Soviet R-7 Semiorka (Little Seven)

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Soviet R-7 Semiorka (Little Seven)
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Soviet R-7

• Background
• Early Soviet missile development programs
  included the first long-range surface-to-air
  missile, and the increased range and later
  submarine-launched R-11
• The first nuclear warhead missile, the R-5 also
  evolved directly from the R-1 / V-2
• All were incapable of reaching other continents
  or reaching orbit

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Soviet R-7

• Background
• Korolev' knew what capabilities were needed for
  both an ICBM and reaching orbit and requested
  permission to build the first intercontinental
  ballistic missile (ICBM)
• The ICBM request was approved in 1952 by Stalins
  decree
• The new R-7 missile was a new-generation,
  heavy-lift booster that was the first large
  rocket not derived from Germany's V-2

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R-7 Design
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Soviet R-7

• Following the government decree of February 13,
  1953, the design bureaus under Korolev's OBK-1
  began a preliminary design of the two-stage
  long-range missile
• Early specifications for the R-7 launcher were
  for a nuclear warhead payload capacity carried
  over intercontinental distances
• 170 ton vehicle mass
• 3,000 kg payload
• Range of 8,000 km

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Soviet R-7

• Korolevs initial design for the R-7 had two
  stages ignited at the same time
• Four external booster segments comprised the
  first stage (Stage B)
• Stage A was the second stage called the core
  stage
• The booster and core design was based on several
  models of Helmut Grottrup, a German engineer
  brought to Russia with the V-2s

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Soviet R-7

• The R-7's engines also used a German design for
  the combustion chambers
• R-7s core and booster stages employed a
  four-engine cluster designed by Glushko
• Originally the engines for core and booster were
  specified as a single engine rated at 65 ton
  thrust
• Designated RD-105/106

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Soviet R-7

• Because of combustion instabilities in the large
  thruster design, Glushko configured four 25 ton
  thrusters in the RD-107/108 clusters
• A single turbopump was designed to feed fuel and
  oxidizer to all four engines
• Simplified the propellant feed, but the multiple
  chambers and a single pump shaft was a potential
  problem for reliable engine operation

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Soviet R-7

• Korolev also felt that the four-engine unit
  required steering thrusters to achieve the needed
  warhead impact accuracy
• Improved guidance during the thrust phase
• Improved impact accuracy by steering the missile
  after booster cutoff

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Soviet R-7

• RD-108
• RD-108 core engine contained four 25 ton engines
  with four smaller vernier outboard engines for
  impact guidance

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Soviet R-7

• Photo of the assembly line for the R-7 at the
  Baikonor facility. The core module and RD-108
  engine is on the right, a single booster with a
  RD-107 engine is on the left

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Soviet R-7

• RD-107/8
• Four RD-107 booster units and a single RD-108
  core engine are shown on a recent Soyuz booster,
  an almost identical design of Korolevs R-7 ICBM

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Soviet R-7

• In the completed design, both the RD-107 and
  RD-108 had vernier guidance thrusters
• Four for the core RD-108 module
• Two for the RD-107 used on each of the four
  booster modules

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Soviet R-7

• The RD-107 and 108 engines had a two-phase
  startup and operation cycle
• Began with the main thruster starting with simple
  gravity feed for the fuel and oxidizer injection
  into the combustion chamber
• As the propellant flow increased, the turbopump
  accelerated and forced hydrogen peroxide liquid
  into a gas generator for even greater pressure
  that drove the turbopump faster
• After reaching operating speed, the engines
  sustained the normal thrust levels for liftoff
  and ascent

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Soviet R-7

• Supporting trusses on the launch pad held the
  rocket down until full take-off thrust was
  developed, about 10 seconds after ignition
• During flight, a special system synchronized the
  fuel consumption of the four strap-on boosters to
  keep the rocket's weight in balance
• Radio guidance sensors and control commands were
  used for testing and guidance of the missile
  during early flight

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Soviet R-7

• Glushko's quad cluster design provided 100 tons
  of thrust in addition to the guidance thrusters
  that were also fed by the same turbopump unit
• Regenerative cooling of the exhaust nozzle was
  accomplished by circulating kerosene before its
  injection into the combustion chamber

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Soviet R-7

• Fuel and oxidizer for the R-7 was LOX and
  kerosene which had a 250 sec specific impulse
• Glushko felt strongly that rocket fuels should be
  used that could be stored at ambient temperatures
  instead of at cryogenic temperatures
• This disagreement persisted throughout Gluskkos
  personal conflict with Korolev

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Soviet R-7

• The RD-107 weighed only 25 percent more than the
  V-2 engine but developed over three times as much
  thrust
• The outer wall of the RD-107/8 engine was steel
  and the inner wall was a chromium bronze alloy 6
  mm thick
• 5 mm deep channels were milled into the chamber
  to conduct a flow of kerosene for regenerative
  cooling

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Soviet R-7

• The 3.8 ton-thrust verniers were designed by
  Mikhail Malnikov which later evolved into small
  upper stage engines for their lunar and manned
  vehicles (Mitchell)
• The four combustion chambers shared a 3,800 kW
  (5,000 HP) steam-powered turbopump
• A common drive shaft turned pumps for kerosene,
  liquid oxygen, hydrogen peroxide (for steam
  generation), liquid nitrogen (for tank
  pressurization) and pumps for the vernier engines

