[FPSPACE] Russian/Soviet Launch Vehicles Names

[David Anderman]

Anatoly:

Another possibility is that the Tsiklon and Zenit launchers were 
intended to fly versions of the Tsiklin and Zenit spacecraft, but the 
plans were never fulfilled. As you know, the Tsiklon spacecraft was 
in the class of payloads that the Tsiklon LV could put into a 1000 km 
orbit, and the Zenit spacecraft was about half the Zenit LV's 
capability, but maybe a growth version of the payload was planned.

DWA


At 10:41 AM 3/15/2007, agzak at optonline.net wrote:
>I am guessing here, but it seems that unlike other rockets, Zenit 
>and Tsyklon were
>declassified in mid-1980s, when USSR first explored the possibility 
>of entering commercial
>launch market. At the time, their payloads -- Tselina and US, 
>respectively -- remained
>classified, therefore random names were picked up for rockets, even 
>though unrelated Zenit
>and Tsyklon satellite programs did exist.
>
>Anatoly Zak
>RussianSpaceWeb.com