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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 2012.PDF
816 FLIGHT International, 14 November 1963 Fig I Target areas for Soviet multi-stage rocket tests, Pacific Ocean, 1961, 1962 and 1963 (see also Tables 2 and 3). The arc at extreme right represents the Vostok departure trajectory from Baikonur. Similar, hypothetical, traces are included as possible protection paths for rocket vehicles launched to impact in the Pacific Ocean. Owing to the use of a Lambert Zenithal Equal Area Projection, the trajectories show reverse curvature Fig 2 Possible staging arrange ment of the Soviet launch vehicle concerned in Pacific test-firings 1962 and 1963 Groups I FINAL STAGE & FUTuRE SPACECRAFT > ORBITA ViHICLE Missiles and Spaceflight referred to the "dummies of penultimate stages of the carrier rockets" reaching the target areas after travelling more than 12,000km (7,450 miles), signifying preoccupation with the initial stage or stages. In each case—in October 1962 and May 1963— dummy stages were said to have impacted the water in the target areas which soon afterwards were reopened to ships and aircraft (Fig 1; Tables 2 and 3). The second target areas were reserved for further launchings; but, although rockets are known to have been fired, no details were released either concerning the types of stages involved or the number of launchings. Two facts emerge from plotting the co-ordinates of the Pacific target areas. In the case of the 1962-63 Group 1 launchings, a measure of the Great Circle distance of 12,000km brings us to the area of the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The dispersion of the impact zones reveals that a small adjustment has been made to the launch vehicle's path angle or terminal velocity, allowing 1963 shots to impact slightly earlier than those of the year before. TABLE 2 Pacific test series for Soviet multi-stage rockets. Impact areas originally reserved from October 16 to November 30. 1962. 1962 Group ft 6°52' N, I65°25' W; 5°I0' N, I64°36'30" W; 4°2I'30" N, I66°I6'3<T W; 6°7' N, I67°8' W. (a) Launchings stated to involve "a new type of multi-stage carrier rocket for space- vehicles." (b)The "mock-ups of penultimate stages of the carrier rockets" impacted in this area on October 16 and 17 respectively having travelled "more than 12,000km." (c) The area was reopened to ships and aircraft from October 18. 1962 Group II: 36°38' N, I75°50' E; 33°40' N, I7I°I0' E; 3I°28' N, I73°3' E; 34°25' N, I77°45' E. (a) No details of this second group were released nor is there any available reference to a statement reopening the area to ships and aircraft. Presumably this occur red on November 30 under the terms of the original Tass announcement. TABLE 3 Pacific test series for Soviet multi-stage rockets. Impact areas originally reserved from May IS to July IS, 1963. 1963 Group I: ll°4l' N, I67°49' W; 9°03' N, I66°34' W; 8°03' N, I68°45' W; I0°4I' N, I70°00' W. (a) Launchings stated to involve "improved types of carrier rockets for space- vehicles." (b) The "dummies of penultimate stages struck the surface of the water in the pre set target area" on May 18 and 25 respectively having travelled "more than 12.000km." (e) The area was reopened to ships and aircraft from May 28. 1943 Group II: 35°23' N, I73°52' E; 33°\(y N, I75°24' E; 32°8' N, I73°56' E; 34"2I' N, 172-23' E. (a) Used for rocket firings "in June and July" but no other details released than: "The flight of the rockets and the functioning of all their stages proceeded in strict accordance with the prearranged programme." (b)The area was reopened to ships and aircraft from July 11. A quite different story is told by the 1962-63 Group 2 launchings. First, if the vehicle originated from Baikonur, it travelled a much shorter distance—barely 5,500 miles. Second, this time the impact areas are superimposed, the 1963 zone being smaller and clearly indicating preoccupation with guidance accuracy. In view of the fact that ultra-secrecy was maintained by the Russians over these particular launchings, it could well be that they concerned not a space-launcher but a new-generation ballistic missile, perhaps more in keeping with Minuteman. If, in fact, the carrier rockets delineated in the first group of these two test series represent the "more powerful" booster men tioned by Gagarin (as, indeed, seems likely from his reference to published results), then it is possible that tests began with the long series of firings made into the Pacific Ocean the previous year. This test series has already been analysed for Flight International by Tony Devereux, who drew attention2 to detail differences between the communiques issued by Tass. In the case of the first three rockets launched mention was made of "the model of the final stage" impacting the target zone while in the case of the last five it was "the model of the penultimate stage of the carrier rocket," precisely the same description as accompanied the test-launchings in 1962 and 1963. If this is a correct interpretation, at least nine R&D launchings of the new booster (Fig 2) have taken place since October 7, 1961. Thus we may not have long to wait for live terminal stages to be added to this vehicle capable of orbiting a much heavier spacecraft than the five-ton Vostok. In arriving at any rational assessment of the performance of the "next generation" Soviet space-booster, two points should be borne in mind. The first is that the existing multi-stage Vostok launcher is stated to have a total thrust including all stages of 600,000kg (1,323,0001b). This has been interpreted as giving the booster an initial lift-off thrust in the region of 1.2m lb. In other words, it approaches the lift-off thrust of Saturn 1 still in the test stage at Cape Canaveral. The American vehicle, however, is being developed with high-energy upper stages to achieve a close-orbit payload capability of some 10 tons, which the eventual Saturn IB should boost to around 16 tons. Theoretically, the existing Vostok booster with suitable up-rating should be able to achieve at least 10 tons at 300 n.m. It may be presumed that it has already achieved 6.5 tons in the launching of Sputnik 7 on February 4, 1961, when the orbital parameters were apogee 204 miles, perigee 139 miles and period 89.8min. It may therefore be that, before we see the final fruits of the new booster development, the Russians may adapt the original VostoK for two or more cosmonauts. A scale comparison of the forth-
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