocket. It carried two dogs, Veterok and Ugolyok. Mission The launch of Kosmos 110 ...

– Uncrewed, sent two dogs, Veterok and Ugolyok, on a 22-day flight, launched 22 February 1966 and landed 16 March.

Crewed

Cancelled

*Voskhod 3 – 19-day two-man mission to study long-term weightlessness with artificial gravity, medical, military and other experiments *Voskhod 4 – 20-day single-man mission to study long-term weightlessness with artificial gravity, medical, military, and other experiments *Voskhod 5 – 10-day two-woman mission with medical and other experiments and first female EVA-spacewalk *Voskhod 6 – 15-day two-man mission with military and other experiments and multiple spacewalks to test new EVA jet belt

Results

While the Vostok programme was dedicated more toward understanding the effects of space travel and microgravity on the human body, Voskhod's two flights were more aimed towards spectacular firsts. Although achieving the first

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 ...

("spacewalk") became the main success of the programme, beating the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Project Gemini Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...

to put the first multiman crew in orbit was the objective that initially motivated the programme. After those goals were realized, the programme planned to focus on other advances the spacecraft could accomplish, such as longer duration and a second female flight. However, there were delays preparing for Voskhod 3, and during that time the Gemini programme accomplished most of what had been planned for future Voskhods. In the end, the Voskhod programme was abandoned, aided by a change in Soviet leadership which was less concerned about stunt and prestige flights, and this allowed the Soviet designers to concentrate on the

References

External links

Voskhod manned space project on Encyclopedia Astronautica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voskhod Programme Human spaceflight programs