NPO Lavochkin (, OKB-301, also called Lavochkin Research and Production Association or shortly Lavochkin Association, LA) is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being the developer and manufacturer of the

Fregat Fregat () is an upper stage developed by NPO Lavochkin for universal compatibility with a wide range of medium- and heavy-lift launch vehicles. Fregat has been used primarily with Soyuz and Zenit rockets, and entered operational service in ...

upper stage, as well as interplanetary probes such as

Fobos-Grunt Fobos-Grunt or Phobos-Grunt () was an attempted Russian sample return mission to Phobos (moon), Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. Fobos-Grunt also carried the Chinese Mars orbiter Yinghuo-1 and the tiny Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment f ...

. As of 2015, it was headed by Sergei Lemeshevskii. On 10 August 2017 the Lavochkin Association's Board of Directors appointed Vladimir Kolmykov Director General of the enterprise.

Overview

The company develops and manufactures spacecraft such as the

rocket upper stages, satellites and interplanetary probes. It is a contractor for a number of military programs, such as the

Oko OKO (, obsolete Russian word for eye, also an abbreviation for Ob'yedinonnyye Kristallom Osnovaniya (, literal meaning Foundations Bound by a Crystal)) is a complex of two skyscrapers located on plot 16 in the Moscow International Business Cen ...

early warning satellite An early warning satellite is an artificial satellite that detects ballistic missile launches in order to provide rapid early warning of a potential missile attack. Modern examples are often multi-purpose vehicles also supporting other wide-area ...

, Prognoz and Araks programmes as well as the civilian program Kupon. One of the company's most notable projects was the participation in the failed

sample return mission A sample-return mission is a spacecraft mission to collect and return samples from an extraterrestrial location to Earth for analysis. Sample-return missions may bring back merely atoms and molecules or a deposit of complex compounds such as lo ...

. NPO Lavochkin has also developed the

Elektro–L Elektro–L () is a series of meteorological satellites developed for the Russian Federal Space Agency by NPO Lavochkin. The first satellite, Elektro-L No.1, was launched on 2 January 2011. It is the first Russian weather satellite that successf ...

series of new-generation weather satellites, as well as the Navigator standardised satellite platform, which will serve as the basis for several future Russian satellites.

History

The company was founded in 1937 as OKB-301, a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

aircraft design bureau (OKB). The head designer was , supported by and

Semyon Lavochkin Semyon Alekseyevich Lavochkin (; 11 September 1900 – 9 June 1960) was a Soviet aerospace engineer, Soviet aircraft designer who founded the Lavochkin aircraft design bureau. Many of his fighter designs were produced in large numbers for Soviet ...

. In October 1945 Lavochkin was promoted for the head designer of the design bureau. The bureau gained distinction for its family of piston-engined fighter aircraft during World War II, and later shifted to missile and jet fighter designs. Following the death of the head designer, the OKB-301 succumbed to the growing power of

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 ...

and became

OKB-52 NPO Mashinostroyeniya () is a rocket design bureau based in Reutov, Russia. During the Cold War it was responsible for several major weapons systems, including the UR-100N Intercontinental ballistic missile and the military Almaz space station ...

Branch No. 3 on 18 December 1962. Later, it turned to work on interplanetary probe designs for Luna sample return program, the

Lunokhod program Lunokhod ( rus, Луноход, p=lʊnɐˈxot, "Moonwalker") was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers designed to land on the Moon between 1969 and 1977. Lunokhod 1 was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on an extraterrestrial ...

Vega program Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinisation of names, Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is List of star systems wi ...

Phobos program The Phobos program () was an uncrewed space mission consisting of two probes launched by the Soviet Union to study Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appeara ...

, etc. The former OKB-301 became named NPO Lavochkin. In January 2012, officials of Lavochkin faced administrative punishment for not taking into account of designing the computer system after the crash of Russia's Mars moon spacecraft

Projects

Aircraft

* LaGG-1 * LaGG-3 * Gu-82 * K-37 * Gu-1 * La-5 * La-7 "Fin" * La-9 "Fritz" * La-11 "Fang" * La-15 "Fantail" * La-17 * La-120 * La-126 * La-130 * La-132 * La-134 * La-138 * La-140 * La-150 * La-152 * La-154 * La-156 * La-160 * La-168 * La-174 * La-176 * La-180 * La-190 * La-200 * La-250 ''Anakonda''

Rockets and missiles

* S-25 Berkut (SA-1 "Guild") - surface-to-air missile * S-75 Dvina (SA-2 "Guideline") - surface-to-air missile * La-205 is V-300, a SAM for S-25 air defense system * La-350 Burya - intercontinental cruise missile * La-400 DAL - surface to air missile *

- upper stage

Spacecraft

Astron ASTRON is the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy. Its main office is in Dwingeloo in the Dwingelderveld National Park in the province of Drenthe. ASTRON is part of the institutes organization of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). History A ...

