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THE VOSTOK FAMILY
Vostok 1K: (1960) Manned earth orbit prototype. Flew six unmanned test missions.
Vostok 3KA: (1961) First manned spacecraft. Derivatives were still in use over thirty
years later, for military photo-reconnaisance, earth resources, mapping, and biosat missions.
Vostok 3KV: (1964) Also known as Voskhod. Adaptation of the Vostok spacecraft to
conduct three man flight in advance of U.S. Gemini program.
Vostok 3KD: (1965) Also known as Voskhod. Modified Vostok spacecraft with addition of
inflatable airlock for exit of one cosmonaut for spacewalk.
On 12-Apr-1961 Soviet Air Force Lieutenant Yuri A. Gagarin become the first human to be
launched into space. His Vostok spacecraft (named Swallow) lifted of the launch pad at
9:07 Moscow time atop a SS-6 Sapwood ICBM. The launch went smoothly. He entered an orbit with a
perigee of 181 km and an apogee of 327 km. The Shallow made one orbit of the Earth in 89 min at
an inclination of 65o. In 108 min after launching, he was back on Earth, having
landed near the small village of Smelovaka.
The Vostok spacecraft was the work of a team of scientists and engineers led by the Soviet Union's pioneer aerospace engineer, Segei P. Korolev. It consisted of two sections or modules. The manned module was a sphere covered with an ablative material to protect it during reentry into the atmosphere. It contained automatic and ground-activated controls, but there were emergency manual controls for the cosmonaut. The pilot sat in an aircraft-type ejection seat with a parahcute and communications equipment. Small rockets at its base could propel the seat through a circular hatch in the module in case of emergency. Later 'Voskhod' versions replaced the ejection seat with fixed couches. The manned module was held by metal straps to an equipment module. Everything not actually required within the manned module was stowed in the equipment module. It held high-pressure nitrogen and oxygen bottles for use in the manned module, chemical batteries for radios and instruments, the retrorocket used to brake the Vostok out of orbit, and small attitude control thrusters for orientating the spacecraft.
The Vostok and Voskhod spacecraft, like the U.S. Mercury, could not perform orbital maneuvers - they could only be translated around their axes. The main engine was used only at the end of the mission for the reentry braking maneuver. Instrumentation on the Vostoks was rudimentary in the extreme. There were no gyros and no eight-ball for maneuvring as on the Gemini. The reentry maneuver was normally handled automatically by radio command. Spacecraft attitude in relation to the local motion along the orbit was determined by sun sensors, infrared horizon sensors and ion gauges, which could detect the spacecraft's direction of motion by the greater velocity of ions impacting the spacecraft in the direction of motion.
The cosmonaut could, however, take control of the spacecraft and manually reenter. This was done by using the ingenious Vzor periscope device mounted on the floor of the cabin. This had a central view and eight ports arranged in a circle around the center. When the spacecraft was perfectly centered in respect to the horizon, all eight of the ports would be lit up. Alignment along the orbit was judged by getting lines on the main scope to be aligned with the landscape flowing by below. In this way, the spacecraft could be oriented correctly for the reentry maneuver. To decide when to reenter, the cosmonaut had a little clockwork globe that showed current position over the earth. By pushing a button to the right of the globe, it would be advanced to the landing position assuming a standard reentry at that moment. This manual system would obviously only be used during daylight portions of the orbit. At night the dark mass of the earth could not have been lined up with the optical Vzor device. The automatic system would work day or night.
