Space Rocket History Logo
Space Rocket History Podcast Welcome to the Space Rocket History podcast

Episodes Tagged with "R7"

Posted on May 2, 2013

On October 4th 1957, the Soviet Union demonstrated that it had to be taken seriously. Only a few years prior they had lagged the US badly in both bombers and Nuclear weapons. Now, there was deep concern that the Soviet’s could launch a nuclear attack...

r7-sputnik

newspapers

115184.grid-6×2

sputnikNewspaper

sputniklifex-large

NewsPaper1

Posted on May 16, 2013

“It seemed as if the gates of hell had opened up.  Brilliant stiletto flames shot out from the side of the rocket near the engine. The vehicle agonizingly hesitated for a moment, quivered again, and in front of our unbelieving eyes, began to topple. ...

Vang5

Vang4

Vang2

Vang3

Vang1

Posted on May 23, 2013

At approximately 12:48 a.m. EST, the first listening stations began reporting that they had received radio signals from the “Explorer” satellite. The first station to confirm the signals was the San Gabriel Valley Amateur Radio Club near Pasadena, Ca...

ex1

ex

exlaunch

exlaunch1958

206601main_explorer-stand-516

206607main_launch-516

207199main_conference-516

206619main_pic-516

206623main_pickering-273

206689main_van-allen-516

206615main_medaris-516 (1)

Posted on November 19, 2015

Chief Designer Mishin proposed a two-launch “stopover” scenario for the piloted flight to the moon. This was similar to one of NASA’s earth orbit rendezvous modes to reach the moon. The gist of the plan was, the UR-500K would insert the 7K-L1 into or...

Vladimir_Chelomei

Proton 7K-L1 launch vehicle configuration

K140 orbit 5

Posted on December 3, 2015

With the success of Kosmos 146 and in spite of the failures of the first three 7K-Ok’s it was now time to plan for a Soyuz manned mission. The planned involved the launch and docking of two piloted Soyuzes. Soyuz 7K-OK production model number 4 was a...

VladimirKomarov_sketch

7k-0k and l1

Kosmos-146

Posted on May 30, 2013

In late March, 1958, President Eisenhower publicly announced the United States’ intention to launch a spacecraft to the Moon.  He assured the nation that  this was not science fiction.  It was an achievable goal presented by leading scientists.  The ...

Vanguard_1

Vanguard_rocket

Pioneer_I_on_the_Launch_Pad_-_GPN-2002-000204

Pioneer_1

Pioneer Satellite Replica

753px-Pioneer_3

Posted on December 10, 2015

“I was the last one to see him alive and I told him ‘See you soon!’” Yuri Gagarin, recalls bidding farewell to his friend Kamarov in Soyuz 1.

3-soyuz1_01

2- Soyuz 1

1-GagarinKamarov

Posted on December 17, 2015

“It’s a terrible scene. Komarov burned up. All the instruments burned. We must quickly find out what prevented the main parachute from unlatching.” Chief Designer Mishin after he arrived at the Soyuz 1 crash site.

3-VladimirKomarov_Soyuz1

2-soyuz-1-crash

1-Soyuz 1 crash site

Posted on January 7, 2016

After 1957, the Soviets became accustomed to achieving “world firsts” in space accomplishments. Nevertheless, 10 years later they were not confident that they could pull off the world’s first fully automatic rendezvous and docking of two un-piloted S...

3-Igla_docking_system_antennas-fr

2-Armen Sergeyevich Mnatsakanyan Main designer of Igla and Kurs

1-Mishin at Baykonur in 1967

Posted on June 6, 2013

The launch vehicle for the Luna E-1 series was a modified R7 named Vostok.  The Vostok had three stages.  The first and second stage were the standard R-7 which we covered in Episode 9.  A 5.1 meter long by 2.4 meter diameter third stage was added to...

Vostok – 8K72K

R-7_(7A)_misil.svg

Luna_1_1

800px-Спутник-3

Posted on July 18, 2013

For the Soviet Union, 1960 was a mixed bag of success and failure as it struggled for new achievements in space exploration.  The main driving force was to be the first nation to launch a man into space.  An achievement their adversary, the United St...

strelwpups

KS1

Vostokdogscapsule

vostok-1k__1

Vostok_spacecraft_diagram

vostok_flight_plan

vostok on test stand at factory

tvofdogsx

sacard

Korabl_Sputnik_2

Ejection container used by Belka and Strelka

796px-Vostok_spacecraft with 3rd stage attached

400px-Vostok

3d02162v

Posted on August 1, 2013

“Dear friends, you who are close to me, and you whom I do not know, fellow Russians, and people of all countries and all continents: in a few minutes a powerful space vehicle will carry me into the distant realm of space. What can I tell you in these...

