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Soyuz sn 22

Spacecraft

Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.

Soyuz LOK
Soyuz LOK
Soyuz LOK lunar orbiter.
Credit: © Mark Wade

Soyuz s/n 22 would have been the active spacecraft of the second dual launch to test the Kontakt lunar orbit rendezvous system. A crew transfer using the Krechet spacesuit would presumably have taken place.

By December 1970, there were four crews in training for two pairs of Soyuz spacecraft to be launched to test the Kontakt lunar rendezvous/docking system. During the Salyut 1 mission, in June 1971, six crews were identified and assigned to specific Soyuz spacecraft serial numbers for these tests. These would have been launched in three pairs beginning in early 1972, depending on the schedule for the DOS-2 station. In the event, the death of the Soyuz 11 crew, and subsequent redesign of the Soyuz spacecraft, led to these Kontakt missions being cancelled and the whole Kontakt test series being reformulated with new crew members in early 1973. Soyuz Kontakt 1 would have been the active spacecraft of the first mission.

Projects
Lunar L3

Chronology

2 events

1971 June 15

1972