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Stock Soyuz 7K-OK


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Soyuz

This model represents the original Soyuz 11A511 carrier rocket and its payload: Soyuz 7K-OK. The 11A511 was derived from the Voskhod 11A57, upgraded to increase lifting capacity and reliability for crewed missions. It also featured the "Type 1" SAS tower, distinguishable by its dome-shaped fairing. Soyuz flew in this configuration from starting in 1966 with Kosmos-133, up until 1971 with Soyuz 11. Following missions would carry the second generation Soyuz 7K-T. They would also use the "Type 1a" SAS tower which lacked the dome.

As for the spacecraft itself, the Soyuz 7K-OK represents the first generation of Soyuz spacecraft. They were commissioned to practice rendezvous, docking, and crew transfer techniques ahead of the Soviet lunar program. To accomplish this, most 7K-OK were equipped with special "probe and drogue" docking ports that allowed them to dock with other spacecraft.  Soyuz 7K-OK-A were fitted with the active "probe" port which fit into the passive "drogue" port installed on Soyuz 7K-OK-P.  These ports lacked an internal crew passageway, and so crew transfers were conducted via EVA. In addition to these ports the 7K-OK used an early radio-based rendezvous system known as "Igla".  Igla was linked to the thruster control system and allowed the Soyuz to approach and dock with its target automatically.

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Soyuz 7K-OK-A in orbit

Flight History
 

Spoiler

 

Development of the 7K-OK was troubled, to say the least. Early vehicles were plagued equipment failure often resulting in mission failure and, unfortunately, some of the first deaths in spaceflight. By the end of 1966 the 7K-OK had conducted two unmanned flights, Kosmos 133 and Kosmos 140, the both of which were crippled by a malfunction of the attitude control system. Both spacecraft also suffered problems during reentry.  Kosmos 133 deviated far from its intended landing zone and self destructed before it could land in China. Kosmos 140 entered an uncontrolled ballistic reentry which burned a large hole in its heat shield.  These missions proved that the Soyuz still had glaring technical issues that needed to be fixed before it was safe enough to carry cosmonauts. 

In spite of these recent failures the decision was made to have cosmonauts pilot the next missions. It seems that mission planners were under pressure from political leaders to conduct a high profile manned mission as soon as possible. As of 1967 the USSR had not flown any cosmonauts in two years and the mission could coincide with a national holiday.  Soviet officials were reassured by the number of fixes being implemented in the Soyuz and voted to proceed with the manned test flights. Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was chosen to pilot Soyuz 1, set to launch on Apr. 23, 1967. He would be followed by the launch of Soyuz 2 on Apr. 24, carrying Valery Bykovsky and two other cosmonauts. The plan called for Soyuz 1 and 2 to rendezvous and dock in orbit. Two cosmonauts from Soyuz 2 would then transfer to Soyuz 1 via spacewalk. This would have been timed to take place in daytime over Soviet territory for optimal filming conditions. 

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Soviet painting depicting crew transfer between Soyuz spacecraft

Soyuz 1 launched as planned, despite the concerns of engineers and Komarov himself. Problems appeared as soon as the spacecraft was released into orbit when the left solar panel failed to unfold.  The sun and star tracker also proved unusable, which severely hampered the Soyuz's ability to orient itself. This caused a number of other issues making the craft incredibly hard to orient and maneuver.  With no way to effectively charge the batteries, the decision was made to deorbit while the Soyuz still had power. Komarov made two retrofire burns to deorbit the vehicle, but could not maintain orientation during the maneuvers.  He was still able to enter the atmosphere, albeit on a ballistic trajectory. The capsule survived the uncontrolled reentry and was soon picked up on Soviet radar.  As the capsule descended, it deployed a small drogue parachute which would pull out and deploy the main parachute for landing. However, the main parachute was stuck in its container and could not deploy. Sensors detected the malfunction and the backup chute was automatically deployed.  It soon became tangled in the drogue chute and failed to unfurl properly. With no other means of slowing down, the capsule crashed into the ground unimpeded. Vladimir Komarov was killed in the crash. 

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The loss of Vladimir Komarov is considered to be first death in the history of spaceflight. His tragic flight served as a wake-up call to the public and to the administration, as to the extreme risks that these test pilots took. 

In the wake of this tragedy, mission planners reverted to conduct unmanned flights until the Soyuz could be properly qualified for another manned mission. Existing 7K-OK spacecraft were sent back for conversion back into unmanned test vehicles. At the same time key systems were revised to ensure reliability. Among these were the parachute containers which were enlarged and polished to help ensure deployment.

