Molniya (rocket)

Colour drawing of the Russian (former Soviet) Molniya-M carrier 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.

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. ^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

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

References

↑ Encyclopedia Astronautica Molniya-1
↑ Encyclopedia Astronautica Molniya 8K78M
↑ Encyclopedia Astronautica Molniya-2
↑ The Soyuz Launch Vehicle: The Two Lives of an Engineering Triumph By Christian Lardier, Stefan Barensky, page 156

Soviet, Russian, and Ukrainian launch vehicles
Active	Angara 1.2 A5 R-7 FG Soyuz-2 2.1a 2.1b 2-1v UR Proton-M Rokot Strela Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F
In development	Angara A5P Cyclone-4M Mayak L1 L2 M1 M2 H3 H5 Proton Light Medium Soyuz-5 Sunkar
Retired	Dnepr Energia Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M N1 Proton UR-500 Proton-K R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna Start-1 Tsyklon 2 3 4 Zenit 2 2M

Orbital launch systems
See also: Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara A5 Antares 230 Ariane 5 Atlas V Delta II IV Electron Epsilon Falcon 9 v1.2 "Full Thrust" GSLV Mk II Mk III H-IIA H-IIB Kuaizhou Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 6 7 11 Minotaur I IV V C Pegasus Proton-M PSLV Rokot Safir Shavit Simorgh Soyuz-FG Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SPARK SS-520 Strela Unha Vega Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F
In development	Angara 1.2 A5P Antares 300 Ariane 6 Cyclone-4M Eris Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy H3 ITS KZ-11 KZ-21 Long March 8 9 LauncherOne Mayak Naga-L Naro-2 New Glenn Oril Proton Light Medium RPS SLS Soyuz-5 Sunkar Tronador II ULV Vector-R VLM Vulcan
Retired	Antares 110/120/130 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 III Diamant Dnepr Energia Europa Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M Lambda 4S Long March 1 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1 N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan Pilot Proton UR-500 K R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna Saturn I IB V INT-21 Scout SLV Space Shuttle Sparta 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 2 3 4 Vanguard VLS-1 Zenit 2 2M

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)

See also

References