Skywatcher
Captain
I was under the impression that the Russian hypersonic test was for a HGV.
Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter tphuang
- Start date
I was under the impression that the Russian hypersonic test was for a HGV.
Odd to see a space rocket, but possibly launching a military satellite, among the launching of so may military missiles.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
The Launch in Question was the Kosmos-2503 which is believed to be a Bars-M1 Military cartographic satellite. Take that how you like. Really through the Russian Space agency and Russian Strategic Rocket corps have worked closely in the past and there is always that close knit relations.
In the past though It was more interesting, Did you know? The Russian Military used to have there own space stations. from 1973 to 1976 the Soviets launched 3 space stations Salyut 2, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5 these were smallish space stations designed to fly over the earth and have the crew operate spy cameras to capture imagery.
They also tossed around Military versions of the Soyuz, for satellite interception ( Analysis, Inspection, Destruction), Photo and electronics intelligence even thought of arming them with a 23mm gun.
Of course this was in the heat of the Cold war And The USAF was looking into a similar program with the Manned Orbiting Laboratory based around a heavily modified Gemini mated to a small hab and equipment payload setup. The US program was canceled after only launching a unmanned heat shield demonstrator, due to the start of the digital age the need to man a spy platform in space was outmoded, but the Russians launched two successful missions before they two moved on.
The later Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 stripped of there pure spy mission, used the basics of the older program to lay the groundwork for Mir, Some the hulls of the Salyut were emptied of any crew and refitted radar systems out of three launches one succeed. The Almaz vehicle was further evolved into the Functional cargo block used to resupply Mir and the basis of a few modules of the Russian portion of the ISS. Today a private space firm Excalibur Almaz has possession of the design rights and a number of retired Almaz hulls with dreams of using them in future missions