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Soviet R-7 Specs

• Design (overall) S. Korolev OKB-1 Bureau
• Engine design V. Glushko OKB-456 Bureau
• Control system N. Pilugin NI-885 Bureau
• Vehicle length 28 m (without upper stage)
• Weight 280 metric tons (wet) 27 tons
  empty
• Fuel Refined kerosene (T-1)
• Oxidizer Liquid oxygen (LOX)
• Stage 1 4 strap-on (external) boosters, each
  with a 4 engine cluster RD-107 2 steering
  engines
• Stage 2 Core (center) module - 4 engine
  cluster RD-108 4-steering engines
• Range 8,500-8,800 km
• Stage 1 burn 104-130 sec
• Stage 2 burn 285-320 sec

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R-7 Testing and Qualification
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Soviet R-7

• The first launch of the R-7 was on May 15, 1957,
  two months after delivery to the pre-launch
  processing facilities in March 1957
• The flight was successful until a strap-on
  booster separated at T98 seconds, creating
  instability and producing a complete breakup
• A second launch test was made on 11 June, 1957,
  with a failure due to a Stage A propellant
  pressurization problem

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Soviet R-7

• The third test launch was made on 12 July, 1957,
  but failed 33 seconds after liftoff due to a
  control circuit error
• A fourth launch was made on 21 August, 1957 with
  Nakita Kruschev present
• Although the launch was called a success, a
  complication with the warhead separation led to
  an impact with the vehicle
• This first launch of the R-7 was immediately
  announced as a successful launch of the world's
  first ICBM

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Soviet R-7

• U.S. military planners and the Eisenhower
  administration realized they were far behind the
  Russians with their Atlas ICBM program
• This was the birth of the missile gap that,
  while political and not supported by missile and
  warhead count, led to rapid weapons buildup on
  both sides

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Soviet R-7

• R-7 ICBM
• A second verification test of the ICBM was made
  on 7 September, 1957 to qualify the R-7 for the
  Sputnik satellite launch
• The qualification testing for the Soviet's ICBM
  role continued until acceptance and deployment in
  1960
• Even after the R-7 systems were refined for use
  as a reliable, accurate ICBM weapon, the missile
  was never deployed in significant numbers

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Soviet R-7

• R-7 telemetric warhead used for development and
  testing of the ICBM

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Soviet R-7

• Soviet thermonuclear warhead used on the R-7 ICBM

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Soviet R-7

• ICBM (cont.)
• Fueling was time consuming and a tanking would be
  useful for only 24 hours after which it would
  have to be drained, re-eximined, and if necessary
  refurbished, and then cycled which took another
  36 hours
• This tripled the number of R-7s that had to be
  online for nuclear weapons strategic deployment
• In addition, the R-7 required above-ground launch
  facilities made it vulnerable to attack or even
  sabotage

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Soviet R-7 ICBM

• ICBM (cont.)
• By August of 1961, there were only four R-7
  ICBM's in operational service
• This included two missiles in storage the two
  operational launch pads at Plesetsk
• The R-7 was removed from service as an ICBM in
  1967, but continued on in space launch
  applications and are still used today

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R-7 Conversions
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Soviet R-7

• Korolev's R-7 has had unmatched success as a
  launcher, from the early ICBMs to today's Soyuz
  and Molinya boosters
• Between 1957 and 2000, over 1,628 R-7s were
  launched with a success rate of 97.5 for
  production models
• The R-7 was also adapted for use in the first
  Russian manned flights with a larger third stage
  added for boost into orbit

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Soviet R-7

• The Vostok booster configuration, also called the
  Vostok, had a payload capacity of 5 tons
• An even larger third stage booster increased the
  payload to 6 tons to accommodate the Voshkod and
  later the Soyuz manned vehicles
• As of 2010, every manned Russian or Soviet
  spaceflight has been launched by an R-7
  derivative

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Soviet R-7

• Launch test of the Vostok capsule and Vostok
  launch vehicle, one of the many R-7 derivatives

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Soviet R-7

• A Soyuz launch vehicle and mated Soyuz capsule is
  shown being transported from the Baikonour plant
  to the launch pad

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Soviet R-7
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Soviet R-7

• A Soyuz launch vehicle and mated Soyuz capsule is
  shown being transported from the Baikonour plant
  to the launch site stand

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Soviet R-7

• The original design of the R-7 core and four
  strap-on booster was adapted as a lunar and
  interplanetary launcher by adding a third and
  fourth stage
• Later manned launchers also included a third
  stage to produce the Vostok launch vehicles that
  had a payload capacity of 5 metric tons

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Soviet R-7

• An even larger third stage was used for the
  Voskhod and Soyuz crew vehicles, with a payload
  over 6 tons
• A fourth stage was used for the Molniya booster
  to place communications satellites into
  high-inclination, high-altitude, eccentric orbits

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Soviet R-7

• R-7 ICBM
• Called the R-7 and R-7A Semyorka
• Classified by Western intelligence as SS-6
  Sapwood
• Launch system variants
• Sputnik, Polyot, Voskhod, Soyuz/Vostok, Vostok,
  Luna, Vostok-L Vostok-K Vostok-2, Vostok-2M,
  Molniya, Molniya-M, Soyuz, Soyuz-L, Soyuz-M,
  Soyuz-U, Soyuz-U2, Soyuz-FG, Soyuz-2

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• References and Resources
• Mitchel, Don P., The R-7 Missile
• http//www.mentallandscape.com/S_R7.htm

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The End