Soyuz Kontakt

Soyuz Kontakt (Soyuz Contact) was the docking hardware of the Soviet crewed lunar spacecraft program. The Soviet lunar human program was canceled in 1974 after many failures. Four failures of the N-1 Rocket super heavy-lift launch vehicle and the success of the U.S. Apollo program ended the Soviet crewed moon program.^[1]

Background

The first docking of two spacecraft was achieved on March 16, 1966, when Gemini 8 rendezvoused and docked with an uncrewed Agena Target Vehicle.^[2] Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 performed the first docking of two crewed spacecraft on January 16, 1969, coupled with a spacewalk.^[3] Then, the Apollo 9 spacecraft/command and service module (CSM) completed a rendezvous and docked with the Lunar Module (LM) on March 3, 1969, using a transfer tunnel.^[4]

Design

Soyuz Kontakt was designed for the Soviet lunar orbit rendezvous of the Soyuz 7K-LOK crewed lunar orbiter spacecraft and Soviet LK lunar lander for the Soviet space program. The Soyuz Kontakt docking system used a three-pronged grappler on the active moving spacecraft. The active spacecraft would then attempt a soft docking between the two spacecraft. The passive non-moving craft would be fitted with a hexagonal grid for the active craft to dock to. To dock, the cosmonaut would have used a manual optical alignment system. Once docked, the crew would then perform an EVA (or extravehicular activity) to transfer to the LK lander (the passive craft).

Before the lunar launch, there were to be several earth-orbit training dockings. For the tests, two Soyuz 11A511 rockets would have put a modified Soyuz 7K-OK crewed spacecraft on earth orbit along with another modified 7K-OK (with the grid adaptation) to be the passive craft. The crew would have docked and then transferred for the test.

The Soyuz 7K-OK crewed spacecraft has space for a crew of three, with a habitable space of 9m³. The vehicle was 7.95 m (26.08 ft) tall with a span of 9.80 m (32.10 ft), and a gross mass of 6,560 kg (14,460 lb). The crew trained for this test mission, but it never launched.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Cancelled Soyuz Kontakt test missions

Four Soyuz Kontakt cosmonaut crews were trained in the docking system. Three tests using six spacecraft were planned. The failure of the N-1 and the death of the Soyuz 11 crew in June 1971 lead to the redesign of the Soyuz spacecraft. All planned Soyuz Kontakt missions were canceled for the near future at that time.^[8]

Soyuz Kontakt 1

Soyuz Kontakt 1 would have flown with Soyuz s/n 21. Soyuz Kontakt 1 would have installed the passive Kontakt docking system. The same type of docking system that was on the LK lunar lander. For the test Soyuz s/n 20 would have had the active docking target unit. The extravehicular activity crew would have transferred wearing the Krechet spacesuit. Soyuz s/n 21 was planned to launch in early 1972 with a cosmonaut crew of two, Anatoly Filipchenko and Georgy Grechko.

Soyuz Kontakt 2

Soyuz Kontakt 2 was planned for an early 1972 launch. Soyuz Kontakt 2 prime cosmonaut crew was to be Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov. An LK lunar lander was planned to be used, not a passive Soyuz. (The first LK was a single cosmonaut transport; a later variant would have had a two-man crew.)

Soyuz Kontakt 3

Soyuz Kontakt 3 was planned for 1972. Soyuz Kontakt 3's prime cosmonaut crew would have been Lev Vasiliyevich Vorobyov and Vladimir Yazdovsky.^[9]

Soyuz Kontakt 4

Soyuz Kontakt 4 was also planned for 1972. Soyuz Kontakt 4's prime cosmonaut crew would have been Oleg Vasilyevich Dobrovolsky and Vitaly Sevastyanov. Soyuz Kontakt 4 planned to use a LK lunar lander.^[10]

