Molniya (rocket)

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

For other uses, see Molniya (disambiguation).

The Molniya 8K78 (Russian: Молния, meaning "lightning") 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]

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 Dnepr R-7 Soyuz U FG Soyuz-2 2.1a 2.1b 2-1v UR Proton-M Rokot Strela Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F

In development	Angara 1.1 A5P A5V Mayak L1 L2 M1 M2 H3 H5 Proton Light Medium Soyuz-5 5.1 5.2 5.3 Tsyklon-4

Retired	Energia Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M N1 Proton UR-500 Proton-K R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original L M U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna Rus-M (cancelled) Start-1 Tsyklon 2 3 Zenit 2 2M

Orbital launch systems

See also: Comparison of orbital launch systems

Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Antares 200 Ariane 5 Atlas V Delta II IV Dnepr Epsilon Falcon 9 v1.2 "Full Thrust" GSLV H-IIA H-IIB Kuaizhou Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B 3C 4B 4C 5 6 7 11 LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Pegasus Proton-M PSLV Rokot Safir Shavit Simorgh Soyuz U FG Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v Strela Unha Vega Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F

In development	Angara A5P A5V Antares 300 Ariane 6 Electron Falcon 9 "Block 5" Falcon Heavy Firefly α H3 ITS KZ-11 KZ-21 Long March 8 9 LauncherOne Mayak Naga-L Naro-2 New Glenn Orel Proton Light Medium RPS SLS Soyuz-5 SPARK SS-520 Tronador II Tsyklon-4 ULV VLM Vulcan

Retired	Antares 100 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 Energia Europa Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 Feng Bao 1 H-I H-II Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M Lambda 4S Long March 1 2A 2E 3 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 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 Vanguard 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	ELS

Vostochny	Site 1S

Launches

Molniya (rocket)

See also

References