EA Lander Credit - RKK Energia Media Gallery

Mars landing craft originally designed for aborted 1972 Aelita Mars study by OKB-1, and revived in the 1980's for new Energia-launched Mars expedition studies. The EA (Expeditionary Apparatus) was a 60 metric ton cylindrical spacecraft with a conical nose.

Both conical and pear-shaped lifting bodies were studied, with a hypersonic lift to drag ratio of 0.3 to 0.5. The preferred configuration for the EA (Expeditionary Apparatus) was a cylindrical 60 metric ton spacecraft with a conical nose, 3.8 m in diameter and 13 m long. The primary braking engine was housed in the tail, and brought the spacecraft horizontally to zero velocity above the Martian surface. A landing engine at the belly of the cylinder would then fire to bring the spacecraft to a 2 m/s touchdown on four landing legs. The crew would descend to the surface in a cylindrical airlock tunnel that deployed from the belly of the cylinder to the surface. When the time came to depart, doors would open at the spine of the cylinder to reveal the vertically-launched ascent stage and crew module. From fore to aft the vehicle consisted of the conical nose, the Martian living compartment, the landing propulsion section, the return module, and the tail compartment with the braking engine. Provisions were carried for a stay of one week on the surface and one day in Mars orbit.

Length: 13.00 m (42.00 ft). Basic Diameter: 3.80 m (12.40 ft). Mass: 60,000 kg (132,000 lb). Associated Launch Vehicle: Energia.

• Krasnikov, Aleksandr, Russian Space History Web Site, "Pilotiruemiy polyot na Mars - chetvert veka nazad", . Overview of Soviet designs for manned Mars expeditions, based on material from article by Afanasyev, Igor, article of same title, Vestnik vozdyshnovo flota, n 7-8, 1996. Accessed at: http://www.aha.ru/~kai/spaceflt/index.html.

• Semenov, Yu. P., S P Korolev Space Corporation Energia, RKK Energia, 1994. ISBN: 1896522815. Dual English/Russian language picture book of the history of the Energia Corporation. Many unique photos and drawings of Korolev's rockets and spacecraft. Republished by Apogee books in 2000. More at amazon.com...

• Placard, TsNIIMASH Museum, .