Russia home
topic index
Russia
Credit - © Mark Wade
Major Articles Relating to Russia
  • Road to the Stars. One man in Russia filmed the future - before Sputnik! Did Kubrick copy his work?
  • Taming the Fire. The story of the making of the 1972 Soviet film that took viewers inside the life of Sergei Korolev and the Baikonur cosmonaut -- they thought!
  • The N1 Story. The largest, most expensive, failed project in history - the story of the design, construction, and collapse of the immense N1 Soviet super booster.
  • Almaz. The in-depth history of the development and test of the Almaz - the only manned combat spacecraft ever flown!
  • Energia - The Decision. Summary of the meeting of the Soviet Military-Industrial Commission on 13 August 1974 - in which the fate of the N1 was sealed and the decision process leading to Energia-Buran was begun...
  • CIA's National Intelligence Estimate of March 1967. What did the US know about Soviet lunar plans? This annotated version of the CIA's National Intelligence Estimate of March 1967 compares what the CIA expected to happen with what the Soviets expected at the same time...
  • Trouble In Star City. James Oberg's prescient account of the beginning of the end - or the end of the beginning - of the Soviet space industry
  • Inside Baikonur. James Oberg's account of a visit to the long-secret Baikonur cosmodrome.
  • Phantoms of Space. James Oberg's classic debunking of all those 'dead cosmonaut' stories.
  • Giant UFO Over Two Continents. James Oberg's classic piece, reissued on the 20th anniversary of the Soviet rocket launch that sparked UFO panics in Russia and South America
Launch Sites in Russia
  • Aleisk. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Altai. Latitude: 52.2800. Longitude: 82.4500.
  • Barnaul. Agency: RVSN. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 53.2200. Longitude: 83.4500.
  • Bershet. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Perm. Latitude: 58.0000. Longitude: 55.0000.
  • Birodbidzhan. Agency: RVSN. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 48.4800. Longitude: 132.5700.
  • Bologoye/Vypolzovo. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Tver. Latitude: 57.5400. Longitude: 34.0200.
  • Bynolzovo. Agency: RVSN. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Kaliningrad. Latitude: 54.5000. Longitude: 22.0000.
  • Chelkar. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Aktyubinsk. Latitude: 47.8500. Longitude: 59.6100.
  • Dombarovskiy. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Orenburg. Latitude: 51.2071. Longitude: 59.8500.
  • Drovyanaya. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Drovyanaya. Latitude: 51.5772. Longitude: 113.0409.
  • Gladkaya/Krasnoyarsk. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Krasnoyarsk. Latitude: 56.0000. Longitude: 93.0000.
  • Gvardeisk. Agency: RVSN. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Kaliningrad. Latitude: 54.5000. Longitude: 21.0100.
  • Irkutsk. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 53.0000. Longitude: 105.0000.
  • Itatka. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Tomsk. Latitude: 56.4900. Longitude: 85.3700.
  • Kamyshin. Agency: RVSN. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Volgograd. Latitude: 50.0400. Longitude: 45.3000.
  • Kansk. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 58.0000. Longitude: 97.0000.
  • Kapustin Yar. Agency: RVSN. Type: Orbital Launch Site. Latitude: 48.5781. Longitude: 46.2542.
  • Kartaly. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Chelyabinsk. Latitude: 53.0000. Longitude: 61.0000.
  • Kheysa. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Kheysa, Franz-Josef Land. Latitude: 80.4500. Longitude: 58.0500.
  • Kostroma. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 57.0000. Longitude: 38.0000.
  • Kozelsk. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Kaluga. Latitude: 53.0000. Longitude: 35.0000.
  • Manzovka/Ussuriysk. Agency: RVSN. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Primorsk. Latitude: 46.0000. Longitude: 134.0000.
  • Medved. Agency: RVSN. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Novgorod. Latitude: 58.0000. Longitude: 31.0000.
  • Molodezhnaya. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Enderby Land, Australian Antarctic Territory. Latitude: -67.6600. Longitude: 45.8500.
  • Nenoksa. Agency: VMF. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Nenoksa Test Range. Latitude: 64.6493. Longitude: 39.1872.
  • Nerchinsk. Agency: RVSN. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Chita. Latitude: 51.5800. Longitude: 116.3500.
  • Nizhniy Tagil. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Sverdlovsk. Latitude: 57.0000. Longitude: 60.0000.
  • Novosibirsk. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 56.0000. Longitude: 84.0000.
  • Omsk. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 55.0000. Longitude: 73.2400.
  • Plesetsk. Agency: RVSN. Type: Orbital Launch Site. Latitude: 62.9098. Longitude: 40.6936.
  • Sary Shagan. Agency: Ministry of Defence. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Sary Shagan Antimissile Test Center. Latitude: 46.3800. Longitude: 72.8700.
  • Shadrinsk. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Kurgan. Latitude: 56.0500. Longitude: 63.3800.
  • Sovetskaya Gavan. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Latitude: 48.9700. Longitude: 140.3000.
  • Sovietsk. Agency: RVSN. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Kaliningrad. Latitude: 55.0500. Longitude: 21.5300.
  • Svobodniy. Agency: RVSN. Type: Orbital Launch Site. Latitude: 51.8344. Longitude: 128.2757.
  • Tatishchevo. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Saratov. Latitude: 51.6882. Longitude: 45.5488.
  • Teikovo. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Ivanov. Latitude: 55.0000. Longitude: 41.0000.
  • Tomsk. Agency: RVSN. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 56.3000. Longitude: 84.5800.
  • Tyumen. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 57.0900. Longitude: 65.3200.
  • Uzhur. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Krasnoyarsk. Latitude: 55.0000. Longitude: 90.0000.
  • Vostochniy. Agency: RVSN. Type: Orbital Launch Site. Location: Uglegorsk. Latitude: 51.8053. Longitude: 128.2322.
  • Yasnaya/Oloynyaya. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Yasnaya. Latitude: 50.8279. Longitude: 115.7896.
  • Yoshkar-Ola. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 55.0000. Longitude: 48.0000.
  • Yurya. Agency: RVSN. Type: ICBM Base. Location: Kirov. Latitude: 58.0000. Longitude: 48.0000.
  • Znamensk. Agency: RVSN. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Kaliningrad. Latitude: 54.3700. Longitude: 21.1300.
Launch Sites Operated by Russia in Other Countries
  • Baikonur. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: Orbital Launch Site. Location: Kazakstan. Latitude: 46°00' N. Longitude: 63°00' E.
  • Belokorovichi. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Zhitomir. Latitude: 49°0' N. Longitude: 26°0' E.
  • Derzhavinsk. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 59°0' N. Longitude: 53°0' E.
  • Dobele. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 56°22' N. Longitude: 23°10' E.
  • Dzhambul. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 42°32' N. Longitude: 71°13' E.
  • Elgava. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 56°0' N. Longitude: 23°0' E.
  • Gezgaly. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 53°32'50" N. Longitude: 25°16'48" E.
  • Glukhov. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 51°25' N. Longitude: 33°32' E.
  • Karmelava. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 55°30' N. Longitude: 24°0' E.
  • Khmelnitskiy. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 49°15' N. Longitude: 27°0' E.
  • Kiev. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 50°18' N. Longitude: 30°24' E.
  • Kolomiya. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 48°19' N. Longitude: 25°2' E.
  • Lida. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 53°47'39" N. Longitude: 25°20'27" E.
  • Lutsk. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 50°26' N. Longitude: 25°12' E.
  • Lvov. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 49°48' N. Longitude: 24°0' E.
  • Mozyr. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 52°2'27" N. Longitude: 29°11'15" E.
  • Novogrudok. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 53°22' N. Longitude: 25°30' E.
