LK-700 was a Soviet

direct ascent Direct ascent is a method of landing a spacecraft on the Moon or another planetary surface directly, without first assembling the vehicle in Earth orbit, or carrying a separate landing vehicle into orbit around the target body. It was proposed as ...

lunar lander program proposed in 1964. It was developed by

Vladimir Chelomey Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey or Chelomei (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Челоме́й; 30 June 1914 – 8 December 1984) was a Soviet engineer of Ukrainian ethnicity and designer in missile program of the former Sovie ...

as an alternative to the

N1-L3 The Soviet crewed lunar programs were a series of programs pursued by the Soviet Union to land humans on the Moon, in competition with the United States Apollo program. The Soviet government publicly denied participating in such a competitio ...

program. It was also a further development 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 ...

lunar flyby spacecraft. It would have been launched using the proposed

UR-700 The Universal Rocket or ''UR'' family of missiles and carrier rockets is a Russian, previously Soviet rocket family. Intended to allow the same technology to be used in all Soviet rockets, the UR is produced by the Khrunichev State Research and P ...

rocket (related to the

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 ...

) with a crew of three

cosmonauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

on a direct flight to the lunar surface and back. The direct landing approach would allow the Soviets to land anywhere on the moon's nearside. The program was canceled in 1974.

Mission profile

Uncrewed flights would be followed by crewed flights. The proposed schedule was: * May 1972: First UR-700/LK-700 uncrewed launch. Subsequent launches in November 1972 and April 1973. * April 1973: First crewed UR-700/LK-700 launch. Subsequent flights in August and October 1973. Following initial LK-700 landings, the more ambitious Lunar Expeditionary Complex (LKE) would be delivered to the surface in three UR-700 launches: * Launch 1: lunar station to enable a six-month stay * Launch 2: LK-700 with crew * Launch 3: large rover

Characteristics

* Crew size: 3 * Orbital storage: 45 days * Spacecraft delta v: 9,061 m/s * Gross mass: 154,000 kg * Height: 21.20 m * Span: 2.70 m * Thrust: 131.40 kN * Specific impulse: 326 s

References

{{Crewed lunar spacecraft Crewed spacecraft Cancelled Soviet spacecraft Soviet lunar program Crewed space program of the Soviet Union NPO Mashinostroyeniya products