Energia proposing circumlunar flights

[krrr]

On the occasion of the Apollo-Soyuz anniversary (link):<br /><br />[...]<br />The technologies and facilities available at RSC Energia, including a broad experience in implementing Zond unmanned spacecraft, analogs of modern Soyuzes, more than 250 successful flights of space DM-type Upper Stages, over 100 flights of the Soyuz manned spacecraft, more than 200 automatic dockings in space – all this make us confident that there is a possibility of initiating during the coming 3-4 years the first launch of the Soyuz TMA – Block DM manned complex to be assembled in the ISS orbit into the trajectory of circumlunar flight with the space vehicle descent module return to a pre-set area on the Earth. The risks of implementing such a project are minimal, because reliability of the facilities in use, a broad experience in the developments assuring safety of manned missions and crew rescue have been achieved and verified by many years of operational practice in these areas. Also the Corporation under Roscosmos’ sponsorship proposes implementing the flights on a commercial basis.<br />[...]<br />

 

[josh1943]

hmmm do they plan do a full maned test b4 they take paying passangers. last i seen they havent done this with humans only test animals. and the last time they did this at all was in the 70s......

 

[grooble]

Is there a need for more tests? What about all the flights nasa did in the 60s / 70s ?

 

[llivinglarge]

Is Energia the company that made the SRBs for Buran?

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Is there a need for more tests? What about all the flights nasa did in the 60s / 70s ? <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />You mean Apollo-Saturn? It's not relevant. This isn't an Apollo/Saturn vehicle, so it proves nothing with respect to its safety. (Well, it proves humans can survive passage through the Van Allen Belts, but that's about it.) They have to prove this Soyuz/Block-DM combination. That's a very different beast. For one thing, this is a different mission profile than any Apollo flight. This one will use the Earth-orbit rendezvous concept, which has never been attempted before although it has certainly been explored in preliminary studies. Apollo and the Soviet N-1 program both ultimately settled for lunar-orbit rendezvous, which requires a bigger launcher but can be acheived in one launch. Earth-orbit rendezvous requires two launchers: one for the Soyuz and one for the Block-DM. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Is Energia the company that made the SRBs for Buran? <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Visit the Energia website<br /><br />They make a lot of stuff. They make the entire R-7 family of launch vehicles, which includes Soyuz and Molniya. They built the Energia core stage (looks like an External Tank in pics of Energia-Buran, but it's actually the core of a super-heavy-lift booster; Buran did not have main engines like the Shuttle and was passively carried to orbit). They did <i>not</i> build the strap-on boosters, which were not SRBs at all; they were liquid-fueled boosters called Zenit, made I believe in the Ukraine. They made the enormous N-1 moon rocket. They make the Block DM upper stage. They also make a lot of spacecraft, including major components of Mir and ISS (including most notably the Mir Core and the Zvezda module). They make Soyuz and Progress. I believe they made the Pirs docking compartment and airlock. And I believe they made the Buran itself as well, although I couldn't find that on their website. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

A descendent of the liquid-fueled boosters for Energia is used on the Sea Launch rockets. Now how cool is that? <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>