The Vostok-L (russian: Восток meaning ''"East"''),

GRAU index The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...

8K72 was a rocket used by the

Soviet Union 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, ...

to conduct several early tests of the

Vostok spacecraft Vostok (russian: Восток, translated as "East") was a class of single-pilot crewed spacecraft built by the Soviet Union. The first human spaceflight was accomplished with Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The ...

. It was derived from the

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin * Luna (goddess), the ancient Roman personification of the Moon Luna may also refer to: Places Philippines * Luna, Apayao * Luna, Isabela * Luna, La Union * Luna, San Jose Roma ...

rocket, with a slightly enlarged second stage to accommodate the larger payload, and was a member 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 ...

family of rockets. It used the new 8K74 core instead of the 8K71 used on the original R-7 ICBM and the Luna boosters. The 8K74, first tested in December 1959, had a number of technical improvements to increase reliability and make servicing easier. Four launches were conducted between 15 May and 1 December 1960, three of which successfully reached orbit. The first flight, on 15 May 1960, carried the Korabl'-Sputnik 1 spacecraft. The second launched on 28 July, however one of the booster engines burned through at launch, causing the booster to separate prematurely, 19 seconds after launch. The rocket broke up 30 seconds after liftoff, killing the two dogs that were aboard the spacecraft. The third flight successfully placed Korabl'-Sputnik 2 into orbit on 19 August, whilst the fourth and final flight orbited Korabl'-Sputnik 3 on 1 December. The Vostok-L was replaced by an uprated version, the

Vostok-K The Vostok-K (russian: Восток meaning ''"East"''), GRAU index 8K72K was an expendable carrier rocket used by the Soviet Union for thirteen launches between 1960 and 1964, six of which were manned. It was derived from the earlier Vostok-L ...

, which offered a greater payload capacity.

References

{{R-7 rockets Vostok program Space launch vehicles of the Soviet Union R-7 (rocket family)