VOSTOK 3KA SPECIFICATIONS
First flight: 9-Mar-1961; first manned flight 12-Apr-1961 (Vostok 1)
Last flight: 16-Jun-1963 (Vostok 6)
Number of flights: 8 total; 6 manned
Principal uses: manned earth orbit
Crew size: one
Endurance: 10.0 days
Orbital storage: 30.0 days
Overall length: 4.4 m
Maximum diameter: 2.4 m
Total mass: 4,730 kg
Propellant mass: 275 kg total
RCS total impulse: not available
Primary engine thrust: 15.83 kN
Main engine propellants: nitrous oxide/amine
Total spacecraft delta v: 155 m/s
Power: batteries; 24.0 kW total
(Weights are not typical for every mission)
REENTRY MODULE
Crew size: one
Diameter: 2.3 m (sphere)
Total mass: 2,460 kg
Attitude control: none
Environment: oxygen + nitrogen at 1 atm
Controls: analog; Vzor optical device for manual spacecraft orientation; 2 windows
Landing system: sphere made ballistic reentry, with shield side seeking correct
orientation by virtue of the center of gravity being aft of the center of the sphere. At an
altitude of some 7 km, the cosmonaut's hatch was blown from the capsule, and he ejected from it
in his seat. A drogue parachute opened and the cosmonaut descended to 4 km before jettisoning
the seat and opening his main parachute. The Vostok capsule came down separately by its own
parachute
SERVICE MODULE
Length: 2.3 m
Maximum diameter: 2.4 m
Total mass: 2,270 kg
Propellant mass: 275 kg
Reaction control system
thrusters: not available
propellant: cold gas (nitrogen)
specific impulse: not available
total impulse: not available
Retro-rockets
thrust: 15.83 kN
propellant: nitrous oxide/amine
specific impulse: 266 s
delta v: 155 m/s
Power: batteries; 24.0 kW total, 0.20 kW average
VOSTOK 3KV SPECIFICATIONS
First flight: 6-Oct-1964 unmanned
Last flight: 12-Oct-1964 (Voskhod 1)
Number of flights: 2 total; 1 manned
Principal uses: manned earth orbit biological studies
Crew size: 3 (without spacesuits)
Endurance: 14.0 days
Overall length: 5.0 m
Maximum diameter: 2.4 m
Total mass: 5,682 kg
Propellant mass: 362 kg
RCS total impulse: not available
Primary engine thrust: 15.83 kN
Main engine propellants: nitrous oxide/amine
Total spacecraft delta v: 215 m/s
Power: batteries; 24.0 kW total
REENTRY MODULE
Crew size: 3
Diameter: 2.3 m (sphere)
Total mass: 2,900 kg
Attitude control: none
Environment: oxygen + nitrogen at 1 atm
Controls: as Vostok 3KA
Landing system: Sphere made ballistic reentry, with shield side seeking correct
orientation by virtue of the center of gravity being aft of the center of the sphere.
Parachutes: single with suspended retrorocket package for soft landing. Crew stayed within the
capsule
SERVICE MODULE
Length: 2.3 m
Maximum diameter: 2.4 m
Total mass: 2,300 kg
Propellant mass: 275 kg
Reaction control system
thrusters: not available
propellant: cold gas (nitrogen)
specific impulse: not available
total impulse: not available
Retro-rockets
thrust: 15.83 kN
propellant: nitrous oxide/amine
specific impulse: 266 s
delta v: 155 m/s
Power: batteries; 24.0 kW total, 0.20 kW average
AUXILLIARY RETROROCKET
Length: 0.6 m
Maximum diameter: 0.3 m
Total mass: 143 kg
Propellant mass: 87 kg
Thrust: 117.7 kN
Propellant: solid
Specific impulse: 224 s
Delta v: 60 m/s
VOSTOK 3KD SPECIFICATIONS
First flight: 22-Feb-1965 unmanned
Last flight: 18-Mar-1965 (Voskhod 2)
Number of flights: 2 total; 1 manned
Principal uses: manned earth orbit EVA
Crew size: 2 (in spacesuits)
Endurance: 14.0 days
Overall length: 5.0 m
Maximum diameter: 2.4 m
Total mass: 5,343 kg
Propellant mass: 362 kg
RCS total impulse: not available
Primary engine thrust: 15.83 kN
Main engine propellants: nitrous oxide/amine
Total spacecraft delta v: 215 m/s
Power: batteries; 24.0 kW total
REENTRY MODULE
Crew size: 2
Diameter: 2.3 m (sphere)
Total mass: 2,900 kg
Attitude control: none
Environment: oxygen + nitrogen at 1 atm
Controls: as Vostok 3KA
Landing system: as Vostok 3KV
SERVICE MODULE
As Vostok 3KV
AUXILLIARY RETROROCKET
As Vostok 3KV