A thorn in the heart of space experts exposed the long-forgotten manned moon landing plan of the Soviet Union.

In the white-hot space race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, landing on the moon was a common goal. In that tense era, the Soviets once had an advantage:

The first successful launch of an artificial earth satellite, the first photo of the back of the moon, the first manned space flight, the first spacewalk, and the first female astronaut. ...

When everything went according to plan, unexpectedly, it was Americans who landed on the moon first! Just as astronaut Armstrong took the lead in taking a big step in human history on the moon, were the Soviets indifferent? The Apollo program is in full swing. Why is there no Soviet Union on the moon?

After Gagarin completed the first space trip in human history, the Soviet Union focused its attention on the moon and tried to create another "first time"-taking the lead in manned landing on the moon! To this end, Soviet scientists have made full preparations, not only launched satellites flying around the moon, but also developed a large number of tools for landing on the moon, from unmanned lunar probes to lunar rover, and then to astronauts' lunar suits.

"Lunar Spacecraft-1" Plan

1On August 3rd, 964, Cherom, then the chief designer of the No.1 Rocket Factory of the Soviet Union and the "chief designer" of the aviation industry, signed the preliminary design scheme of the "Lunar Spacecraft-1" project. In this scheme, proton rockets are used to launch manned spacecraft around the moon, and the spacecraft is planned to carry only one astronaut.

At the top of the proton three-stage rocket, there is an instrument cabin, which is equipped with a flight propulsion system and solar cells to provide energy for manned spacecraft. Above the instrument module, there is a descent module, which looks like an American Gemini spacecraft. The upper part of the descent cabin is equipped with a solid rocket propulsion device. The device can separate the manned spacecraft from the rocket in case of failure during launch and before orbit.

Unfortunately, the development of "Lunar Spacecraft-1" was only carried out for more than a year. At a scheme demonstration meeting attended by the main designers of the Space Design Bureau, Chilomé' s scheme was not adopted.

H- 1 rocket that has never flown into space.

From 65438 to 0960, the Soviet government made a "decision on developing high-thrust launch vehicles, satellites, spaceships and developing space". According to this decision, the Design Bureau led by korolev started the research work of "H- 1" rocket. The original intention of the "H- 1" rocket was to use it to launch unmanned aerial vehicles to Mars. The introduction of the ambitious manned moon landing plan in the United States made Soviet leaders have the idea of sending their astronauts to the moon before the United States with an "H- 1" rocket.

In the "H 1-JI3" program, astronauts plan to stay on the moon for 4 hours. After the mission was completed, the lunar module left the moon by its own engine. The lunar module entered the lunar orbit and docked with the lunar orbital module, and the astronauts returned to the orbital module. After that, the two cabins separated and the two astronauts returned to Earth together. The entire flight to the moon is expected to last for 6-8 days.

1969 On February 2 1 day, the first H- 1 rocket was launched. When the rocket flew away from the launch tower, due to the control system failure, 12 and 24 engines suddenly turned off, and then a series of failures occurred. Less than two minutes after ignition, the rocket caught fire and exploded, and the first launch ended in failure.

1 On July 3rd, 969, the second H- 1 rocket was launched from the1launch pad. A few seconds after ignition, when the rocket rose to an altitude of about 200 meters, the engine was shut down due to the failure of the liquid oxygen turbopump. The rocket exploded after falling to the launch pad, destroying the rocket and the launch pad.

1971On June 27th, the third H- 1 rocket was launched from the first launch pad 2. When the ignition time was 8 ~ 10 second and the altitude was 250m, the guidance system failed again, and the rocket began to rotate around the longitudinal axis, which led to the cracking of the connecting support structure between the second and third stages. Soon, the rocket exploded at all levels. After the failure of this launch, the engineers and technicians of the Design Bureau redesigned and significantly improved the control system and guidance system of the H-/KLOC-0 rocket.