  • Ordzhonikidze. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 43°0' N. Longitude: 44°24' E.
  • Pervomaisk. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 48°0' N. Longitude: 30°0' E.
  • Petrikov. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 52°10'29" N. Longitude: 28°34'52" E.
  • Pinsk. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 52°4' N. Longitude: 26°2' E.
  • Plunge. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 55°33' N. Longitude: 21°31' E.
  • Polotsk. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 55°22'34" N. Longitude: 28°44'17" E.
  • Postavy. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 55°9'47" N. Longitude: 26°54'21" E.
  • Priekule. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 56°26' 01.39" N. Longitude: 21°24' 45.30" E.
  • Rechitsa. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 52°11'58" N. Longitude: 30°7'11" E.
  • Romny. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 50°27' N. Longitude: 33°18' E.
  • Ruzhany. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 52°49'29" N. Longitude: 24°45'45" E.
  • Saryozek. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 44°22' N. Longitude: 77°59' E.
  • Siauliai. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 55°34' N. Longitude: 23°11' E.
  • Simferopol. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 44°34' N. Longitude: 34°4' E.
  • Slavuta. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 50°18' N. Longitude: 26°54' E.
  • Slonim. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 52°55'54" N. Longitude: 25°21'59" E.
  • Slutsk. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 53°14'20" N. Longitude: 27°42'15" E.
  • Smorgon. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 54°36'16" N. Longitude: 26°23'5" E.
  • Taurage. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 55°9' N. Longitude: 22°10' E.
  • Ukmerge. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 55°9' N. Longitude: 24°27' E.
  • Valga. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 57°47' N. Longitude: 26°02' E.
  • Vetrino. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 55°24'19" N. Longitude: 28°33'29" E.
  • Zaisimovichi. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 52°30'38" N. Longitude: 24°8'43" E.
  • Zhangiz-Tobe. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: ICBM Base. Latitude: 81°0' N. Longitude: 48°0' E.
  • Zhitkovichi. Agency: RVSN. Operator: Russia. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 52°11'36" N. Longitude: 27°48'7" E.
Rockets Developed in Russia
  • 10Kh. - short range cruise missile - Status: Cancelled 1953. Chelomei developed a series of cruise missiles derived from the German V-1, none of which reached production. Chelomei mobile-launched version of V-1
  • 17D. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1960. Prototype air-breathing surface-to-air missile, using air-augmented solid propellant.
  • 17K-AM. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1993. A small two stage to orbit horizontal takeoff / horizontal landing vehicle proposed for the Russian Air Force in 1993.
  • 18D. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1957. Variant of the 18D air-breathing surface-to-air missile using a magnesium alloy in the fuel to double the initial launch thrust.
  • 212. - air-to-surface missile - Status: Cancelled 1940. Korolev's second design for a rocket-propelled cruise missile. It was flight tested twice after his arrest in 1939 but work was then abandoned.
  • 22D. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1958. Prototype surface-to-air missile, using liquid-propellant ramjets in place of the air-augmented solid propellant of the 17D.
  • 8K711. - ballistic missile - Status: Study 1961. Korolev project. No other information available.
  • 8K73. - ballistic missile - Status: Study. Korolev project. Possibly designation for variant of GR-1.
  • 8K79. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Study 1960. Korolev 1961 design for a single stage military rocket. A competing missile was selected for the requirement.
  • 9M/1/TEMP. - short range ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1960. Two-stage deployed short range missile. Four solid motors strapped together, operating in staged pairs.
  • A-135. - anti-ballistic missile - Status: Active. Two-tier Russian anti-ballistic missile system for the defence of Moscow, with both endoatmospheric and exoatmospheric interceptor missiles. After protracted development, the system was said to have gone into operation in 1995.
  • A-35. - anti-ballistic missile - Status: Retired 2000. First operational Soviet ABM system, going into limited operation around Moscow in 1972.
  • Ajax. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1993. Sled-launched, air-breathing, single stage to orbit, horizontal takeoff / horizontal landing launch vehicle proposed in Russia.
  • Albatros. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1974. Unique Russian space shuttle design of 1974. Hydrofoil-launched, winged recoverable first and second stages. Hydrofoil would have been propelled to launch speed by the launch vehicles rocket engines, using a 200 tonne fuel store in the hydrofoil. Advantages: launch from the Caspian Sea into a variety of orbital inclinations, variations in launch track possible to meet range safety requirements. Proposal of Alexeyev/Sukhoi OKBs.
  • Albatros ICBM. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1991. Albatros was an ICBM designed by NPO Mashinostroeniya under Chief Designer Gerbert Yefremov according to a decree of 9 February 1987. Like the Yuzhnoye Universal ICBM, it was to be built in enormous numbers in order to defeat any deployment by America of mass missile defences under their Strategic Defence Initiative. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the abandonment of SDI by the United States, the missile was cancelled.
  • Angara. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Development. The Angara was a new all-Russian heavy launch vehicle designed to replace the Zenit (which was built by a Ukrainian company) and Proton (which had launch pads only on Kazakh territory). The booster was sized for rail transport of modular manufactured components to cosmodromes at Plesetsk and Svobodniy. The design featured a single modular core that could be clustered for large payloads or used as a first stage with a variety of existing upper stages. All plans for the Angara were dependent on financing and subject to constant change.
  • Antey-2500. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Active. The Antey-2500 was a new generation of the S-300V, capable of shooting down re-entry vehicles of IRBMs of up to 2500 km range.
  • ASA. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1993. Sled-launched airbreathing single stage to orbit horizontal takeoff / horizontal landing launch vehicle proposed in Russia.
  • Baranov SAM. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Retired 1945. First Soviet anti-aircraft barrage rocket, fired in limited numbers during siege of Leningrad, and downing two German aircraft.
  • Bizan. - air-launched orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1981. Bizan was the 1982 Soviet air-launched spaceplane design iteration between the '49' and 'MAKS' concepts. Like the '49', it was air-launched from atop an An-124 transport. Unlike the '49', it was a single-stage-to-orbit tripropellant concept.
  • Bizan-T. - air-launched orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1981. Air launched from catamaran heavy-life aircraft, predecessor of later Gerakl / Molniya-1000 design. 900 tonnes takeoff mass. Release conditions: Suspended load, Mach 0.7 at 8 to 9 km altitude. Effective velocity gain compared to vertical launch 270 m/s.
  • Bulava. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Active. Solid-propellant Soviet intercontinental-range ballistic missile, equipped with multiple independently targeted warheads.
  • Buran. - intercontinental cruise missile - Status: Cancelled 1957. A government decree on 20 May 1954 authorised the Myasishchev aircraft design bureau to proceed with full-scale development of the Buran trisonic intercontinental cruise missile. The competing Burya design of Lavochkin was launched in July 1957, but the development of unstoppable ICBM's had made intercontinntal cruise missiles oboslete. The equivalent American Navaho project was cancelled ten days later. Korolev's R-7 ICBM completed its first successful test flight in August. Buran was being prepared for its first flight when Myasishchev's project was cancelled on November 1957.
  • Burlak. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Cancelled 1992. Burlak air-launched satellite launcher was proposed in 1992 and studied by Germany in 1992-1994. Evidently based on secret anti-satellite missile. Air launched from Tu-160 bomber, released at 13,500 m altitude and Mach 1.7. Development estimated to cost only DM 50 million, but not proceeded with. Burlak/Diana variant would have been launched from Concorde.
  • Burya. - intercontinental cruise missile - Status: Retired 1960. A government decree on 20 May 1954 authorised the Lavochkin aircraft design bureau to proceed with full-scale development of the Burya trisonic intercontinental cruise missile. Burya launches began in July 1957. The project was cancelled, but the team was allowed final tests in 1961 that demonstrated a 6,500 km range at Mach 3.2 with the 2,350 kg payload. In cancelling Burya the Russians gave up technology that Lavochkin planned to evolve into a manned shuttle-like recoverable launch vehicle.
