Voskhod programme

[Pawelk198604]

I wonder why Soviets made only two of them while NASA made 12 Gemini missions?

[xenomorph555]

There was meant to be 7 doing a number of different things however they were cancelled to focus on the Soyuz program. Also the Soviets had less resources then Nasa so they couldn't pump out ships like they did.

Another reason for cancellation was delays, the Voskhod had an advanced life support for 21 days in space with two crew and other features however it wasn't ready until 1966 when Nasa was about to start Apollo

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Here is a list of the cancelled Voskhod missions:

3- 2 man 20 day mission, high altitude in the van allen belt, biology research.

4- 3 man biology mission, 4 days, at least 1 doctor performing surgery on a rabbit.

5- 2 woman crew, woman eva, 15+ days, biology research

6- 2 man crew, eva with tests of jetpack, 15+ days

7- 2 man crew, eva with tests of jetpack, 15+ days, also artificial gravity experiment involving cables.

Edited February 26, 2015 by xenomorph555

[Bill Phil]

Voskhod was only there to eat the US in 2 man and 3 man crews, as well as the first EVA. It wasn't meant to be a "stepping stone" like Gemini was.

[Newt]

Voskhod also really was just a modified Vostok in many ways, trying, as Bill Phill said, to snag some firsts without having to wait for Soyuz. They could fly three people in it, but there was no room for the airlock with three people, thus when they did the first EVA they flew with only two. Also, to save weight, they removed the ejection seat system that Vostok had. It was not a terribly great vehicle, had no emergency rocket to abort a launch, and it is probably for the best in my view that only five people flew it. If anything had gone wrong there would not have been a way to save the crews, at really any stage of the mission.

[K^2]

Yeah, the Voskhod missions were incredibly rushed. I remember an old interview with Leonov where he explains how he got stuck in the airlock trying to get back into the capsule. He had to let out some of the air from his suit to be able to actually get back in.

It's quite amazing that Soviet program had as few fatalities as it did.

[Nibb31]

Voskhod was a deathtrap which is why it was cancelled.

[Pawelk198604]

Voskhod was a deathtrap which is why it was cancelled.

Death trap?

Are you referring to Leonov space walk, when he had problem with entering back into spacecraft?

[Bill Phil]

Death trap?

Are you referring to Leonov space walk, when he had problem with entering back into spacecraft?

They had to sit down sideways, without a spacesuit ( on the 3 man mission), and no abort mechanism. I would say it is a death trap.

[Pawelk198604]

They had to sit down sideways, without a spacesuit ( on the 3 man mission), and no abort mechanism. I would say it is a death trap.

Astronaut on Soyuz and NASA on early space shuttle mission also not used space suits.

[Kryten]

Death trap?

Are you referring to Leonov space walk, when he had problem with entering back into spacecraft?

As they had to take out the ejection seats to save space, there was no abort system for large parts of the flight. This at a time when the success rate for R-7 based launchers was still something like 75%.

Astronaut on Soyuz and NASA on early space shuttle mission also not used space suits.

And they stopped doing that on Soyuz because it lead to people dying. You're not exactly helping your case here.

[Bill Phil]

Astronaut on Soyuz and NASA on early space shuttle mission also not used space suits.

That's when they're in orbit. I'm talking about the launch itself.

[xenomorph555]

Voskhod also really was just a modified Vostok in many ways, trying, as Bill Phill said, to snag some firsts without having to wait for Soyuz. They could fly three people in it, but there was no room for the airlock with three people, thus when they did the first EVA they flew with only two. Also, to save weight, they removed the ejection seat system that Vostok had. It was not a terribly great vehicle, had no emergency rocket to abort a launch, and it is probably for the best in my view that only five people flew it. If anything had gone wrong there would not have been a way to save the crews, at really any stage of the mission.

Interesting fact, the Voskhod was actually a very different proposal at first going back to before Apollo was announced. It was originally going to be a one man version 2 of the vostok with new computers, sensors, eva and other hardware. It would have been introduced after 9 or 10 Vostok missions to advance the manned program but Apollo made them drop and change a lot of plans.