Voskhod (rocket)
Russian launch vehicle
Voskhod (Russian: Восход, lit. 'ascent/dawn', GRAU index: 11A57, Sheldon: A-2, DoD: SL-4) was Soviet medium-lift launch vehicle, a derivative of the R-7, an ICBM. The Voskhod rocket was designed for the human spaceflight programme but later used for launching Zenit reconnaissance satellites. It was essentially an 8K78/8K78M minus the Blok L stage and spec-wise was a halfway between the two boosters, with the former's older, lower-spec engines and the latter's improved Blok I design. Its first flight was on 16 November 1963 when it successfully launched a Zenit satellite from LC-1/5 at Baikonur. Boosters used in the Voskhod program had a man-rated version of the RD-0107 engine; this version was known as the RD-0108.
Starting in 1966, the 11A57 adopted the standardized 11A511 core with the more powerful 8D74M first stage engines, however the Blok I stage continued using the RD-0107 engine rather than the RD-0110. Around 300 were flown from Baikonur and Plesetsk through 1976, almost all of them used to launch Zenit reconnaissance satellites (one exception was the Intercosmos 6 satellite in 1973).
The newer 11A511U core had been introduced in 1973, but the existing stock of 11A57s took another three years to use up.
The rocket had a streak of 86 consecutive successful launches between 11 September 1967 and 9 July 1970.
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