Molniya (rocket)

The Molniya (Russian: Молния, meaning "lightning"), GRAU Index 8K78, was a modification of the well-known R-7 Semyorka rocket and had four stages.[1]

Molniya (R-7 8K78)
Size
Molniya-M carrier rocket
Function	Medium launch vehicle
Manufacturer	Energia
Country of origin	Soviet Union
Height	43.44 m
Diameter	10.3 m
Mass	305,000 kg
Stages	4
Associated rockets
Family	R-7
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	Baikonur, Plesetsk

The 8K78 resulted from a crash program by the Korolev Bureau to develop a booster for launching planetary probes. A larger third stage was added along with a fourth stage (Blok L) that was designed to fire in-orbit to send the payload out of LEO. The basic R-7 core was also structurally strengthened and given more powerful engines. A rushed development produced multiple malfunctions of the upper stages, which led to its being replaced by the improved Molniya-M in 1964, but there were enough 8K78s left to continue flying them into 1967.[2][3][4][5] The Molniya also carried early Venera probes to Venus.

Molniya (E6) was a minor revision adapted for launch of some Luna series space probes.

Characteristics

Length: 43.440 m
Diameter: 10.300 m
Launch mass: 305,000 kg

References

Harvey, Brian (5 July 2007). Russian Planetary Exploration: History, Development, Legacy and Prospects. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-387-46343-8.
Encyclopedia Astronautica Molniya-1 Archived 16 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
Encyclopedia Astronautica Molniya 8K78M Archived 8 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine
Encyclopedia Astronautica Molniya-2 Archived 2 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
The Soyuz Launch Vehicle: The Two Lives of an Engineering Triumph By Christian Lardier, Stefan Barensky, page 156

"Molniya-M Carrier Rocket". РКЦ Прогресс. Retrieved 7 October 2014.

Soviet, and Russian launch vehicles
Active	Angara A5 Soyuz-2 2.1a 2.1b 2-1v UR Proton-M Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F
In development	Amur Angara 1.2 Cyclone-4M Irtysh Soyuz-7
Retired	Dnepr Energia Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M N1 R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original L M U U2 FG Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna Start-1 Tsyklon original 2 3 UR UR-500 Proton-K Rokot Strela Zenit 2 2M
Cancelled (no launch attempts)	Tsyklon-4 Proton Light Medium

Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara A5 Antares 230+ Ariane 5 Atlas V Ceres-1 Delta IV Heavy Electron Epsilon Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy GSLV Mk II Mk III H-IIA Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11^† Kaituozhe 2 LauncherOne Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 7 7A^† 8 11 Minotaur I IV V C OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qased Rocket 3^† Safir Shavit Simorgh^† Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v Unha Vega Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque-1^†
In development	Amur Angara 1.2 Ariane 6 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Eris Firefly Alpha Beta H3 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 921 rocket 9 Miura 5 New Glenn New Line 1 Nuri OS-M2 OS-M4 Orbex Prime SLS Soyuz-7 SSLV Starship Terran 1 Vega C Vega E Vulcan Zero Zhuque-2
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 Ariane 1 2 3 4 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV Diamant Dnepr Energia Europa^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M Lambda 4S Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Saturn I IB V Scout SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates historical or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but did not ever succeed (never did or has performed a successful orbital launch)

R-7 rockets

Main articles

Rockets

Missiles

Launch systems

Sputnik Polyot Voskhod
Vostok	Luna Vostok-L Vostok-K Vostok-2 Vostok-2M
Molniya	Molniya Molniya-M Molniya-L
Soyuz	Soyuz/Vostok Soyuz Soyuz-L Soyuz-M Soyuz-U Soyuz-U2 Soyuz-FG
Soyuz-2	Soyuz 2.1a / STA Soyuz 2.1b / STB Soyuz 2-1v

Launch sites

Baikonur	Site 1/5 Site 31/6
Plesetsk	Site 41/1 Site 16/2 Site 43/3 Site 43/4
Kourou	Ensemble de Lancement Soyouz
Vostochny	Site 1S

Launches

Molniya (rocket)

Characteristics

See also

References