L-4 Soyuz Lunar Circumnavigation
The L-1 program was not the only Soviet project to fly around the moon. Project L-4, developed in 1963 and included in the USSR space program for the period 1965-1975, provided for detailed studies from circumlunar orbit. PH N-1 should have put 75 tons of payload into the satellite orbit, which would consist of an upper stage for switching to the flight path to the Moon, a brake engine for reaching the lunar orbit and the system necessary for a safe return to Earth. The crew would be 2-3 people.
The mass of the spacecraft at the moon was 11.5 tons, the mass of the return part was 5.5 tons, including the 2.5-ton descent module. In the case of a delay with the last stage for the H-1, the device could be assembled in orbit from elements launched by the Soyuz rocket launcher. In this case, the L-4 program was similar to the L-1 (although a more serious spacecraft was used).
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