A drawing of a VA spacecraft: The VA capsule is on the lower right, while the braking engines are located on top of the long "nose section".[1][2] The launch escape system (not shown) would have been attached on top of the nose section.[3]VA capsule on display at the Collections of Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics.An isolated drawing of the VA capsule, the crew compartment of the VA spacecraft, with the side hatch opened.The VA capsule of the TKS spacecraft that flew as Kosmos 1443, on display in the National Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C. – this capsule was mislabeled as Merkur spacecraft.[4][5][6]
The Vozvraschaemyi Apparat (Russian: Возвращаемый Аппарат, lit. 'Return Vehicle', GRAU index 11F74), or VA spacecraft, was a Soviet crew capsule, intended to serve as a crewed launch and reentry vehicle. Initially designed for the LK-1 human lunar flyby spacecraft for one of the Soviet crewed lunar programs, then the LK-700 redesign, it was later repurposed for the Almaz military space station program.[7][1]
The VA capsule on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum was labeled as Merkur, following a mistranslation of the original documentation – while incorrect, the name is being used in the West for the VA spacecraft and capsule.[4][5][6]
The VA spacecraft was capable of independent flight – up to 31 hours in its last incarnation – it needed however to be combined with additional hardware (containing propulsion and storage) to achieve a longer flight duration.[1]
Different usage scenarios for the VA spacecraft were planned:
For the lunar flyby spacecraft LK-1 and LK-700, the plans by Vladimir Chelomei's design bureau OKB-52 were to mate a VA spacecraft together with an Equipment-Rocket System Block (PAB) and Translunar Injection Stage (RB).[7]
For the Almaz space station program, the plans envisaged two configurations for the crewed VA spacecraft:
A VA spacecraft would have launched the initial crew of an Almaz-OPS space station, the VA spacecraft launched together with the station itself; This combination was known as "Almaz APOS".[8]
A VA spacecraft would have been launched mated together with a Functional Cargo Block (FGB) to resupply an Almaz station, in both crewed and uncrewed flights; This combination was known as the TKS spacecraft.[1]
VA was the first spacecraft to be launched into orbit twice, as Kosmos 929 was recovered and launched again as Kosmos 998. Gemini 2 was launched into space twice, but both launches were suborbital.[9]
While the VA spacecraft performed successful uncrewed test flights, both with and without a Functional Cargo Block, it never served in its intended role as a lunar vehicle due to cancellation of the soviet crewed lunar program, and it was never launched together with an Almaz space station.
^ abcd"TKS transport ship 11F72". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
^"TKS-VA (11F74)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
^"TKS". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
^ ab"Space Race". Smithsonian – National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
^ ab"Merkur Capsule – Image Detail". Smithsonian – National Air and Space Museum. Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
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