Zenit LV - Credit: © Mark Wade. 2,702 bytes. 123 x 429 pixels.

Zenit was to be a modular new generation medium Soviet launch vehicle, replacing the various ICBM-derived launch vehicles in use since the 1960's (Tsyklon and R-7 derivatives). But it was built by Yuzhnoye in the Ukraine; when the Soviet Union broke up planned large-scale production for the Soviet military was abandoned (Angara development was begun as an indigenous alternative). A version of first stage was used as strap-ons for the cancelled Energia heavy booster. Launch pads were completed only at Baikonur; those at Plesetsk were never finished and are planned to be completed as Angara pads.

Launches: 35. Failures: 7. Success Rate: 80.00% pct. First Launch Date: 13 April 1985. Last Launch Date: 25 September 2000. LEO Payload: 13,740 kg. to: 200 km Orbit. at: 51.4 degrees. Payload: 5,000 kg. to a: sun synchronous, 800 km, 98.6 deg orbital trajectory. Liftoff Thrust: 740,000 kgf. Total Mass: 459,000 kg. Core Diameter: 3.9 m. Total Length: 57.0 m. Launch Price $: 45.00 million. in 1994 price dollars.

• Stage Number: 1. 1 x Zenit-1 Gross Mass: 354,300 kg. Empty Mass: 28,600 kg. Thrust (vac): 834,243 kgf. Isp: 337 sec. Burn time: 150 sec. Isp(sl): 311 sec. Diameter: 3.9 m. Span: 3.9 m. Length: 32.9 m. Propellants: Lox/Kerosene No Engines: 1. RD-171

• Stage Number: 2. 1 x Zenit-2 Gross Mass: 90,600 kg. Empty Mass: 9,000 kg. Thrust (vac): 93,000 kgf. Isp: 349 sec. Burn time: 315 sec. Isp(sl): 0 sec. Diameter: 3.9 m. Span: 3.9 m. Length: 11.5 m. Propellants: Lox/Kerosene No Engines: 1. RD-120

• Zenit launch vehicle authorised.

  Central Committee of the Communist Party and Council of Soviet Ministers Decree 'On the Creation of a Universal Space Missile Complex 11K77 'Zenit'--approval of work on the Zenit launcher' was issued.

• R&D suborbital Zenit launch vehicle test Payload: Mass Model.

  Suborbital.

• Zenit launch vehicle test Payload: Mass Model.

• Zenit launch vehicle test Payload: Mass Model.

  Intended to be suborbital, but some debris reached orbit. Rocket debris decayed by 6/28/85.

• Cosmos 1697 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 3 (Mass Model). Mass: 6,000 kg.

  First launch of new Tselina-2 ELINT satellite on Zenit-2 launch vehicle.

• Cosmos 1714 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 4. Mass: 6,000 kg.

  Tselina-2 ELINT satellite placed in unusable orbit due to second stage failure.

• Cosmos 1767 Payload: Mass Model. Mass: 15,000 kg.

  Investigation of the upper atmosphere and outer space.

• Cosmos 1786 Spacecraft: Koltso. Mass: 15,000 kg.

  Radar calibration mission.

• GVM Spacecraft: Orlets-2. Payload: Orlets-2 Mass Model.

  Mass model of Orlets-2 reconnaissance satellite.

• Cosmos 1820 Spacecraft: Orlets-2. Payload: Orlets-2 Mass Model. Mass: 15,000 kg.

  Launch vehicle test. Mass model of Orlets-2 reconnaissance satellite.

• Cosmos 1833 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 5 (Mass Model). Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 1844 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 6. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 1871 Spacecraft: Uragan Space Interceptor. Payload: Uragan boilerplate or Orlets-2 Mass Model. Mass: 15,000 kg.

  Considered by some observors as possible spite test of Uragan space interceptor boilerplate mass model, just prior to project cancellation.
  Officially: Investigation of the upper atmosphere and outer space.

• Cosmos 1873 Spacecraft: Uragan Space Interceptor. Payload: Uragan boilerplate or Orlets-2 Mass Model. Mass: 15,000 kg.

  Considered by some observors as possible spite test of Uragan space interceptor boilerplate mass model, just prior to project cancellation.
  Officially: Investigation of the upper atmosphere and outer space.

• Uragan spaceplane allegedly cancelled Spacecraft: Uragan Space Interceptor.

  Uragan was said to have been cancelled before the first flight of the Buran shuttle. Possibly the cancellation of US Shuttle polar orbit military missions from Vandenberg after the Challenger explosion eliminated the space interceptor's mission. Or perhaps it never existed and was merely the subject of a very successful disinformation campaign. Adding even more confusion is that it is now known that at least two spaceplanes - Chelomei's LKS, for launch on Proton, and Molniya's OK-M, for launch on Zenit, were being designed concurrently with Buran. And the official history of the MiG OKB, states cryptically that after completion of the 105-11 flight tests development of the spaceplane continued....