  • D-1. - tactical ballistic missile - Status: Design 1944. Korolev design for a 'long range' rocket prior to orders to copy the V-2. The 1000 kg rocket would have a range of 32 km. Wingspan 1.0 m; 370 kg propellants; minimum range 12..8 km; maximum velocity 854 m/s; maximum altitude 12.5 km.
  • D-2. - tactical ballistic missile - Status: Design 1944. Korolev design for a 'long range' rocket prior to orders to copy the V-2. Extended-range winged version of the D-1. The 1200 kg rocket would have a range of 76 km. Wingspan 1.5 m; 370 kg propellants; minimum range 20 km; maximum velocity 628 m/s; maximum altitude 10.7 km.
  • D-6. - submarine-launched ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1961. First Soviet solid propellant submarine launched ballistic missile. Development began in 1958, but the system was cancelled in 1961 in favour of the D-7 naval version of the RT-15 IRBM (itself in turn cancelled).
  • Dal. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1973. Trials of this long range surface-to-air missile were conducted in 1960-1963 but the project was cancelled after the system failed to down a single target. V-200 missiles were installed in the Dal installations built around Leningrad for the failed missile. In a bit of disinformation, the V-400 was paraded in Moscow, and US intelligence, thinking it was operational, applied the SA-5 designation. The SA-5 code was transferred to the V-200 after the La-400 was cancelled.
  • EKR. - intermediate range cruise missile - Status: Study 1953. B Chertok of NII-8 took the preliminary German R-13 cruise missile design and elaborated it, including consideration of the key problem of long-range automatic astronavigation. By 1951 to 1953 Korolev's design bureau had prepared an experimental design, the EKR. I Lisovich had developed a prototype astronavigation system that met the necessary specifications, and solution of basic problems in use of steel and titanium hot airframe technology had been solved at VIAM (All-Union Institute of Aviation Materials) and MVTU Bauman Institute. An expert commission in 1953 examined the EKR design and felt that there were still many technical problems to be solved, most of which were better handled by an aircraft designer rather than Korolev.
  • Filin. - tactical ballistic rocket - Status: Retired.
  • G-1. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Study 1947. The G-1, an improved 600 km range version of the V-2 missile, was the first design produced by Groettrup's German engineering team after they had been moved to Russia. A Soviet state commission found in 1948 that it was superior to Korolev's R-2 concept. Nevertheless the R-2 was put in production instead.
  • G-2. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Study 1948. The G-2 design objective was to create the first IRBM - to deliver a 1000 kg payload over a 2500 km range. The missile would use three V-2 derived engines with a total thrust of 100 tonnes. A variety of alternate configurations (R-12A through R-12K) were considered by the German team in Russia. These included parallel and consecutive staging, gimballed motors, and other innovations. The R-12K was particularly interesting because it represented a concept later used on the US Atlas missile - jettisoning of the two outboard engines at altitude to significantly improve range. The G-2 was given the secret designation R-6 and overt designation R-12 by the Russians.
  • G-3. - intermediate range cruise missile - Status: Study 1949. German aerodynamicist Albring designed the G-3 missile for the Russians in October 1949. This would use a rocket-powered Groettrup-designed G-1 as the first stage. The cruise stage would have an aerodynamic layout like that of the Saenger-Bredt rocket-powered antipodal bomber of World War II. Cruising at 13 km altitude, the supersonic missile would carry a 3000 kg warhead to a range of 2900 km. This was an alternate approach to Ustinov's 3000 kg over 3000 km range missile requirement of April 1949. This design would be elaborated at Korolev's bureau into the EKR ramjet design of 1953. Alternate designations for the G-3 have been reported as R-8 in the original secret Soviet designation scheme, and R-13 in the overt scheme. Designations of G-5 and R-15 are also reported, although this may refer to another design entirely.
  • G-4. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Study 1949. The G-4 was designed by the Groettrup German team in the Soviet Union in competition with Korolev's R-3. Rocket chief Ustinov informed Groettrup of the requirement on 9 April 1949: to deliver a 3000 kg atomic bomb to a 3000 km. This requirement meant a massive improvement over existing V-2 technology. The G-4 was evaluated against Korolev's R-3 on 7 December 1949 - and the G-4 was found to be superior. Neither ended up in production, but the design concepts of the G-4 led directly to Korolev's R-7 ICBM (essentially a cluster of G-4's or R-3A's) and the N1 superbooster. Work on the G-4 continued through 1952.
  • G-5. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Study 1950. Some sources indicate the G-5 / R-15 designation was assigned to an ICBM designed by the Groettrup team. If so, it may have been the 'packet of G-4's' that was the direct ancestor of the Korolev R-7. The designation G-5 / R-15 has also been reported as that of the ramjet missile more often referred to as G-3 or R-13.
  • GIRD-09. - sounding rocket - Status: Cancelled 1939. The first rocket successfully launched by the Soviet GIRD organisation was a hybrid, using a liquid oxygen to burn gelled petroleum in large casing. Development of the rocket was begun by GIRD's second brigade under M K Tikhonravov.
  • GIRD-10. - sounding rocket - Status: Cancelled 1939. The first liquid propellant rocket launched in the Soviet Union, the GIRD-10 used liquid oxygen and alcohol propellants, pressure-fed to the combustion chamber by nitrogen gas.
  • Gnom. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1965. Gnom was a unique design which represented the most advanced work ever undertaken on an air-augmented missile capable of intercontinental ranges or orbital flight. Although cancelled in 1965 before flight tests could begin, Gnom was the closest the world aerospace engineering community ever came to fielding an orbital-capable launcher of less than half of the mass of conventional designs.
  • GR-1. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1964. Korolev's entry in the 'Global Rocket' competition, a missile that could place a nuclear warhead in orbit, where it could come in under or behind American anti-ballistic missile defences, and be deorbited with little warning. Cancelled in 1964 in preference to Yangel's R-36-O.
  • Herakles. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1993. Launch vehicle design by NPO Molniya / TsAGI that would utilize air launch from a giant cargo aircraft capable of lifting 900 tonne payloads. The single stage to orbit spaceplane would be released at subsonic velocity.
  • Iskander. - short range ballistic missile - Status: Active. New Russian tactical ballistic missile, conceived as a follow-on to the Scud. First fired on 25 October 1995.
  • Katyusha. - surface-to-surface missile - Status: Active. Unguided rocket built in a variety of calibres and used by the Red Army from 1941 onward.
  • Keldysh Bomber. - intercontinental boost-glide missile - Status: Design 1946. Soviet version of the Saenger antipodal bomber intensely studied on Stalin's direct orders in 1946-1947. The final study concluded that, given the fuel consumption of foreseeable rocket engines, the design would only be feasible using ramjet engines and greatly advanced materials. This meant that development could only begin in the late 1950's, when such technologies were available. By that time the design had been superseded by more advanced concepts.
  • Kosmos 3. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Active. In 1961 Isayev and Reshetnev developed the Voskhod space launch system on the basis of the R-14 IRBM. The initial version of the two stage rocket was designated Kosmos-1. The first 'Voskhod' launch complex was at Baikonur, a modification of one of the pads at the R-16 ICBM launch complex 41.
