The family of RLA launch vehicles developed intensively in the period 1974-76, and even further."Energy" evolved from RLA-130, whereas "Vulcan" evolved from RLA-150.Part of the history of RLA development is set out here: https://forum.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/index.php?topic=3349.msg127542#msg127542A general view of the last variant of "Vulcan" can be seen in the attached picture.The evolution of the "Energy" configuration can be seen in another picture.Also: http://www.buran.ru/htm/os-120.htm and http://www.buran.ru/htm/ok-92.htm
The expedition scheme with one LEK ship provided for one launch of a super-heavy RLA-150 launch vehicle. But a less preferred two-ship scheme (Landing Expeditionary and Orbiting Expeditionary) was also considered. They were supposed to be launched by two missiles of the RLA-130 type.
Hi!It would be interesting to see what the internal arrangement of the N1 payload fairing was for the 3L and 5L flights.I understand that the mission flight profile was for the L1A + LK adapter + Blok D to do an overflight around the Moon, and return to Earth without entering lunar orbit. Or was there the capability for the Blok D to fire to brake into lunar orbit?The L1A spacecraft was supposed to photograph several sites on the lunar surface, but then how was it supposed to return to Earth? Was the Blok D stage still attached to the L1A through the LK adapter?If not, I suspect the L1A might have been fitted with an auxiliary small rocket stage (razgonniy blok), to fire and accelerate into an Earth return trajectory.I read somewhere that after the cancellation of the Soyuz 7K-9K-11K in tne mid 1960s a complex of auxilliary rocket stages Blok M and Blok N was studied to accomplish the same goal, overflight of the Moon after assembly of a spacecraft complex in low Earth orbit. In particular the Blok N was a small hypergolic-fuelled rocket stage (?). Could that have been used in this instance (N1 3L and 5L)?Thanks
Hello,I can see you are using RGANTD as reference, with some very technical and interesting documents. I however never understood nor found out how to use it. Could you please explain how to reverse engineer these links or find similar ones?Many thanks, DD
Anatoly Zak@RussianSpaceWebExplainer for the L3M two-launch/two-spacecraft scenario developed at TsKBEM (Korolev's) design bureau in 1971, as a response to the Apollo program
A personal note: after the collapse of the Soviet lunar lander program, everything was either destroyed or shipped offsite. The cover up was so effective that new employees had no idea about the N1 or LK.The reason I know is because I had an idea for an orbital maneuvering vehicle based on the LK. When I showed the LK based requirements to the factory staff some 30 years after the cover up, they claimed that no vehicle could meet those requirements. My response was that not only was it possible, but the factory had built and flown the vehicle (T2K). Again, the response was disbelief.I had seen on the Internet that some guy had found an LK model hidden in the basement of a dental school. So, I brought the factory staff to the dental school, we went down to the basement, and there it was. Also a lunar Soyuz and other goodies.The staff were amazed and impressed, so much so that they eventually removed the LK from the dental school and moved it to a museum on their territory. The first major visitor for the LK was Vladimir Putin.
