The first launch of the carrier rocket “Proton”

On July 16, 1965 took place the first launch of the rocket UR-500 in two-level version with the scientific space station “Proton-1” the name of which later became the name of the carrier rocket.

The government set the task to project the carrier rocket “Proton” in 1962. However the research works for creation of carrier rocket of heavy class (internal code number UR-500 – universal rocket with the start weight of about 500 tones) already began in the second half of 1961 under the guidance of V.N. Chelomei. The rockets were produced at the machine-shop named after Khrunitchev. The projecting and manufacturing of such a class of rockets had never been practiced before in our country and some of the solutions regarding UR-500 did not have at the time and still do not have any analogues in the Russian nor in the foreign practice.

Technical and launching complexes of Baikonur were put into operation by 1965 to serve UR-500. To assemble the carrier rocket it was arranged to supply the parts of the rocket by railway road in order to minimize the assembly works at the technical complex.

In 1965-1966 the two-level rocket carrier UR-500 launched the man-made Earth satellites “Proton-1”, “Proton-2” and “Proton-3”. Their scientific equipment provided the study of space rays and particles of ultrahigh energies.

Beginning from 1967 the rocket has been launched in its present format – three and four level versions. The launch of the rocket carrier “Proton-K” was realized in 1968 when the heavy scientific and research satellite “Proton-4” was put into orbit. Owing to the rocket carrier “Proton” the following satellites were put into space: “Cosmos”, “Ecran”, “Raduga”, “Horizon”, the satellites for studying the Moon, the Mars, the Venus, Galley comet; manned orbit stations “Salut”, “Mir” as well as the heavy special modules “Kvant”, “Kvant-2”, “Crystal”, “Spectr”, “Priroda”  that they contained, the Russian modules of the international space station “Zarya” and “Zvezda”.

In 2000 the rocket carrier “Proton” had been gradually replaced by the modernized “Proton-M” version that had more perfect control system, improved field-performance data and increased volume for pay load.

At the present “Proton” is the transport basis for the Russian State space program. It is also widely used in trade for putting into orbit the foreign spaceships.

Lit.: Гусев В.Ф. Прошлое, настоящее и будущее ракеты-носителя «Протон-К» //Космос, время, энергия: Сб. статей посвящ.100-летию Д.Д. Иваненко. - М.: Белка, 2004.; 40 лет c момента первого старта ракеты-носителя «Протон» [Электронный ресурс] : пресс-релиз // Государственный космический научно-производственный центр имени М.В.Хруничева. 15.07.2005. URL: www.khrunichev.com/main.php?id=1&nid=253

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Outer Space: [digital collection].