NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

Cosmos 656

Launch Time
Mon May 27, 1974 07:25 UTC

Uncrewed test flight of the Soyuz vessel.

Rocket

Soyuz
RVSN USSR
Status: Retired
Liftoff Thrust: 4,456 kN
Payload to LEO: 6,640 kg
Payload to GTO: 0 kg
Stages: 3
Strap-ons: 4
Rocket Height: 48.47 m
Fairing Diameter: 3.0 m
Fairing Height: 12.8 m

Mission Details

Cosmos 656

Cosmos 656 was an uncrewed test of the Soyuz 7K-T, a variant of the Soyuz spacecraft. This Soyuz variant was intended for flights to the Almaz military space stations

This is Soyuz's 23th flight.

The Soyuz is a Soviet crewed spaceship, developed to made manned lunar missions. This version called 7K will fly 4 times on the giant launcher N1, and several tens of times on Proton to fly over the Moon, which will be successful during the mission Zond 4. Soyuz will become the first spacecraft to transport living beings to the Moon during the flight of Zond 5, with two turtles. Subsequently, it is adapted to low orbit and will fly on the Soyuz launcher to serve the Salyut and Mir stations and the ISS.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 6,675.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit

Location

Site 1/5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Stats

1974

39th orbital launch attempt

Soyuz

25th mission
1st mission of 1974
24th successful mission
23rd consecutive successful mission