L1-1960

Russian manned lunar flyby spacecraft. Study 1960. Circumlunar manned spacecraft proposed by Korolev in January 1960. The L1 would a man on a loop around the moon and back to earth by 1964.

The L1 would evolve into the Soyuz A design of 1963, and fly as the Soyuz 7K-L1 in 1967-1970.

In a letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Part in January 1960 Korolev proposed an aggressive program for Communist conquest of space. Among the potential payloads for his rocket in the period 1963 to 1965 Korolev mentioned an L1 'loop around the moon' vehicle with a mass during lunar flyby of 5 to 6 metric tons including a 2 to 3 metric ton re-entry vehicle for return to earth. The final decree 715-296 of 23 June 1960 authorized draft project work on the L1 and the N1 booster. The L1 would evolve into the Soyuz A design of 1963.

Crew Size: 3.