  • KR. - intercontinental boost-glide missile - Status: Study 1957. The KR (winged rocket) was a three-stage unmanned boost-glide missile developed at the Tupolev's OKB-156. Work began in 1957. Two alternates were considered for the first stage: a conventional liquid rocket or a special manned aircraft launcher. The second stage was a conventional rocket. The final winged stage included a propulsion section and nuclear warhead. The glider would cut-off at an altitude of 50 km and a velocity of 20,000 km/hr. Planned-over target speed was 7,000 km/hr at 30 km altitude. Work on the project continued only about a year before it was abandoned in favour of the more conventional Tu-123 supersonic cruise missile. The KR would have had a gross weight of 240 tonnes, and delivered a payload of 3 to 5 tonnes over a range of 9,000 to 12,000 km.
  • Krug. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Active. Ramjet-powered long-range surface-to-air missile, deployed by the Soviet Union and its allies.
  • Kub. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Active. Mid-range integral rocket-ramjet Russian surface-to-air missile, widely deployed with Soviet forces and exported to 22 countries. The missile provided one of the great technological surprises in warfare in the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
  • Kvant. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1985. The Kvant was the Soviet third generation light launch vehicle planned to replace the Kosmos and Tsyklon series. Unlike the vehicles it was to replace, the booster used non-toxic 'environmentally friendly' liquid oxygen/kerosene propellants. Although such a light launch vehicle was on Space Forces wish lists since 1972, full scale development was again deferred due to the crash effort on Soviet 'star wars' in the second half of the 1980's. RKK Energia marketed the vehicle design from 1994 to 2001, but could find no source for development funds.
  • LII Spaceplane. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1993. LII (the Gromov Experimental Flight Institute at Zhukoskiy) designed several alternate spaceplane concepts for air-launch from the An-225 transport. These were similar to the various MAKS concepts.
  • Luna. - tactical ballistic rocket - Status: Active.
  • Luna-M. - tactical ballistic rocket - Status: Active.
  • M-100. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1993. Two-stage, solid propellant, fin stabilized, unguided Russian sounding rocket, fired in greater numbers than any other. At least 6,640 of all models were fired to the edge of space before the vehicle was discontinued in 1990. 4,908 of the basic M-100 model were fired from 1957-07-11 to 1983-09-28.
  • M-51. - intercontinental cruise missile - Status: Cancelled 1960. Intercontinental cruise missile based on M-50 manned bomber. Subsonic cruise with Mach 2 dash into the target area.
  • MAKS. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Cancelled 1988. The MAKS spaceplane was the ultimate development of the air-launched spaceplane studies conducted by NPO Molniya. The draft project for MAKS was completed in 1988 and consisted of 220 volumes, generated by NPO Molniya and 70 sub-contractors and government institutes. Development of MAKS was authorised but cancelled in 1991. At the time of the cancellation, mock-ups of both the MAKS orbiter and the external tank had been finished. A 9,000 kgf experimental engine with 19 injectors was tested. There were 50 test burns proving the separate modes and a smooth switch between them. Since it was expected that MAKS could reduce the cost of transport to earth orbit by a factor of ten, it was hoped in the 1990's that development funding could be found. However this did not materialise. MAKS was to have flown by 1998.
  • Mars. - tactical ballistic rocket - Status: Retired.
  • MBR. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1961. 'Sealed unit' liquid propellant ICBM proposed by Reshetnev in 1960.
  • MERA. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1992. Two-stage small meteorological sounding rocket, consisting of two identical solid rocket motors in tandem, stabilised by fins, topped by a payload dart with instrumentation.
  • Meteorit. - intermediate range cruise missile - Status: Cancelled 1988. Development of three variants of this cruise missile was authorised on 9 December 1976. The Meteorit-M strategic version would be deployed from 667M submarines with 12 launchers per boat. The air-launched Meteorit-A would be launched from Tu-95 bombers. The land-based version was designated Meteorit-N. The missile was also sometimes referred to by the code-name Grom. The first test launch, on 20 May 1980, was unsuccessful, as were the next three attempts. The first successful flight did not come until 16 December 1981. The first launch from a 667M submarine took place on 26 December 1983 from the Barents Sea. However all variants were cancelled in 1988 as a result of the INF Treaty.
  • MiG-2000. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1993. Sled-launched single stage to orbit vehicle with air-breathing propulsion to Mach 5 (subsonic combustion). The sled would accelerate the launch vehicle to Mach 0.8. Propellants wer slush hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The vehicle would have a 3000 km cross-range on re-entry.
  • MiG-31NS. - air-launched orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 2000. Orbital launch vehicle air-launched from a MiG-31 fighter.
  • MIGAKS. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1993. Turbojet/ramjet-powered two stage to orbit horizontal takeoff / horizontal landing vehicle. Mach 6 stage separation. The orbiter had a 2000 km cross-range capability with landing on airfields with runways of 3500 m length or more.
  • Mikoyan 301. - intermediate range cruise missile - Status: Design 1989. The 301 was designed as a military bomber, with a Mach 4 / 4,250 km/hr cruise capability at 25,000 to 27,000 m altitude. It was equipped with two turboramjets, had a gross takeoff mass of 80 tonnes, of which half was fuel. It may be related to the first stage of the MIGAKS two-stage vehicle.
  • MKR. - intercontinental cruise missile - Status: Study 1957. A wide range of MKR (intercontinental winged missiles) were studied in 1957-1960 in accordance with a decree of the General Staff. The trade-off studies encompassed long-range air-breathing aircraft, winged rockets, and aircraft launchers for air-breathing missiles. A large number of institutes and design bureaux participated in the studies, including Mozhaiskiy, Zhukovskiy, KVVO, NII-VVS, NII-88, TsAGI, NII-1, OKB-470, OKB-23, and so on. All aspects of the problem and potential applications were studied, including long range guidance, long range anti-aircraft systems, mobile systems, naval interdiction, and anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missile designs. Many variants were considered, of which one is shown here (representing a staged air-breathing/rocket-propelled system).
  • MMR-06. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1992. Soviet solid propellant sounding rocket, capable of lofting 5 to 11 kg to 60 km altitude. Launch mass 130 kg, 9 seconds burn time. Nose ejects at apogee. Flown in both conical nose and boosted dart configurations.
  • MR. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Study 1961. Korolev studied this Multimodular Rocket (MR), based on stages already designed for the 8K74 and 8K77 (R-7 and R-9) missiles. The concept seems to have been promoted in competition with Chelomei's UR-200, for the launcher could be used for similar missions:

    • Military global rocket (orbital bombing system) of unlimited range
    • ICBM
    • Launch vehicle for anti-satellites
    • Space exploration

    The three-stage version of the rocket would have a total mass of 101 tonnes, an empty mass of 10 tonnes, and first, second, and third stage thrusts of 140 tonnes, 45 tonnes, and 10 tonnes. An ICBM would be composed of just the first and second stages, and an IRBM from the first stage alone.

    As was the case of the 8K74, work on the design was stopped in September 1961.

  • MR-12. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1997. The MR-12 sounding rocket was developed by the Soviet Union as a modern replacement for the MR-1 Meteo. It was a single stage solid rocket with a 170 kg payload. Payload section 1.55 m long, 0.445 m in diameter.
  • N1. - heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle - Status: Retired 1972. The N1 launch vehicle, developed by Russia in the 1960's, was to be the Soviet Union's counterpart to the Saturn V. The largest of a family of launch vehicles that were to replace the ICBM-derived launchers then in use, the N series was to launch Soviet cosmonauts to the moon, Mars, and huge space stations into orbit. In comparison to Saturn, the project was started late, starved of funds and priority, and dogged by political and technical struggles between the chief designers Korolev, Glushko, and Chelomei. The end result was four launch failures and cancellation of the project five years after Apollo landed on the moon. Not only did a Soviet cosmonaut never land on the moon, but the Soviet Union even denied that the huge project ever existed.