Hint2

800px-Vostok_1_orbit

space rocket

Yuri

YURI GAGARIN HEADLINE

vostok 1 being prepared_500x409

ImageGen

Posted on September 5, 2013

After Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom’s suborbital flights and less than four months after Gagarin’s became the first man in space, the soviet union stunned the world with yet another manned mission.

space rocket history pic15

is

Gherman_Titov_2

1

2

vostok-2_launch

Titov

PreLaunch

Posted on October 17, 2013

In February of 1962, the United States put John Glenn into orbit. This prompted Soviet leadership to suddenly asked Chief Designer Korolev to launch the next space spectacular promptly. To make this mission truly spectacular the Soviets decided to la...

me10

space rocket history pic29

800px-Vostok_3_4_Mission_Patch.svg

w3crew

vostok-4_popovich

vostok-4_pad

vostkalu

space rocket history pic29

SlavaVostok3Vostok4PC

Popovich

nikolaev_backup_2

Posted on November 28, 2013

Vostok 5’s orbit turned out to be lower than the expected 181 by 235 km. The actual orbit was 175 by 222 km.  Initial calculations indicated the orbit of Vostok 5 would not decay for 10 or 11 days, however more conservative estimates, taking into acc...

Tereskova-281×300

Tereshkova

800px-Vostok-6_Tereshkova_promo

Posted on December 5, 2013

During re-entry plasma enveloped Vostok-6. Tereshkova saw pieces of burning material fly past her window and she also smelled smoke entering the cabin…

Wedding

Tereshkova landing

TerArmstrong

newspapder

50Years_tereshkova

32

Posted on December 12, 2013

The Space Age had barely begun when Soviet engineers started planning ways to destroy enemy satellites. Some Western analysts have speculated that a design for an anti-satellite weapon system was started at Korolev’s OKB-1 bureau as early as 1956…

space rocket history pic45

satkiller-02-de

poletdh2

polyot1

poletdh1

Posted on January 2, 2014

Premiere Khrushchev was not willing to wait until Soyuz for another space first.  Khrushchev believed, There could be no final victories in the race for space propaganda.  He knew the US was working on project Gemini which would carry two astronauts ...

461px-Voskhod_1_and_2

255px-Voskhod-1_mission_patch.svg

komarov_vladimir

Boris Y

feoktistov_konstantin_7

By Dave

Posted on January 9, 2014

From the Control center Yuri Gagarin’s kept the crew informed on everything taking place on the now deserted launching site. Finally the command was given: “Stand by!” Now, It would be a matter or minutes before the launch. Commands followed in quick...

200px-Soviet_Union-1964-stamp-Woschod_1-001

voskhod-1_production_2

voskhod-1_production_1

voskhod-1_launch

voskhod-1_backup

voskhod-1

ready

Posted on March 20, 2014

Voskhod 2 was a high risk mission.  It was the final space race victory for the Soviet Union before NASA claimed the lead and ultimately won with the lunar landing of 1969. Voskhod 2 was the peak of the Soviet Space Program.  It nearly killed its two...

ivokhod2

IMAGE-of-berkut-spacesuit

Pavel_Belyayev

alexei-leonov

450px-Voskhod-2_airlock_and_spacesuit

Voskhod_spacecraft_diagram

Posted on March 27, 2014

Leonov opened the airlocks outer hatch He was positioned on his “back” and this orientation revealed the beauty of earth in its entirety.  His heart began to race as he pushed his upper body outside and saw the deep blue vista of the Mediterranean Se...

images

voskhod-2_leonov

Descent module of Voskhod-2 from which Alexey Leonov pioneered extravehicular activity

Leonov and Belyayev in Voskhod-2, 1965

qvok2eva

GPN-2002-000176

cosomonauts

Posted on April 4, 2013

“The Americans have unified their forces into a single thrust, and make no secret of their plans to dominate outer space. But we keep our plans secret even to ourselves…”  Sergei Korolev the Founder of the Soviet Space Program.

r7cut

Korolev

Posted on November 20, 2014

His power, influence, and responsibilities during the 1950s and 60s were all encompassing. Not only was he in charge of all space-related issues, he was also in charge of some of the design of rockets for military purposes as well. He oversaw the des...