References

^ The Kontakt Rendezvous and Docking System; by Sven Grahn
^ "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
^ "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2009-04-15. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
^ "Apollo 9 Characteristics"; Ezell 1988; Table 2-37
^ Soyuz Kontakt; astronautix.com; accessed December 2019
^ Russian Proton-K completes 45 years of service with US-KMO satellite launch; webpage; March 29, 2012; William Graham; NASA online; accessed December 2019
^ The Soviet Moon Program in the Shadow of Apollo Archived 2019-12-29 at the Wayback Machine; airvectors.net
^ Soyuz s/n 21; astronautix.com; accessed December 2019
^ Kontakt 3;
^ Soyuz Kontakt 4

v t e Docking and berthing of spacecraft
Space rendezvous
	Adapters	International Docking Adapter (IDA) Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA)
	Mechanisms	APAS Apollo Chinese Docking Mechanism Common Berthing Mechanism FREND docking mechanism Gemini IDSS IBDM NDS Soyuz Kontakt SSVP USIS
	Navigation systems	Canadarm Canadarm2 Igla Kurs Lyappa TORU
Category:Spacecraft docking systems

v t e Soviet and Russian launch vehicles
Active	Angara 1.2 A5 Soyuz-2 2.1a 2.1b 2-1v UR Proton-M
In development	Amur Irtysh Yenisei
Retired	Dnepr Energia Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M N1 R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original L M U U2 FG Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna Start-1 Tsyklon original 2 3 UR UR-500 Proton-K Rokot Strela Zenit 2 2M 3SL 3SLB 3F
Cancelled (no launch attempts)	Tsyklon-4 Proton Light Medium

v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H-IIA H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 7 7A 8 11 11H LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased RS1^† Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Deca Epsilon S Eris Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 12 Miura 5 MLV Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1^†
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)

v t e Soviet crewed lunar programs
Launch vehicles and ascent/upper stages	N1 rocket Proton rocket Blok E Blok D
Spacecraft	LK-1 VA spacecraft LK-700 Zond (Soyuz 7K-L1) Zond-M (Soyuz 7K-L1S) Zond-LOK (Soyuz 7K-L1E) LOK (Soyuz 7K-L3) LK (spacecraft)
Other hardware	Lunokhod-LK Krechet-94
Soyuz docking tests	Soyuz 1, Soyuz 2A Soyuz 2, Soyuz 3 Soyuz 4, Soyuz 5 Soyuz 6, Soyuz 7, Soyuz 8 Soyuz Kontakt 1, 2
Zond (7K-L1/L1S) lunar flyby missions	Kosmos 146 Kosmos 154† Zond 1967A† Zond 1967B† Zond 4 Zond 1968A† Zond 1968B† Zond 5 Zond 6 Zond 1969A† Zond-M 1 (L1S-1) Zond-M 2 (L1S-2)† Zond 7 Zond 8 Zond 9 Zond 10 Kosmos 382
LOK (7K-LOK/L1E) test missions	Zond-LOK 1† LOK 1† LOK 2
LK Lander (T2K) test missions	Kosmos 379 Kosmos 398 Kosmos 434 LK-1
The † sign designates failed missions. Italics designates cancelled missions.

v t e Soviet and Russian government human spaceflight programs
Active	Soyuz ISS (joint) Russian Orbital Segment
In development	Orel
Past	Vostok Voskhod Salyut Almaz (incorporated into Salyut program) / TKS Apollo–Soyuz (joint) Mir Shuttle-Mir (joint)
Cancelled	Moon: Zond (7K-L1), N1-L3, LK-700, Zvezda Interplanetary: TMK, Aelita, Martian Piloted Complex Spaceplanes: Spiral, Energia / Buran, MAKS, Kliper, LKS, Tupolev Tu-2000 Capsules: Zvezda, Zarya Space Stations: OPSEK
Related	List of Soyuz missions List of Soviet human spaceflight missions List of Russian human spaceflight missions Cosmonaut ranks and positions