  • Norma. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1997. Semi-reusable vertically launched two-stage-to-orbit vehicle. The flight profile featured a reusable flyback booster launched from a modular launch platform, an expendable second stage with a reusable orbiter that would have landed vertically. Development cost estimated at $13 billion.
  • Orel. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1999. In the late 1990's the Russian space industry undertook the Orel programme to evaluate technology for future launch vehicles. The goals included evaluation of possible concepts for a future Russian launcher, reusable launch vehicle key technology research and analysis of "X-vehicle" flight demonstrators for technology validation.
  • P-100. - intercontinental cruise missile - Status: Cancelled 1961. Family of sea- or silo- launched Mach 3.5 cruise missiles with ranges up to intercontinental distances.
  • P-205. - intermediate range cruise missile - Status: Cancelled 1961. Development of a family of long-range cruise missiles was begun in 1956 by Ilyushin. The P-205 was a land-based strategic cruise missile based on the P-20 antiship missile. The land-launch version was developed for the VVS in 1958-1960. There were two submarine projects for the missile, 627A and 653, both designed by OKB-143. Construction of the 627A submarine began at Severodvinsk, but the work on the submarine was cancelled in November 1961.
  • P-6. - intermediate range cruise missile - Status: Retired.
  • P-750. - intermediate range cruise missile - Status: Cancelled 1991. IOC in 1988 est 1992+. SS-C-5 GLCM banned in INF.
  • Pioner. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1991. Mobile solid propellant intermediate range multiple warhead ballistic missile. Seen as an enormous threat to NATO. 405 launchers deployed by 1987 when the missile was banned by the INF Treaty.
  • PR-90. - short range ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1961. Short-range air-augmented ballistic missile. Tested concepts for Gnom ICBM.
  • Proton. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Active. The Proton launch vehicle has been the medium-lift workhorse of the Soviet and Russian space programs for over forty years. Although constantly criticized within Russia for its use of toxic and ecologically-damaging storable liquid propellants, it has out-lasted all challengers, and no replacement is in sight. Development of the Proton began in 1962 as a two-stage vehicle that could be used to launch large military payloads or act as a ballistic missile with a 100 megaton nuclear warhead. The ICBM was cancelled in 1965, but development of a three-stage version for the crash program to send a Soviet man around the moon began in 1964. The hurried development caused severe reliability problems in early production. But these were eventually solved, and from the 1970's the Proton was used to launch all Russian space stations, medium- and geosynchronous orbit satellites, and lunar and planetary probes.
  • R-1. - short range ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1964. Stalin did not decide to proceed with Soviet production of this copy of the German V-2 until 1948. Despite the threatening supervision of the program by Stalin's secret police chief, Beria, and the assistance of German rocket engineers, it took eight years for the German technology to be absorbed and the missile to be put into service. It was almost immediately superseded by later designs, but the effort laid the groundwork for the Soviet rocket industry. Surplus R-1's were converted to use as a sounding rockets for military and scientific research missions.
  • R-10. - heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1960. Glushko booster - 1500t, Korolev I evo delo p. 307
  • R-101. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1951. Post-war Russian version of German Wasserfall surface-to-air missile. Never put into production, but technology used for further surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missile developments in Russia.
  • R-102. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1950. Post-war Russian version of German Schmetterling surface-to-air missile. 16 test flights made at Kapustin Yar between 18 October and 19 December 1949. Not put into production, cancelled in favour of the R-112.
  • R-103. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1952. Post-war Russian version of German Taifun anti-aircraft barrage rocket. Developed and tested in 1947-1951 but abandoned in favour of the R-110.
  • R-108. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1951. All-Russian second generation version of the R-101, itself a derivative of the German Wasserfall. Development began in May 1949 but the missile did not reach flight test stage before its cancellation in 1951.
  • R-109. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1951. Russian derivative of the German Wasserfall, an interim design between the R-101 and R-108. The missile did not reach flight test stage before it was cancellation in 1951.
  • R-11. - submarine-launched ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1965. First Russian ballistic missile using storable propellants, developed from the German Wasserfall SAM by Korolev's OKB. The design was then spun off to the Makeyev OKB for development of Army (R-17 Scud) and SLBM (R-11FMA) derivatives.
  • R-110. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1957. Larger caliber Russian version of the German Taifun anti-aircraft barrage rocket. Developed and tested in 1948-1956 and reached the initial production stage, but cancelled due to the inability to produce an economical rocket with the necessary consistent range accuracy for the barrage role.
  • R-112. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1951. Soviet surface-to-air missile design of 1948-1951. Propulsion and guidance based on that of the R-102 (copy of German Schmetterling) but with new aerodynamics. Cancelled without ever flying in 1951 when decision was made to proceed with a new generation of SAM designs.
  • R-117. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1950. Soviet surface-to-air missile design of 1948-1950. Developed in competition with the R-112 (derrived from the German Schmetterling) but with new aerodynamics. Cancelled without ever flying in 1950 in favour of further development of the R-112.
  • R-13. - submarine-launched ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1969. Developed from 1956-1960. First nuclear-armed SLBM.
  • R-15. - submarine-launched ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1957. Yuzhnoye 1000-km range submarine-launched ballistic missile. According to Przybilski, it was related to the light ICBM later designated R-26/8K66.
  • R-17. - short-range ballistic missile - Status: Active. The final refinement of the R-11 design, the R-17, was exported widely and became infamous around the world by its ASCC reporting name - "Scud". It was perhaps the most famous ballistic missile of the post-war period due to its use in the Iran-Iraq 'War of the Cities' and the Gulf War. This was the definitive production version of what was essentially a storable-propellant rocket with the performance of the V-2. The original design was by Makeyev but the missile itself was produced by the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant.
  • R-2. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1962. The Soviet R-2 ballistic missile was developed in 1947-1953, nearly in parallel with the R-1 from which it derived. It incorporated many detailed improvements, had double the range of the R-1 and V-2, and was equipped with a deadly radiological warhead. The ethyl alcohol used in the V-2 and R-1 was replaced by methyl alcohol in the R-2, eliminating the problem of the launch troops drinking up the rocket fuel. Versions of the R-2 for suborbital manned flight were studied by Korolev in 1956-1958, but it was decided instead to move directly to orbital flights of the Vostok. However some equipment tested on the R-2 found its way onto canine flights of Sputnik and Vostok. The R-2 design was transferred to China in 1957 to 1961, providing the technical basis of the Chinese rocket industry.
  • R-20. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1960. Glushko booster - 2000t, Korolev I evo delo p. 307
  • R-21. - submarine-launched ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1989. First flight 1962. NATO code Serb may apply to SS-N-6 instead. First subsurface launched SLBM (development began at OKB- 586 and transferred to SKB-385).
  • R-27. - submarine-launched ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1993. First flight 1967. Correct NATO code may be Serb; Sawfly was competitor. Development completed 1968.
  • R-29. - submarine-launched ballistic missile - Status: Active. First intercontinental submarine-launched ballistic missile (range 7800 km). First flight 1969. Development completed 1973. The variants of this missile were given three different DoD designations over the years (SS-N-8, SS-N-18, and SS-N-23).
  • R-3. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1949. Development of the long-range R-3 missile was authorised at the same time as the V-2-derived R-1 and R-2 rockets in April 1947. Supplemental authorisation was contained in a government decree of 14 April 1948.The specification was an order of magnitude leap from the other vehicles - to deliver a 3 tonne atomic bomb to any point in Europe from Soviet territory - a required range of 3000 km. To achieve this objective innovative technology was needed in every area of the missile design. Korolev was again in direct competition with the design to the same specification of the captured Germans (Groettrup's G-4).
  • R-31. - submarine launched ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1990. First Soviet submarine-launched ballistic missile to reach production using solid propellants. Deployed from 1980, but withdrawn in 1990 under the terms of the SALT-2 Treaty.