• Cosmos 1943 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 7. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 1980 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 8. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 2082 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 9. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Tselina-2 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 10. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Tselina-2 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 11. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Tselina-2 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 12. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 2219 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 13. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 2227 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 14. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 2237 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 15. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 2263 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 16. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 2278 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 17. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 2290 Spacecraft: Orlets-2. Payload: Orlets-2 no. 1. Mass: 13,000 kg.

  Only flight of Orlets-2 long-duration military reconnaissance satellite with 22 film-return capsules.

• Resurs-O1 No. 3 Spacecraft: Resurs-O1. Payload: Resurs-O1 No. 3. Mass: 1,900 kg.

  Studied natural resources. It carried the German Safir-R1 communications experiment as a secondary attached payload. Expected life 3 to 5 years.

• Cosmos 2297 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 18. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 2322 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 19. Mass: 6,000 kg.

• Cosmos 2333 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 20.

  New heavy ELINT class.

• Heavy ELINT Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 21.

• Fasat-Bravo Spacecraft: Microsat SSTL. Mass: 50 kg.

  Customer: Chilean Air Force (FACH). Chile's second satellite carrying store and forward and Earth observation payloads, replacing those lost on FASat-Alpha. Still operational as of 2000. Additional Details: Fasat-Bravo.

• TMSAT Spacecraft: Microsat SSTL. Mass: 50 kg.

  Customer: Thailand (Thai Microsatellite Company and MUT). Thailand's first microsatellite built through a technology transfer programme with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. Carried store and forward and Earth observation payloads. Still operational as of 2000. Additional Details: TMSAT.

• Resurs-O1 No. 4 Spacecraft: Resurs-O1. Payload: Resurs-O1 No. 4.

  In addition to its remote sensing equipment, the satellite carried the Belgian LLMS (Little LEO Messaging System) communications payload for the IRIS system. The launch was critical in restoring confidence in the Zenit vehicle prior to planned commercial launches of Globalstar satellites from Baikonur and the first Sea Launch flights using a three-stage Zenit from a California-based floating launch platform. Expected life 3 to 5 years.

• Gurwin Techsat 1B Spacecraft: Gurwin. Mass: 50 kg.

  Built by Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Replaced earlier Russian-launched Techsat which failed to orbit in 1995.

• WESTPAC Spacecraft: GFZ-1. Mass: 24 kg.

  Formerly known as WPLTN-1, this geodesy satellite was a copy of Potsdam's GFZ-1 satellite, a sphere covered with laser retroreflectors, with a different `Fizeau' corner cube design. It serves as a target for the Western Pacific Laser Tracking Network (WPLTN) and is a joint project of Electro Optic Systems of Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia, and the Russian Space Agency. Diameter is 0.24m.

• SAFIR-2 Spacecraft: Safir. Mass: 60 kg.

  Relay satellite built by OHB System of Bremen.

• Cosmos 2360 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2 no. 22.

• Globalstar FM11 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM11. Mass: 222 kg.

• Globalstar FM21 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM21. Mass: 222 kg.

• Globalstar FM20 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM20. Mass: 222 kg.

• Globalstar FM18 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM18. Mass: 222 kg.

• Globalstar FM17 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM17. Mass: 222 kg.

• Globalstar FM16 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM16. Mass: 222 kg.

• Globalstar FM12 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM12. Mass: 222 kg.

• Globalstar FM10 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM10. Mass: 222 kg.

• Globalstar FM9 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM9. Mass: 222 kg.

• Globalstar FM7 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM7. Mass: 222 kg.

• Globalstar FM5 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM5. Mass: 222 kg.

  Fell in Siberia.

• Globalstar FM13 Spacecraft: Globalstar. Payload: Globalstar FM13. Mass: 222 kg.

• Okean-O Spacecraft: Okean-O. Payload: Okean-O no. 1. Mass: 4,360 kg.

  First of a new generation of larger Okean oceanographic satellites, carried a side-looking radar (RSL-BO), and a set of visible and infrared scanners and radiometers. It is built by the Ukrainian Yuzhnoye company and is a joint project of the Russian Aviation/Space Agency (RAKA) and the Ukrainian National Space Agency (NKAU).

• Cosmos 2369 Spacecraft: Tselina-2. Payload: Tselina-2.

  ELINT satellite.

• Cosmos 2372 Spacecraft: Orlets-2.

  Reported code name Yenisey. It is speculated that this is an improved version of the Orlets satellite launched as Cosmos 2290 in 1994.

• 42 - Isakowitz, Steven J,, International Reference to Space Launch Systems Second Edition, AIAA, Washington DC, 1991.
• 61 - Wilson, Andrew, editor,, Jane's/Interavia Space Directory, Jane's Information Group, Coulsdon, Surrey, 1992 et al.
• 455 - Isakowitz, Steven J,, International Reference to Space Launch Systems Third Edition, AIAA, Washington DC, 2000.