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Vostok-L 8K72
Part of R-7
Luna LV
Luna LV
Credit: © Mark Wade
Russian orbital launch vehicle. R-7 ICBM with single-engine upper stage used for early Soviet unmanned lunar shots.

AKA: 8K72;A-1;Luna;Luna 8K72;SL-3. Status: Retired 1960. First Launch: 1958-09-23. Last Launch: 1960-04-16. Number: 9 . Payload: 4,000 kg (8,800 lb). Thrust: 3,956.76 kN (889,515 lbf). Gross mass: 277,000 kg (610,000 lb). Height: 30.84 m (101.18 ft). Diameter: 2.60 m (8.50 ft). Apogee: 400,000 km (240,000 mi).

The problem of start-up of a rocket stage in zero-G was not solved in the Soviet Union until Korolev's Luna upper stage was developed for the R-7. A 20 March 1958 government resolution required the first launch of a Soviet probe to the moon within a year. In this period Glushko was developing the RD-109 engine for a high performance R-7 third stage. This burned liquid oxygen and UDMH propellants, achieving the astonishing specific impulse of 350 seconds. This would potentially double the payload compared to a liquid oxygen/kerosene stage. But the new technology engine was considered too much of a risk by Korolev. It also used the toxic hydrazine fuel he detested on principal. So on 10 October 1958 he gave Kosberg the task of developing a third stage engine for the R-7 derived from the R-7 first stage verniers and burning his preferred liquid oxygen/kerosene propellants. This would power the first Luna probes to the moon and later be developed into the Vostok and Molniya upper stages.

LEO Payload: 4,000 kg (8,800 lb). Payload: 280 kg (610 lb) to a translunar trajectory.

Stage Data - Luna 8K72


More at: Vostok-L 8K72.

Family: orbital launch vehicle. Country: Russia. Engines: RD-0105, RD-107-8D74-1958, RD-108-8D75-1958. Spacecraft: Luna E-1, Luna E-1A, Luna E-3. Projects: Luna. Launch Sites: Baikonur, Baikonur LC1. Stages: Luna 8K72-0, Luna 8K72-1, Luna 8K72-2. Agency: Korolev bureau.
Photo Gallery

R-7 aft endR-7 aft end
Credit: © Mark Wade



1958 March 20 - . LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72.
1958 August 18 - . Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: Baikonur. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72.
1958 September 2 - . LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72.
1958 September 23 - . Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: Baikonur LC1. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72. FAILURE: Launcher disintegrated 93 seconds after launch due to longitudinal resonance of strap-ons.. Failed Stage: 0.
1958 October 11 - . 08:42 GMT - . Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: Baikonur LC1. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72. FAILURE: Launcher disintegrated 104 seconds after launch due to longitudinal resonance of strap-ons.. Failed Stage: 0.
1958 December 4 - . Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: Baikonur LC1. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72. FAILURE: Core engines shut off at 245 seconds into the flight. Cause was a loss of lubrication to the hydrogen peroxide pump.. Failed Stage: 1.
1959 January 2 - . 16:41 GMT - . Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: Baikonur LC1. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72. FAILURE: Failure of the launch vehicle control system.. Failed Stage: G.
1959 June 18 - . Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: Baikonur LC1. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72. FAILURE: Inertial system failed at 153 seconds after launch. Vehicle destroyed by range safety.. Failed Stage: G.
1959 September 12 - . 06:39 GMT - . Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: Baikonur LC1. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72.
1959 October 4 - . 00:43 GMT - . Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: Baikonur LC1. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72.
1960 April 15 - . Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: Baikonur LC1. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72. FAILURE: The third stage RO-5 engine either did not reach full thrust or shut down early.. Failed Stage: 3.
1960 April 16 - . 16:07 GMT - . Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: Baikonur LC1. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Vostok-L 8K72. FAILURE: Strap-on B reached only 75 percent of thrust at ignition. Four tenths of a second after liftoff it broke away from the core.. Failed Stage: 2.

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