The next two Soyuz were slated to launch in October 1967. The key mission of these flights were to test the upgraded systems and parachute containers. They would also practice rendezvous maneuvers in orbit but no docking was officially planned. Despite this, ground controllers resolved to dock the craft anyways.  

The first Soyuz of the pair was launched on Oct. 27, 1967 as Kosmos 186, followed by Kosmos 188 on Oct. 30. Kosmos 188 was inserted precisely into Kosmos 186's orbit, and within rendezvous range. Seeing this, ground controllers gave the command to begin the docking sequence as the two spacecraft left communications range from the Soviet ground stations. When the spacecraft came back around, they were elated to find that telemetry indicated a successful docking. TV images confirmed that the two spacecraft made a hard docking, although they were slightly misaligned, preventing an electrical interface between the craft. Nonetheless, the team celebrated and were lauded for their accomplishment. They had made the first successful docking of two automated spacecraft in orbit. 

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Kosmos 186 and 188 in the docking sequence

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Telemetry registered that the berthing had not been completed, and there may have been a gap between the ports.

Kosmos 186, the active docking spacecraft, had overspent its maneuvering fuel through docking and was brought in for an early landing. The sun and star tracker failed to keep the spacecraft oriented during the retrofire, but the Soyuz landed safely after enduring another ballistic reentry.  Kosmos 188 had fuel to spare but was also directed to land as soon as possible. The star tracker failed once again, putting the craft on a shallow trajectory into the atmosphere.  Kosmos 188 overshot its intended landing zone and the vehicle initiated an automatic self destruct. While the docking was a partial success, the Soyuz clearly still had issues to work out.

Engineers sent the troublesome star tracker through an extensive test program to help iron out the bugs. Meanwhile, project managers proposed to compliment the current ion sensors with infrared sensors, in order to again increase reliability of the orientation system. Another two Soyuz were brought up to spec and launched on an unmanned docking mission. On Apr. 14, 1968 Kosmos 212 was launched followed by Kosmos 213 the next day. Once again the order was given to dock and the two spacecraft closed the distance as they moved beyond communications range. The docking apparently went off without a hitch and the two craft reappeared as a single stack. To top it all off, both spacecraft made accurate reentry burns, maintaining orientation using ion and infrared sensors. Both descent modules maintained control throughout reentry and landed safely in the Soviet Union. The complete success of these missions helped to validate upgrades installed on the Soyuz and brought the program closer to its next manned missions. One more successful unmanned flight was be performed in the form of Kosmos 238. In light of the achievements of the last five test flights, the Soyuz was re-certified for manned spaceflight.

The next missions were dubbed Soyuz 2 and Soyuz 3 and were set to feature the first manned docking in the Soviet space program. Soyuz 2 was unmanned and carried the passive target port. Soyuz 3 carried cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy, piloting the active docking port. Unlike the ambitious Soyuz 1 and 2 plan, Soyuz 2 and 3 only involved one cosmonaut, and no crew transfer was planned.  However, the plan still required Beregovoy to rendezvous and dock within the first orbit. Beregovoy was also to complete the proposed docking manually, on the night side of the orbit, and out of range of Soviet ground stations. 

The unmanned Soyuz 2 target vehicle achieved orbit on Oct. 25, 1968. Soyuz 3 soon followed carrying Georgy Beregovoy on Oct. 26, on a fast track rendezvous to intercept Soyuz 2. Beregovoy's Soyuz 7K-OK-A was inserted with precision into orbit only 10km from its target. The target ship was soon picked up on Beregovoy's Igla system. Igla automatically brought the interceptor closer to the target and, in accordance with the flight plan, the pilot switched to manual control at a distance of 200m. The ships moved out of communications range and docking was left to Beregovoy. Over the next hour, Beregovoy struggled in the dark to dock with Soyuz 2, aggressively trying to align the spacecraft whilst using up his maneuvering fuel. The pair of Soyuz eventually reappeared over the horizon, where Beregovoy could now see that he was upside-down relative to Soyuz-2. He could correct this but he had effectively depleted his fuel supply and was forced to land early. Reentry occurred without any problems and Beregovoy landed safely in Kazakhstan. Mission planners later agreed that Beregovoy had been put into a high workload situation too soon after experiencing the rigors of the launch and weightlessness. This was made worse by insufficient simulator training and poor visibility.

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In the dark, Beregovoy mistakenly rolled his vehicle 180° relative to the target.