  • R-38. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Study 1962. Small, economical ICBM studied by Yangel as an alternative to Chelomei's UR-100. Both one and two stage variants were considered. Work ended when Yangel was ordered to concentrate on R-36.
  • R-39. - submarine-launched ballistic missile - Status: Active. SLBM developed for use on Typhoon subs.
  • R-3A. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1951. So much new technology was involved for the R-3 that it was deemed necessary to build an R-3A intermediate experimental rocket, based on the R-2. This would be flown to test new construction methods, guidance systems, and high energy propellants. The R-3A was specified in 1949 to have a 900 to 1000 km range with a payload of 1530 kg; an unfuelled mass of 4100 kg; 20,500 kg of propellants; and a lift-off thrust of 40 tonnes. The R-3A could also serve as a prototype for a more modest IRBM. Flight tests of the R-3A were scheduled for October 1951.
  • R-5. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1983. The R-5 was the first Soviet missile to be armed with a nuclear warhead, the first for which the new southern facility at Dnepropetrovsk took over full design and production responsibility. The R-5 could deliver a 1425 kg warhead over a range of 1200 km, doubling the performance of the R-2. It was also the end of the road in being the ultimate extrapolation of German V-2 technology. Later missiles of both Yangel and Korolev would use other propellants and engine designs. After reaching a velocity of 3044 m/s at burnout, the missile arced up to a maximum altitude 300 km during a 10.5 minute before impacting in the target area with an accuracy of 6 km in range, 5 km laterally. CEP was 1.4 km.

    The R-5 was designed primarily for delivery of a radiological weapon. It seems not to have been deployed, in preference to the nuclear-tipped R-5M.

  • R-500. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1961. MiG design for an equivalent to the US Bomarc extremely long-range surface-to-air missile. Never got beyond the design stage.
  • R-8. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Study 1956. Glushko project 1956 for multistage 650t ICBM powered by Lox/UDMH.
  • R-9. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1969. ICBM developed by Korolev OKB using liquid oxygen/kerosene propellants. The Soviet military favoured storable propellants as advocated by Glushko and implemented by Yangel and Chelomei. Development of the R-9 was protracted and it was deployed in only very limited numbers between 1964 and 1974.
  • RDD. - tactical ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1945. The RDD - Long range rocket - was assigned to Korolev in November 1944 in response to the German V-2. Korolev was given charge of a team of 60 engineers and required to provide a draft project in three days. The resulting two-stage design used Lox/Alcohol propellants and an autopilot for guidance. It was proposed that a 5 tonne thrust rocket, 110 mm in diameter, would be available by 1945. A 250 tonne thrust, solid fuelled, 280 mm diameter, 4 m long rocket would be ready by 1949. These designs evolved into the more refined D-1 and D-2 before being overtaken by the post-war availability of V-2 technology.
  • Riksha. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1994. New design launch vehicle based on SLBM technology.
  • RLA. - heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1974. The RLA (Rocket Flight Apparatus) family of modular, lox/kerosene powered vehicles were designed by Glushko in 1974 to meet the Soviet military's third-generation space launch requirements. The approach was rejected by 1976 in favor of the Zenit/Energia family using both lox/kerosene amd lox/hydrogen stages.
  • RNII Sounding Rocket. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1946. P I Ivanov at RNII (Reaction Scientific Research Institute) developed a four-stage solid rocket capable of reaching 40 km altitude in 1944-1946. Two launches were made, but the project was considered generally unsuccessful and not followed up.
  • RS. - intermediate range cruise missile - Status: Cancelled 1961. Soviet Mach 3 manned air-launched ramjet aircraft, developed in 1954-1961, but cancelled before the first full-scale test article could be flown.
  • RS-24. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Development. New mobile, solid-propellant ICBM, heavier than the Topol-M, designed to carry up to ten MIRV warheads and to replace the R-36M2 and UR-100N liquid propellant missiles.
  • RSS-40. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1991. SS-18 Replacement. The designation SS-X-26 was originally assigned to the RSS-40, but the number was reused for another missile after its cancellation.
  • RSS-52. - air-launched test vehicle - Status: Cancelled 1957. Hypersonic ramjet-powered research vehicle proposed by Myasishchev in 1958. This version of the cancelled Buran intercontinental cruise missile would have been air-launched at supersonic speed from a derivative of the M-50 bomber. It would then use its own ramjet to accelerate to hypersonic velocity.
  • RT-1. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1965. The RT-1 (RT = rocket, solid in Russian) was the first large Soviet solid propellant ballistic missile. It was developed and tested in 1959-1963, but no production was undertaken due to its poor performance.
  • RT-15. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1970. The RT-15 IRBM used the second and third stages if the RT-2 ICBM. After protracted development in 1961-1970 with a range of alternative self-propelled mobile launchers, limited numbers ('few' to 19) of two types of launchers were deployed in 1970. The various transporters tested created confusion in the West (with designations SS-14 Scapegoat and Scamp being applied).
  • RT-2. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1992. Development of the RT-2, the Soviet Union's first solid propellant ICBM, was undertaken by Sergei Korolev and his successor from 1961-1968. It was a huge technical challenge, involving technology in which the Russians had no prior experience. The high-priority RT-2 preoccupied Korolev and his team throughout the period of the moon race, and could be considered a factor in the loss of that race to the Americans. In the end only sixty were deployed, but these provided the technical basis for Russian ballistic missiles of the 1980's and beyond.
  • RT-20. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1965. First and third stages of SS-13. Cancelled after 8 test firings. Claims to have been deployed briefly.
  • RT-21. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Study 1966. Project work began in 1963 on this three-stage solid propellant ICBM. Five train-launched variants were studied, as well as a silo-launched version. Studies were completed in 1966 but it was decided not to proceed with the concept.
  • RT-22. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1969. The RT-22 was a follow-on study to the RT-21 for a train-launched solid-propellant ICBM. It reached the stage of an advanced project in 1969. The three stage rocket would have a total mass of 80 tonnes including its transport container. A train would have a total of 22 cars, six of which would be missile launchers.
  • RT-25. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1963. Decree 316-157 of 4 April 1961 authorised development of a family of solid propellant launch vehicles utilising various combinations of three stages (the RT-2, RT-15, and RT-25). The RT-25 IRBM used the first and third stages of the RT-2 ICBM. M Yu Tsirulnikov at SKB-172 in Perm was responsible for development of the RT-25. However there was little interest in this variant and in 1963 further development was dropped.
  • S-200. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Active. Enormous surface-to-air missile developed by Grushin after the failure of the Dal project. Deployed in limited numbers and exported to countries in the mideast to defend against American high-altitude, high-speed SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft.
  • S-225. - anti-ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1977. Anti-ballistic missile system developed in parallel with the A-35, but not put into production.
  • S-25. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Retired. First surface-to-air missile deployed by the Soviet Union. Under a crash program ordered by Stalin, development began in 1951, first guided launch was in 1953, and by 1956, 2,640 launchers were deployed in defence of Moscow. The system was upgraded with improved missiles and ground systems into the 1960's.
  • S-300. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Active. Third generation family of surface-to-air missiles developed in the 1970's based on new principles. The same launch system could use either 5V55 or 48N6 series missiles, of both mid- and long-range types.
  • S-300V. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Active. Mobile, multiple-target, universal integrated surface-to-air missile. The S-300V system can fire either of two versions of the containerised missiles loaded: long range and medium range. These missiles are given different NATO designations. However any mix of the two missiles can be loaded as needed in the vertical launcher cells.
