The Polyot (, ''flight'') (Also known as Sputnik,
GRAU
The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the Chief of ...
index 11A59) was an interim
orbit
In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...
al
carrier rocket
A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistag ...
, built to test
ASAT spacecraft. It was required as a stopgap after the cancellation of the
UR-200 programme, but before the
Tsyklon could enter service. Only two were ever launched, the first on 1 November 1963, and the last on 12 April 1964. Both of these flights were successful.
The rocket consisted of a core stage, and four boosters, which were taken from a
Voskhod 11A57 rocket. It was capable of delivering a 1,400
kg payload into a 300 km by 59°
Low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...
.
It is a member of the
R-7 family.
See also
Comparable rockets
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Tsyklon
*
UR-200
Related developments
*
R-7 Semyorka
The R-7 Semyorka (, GRAU index: 8K71) was a Soviet Union, Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961. A derivative, the R-7A Semyorka, R ...
*
Vostok rocket
*
Voskhod rocket
*
Molniya rocket
*
Soyuz rocket
Associated spacecraft
*
ASAT
External links
Encyclopedia Astronautica entry
Space launch vehicles of the Soviet Union
R-7 (rocket family)
Vehicles introduced in 1963
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