Sunrise (booster)

"Sunrise" - a three - stage launch vehicle from the P-7 family .

When the Zenit-2 reconnaissance satellite was modified for a camera with a triple (3 m versus 1 m) focal length for more detailed shooting, the mass increased from 4.7 to 6.3 tons, which excluded the launch of the Vostok launch vehicle into orbit, therefore, the Molniya launch vehicle without the fourth stage was taken as the basis.

As the first and second stages, a standard R-7A launch vehicle (without warhead and RUP system) was used. The third step instead of block “E” was the much more powerful block “I” created for “Lightning”. Block “I” was developed on the basis of the construction of the second stage of the 8K75 “R-9” intercontinental ballistic missile .

The rocket was first launched on November 16, 1963 and received the index 11A57. The missile was operated until 1976, a total of 300 missiles of this series were launched.

With the help of this rocket, Voskhod spacecraft were launched into orbit. Most widely, this booster rocket was used to launch the Zenit-4 reconnaissance satellite , created on the basis of the Vostok spacecraft .