The Soyuz rocket. Launch of the Soyuz rocket

For the first time, the Soyuz rocket with a manned spacecraft was launched on April 23, 1968. Piloted by its cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Throughout the flight a number of imperfections in the design were revealed. A day after launching, the ship refused the rescue system when the vehicle was lowered from orbit. The ship with the cosmonaut inside crashed to the ground. With such a tragic incident began the path of a spacecraft, which later became a cosmic long-liver. The article will deal with the Soyuz rocket.

History of creation

"Soyuz" is a three-stage carrier rocket (RN). It was intended to launch into the Earth orbit the manned spacecraft Soyuz, automated space vehicles.

The process of creation on May 20, 1954 began with a decree on the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile. The leaders of the development process were DI Kozlov and SP Korolev. The basis for the new LV was the "Voskhod" and "R-7A". Construction began in 1953.

To test all the characteristics in 1955, the construction of a test site began. It was decided to create it in Kazakhstan at the railway station Tira-Tam. Today this is the well-known Baikonur cosmodrome.

Only after the successful launch of the Vostok, Voskhod rocket. Korolev began to develop an entirely new direction of space exploration. He proceeded to create a manned spacecraft (PC) with a domestic compartment on board. The launch of the PC was due to the Soyuz rocket.

We created it on the basis of the Voskhod rocket. The block of the third stage has undergone significant modernization. This allowed to increase the power characteristics of the device.

Design

The rocket "Soyuz" externally has distinctive features in the design. It is easy to recognize by four lateral blocks of a conical shape, located on the first stage.

The length depends on the type of PC, but it does not exceed the indicator of 50.67 meters. The initial mass should be less than 308 tons with a total fuel weight of 274 tons.

Components:

• The 1st stage includes four starting accelerators;
• The second is the central block "A";
• The third is Block "B";
• Emergency rescue system;
• Payload adapter;
• Head fairing.

The Soyuz space rocket is capable of putting cargo into orbit to 7.1 tons.

Fuel

All three stages of the LV use the same fuel. They are reactive kerosene T-1. Oxidant is liquid oxygen. It is non-toxic, but highly flammable and explosive.

For the operation of auxiliary systems, the apparatus is filled with a small amount of liquid nitrogen, hydrogen peroxide.

Modifications of LV

The Soyuz rocket also gave life to its other modifications:

• "Soyuz-L" - for development of the lunar cabin. Its launches were conducted from the Baikonur cosmodrome in 1970-1971.
• "Soyuz-M" - all launches were conducted from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in 1971-1976. For the first time with its help, the ship was put into orbit, and afterwards they began to use Zenith Orion to launch the reconnaissance satellites.
• "Soyuz-U" - is designed to launch into orbit a lot of spacecraft (manned, cargo). It differs from the basic design by more powerful engines of the 1 st and 2 nd stages. To date, there have been about 770 launches.
• "Soyuz-2" is a modification from type U. In the project it is called "Rus".
• Soyuz-ST is based on the Type 2. It provides commercial launches from the Kuru cosmodrome.

History of launches

From 1966 to 1976, 32 launches were made, of which 30 were successful. For the first time, the launch vehicle started on November 28, 1966, as a result of which an unmanned ship was brought into orbit. The last time the Soyuz rocket, the photo of which is presented, took off on October 14, 1976, putting a transport ship into orbit.

All launches were made from Baikonur. To do this, the launch pad No. 1, No. 31 was used.

The launch of the Soyuz rocket was marked by two catastrophes, the first of which took place on 14.12.1966. Problems began when preparing for launch, when pyrozapal did not work on the side block. Automatics did not work, the rocket remained standing. While the fuel was draining, an emergency rescue system worked, which was in operation all the time and watched the state of the ship. The reason for switching on the system was that the Earth changed the angle during rotation, and with it the rocket replaced it. The crew at this time stood at the foot of the RN.

In the part of the rocket left on the ground, the coolant caught fire. This led to subsequent explosions. The bulk of people managed to leave the territory. At once Major Korostylev, who hid behind the wall, was killed and suffocated with smoke. On the second day, two soldiers were killed.

The second catastrophe occurred on 05/04/1975. On board the PC were V.G. Lazarev and O.G. Makarov. They performed on the second flight into space. The problems began when the PC was put into orbit, the automation produced an emergency compartment. At the same time, a height of 150 kilometers was recruited.

The ship hit the mountainside near the city of Gorno-Altaisk. He rolled along the slope and miraculously clung to a tree that grew at the edge of the abyss. The cosmonauts survived due to the fact that they did not fire the parachute. The astronauts were evacuated by helicopter. Their flight lasted 21 minutes and 27 seconds.