Foton 8

Launch Success

Liftoff Time (GMT)

18:59:59

Thursday October 8, 1992

Mission Details

Foton 8

The Foton satellites are built on the basis of the Zenit satellites, themselves derived from the Vostok spacecraft. Foton has a mass of 7t, can carry 625kg of equipment, and has an operational life in orbit of thirty days. A Bion satellite can be broken down into three parts: the Drop Compartment, the Descent Compartment (SA) and the Instrument Compartment. Only the SA Compartment is capable of returning to Earth. It contains most of the scientific payload. It is shaped like a sphere 2,3 m in diameter and has two hatches 1,2 m in diameter. The Instrument Compartment is cylindrical in shape and has a mass of 500kg. It has a diameter of 2m and a length of 50cm. It also contains scientific experiments.

Low Earth Orbit

1 Payload

7,200 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Soyuz U

Active 1973 to 2017

RKK Energiya logo

Manufacturer

RKK Energiya

Price

$20.00 million

Rocket

Height: 51.32m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 6,860 kg

GTO: 0 kg

Liftoff Thrust

4,456 Kilonewtons

Fairing

Diameter: 3m

Height: 15.59m

Stages

3

Strap-ons

4

Launch Site

Site 43/4

Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia

Fastest Turnaround

37 hr 53 min

Stats

Soyuz U


675th

Mission

18th

Mission of 1992

1992


67th

Orbital launch attempt