Vostok-L (8K72) Launch Vehicle
Vostok-L (8K72) was a three-stage Soviet orbital and escape launch vehicle in the R-7 lineage, used from 1958 through 1960 for the first Luna probes. It combined the R-7 core and four strap-on boosters with a Blok E upper stage. Its nine launch attempts included the successful Luna 1, Luna 2, and Luna 3 missions.
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Identity
- Aliases
- Vostok-L 8K72Vostok-L rocketLuna 8K72
- Family Name
- Vostok-L
- Full Name
- Vostok-L (8K72) Launch Vehicle
- Status
- retired
- Type
- rocket
Details
- Description
- Vostok-L (8K72) was a three-stage Soviet orbital and escape launch vehicle in the R-7 lineage, used from 1958 through 1960 for the first Luna probes. It combined the R-7 core and four strap-on boosters with a Blok E upper stage. Its nine launch attempts included the successful Luna 1, Luna 2, and Luna 3 missions.
- Dimensions
- Diameter
- …
- Height
- …
- First Flight Year
- 1,958
- Last Flight Year
- 1,960
- Operator
- Parent Vehicle Family
- Propulsion Configurations
- Entries
- Count
- 4
- Placement
- booster
- Propulsion System
- Role
- booster
- Stage
- first-stage
- Variant Notes
- Four RD-107 engines on the R-7 strap-on booster blocks; dash-number subvariant is intentionally not inferred.
- Count
- 1
- Placement
- core
- Propulsion System
- Role
- main
- Stage
- second-stage
- Variant Notes
- One RD-108 on the central R-7 core stage; dash-number subvariant is intentionally not inferred.
- Count
- 1
- Placement
- upper
- Propulsion System
- Role
- upper-stage
- Stage
- third-stage
- Variant Notes
- One exact RD-0105 powers the Block E third stage used by Vostok-L/8K72.
- Name
- Vostok-L 8K72 configuration
- Notes
- Exact three-stage Vostok-L/Luna-era stack: four early RD-107 booster engines, one RD-108 core engine, and one RD-0105 Block E third-stage engine. The available agency and developer sources do not establish a narrower 8D74/8D75 production subvariant boundary for this family row, so the canonical model records are reused without inventing dash-number identities.
- Rocket Specs
- Liftoff Mass
- …
- Reusability
- expendable
- Stages Count
- 3
- Strap On Boosters Count
- 4
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 18, 2026 at 22:06:11 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 1, 2026 at 14:25:25 UTC
- Image
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