Soyuz 2 and 3 had failed to dock but officials were confident enough in the Soyuz system after the safe return of Soyuz 3. The next flights would be another attempt at the scenario originally planned for Soyuz 1 and 2. Soyuz 4 would launch first carrying one pilot. Soyuz 5 launched next carrying three cosmonauts, acting as the target vehicle. After docking, two men from Soyuz 5 would don spacesuits and spacewalk over to join the pilot in Soyuz 4. Following recommendations by Georgy Beregovoy, the docking would take place after the cosmonauts had become accustomed to zero-G. It was also planned to take place in daylight, and within communications range of ground stations. Cosmonauts received more in-depth training to keep an eye on the target's orientation. Finally, the manual docking switchover was limited to 100m. Vladimir Shatalov was assigned to the active Soyuz-4. Boris Volynov, Aleksei Yeliseev and Evgeny Khrunov were assigned to the passive Soyuz 5.

Soyuz 4 lifted off on Jan. 14, 1969 and performed orbital corrections ahead of the intercept. Soyuz 5 took off on Jan. 15 and reached orbit about 10,000km from Soyuz 4. A maneuver was made by Soyuz 5 to close the distance. The crews spent the next hours acclimating in their orbital modules. By Jan. 16, the distance between the pair had been reduced to within 10km, and Shatalov's Igla was able to acquire the target. He began the automatic approach sequence. The crew on Soyuz 5 was able to spot Shatalov's Soyuz in the sunlight at 800m. Soyuz 4 soon closed to within 100m and switched to manual control as scheduled. The two spacecraft moved into communications range and mission control began receiving live TV images of the approach. As they watched, Soyuz 4 and 5 achieved a smooth docking at 11:20am Moscow time. Crews performed systems checks and confirmed that everything was good to go for the spacewalk.

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Soyuz 4 and 5 firmly docked

Aleksei Yeliseev and Evgeny Khrunov transferred to the orbital module and donned special "Yastreb" space suits. They then depressurized the module before opening the EVA hatch and starting the spacewalk. Khrunov exited first, but struggled with tangled cables. Yeliseev helped him untangle and Khrunov exited the module and walked along the external railings. He reached the hatch on Soyuz 4 and made his way in. Yeliseev made his transfer without any trouble and joined Khrunov in Soyuz 4's orbital module. Both ships then re-pressurized their modules and the crew transfer was complete. Yeliseev and Krunov joined Shatalov in the descent module.

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Cosmonauts spacewalk with the help of handy guide rails

Now that the crew had successfully transferred, both crews prepared to undock and make their landings. The Soyuz's mechanical locks were released and Soyuz 4 maneuvered to make the first landing. Shatalov initially encountered problems with the ion orientation system but these bugs soon cleared and the retrofire was completed successfully. The crew descended in a controlled aerodynamic landing and touched down safely in Kazakhstan.

Boris Volynov in Soyuz 5 later performed his own retrofire in preparation for reentry. The descent module began to separate from the rest of the spacecraft, but the instrument module failed to detach. Volynov's capsule struggled to orient itself as drag from the instrument module forced it nose first into the thickening atmosphere. Volynov could do nothing but hope that the heat and aerodynamic forces would tear the solar panels and instrument module away before it destroyed his capsule. His hopes were granted when the instrument module finally detached somehow, and the descent module was able to reorient heat shield first. Volynov now endured increasing G-loads of the ballistic reentry in his spinning, tumbling capsule. Thankfully, the parachutes deployed at 10km altitude as planned, and did not become tangled despite the spinning. The capsule touched town hard, and some of Volynov's teeth were broken in the landing. Volynov had survived this harrowing episode and would not fly again until Soyuz 21.

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Soyuz 5 flying nose first as reentry intensifies

Apart from the near death experience of Boris Volynov, Soyuz 4 and 5 was seen as a great success. The docking and crew transfer successfully tested techniques that could be used in the Soviet lunar program. However, recent successes by the US Apollo program left the Soviets in need of a more spectacular mission to stack up. Mission planners proposed a joint mission involving the simultaneous rendezvous of 3 Soyuz spaceraft. Soyuz 6, 7, and 8 were to launch and rendezvous in orbit. Soyuz 7 and 8 would dock together while Soyuz 6 stood back and documented the scene on film. The flight plan was approved and Soyuz 6, 7, and 8 launched on Oct. 11, 12, and 13, respectively. Unfortunately, the rendezvous system on all 3 spacecraft somehow failed, and no proper rendezvous or docking was staged. All 3 eventually landed on Oct. 16, 17, and 18, respectively. Soyuz 9 was later launched in 1970 and set the flight endurance record for a single spacecraft. These were the last flights of the original 7K-OK. 

The last two first generation Soyuz flew as Soyuz 10 and 11 on missions to the Salyut 1 space station. They were equipped with the newly developed SSVP docking system which featured an internal passageway for crew transfer. With this upgrade the new spacecraft was termed Soyuz 7K-OKS and flew as a space station ferry. Soyuz 10 made the first attempt to dock and enter the station in April of 1971. The docking was unsuccessful and a second attempt had to be made with Soyuz 11 in June of 1971. This time the docking ports worked and the crew of Soyuz 11 became the first to inhabit Salyut 1. Sadly, this mission ended in disaster when the descent module depressurized before reentry, killing all three crew members.  