  • S-400. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Active. Fourth generation surface-to-air missile system that replaced the Army's S-300V (SA-12) and the Air Defence Force's S-300PMU (SA-10). The system would feature twice the engagement area of the S-300PMU. Initial service was by the end of 2007.
  • S-500. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Development. New anti-aircraft, anti-missile system design in competitive development with Antey's S-400 to produce a Russian equivalent to THAAD.
  • S-75. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Active. Known in the west as the SA-2 Guideline, this weapon was responsible for the downing of more American aircraft than any missile in history. It was deployed worldwide beginning in 1957, and improvements and updates, many by third parties, continued into the 21st Century.
  • Skorost. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1987. Soviet medium range ballistic missile, flown once but cancelled after being outlowed by INF Treaty.
  • Sodruzhestvo. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 2000. Joint Kazakh-Russian-Ukrainian project announced in 2000 to produce an 'ecologically safe' replacement of the Proton booster that would use Energia launch facilities at Baikonur. No details available, and no more heard about it.
  • Soyuz. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Active. The world's first ICBM became the most often used and most reliable launch vehicle in history. The original core+four strap-on booster missile had a small third stage added to produce the Vostok launch vehicle, with a payload of 5 metric tons. Addition of a larger third stage produced the Voskhod/Soyuz vehicle, with a payload over 6 metric tons. Using this with a fourth stage, the resulting Molniya booster placed communications satellites and early lunar and planetary probes in higher energy trajectories. By the year 2000 over 1,628 had been launched with an unmatched success rate of 97.5% for production models. Improved models providing commercial launch services for international customers entered service in the new millenium, and a new launch pad at Kourou was to be inaugurated in 2009. It appeared that the R-7 could easily still be in service 70 years after its first launch.
  • Spiral 50-50. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Cancelled 1975. The Soviet Air Force had an enduring interest in a horizontal takeoff/horizontal landing, manned, reusable space launch system that could ferry crews and priority supplies between earth and space on the same basis as conventional aircraft. Between 1960 and 1976 Mikoyan developed this manned partially reusable space launch system. It consisted of a reusable hypersonic air-breathing booster; two expendable rocket stages; and the reusable Spiral manned spaceplane. The effort was never properly funded by the government, and by the mid-1970's had only reached the stage of flight tests of subscale versions of Spiral. Development was discontinued in 1976 in favor of the Buran, a copy of the US space shuttle. However it was resurrected in improved form in the 1980's as the MAKS spaceplane.
  • System 49. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1981. The Spiral project was not cancelled with the decision to proceed with the large Buran spaceplane. Instead flight test of the orbiter continued but the launcher design was rethought. The ambitious Mach 4 air-breathing first stage was abandoned. Instead the rocket stages and the manned Spiral orbiter were mounted on the back of an An-124 subsonic transport. This concept would evolve through the Bizan concept to the MAKS of the 1980's, which reached the hardware development stage.
  • T-1. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Study 1953. Original conceptual design for ICBM. Final design was R-7 due to unachievability of mass ratio for this single stage design. Data from chart at Russian Space Agency HQ.
  • Taran. - anti-ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1964. Anti-ballistic missile design that was part of the basic capability of the UR-100. Studied in 1962-1964 but abandoned.
  • Temp-2S. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1988. World's first operational mobile ICBM. Deployed in greaty secrecy in 1976-1987 contrary to the terms of the SALT-2 Treaty.
  • Temp-S. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Retired. The Temp-S was the first solid propellant tactical guided missile deployed in the USSR. It was designed by A D Nadiradze at NII-1 and formed the basis of subsequent designs leading to current modern Russian ICBM's.
  • Temp-S.2M. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Study 1965. The Temp-S.2M was the first strategic rocket designed by A D Nadiradze at NII-1. The design was abandoned when weight growth made it too heavy for the planned mobile transport.
  • Tochka. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Status: Active. Tactical short-range ballistic missile, deployed from 1976.
  • Topol. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Active. Containerised all-solid propellant Nadiradze ICBM designed for launch from mobile and silo launchers. Replaced UR-100/UR-100NU in silos.
  • Tsiolkovsky. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1903. Tsiolkovsky was the first to propose the use of liquid hydrogen and oxygen to propel a rocket, and calculated its performance using the crucial rocket equation V = c ln(Mo/ Me).
  • Tu-121. - intermediate range cruise missile - Status: Cancelled 1960. Mach 3 intermediate range cruise missile, tested in 1958-1960 before cancellation.
  • Tu-123. - intercontinental boost-glide missile - Status: Study 1957. Exotic design for an intercontinental missile using a gas core fission reactor for cruise propulsion. Studied circa 1957.
  • Tu-130. - intercontinental boost-glide missile - Status: Study 1957. Three-stage intercontinental boost-glide missile. Studied 1957-1960.
  • Tu-131. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1960. Tupolev design for a long-range air-breathing surface-to-air missile. Never got beyond the design stage.
  • Tu-133. - intercontinental cruise missile - Status: Cancelled 1960. Mach 3 intercontinental range cruise missile, cancelled in 1960 before flight tests began.
  • Tu-2000. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Cancelled 1992. This Soviet equivalent to the US X-30 single-stage-to-orbit scramjet aerospaceplane began development in1986. Three versions were planned: a Mach 6 test vehicle, under construction at cancellation of the program in 1992; a Mach 6 intercontinental bomber; and a single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle.
  • UR-100. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1984. The UR-100 lightweight ICBM was the Soviet answer to the US Minuteman and was deployed in larger numbers than any other in history. It remained an enigma outside of intelligence circles in the West until after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It allowed the Soviet Union to match, and then surpass the United States in strategic deterrent capability. As such it was Vladimir Chelomei's crowning legacy to his country.
  • UR-100N. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Active. The UR-100N was designed as a replacement for the UR-100 at the end of its ten year storage life. Although it could be installed in the same silos, it was 50% heavier. The competing design of Yangel, the MR-UR-100, was also put into production when the Soviet hierarchy deadlocked and could not pick one design over the other.
  • UR-200. - intercontinental ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1964. Universal rocket designed by Chelomei to cover the ICBM, FOBS, satellite launch vehicle, and spaceplane booster roles. Flight tested in 1963-1964 but cancelled in favour of Yangel's R-36.
  • UR-700. - heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle - Status: Cancelled 1968. The UR-700 was the member of Vladimir Chelomei's Universal Rocket family designed in the 1960's to allow direct manned flight by the LK-700 spacecraft to the surface of the moon. However Korolev’s N1 was the selected Soviet super-booster design. Only when the N1 ran into schedule problems in 1967 was work on the UR-700 resumed. The draft project foresaw first launch in May 1972. But no financing for full scale development was forthcoming; by then it was apparent that the moon race was lost.
  • UR-700M. - heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1972. In 1969 the Soviet Union began project Aelita, studying the best method to beat the Americans in landing a man on Mars. Chelomei's team reached the conclusion that a Mars expedition would best be launched by an immense vehicle would allow their MK-700 Mars spacecraft to be orbited in two launches. The proposed UR-700M launch vehicle had a gross lift-off mass of 16,000 metric tons and could deliver 750 metric tons to orbit. By 1972 the Nixon administration had cancelled NASA's plans for manned Mars missions. Perhaps not coincidentally, a Soviet expert commission the same year concluded that the Mars project - and the UR-700M booster - were beyond the technical and economical capabilities of the Soviet Union and should be shelved indefinitely.
  • UR-900. - heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1969. In 1962 Vladimir Chelomei proposed a family of modular launch vehicles. In January 1969, Chelomei was proposing the UR-900 for the Mars expedition. A garbled description of this launch vehicle appears in Chertok's memoirs. This would seem to be a version of the UR-700 moon rocket using 15 RD-270 modules in the first and second stages in place as opposed to the nine modules of the UR-700. The third and fourth stages were derived from the UR-500. The booster could deliver 240 tonnes to low earth orbit.