* Elektro-L - satellite ** Elektro-L No.1 ** Elektro-L No.2 *

- space probe * Granat - satellite *

Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment The Living Interplanetary Flight ExperimentAsian Scientist"Phobos-Grunt Mission Carrying Yinghuo-1 Space Probe Suffers Technical Glitch" Srinivas Laxman, 9 November 2011 (LIFE or Phobos LIFE) was an interplanetary mission developed by the Planet ...

- space probe *

Luna programme The Luna programme (from the Russian word "Moon, Luna" meaning "Moon"), occasionally called ''Lunik'' by western media, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. The programme acc ...

Luna 9 Luna 9 (Луна-9), internal designation Ye-6 No.13, was an uncrewed space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. On 3 February 1966, the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon and return ima ...

Luna 10 Luna 10 (or Lunik 10) was a 1966 Soviet lunar robotic spacecraft mission in the Luna program. It was the first artificial satellite of the Moon, and any other body other than Earth and the Sun (in heliocentric orbit). Luna 10 conducted extens ...

Luna 11 Luna 11 (E-6LF series) was an uncrewed space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna program. It was also called Lunik 11. Luna 11 was launched towards the Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits aro ...

** Luna 12 ** Luna 13 ** Luna 14 **

Luna 15 Luna 15 was a robotic space mission of the Soviet Luna programme, that was in lunar orbit together with the Apollo 11 Command module ''Columbia''. On 21 July 1969, while Apollo 11 astronauts finished the first human moonwalk, Luna 15, a robotic ...

Luna 16 ''Luna 16'' was an uncrewed 1970 space mission, part of the Soviet Luna program. It was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return a sample of lunar soil to Earth. The 101 grams (3.56 ounces) sample was returned from Mare Fecundit ...

** Luna 17 ** Luna 18 ** Luna 19 **

Luna 20 ''Luna 20'' was the second of three successful Soviet lunar sample return missions. It was flown as part of the Luna program as a robotic competitor to the six successful Apollo lunar sample return missions. ''Luna 20'' was placed in an int ...

** Luna 21 ** Luna 22 **

Luna 23 ''Luna 23'' was an uncrewed space mission of the Luna program developed by the Soviet Union. Overview ''Luna 23'' was a Soviet Moon lander mission which was intended to return a lunar sample to Earth. Launched to the Moon by a Proton-K/ D, t ...

Luna 24 ''Luna 24'' was a robotic probe of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. The 24th mission of the Luna series of spacecraft, the mission of the ''Luna 24'' probe was the third Soviet mission to return lunar soil samples from the Moon (the first t ...

Luna 25 Luna 25 (or Luna-25; ) was a failed Russian lunar lander mission by Roscosmos in August 2023 that planned to land near the lunar south pole, in the vicinity of the crater Boguslawsky (crater), Boguslawsky. Initially called the Luna-Glob lander ...

** Luna E-8 No.201 ** Luna E-8-5 No.402 ** Luna E-8-5 No.405 ** Luna E-8-5M No.412 * Lunokhod programme **

Lunokhod 1 ''Lunokhod 1'' (Russian language, Russian: Луноход-1 "Moonwalker 1"), also known as Аппарат 8ЕЛ № 203 ("Device 8EL No. 203") was the first rover (space exploration), robotic rover lunar rover, on the Moon and the first to freel ...

Lunokhod 2 ''Lunokhod 2'' ( ("Moonwalker 2"), also known as Аппарат 8ЕЛ № 204 ("Device 8EL No. 204")) was the second of two uncrewed space mission, uncrewed lunar rover (space exploration), rovers that landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as ...

Mars program The Mars program was a series of uncrewed spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union between 1960 and 1973. The spacecraft were intended to exploration of Mars, explore Mars, and included planetary flyby, flyby probes, Lander (spacecraft), landers an ...

** Mars 2M No.521 **

Mars 2M No.522 Mars 2M No.522, also known as Mars M-69 No.522 and sometimes identified by NASA as Mars 1969B, was a Soviet Union, Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1969. It consisted of an orbiter. The spacecraft was intended to image the ...

Mars 4 Mars 4 (), also known as 3MS No.52S was a Soviet spacecraft intended to explore Mars. A 3MS spacecraft launched as part of the Mars programme, it was intended to enter orbit around Mars in 1974. However, computer problems prevented orbital insert ...

Mars 5 Mars 5 (), also known as 3MS No.53S was a Soviet spacecraft launched to explore Mars. A 3MS spacecraft launched as part of the Mars programme, it successfully entered orbit around Mars in 1974. However, it failed a few weeks later. Spacecraft ...