Молодой_Королёв

Sergey_Korolyov_boy_1912

Korolyov_in_cockpitof glider

Posted on April 25, 2013

“We had absolute confidence in Comrade Korolev.  We believed him when he told us that his rocket would not only fly, but that is would travel 7000 kilometers.  When he expounded or defended his ideas, you could see passion burning in his eyes, and hi...

GPN-2002-000184

732px-Sputnik_asm

446px-Sputnik_1

180px-Sputnik_8K71PS_grey.svg

Posted on November 26, 2014

Sergei Korolev’s life paralleled in many ways the life of Wernher Von Braun. Like Von Braun, as a young man, Sergei Korolev was inspired to dedicate his life to the technology for space exploration after becoming acquainted with the work of a great s...

Korolev

Korolev_Kurchatov_Keldysh

gagarin_koroljow_473572652

Posted on December 4, 2014

Around noon on January 14th, Boris Chertok was alone in his office studying a folder of classified mail that had accumulated during the past few days. He had asked not to be disturbed. Suddenly his subordinate ran in and shouted, “Sergey Pavlovich di...

1280px-Soviet_Union-1969-Stamp-0.10._Sergei_Korolev

1024px-S.P.Korolev_monument_in_Baykonur_city_03.2006

640px-RIAN_archive_337493_Monument_to_Sergei_Korolyov_in_Cosmonauts_Alley_in_Moscow

640px-Monument_to_S.P._Korolev_in_Korolyov_city

Posted on December 11, 2014

Hey everyone. I have been sick for a week and unable to talk, without coughing up a lung.  But, I didn’t want you to miss your weekly dose of Space Rocket History.  My wife agreed to help me out with the vocal part of this episode.  This is her first...

DaveSoyuz

soyuza

Soyuz-A_drawing

Soyuz_diagrama

Posted on December 18, 2014

The circumlunar plan involved 3 new spacecrafts. First the Soyuz A 7K spacecraft, capable of carrying three men, (2 men for a circumlunar flight) into space and returning them to earth. The 5.5 ton spacecraft has three modules, the orbital module, th...

Vladimir_Chelomei

soyuzabv2

chertok_2

Chelomey_VN

330px-Soyuz_7K-OK(A)_drawing.svg

Posted on January 1, 2015

After Voskhod-2, an ideological vacuum, disorder, and vacillation cropped up in the Soviet maned space program. There was no clear-cut answer to which project should be the priority, a new series of Voskhods, artificial gravity experiments, or the co...

Proton_K

1024px-Space_Shuttle_vs_Soyuz_TM_-_to_scale_drawing

Igla_docking_system_antennas-fr

Posted on January 8, 2015

“In those days, the Party organizations in industry were not only involved with policy, ideology, and the “struggle against nonconformist thought,” but tried to get involved in technology and production engineering. Wielding real authority over peopl...

soyompan

7kokDocking Simulators

7kok Assembly

Posted on January 15, 2015

After many delays in launching the first Soyuz due to design complications, equipment deliveries, the learning curve for testing new designs, unreasonable launch dates, persecution from the communist party, and the death of Chief Designer Korolev.  T...

Cartoon 96

7k-ok diagram

7k-0kInterior

Posted on January 22, 2015

The first Soyuz test flight was a catastrophic failure.   Due to negligence, the attitude control system malfunctioned and used all of its fuel before a rendezvous could be attempted or even the second Soyuz rocket could be launched.  When the Soviet...

mySuperLamePic_b0a4aa7cdc35b6d47a9f9f615817e06f

soyouz2520interieur2520051

Kerim Kerimov

GPN-2002-000184

Dmitri_Ustinov

Posted on December 31, 2015

“Dear friends, you who are close to me, and you whom I do not know, fellow Russians, and people of all countries and all continents: in a few minutes a powerful space vehicle will carry me into the distant realm of space. What can I tell you in these...

Posted on June 30, 2016

The Space Age had barely begun when Soviet engineers started planning ways to destroy enemy satellites. Some Western analysts have speculated that a design for an anti-satellite weapon system was started at Korolev’s OKB-1 bureau as early as 1956…

Posted on November 26, 2015

Premiere Khrushchev was not willing to wait until Soyuz for another space first.  Khrushchev believed, There could be no final victories in the race for space propaganda.  He knew the US was working on project Gemini which would carry two astronauts ...