  • V-1000. - anti-ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1973. First Soviet anti-ballistic missile system. Development began in 1956 and the system was tested at Sary Shagan 1960 to 1961. It was clear that enormous development work was needed to achieve an operational anti-ballistic missile system. Therefore work began on the successor A-35 system, although the Americans were led to believe that an operational system was deployed around Moscow. The System A anti-ballistic missile equipped with the V-1000 rocket made the first intercept and destruction in the world using a conventional warhead of an intermediate range ballistic missile warhead coming in at 3 km/s on 4 May 1961. The US did not demonstrate an equivalent capability until 1984.
  • VKS. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1986. RKK Energia's proposed solution to the Soviet government's MVKS requirement for a single-stage-to-orbit reusable aerospaceplane system was this 700-metric-ton, turboramjet/rocket mised propulsion design. Work began in 1986 but abandoned when the Soviet Union collapsed.
  • YaKhR-2. - nuclear-powered orbital launch vehicle - Status: Cancelled 1949. First large space launcher considered in the Soviet Union. It would have had the same layout as the R-7, but with six strap-ons increased in size by 50%. The core, igniting at altitude, used a nuclear thermal engine using ammonia as propellant. Dropped in favor of development of conventional chemical propulsion.
  • Yakovlev MVKS. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1986. In reaction to US X-30 project, government decrees of 27 January and 19 July 1986 ordered development of a Soviet equivalent. The Ministry of Defence issued technical specifications on 1 September for an MVKS, a single-stage reusable aerospaceplane system. The MKVS was to provide effective and economic delivery to near-earth orbit; develop the technology for effective transatmospheric flight; provide super high-speed intercontinental transport, and fulfil military objectives in and from space. It is known that the Tupolev, Yakovlev, and Energia design bureaux submitted designs. No details of the Yakovlev design have become available to date.
  • YaRD ICBM. - intercontinental range ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1960. Single-stage nuclear-powered ICBM designed by OKB-1.
Spacecraft Designed in Russia
  • 11F75. - Military Unknown
  • 1MS. - Technology
  • 2MS. - Technology
  • 346. - Manned Rocketplane
  • 37KB. - Manned Space Station
  • 37KS. - Manned Space Station
  • Almaz. - Manned Space Station
  • BI-1. - Manned Rocketplane
  • Bizan. - Manned Spaceplane
  • BOR-4. - Manned Spaceplane
  • Buran. - Manned Spaceplane
  • EA. - Manned Mars Lander
  • Efir. - Earth Magnetosphere
  • EKA. - Technology
  • Ekol. - Earth Atmosphere
  • Elf. - Technology
  • Forpost. - Communications Military
  • Gals. - Communications
  • Gamma. - Astronomy Gamma Ray
  • Gonets. - Communications Store-dump
  • Gonets-D1. - Communications Military Store-dump
  • I-270. - Manned Rocketplane
  • IRDT. - Manned Bailout
  • IS-A. - Military ASAT
  • IS-P. - Military ASAT Target
  • ISS Pirs. - Manned Space Station Module
  • KK. - Manned Mars Expedition
  • KKO-3. - Manned Space Suits
  • KKO-5. - Manned Space Suits
  • KS. - Military FOBS
  • KSI. - Manned Logistics
  • Kvant. - Manned Space Station
  • L3. - Manned Lunar Base
  • L3M. - Manned Lunar Base
  • LEK. - Manned Lunar Lander
  • LK. - Manned Lunar Lander
  • LK-1. - Manned Lunar Flyby
  • LK-3. - Manned Lunar Lander
  • LK-700. - Manned Lunar Lander
  • LKS. - Manned Spaceplane
  • LL. - Manned Rocketplane
  • LMI. - Communications
  • LO. - Manned Space Station
  • Luch. - Communications Military
  • LZhM. - Manned Lunar Habitat
  • LZM. - Manned Lunar Habitat
  • M-42. - Manned Rocketplane
  • M-44. - Manned Rocketplane
  • M-48. - Manned Spaceplane
  • Mak. - Earth Atmosphere
  • Mavr. - Manned Mars Flyby
  • MEK. - Manned Mars Expedition
  • Mir. - Manned Space Station
  • Mir-2. - Manned Space Station
  • MKBS. - Manned Space Station
  • MPK. - Manned Mars Expedition
  • MTKVA. - Manned Spaceplane
  • N-4. - Astronomy Cosmic Ray
  • N-6. - Astronomy Cosmic Ray
  • Nauka. - Earth Magnetosphere
  • NAZ-3. - Manned Space Suits
  • Nord. - Communications
  • NPG. - Manned Space Station
  • OGCh. - Military FOBS
  • OK-M. - Manned Spaceplane
  • OK-M1. - Manned Spaceplane
  • OK-M2. - Manned Spaceplane
  • Oko. - Early Warning
  • OP. - Manned Space Station
  • Orlan. - Manned Space Suits
  • OS. - Manned Space Station
  • Parom. - Manned Logistics
  • Pion. - Earth Atmosphere
  • Pirs-1. - Surveillance Naval Radarsat
  • Pirs-2. - SIGINT Naval reconnaisance
  • PK. - Manned Spacecraft
  • PKA. - Manned Spaceplane
  • Potok. - Communications Military
  • PS Model. - Communications Amateur Radio
  • Radio. - Communications Amateur Radio
  • Raduga. - Communications Military
  • Romb. - Military Target
  • RP. - Military ASAT
  • Sever. - Manned Spacecraft
  • Spektr. - Manned Space Station
  • SPK. - Manned Space Suits
  • Start. - Technology Communications
  • Strela-1. - Communications Military Store-dump
  • Strela-1M. - Communications Military Store-dump
  • Strela-2. - Communications Military Store-dump
  • Strela-2M. - Communications Military Store-dump
  • Strela-3. - Communications Military Store-dump
  • Svetoch. - Communications Military
  • TGR. - Surveillance Military
  • TKS. - Manned Spacecraft
  • TMK-1. - Manned Mars Flyby
  • TMK-E. - Manned Mars Expedition
  • TMP. - Materials
  • US-A. - Surveillance Naval Radarsat
  • US-P. - SIGINT Naval reconnaisance
  • USB. - Military ASAT
  • VKK. - Manned Spaceplane
  • VKS. - Manned Spaceplane
  • Zarya. - Manned Spacecraft
  • Zenit. - Surveillance Military
  • Zeya. - Earth Geodetic
Space-related People born in Russia
  • Abramov Anatoli. - Anatoli Petrovich Abramov Russian Engineer. Born 1919. Died 15 August 1998.
  • Adasko. - Vladimir Iosifiyanovich Adasko Russian Engineer. Born 1933. Died 1963.
  • Afanasyev. - Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasyev Russian Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 31 December 1948. Number of Flights: 4.00. Total Time: 555.77 days.
  • Afanasyev Sergei. - Sergei Aleksandrovich Afanasyev Russian Government Official. Born 30 August 1918.
  • Agadzhanov. - Pavel Artemyevich Agadzhanov Russian Military Officer. Born 21 May 1923.
  • Agaltsov. - Fillip Aleksandrovich Agaltsov Russian Military Officer. Born 8 January 1900. Died 1980.
  • Aksyonov. - Valdimir Viktorovich Aksyonov Russian Engineer Cosmonaut. Born 1 February 1935. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 11.84 days.
  • Aksyutin. - Boris Rodionovich Aksyutin Russian Engineer.
  • Akunin. - Vyacheslav Glebunivich Akunin Russian Military Officer. Born 1928. Died 1997.
  • Aleksandrov. - Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov Russian En