LK-700 was a Soviet

direct ascent Direct ascent is a method of landing a spacecraft on the Moon or another planetary surface directly, without first assembling the vehicle in Earth orbit, or carrying a separate landing vehicle into orbit around the target body. It was proposed ...

lunar lander program proposed in 1964. It was developed by

Vladimir Chelomey Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey or Chelomei (, ; 30 June 1914 – 8 December 1984) was a Soviet people, Soviet engineer and designer in the missile program of the former Soviet Union. He invented the first Soviet Pulsejet, pulse jet engine and w ...

as an alternative to the

N1-L3 The Soviet crewed lunar programs were a series of programs pursued by the Soviet Union to Moon landing, land humans on the Moon, Space Race, in competition with the United States Apollo program. The Soviet government publicly denied participat ...

program. It was also a further development of the LK-1 lunar flyby spacecraft. It would have been launched using the proposed UR-700 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. 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

{{Crewed lunar spacecraft Crewed spacecraft Cancelled Soviet spacecraft Soviet lunar program Crewed space program of the Soviet Union NPO Mashinostroyeniya products