Nice retrospective of the early Soviet lunar lander designs. I’ve always been fascinated by the U.S. Apollo LM design evolution. I’ve never seen the early Soviet counterparts.
Equally fascinating is the size comparison between the LK and the LM. Not only did they choose different crew sizes, but it would seem that there were two entirely different purposes to each mission. It’s hard to imagine that the Soviets intended to perform much science .... at least on a “first landing” mission. Whereas, the U.S. brought everything but the kitchen sink ... including a car!
Do you know of any follow-on LK designs that might have been capable of supporting more crew/equipment, or longer duration lunar stays ... for instance, together with a lunar base?
Loads of more advanced designs. Starting with a similar but enlarged craft for 2, all the way up to the expeditionary missions where crew would be rotated every 6 months.
Nice retrospective of the early Soviet lunar lander designs. I’ve always been fascinated by the U.S. Apollo LM design evolution. I’ve never seen the early Soviet counterparts.
Equally fascinating is the size comparison between the LK and the LM. Not only did they choose different crew sizes, but it would seem that there were two entirely different purposes to each mission. It’s hard to imagine that the Soviets intended to perform much science .... at least on a “first landing” mission. Whereas, the U.S. brought everything but the kitchen sink ... including a car!
Do you know of any follow-on LK designs that might have been capable of supporting more crew/equipment, or longer duration lunar stays ... for instance, together with a lunar base?
In recent weeks documents have been released for L3 missions, some of which i covered a few editions ago...
Loads of more advanced designs. Starting with a similar but enlarged craft for 2, all the way up to the expeditionary missions where crew would be rotated every 6 months.
Any details on how the self adjusting leg system was supposed to work?
I have a couple more low quality photos, full description I’m saving for the book!