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Soyuz 11 docked to Salyut 1

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The crew of Soyuz 11

(clockwise) Vladislav Volkov, Georgy Dobrovolsky, Viktor Patsayev

The Soyuz was majorly redesigned in the wake of the Soyuz 11 disaster. Going forward cosmonauts were required to wear pressure suits through all the critical phases of the flight.  In accordance with this new rule, the descent module was rebuilt to accommodate two suited cosmonauts with extra life support systems. The next generations of Soyuz would start with Soyuz 7K-T, and later Soyuz-T, Soyuz-TM, TMA, TMA-M, and Soyuz MS. To date, Soyuz has not had a fatal accident since Soyuz 11.  

 

 

 

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Craft Info

I started working on this back in KSP version 1.5.1 shortly after the completion of my Proton build. I had built the Proton at 75% scale and so I set about scaling up my existing Soyuz to match. I hit quite a few snags trying to replicate the Soyuz's SAS and the project wound up shelved for over a year.  Anyways, I recently tried a new grid fin design which seemed to fix all the problems I'd been having with reliability and stability and whatnot. I found this pretty motivating and so I finally made the final push and finished it!   

So here it is! Key design features of the rocket include an authentic "Korolev Cross" booster separation sequence, hot-staging between stages 2-3, and of course the SAS launch escape system. On a related note, I'd like to credit @MaianTreyfor suggesting the use of ant and spider engines as LOX vents back on reddit. 

The Soyuz spacecraft feature special docking ports that attempt to replicate the look of the original "probe and drogue" docking ports present on the 7K-OK models while remaining functional. When properly aligned the clamp-o-tron jr. ports on each Soyuz come close enough to attract each other. This'll keep the Soyuz from drifting apart without actually being docked. Timewarp at your own risk, however.

Like I wrote earlier, this is meant to represent the first generation of the Soyuz rocket and spacecraft. I thought I'd start here to provide a good base to iterate on for future variants and upgrades. So stay tuned as I'll probably post more Soyuz variants in the future! And thanks for reading :) 

Controls

4: Stage 3 (Block I) shutdown
5: Deploy solar panels and antenna
6: Descent module RCS toggle
Backspace: Activate SAS (launch escape)
0: Detach descent module after abort

Instructions

For the best booster separation, stage at exactly 1:29 or T+89s

After achieving orbit with stage 3 press 4 to shutdown the engine. Then stage while throttled up to get the stage 3 vent effect.

***There seems to be a bug where if you try to EVA from a command seat while the kerbal is facing directly towards Kerbin, the kerbal will get stuck. So… don’t do this!

Downloads

7K-OK-P (Passive port)

https://kerbalx.com/tehmattguy/Soyuz-7K-OK-P

7K-OK-A (Active port)

https://kerbalx.com/tehmattguy/Soyuz-7K-OK-A

7K-OKS (SSVP probe port)

https://kerbalx.com/tehmattguy/Soyuz-7K-OKS

Salyut 1 (SSVP drogue port)

https://kerbalx.com/tehmattguy/Salyut-1

Edited by tehmattguy
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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a little update: I've added the 7K-OKS variant to cap off this series of first-gen Soyuz spacecraft. This version featured the SSVP docking port which allowed for internal crew transfer unlike its predecessor.

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It only flew twice in 1971 as a ferry to the Salyut 1 space station. During its first flight in April 1971, the crew of Soyuz 10 attempted to dock with the station but were forced to abort after a failure of the Soyuz's docking system. Another attempt was made by the crew Soyuz 11, which was ultimately successful. The crew entered Salyut 1 using the new ports, and inhabited the station for 22 days in June of 1971. This mission unfortunately ended in disaster when Soyuz 11's descent module depressurized before reentry, killing all three crew members. While Soyuz underwent major redesigns, Salyut 1 was boosted into a higher orbit until the next crewed mission. This mission would never come, as Salyut 1 ran out of fuel and was intentionally de-orbited months later.

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A Soyuz 7K-OKS docked to Salyut 1

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Bill Kerman inspects the main compartment

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All three crew members transferred

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Salyut 1 on reentry

Downloads

Soyuz 7K-OKS (SSVP probe port)

https://kerbalx.com/tehmattguy/Soyuz-7K-OKS

Salyut 1 (SSVP drogue port)

https://kerbalx.com/tehmattguy/Salyut-1

 

Edited by tehmattguy
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  • 1 month later...
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