1972165438+1On October 23rd, the fourth H- 1 rocket was launched from the No.2 launch pad. Compared with previous times, the situation of this launch is much better. The rocket's 1 engine is working normally 107 seconds. Subsequently, the 1 and 2-class engines experienced unexpected tremors, and the rocket exploded in the air 40 seconds before the 1 class engine was shut down normally.

It is reported that in order to save time and money, the engine of the "H- 1" rocket has never been tested on the ground, and even a test bench has not been built at all. The rockets to be launched are all ignited for the first time. The Soviet Union put the cart before the horse in order to send astronauts to the moon before the United States. These four failed attempts not only caused huge losses in financial resources, manpower and material resources, but also greatly dampened the confidence of Chinese people in landing on the moon.

Improved version of "H 1-JI3M" scheme

The success of American manned landing on the moon made the enthusiasm of Soviet leaders to support the "H 1-JI3" plan suddenly low. Although I didn't give up the original plan immediately, I actually got into a dilemma.

At this point, korolev has died. His successor, Mishin, in order not to make his efforts and achievements go to waste, in 1972, he put forward the improvement scheme of the lunar rocket space integrated system, that is, the "H 1-JI3M" plan. The plan emphasizes that the purpose of landing on the moon is not to visit the moon for a short time, but to prepare for the establishment of a lunar base and the recent mid-and long-term investigation.

Considering that the spacecraft could not get the command and support from the ground in time and comprehensively during the docking process of the distant lunar orbit, and the performance of the spacecraft's radio electronic system was not up to standard, and the navigation conditions near the moon were not clear enough at that time, it was decided to fly in a "direct way", that is, not docking in orbit, and let the whole spacecraft land on the moon. After the spacecraft completed its mission, the return part took off from the surface of the moon, and when it flew close to the earth, the lander separated from the return part, entered the atmosphere at the second cosmic speed, and landed on the earth with the help of a parachute.

The "H 1-JI3M" plan is undoubtedly a feasible flight plan to the moon. According to this plan, the existing technologies and products in the original "H 1-JI3" plan can be widely used, but in fact, the spacecraft itself and the booster braking unit must be re-developed. But by this time, the Soviet government had lost interest in the moon landing activities and was no longer prepared to allocate funds for the new moon landing plan. Especially, after Mishin left the leading post of the Design Bureau in May 1974 and was replaced by Grushko, the "H 1-JI3M" plan was completely shelved.

Permanent lunar research base

Grushko put forward a new moon plan after taking office, that is, to establish a permanent research base on the moon. In the new plan, Grushko suggested using the "volcano" rocket as the carrier and the "lunar spacecraft" to transport astronauts and materials.

The new "Volcano" rocket is superior to "H- 1" in performance. The launch mass of this rocket is about 60% more than that of "H- 1". In theory, it can send 200 tons of load to low earth orbit and 52 tons to Mars.

The lunar exploration spacecraft consists of three parts: landing stage, take-off stage and residential unit. The landing stage is equipped with a main engine and four swing liquid rocket engines, which are similar in shape to the octagonal landing device of the Apollo spacecraft lunar module. The residential unit and take-off elevation are similar to the "H 1-JI3M" scheme. Initially, it was planned to place astronauts in the landing module of the spacecraft's residential unit during launch. Later, it was envisaged that the Soyuz spacecraft would send astronauts into orbit alone. Then the two aircraft docked, and the astronauts transitioned to the living unit of the lunar spacecraft and flew to the moon. After completing the mission on the moon, the residential unit will be put into orbit to the earth with its own engine in the take-off stage. Before entering the earth's atmosphere, the lander was separated from the residential unit. Like the fate of the "H 1-JI3M" plan, Grushko's new lunar exploration plan has not been supported by the national government. At this time, the Soviet Union decided to develop the space station plan and the space shuttle plan.

Looking back on the 1960s and 1970s, the Soviet Union has been working hard for manned landing on the moon, but due to technical reasons, the moon landing plan has been frustrated repeatedly. In the end, the manned moon landing program, like a forgotten abandoned child, quietly withdrew from the historical stage and became a thorn stuck in the hearts of Soviet space experts.