Voskhod 1 - Voskhod 1 in assembly. Credit: RKK Energia. 16,361 bytes. 340 x 226 pixels.

Korolev was always interested in application of artificial gravity for large space stations and interplanetary craft. He sought to test this in orbit from the early days of the Vostok programme. Three versions were considered:

• Voskhod 3KV, tethered to its booster�s final rocket stage, Block I

• Soyuz 7K-OK, tethered to Block I

• Two Soyuz 7K-OK, which would rendezvous and dock in orbit and then undock, pulling the tether out between them.

Separation of the two components with a rotation of 0.5 degrees/second would produce 0.03 G of artificial gravity. The components would then close to 300 m, reaching 7 degrees/second and 1/6 G. The Voskhod would need additional liquid fuel rocket thrusters fitted to put the components into rotation. When follow-on Voskhod flights after Voskhod 2 were cancelled, the experiment was moved to the Soyuz 7K-OK project. However after Korolev�s death, this project in turn was closed by Mishin on 28 March 1966 and not pursued further.

Total Mass: 5,800 kg.

Korolev was always interested in application of artificial gravity for large space stations and interplanetary craft. After Korolev�s death, the project was closed by Mishin and not pursued further.

• 283 - Vetrov, G S, S. P. Korolev i evo delo, Nauka, Moscow, 1998.