LK-700 was a Soviet direct ascent lunar lander program proposed in 1964.[1] It was developed by Vladimir Chelomey as an alternative to the N1-L3 program. It was also a further development of the LK-1 lunar flyby spacecraft.
It would have been launched using the proposed UR-700[2] rocket (related to the Proton rocket) with a crew of three cosmonauts 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.[3] 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
^"LK-700". astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 21 November 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