** Mars 5M **

Mars 6 Mars 6 (), also known as 3MP No.50P was a Soviet Union, Soviet spacecraft launched to explore Mars. A 3MP bus spacecraft launched as part of the Mars program, it consisted of a lander, and a coast stage with instruments to study Mars as it flew p ...

Mars 7 Mars 7 (), also known as 3MP No.51P was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1973 to explore Mars. A 3MP bus spacecraft which comprised the final mission of the Mars programme, it consisted of a lander and a coast stage with instruments to study Mars ...

* Mars-96 *

- missile early warning satellite. **

US-K Upravlyaemy Sputnik Kontinentalny ( meaning ''Continental Controllable Satellite'') or US-K () is a series of Russian, previously Soviet Union, Soviet, satellites used to detect missile launches as part of the Oko system. It consists of a constell ...

- satellite **

US-KMO US-KMO (), an abbreviation for Upravlyaemy Sputnik - Kontinenty Morya Okeany () meaning ''Controllable Satellite - Continents, Oceans, Seas'' is a series of Russian, previously Soviet, satellites which are used to identify ballistic missile launch ...

- satellite ** US-KS - satellite * Spektr-R - space

radio telescope A radio telescope is a specialized antenna (radio), antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the r ...

satellite, dedicated to

very Long Baseline Interferometry Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) is a type of astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy. In VLBI a signal from an astronomical radio source, such as a quasar, is collected at multiple radio telescopes on Earth or in space. T ...

Spektr-RG Spektr-RG ( Russian: Спектр-РГ, ''Spectrum'' + '' Röntgen'' + ''Gamma''; also called Spectrum-X-Gamma, SRG, SXG) is a Russian–German high-energy astrophysics space observatory which was launched on 13 July 2019. It follows on from t ...

- space observatory satellite *

Venera program The Venera (, 'Venus') program was a series of space probes developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather information about the planet Venus. Thirteen probes successfully entered the Venusian atmosphere, including the two ...

Venera 3 Venera 3 ( meaning ''Venus 3'') was a Venera program space probe that was built and launched by the Soviet Union to explore the surface of Venus. It was launched on 16 November 1965 at 04:19 UTC from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, USSR. The probe comp ...

Venera 4 Venera 4 (), also designated 4V-1 No.310, was a probe in the Soviet Venera program for the exploration of Venus. The probe comprised a lander, designed to enter the Venusian atmosphere and parachute to the surface, and a carrier/ flyby space ...

Venera 5 Venera 5 ( meaning ''Venus 5'') was a space probe in the Soviet space program ''Venera'' for the exploration of Venus. Venera 5 was launched towards Venus to obtain atmospheric data. The spacecraft was very similar to Venera 4 although it was ...

Venera 7 Venera 7 () was a Soviet spacecraft, part of the Venera series of probes to Venus. When it landed on the Venusian surface on 15 December 1970, it became the first spacecraft to soft land on another planet and the first to transmit data from the ...

** Venera 8 **

Venera 9 Venera 9 (), manufacturer's designation: 4V-1 No. 660, was a Soviet uncrewed space mission to Venus. It consisted of an orbiter and a lander. It was launched on June 8, 1975, at 02:38:00 UTC and had a mass of . The orbiter was the first sp ...

** Kosmos 167 *

** Vega 1 **

Vega 2 Vega 2 (along with Vega 1) was a Soviet space probe part of the Vega program to explore Halley's comet and Venus. The spacecraft was a development of the earlier '' Venera'' craft. The name VeGa (ВеГа) combines the first two letters of the R ...

Future projects

Luna-Glob Luna-Glob (, meaning ''Lunar sphere'') is a Moon exploration programme by Roscosmos meant to progress toward the creation of a fully robotic lunar base. When completed, the programme is intended to continue with crewed lunar missions, starting ...

Mars-Grunt Mars-Grunt, also known as Expedition-M (), is a proposed robotic Mars sample-return mission.

Yuri Koptev Yuri Nikolayevich Koptev (, March 13, 1940) is a former General Director of the Russian Space Agency (now known as Roscosmos), serving in that role from 1992 to 2004. He was replaced in 2004 by Anatoly Perminov, a former commander of the Russian ...

, later director of Roscosmos, worked at Lavochkin from 1965

Awards

* 1944 —

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

: for the creation of new types of fighter aircraft during the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

(the OKB-21 team led by S. A. Lavochkin in Gorky). * 1956 —

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

: for the successful completion of the government's task to create special equipment. * 1971 —

: for the successful implementation of the five-year plan and the organization of production of new equipment.

Museum

The S. A. Lavochkin NGO has its own museum. It was founded on June 25, 1965. Museum address: 24 Leningradskaya str., Khimki, Moscow region, 141400. The visit is only subject to prior requests.