Vostok 4

Launch Success

Liftoff Time (GMT)

08:02:33

Sunday August 12, 1962

Mission Details

Launch Notes

First time that two crewed vessels are in space at the same time (Vostok 3). First close passage between two vessels (less than 5km). First time that a cosmonaut on mission sees an artificial satellite from space (Vostok 3). First communications between two vessels (Vostok 3).

Vostok 4

Wiki

Vostok 4 was a mission in the Soviet space program. It was launched in August 1962, a day after Vostok 3 with cosmonaut Pavel Popovich on board—the first time that more than one crewed spacecraft were in orbit at the same time. The two Vostok capsules came within 6.5 km of one another and ship-to-ship radio contact was established. The cosmonauts of Vostok 3 and 4 did not attempt rendezvous. At one point the craft came within a few kilometers of each other and Popovich later reported at a news conference that he saw the other craft from orbit. Popovich is quoted as saying, "I saw it at once," referring to seeing Vostok 3 in orbit. "It looked like a very small moon in the distance." The Vostok 3 and 4 spacecraft landed about 200 km apart, south of Karaganda, Kazakhstan. The mission went largely as planned, despite a malfunction with the Vostok's life-support systems that caused cabin temperature to drop to 10 °C. The flight was terminated early after a misunderstanding by ground control, who believed that Popovich had given them a codeword asking to be brought back ahead of schedule. The re-entry capsule is now on display at the NPO Zvezda Museum in Moscow, but it has been modified to represent the Voskhod 2 capsule.

Low Earth Orbit

1 Payload

4,728 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Vostok

Active 1958 to 1964

OKB-1 logo

Manufacturer

OKB-1

Rocket

Height: 38.36m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 4,730 kg

GTO: 0 kg

Liftoff Thrust

4,570 Kilonewtons

Fairing

Diameter: 2.58m

Height: 6.74m

Stages

3

Strap-ons

4

Launch Site

Site 1/5

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Fastest Turnaround

23 hr 32 min

Stats

Vostok


22nd

Mission

3rd

Mission of 1962

OKB-1


39th

Mission

10th

Mission of 1962

1962


44th

Orbital launch attempt