Capability for the Russians to perform a lunar landing

AugustusMinimus

Many on here might be familiar with the private plan to send a slightly altered Soyuz capsule on a translunar orbit and back.

This seemingly is possible by launching an upper stage a secondary rocket which will then dock with the Soyuz capsule in orbit and on into translunar injection.

The question I have, if this is a viable plan, are the Russians just missing a lander to actually do a full moon with a short space of time.

From what I can tell, it would take 6 launches.

2 launches to put the lander in lunar orbit using a fully fueld Block DM upper stage

2 launches to put a fuelled upper stage in lunar orbit in order for the earth return stage

2 launches to put the altered soyuz capsule into lunar orbit.

It would take quite a bit of docking and undocking, including two automatic dockings in earth orbit and having the soyuz capsule having to dock with both the lander and earth return stage in lunar orbit.


Is this all viable or is it simply too complicated. In fact, do the Russians even have enough launch pads to make such a scenario possible in a give timeframe ?

Victor

I imagine its more about money, logistics and desire than the practicalities of getting there. If they have modules capable of a earth landings, all that needs to be done is for the heat shields to be replaced by braking rockets for it to do a moon landing.

Reallocating Soyuz capacity would affect other programmes. I imagine launch pads are the least of the worries.

Pat Dunne

By any chance, is all this due to happen sometime in or around April?

Capt'n Midnight

souyz was originally developed for lunar orbit

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_manned_lunar.html

As Soviet Union mastered manned space flight in a series of early orbital missions, the Moon quickly became a key goal of the manned space program. In May 1961, President Kennedy proclaimed a manned landing on the surface of the Moon before 1970, as the main goal of the US space program.

However, it took more than three years after Kennedy's challenge for the cash-strapped Soviet government to commit needed resources for the Moon Race. "Do not leave the Moon to the Americans," Nikita Khrushchev reportedly told leaders of the Soviet rocket industry, "Anything you need in order to do it, will be provided." On Aug. 3, 1964, the Soviet government finally gave full go ahead to the lunar landing effort.

Political interference in the rushed job that was the N1 killed the program

Had they got the money earlier, had they been allowed pick the right engines for the N1 , had the Apollo fire happened in orbit , had Apollo 13 fire happened on an earlier flight , who knows ?

With Energia they had the capability to get enough hardware in orbit.

Lander (flown) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LK_%28spacecraft%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_manned_lunar_programs

AugustusMinimus

I'd be interested to know what sort of outlay it would cost to put Energia back into production.

As far as I know, the side boosters are still being produced as the basis of the Zenit rocket.