Carrier Rockets of the World: Tsyklon (Russia/CIS)

摘要

The Tsyklon was developed in the mid-1960s based on the SS-9 (Scarp) ICBM. Itbelongs to the Sheldon system's F family of medium-sized carrier rockets. Of these, the F-1-r (SL-10 Tsyklon 1) has been retired, and the F-1-m (SL-11 Tsyklon 2) and F-2 (SL-14 Tsyklon 3) are still in service. The load capacity of the Tsyklon carrier rocket is greater than that of the Cosmos but less than that of the Soyuz rocket, and thus it fills the gap in load capacity between these two and makes the former Soviet Union's carrier rocket series more complete. The Tsyklon carrier rocket was developed by the Yangel design bureau (now Ukraine's NPO Yuzhnoye). The SL-10 was a two-stage liquid propellant carrier rocket, and was originally a component of the former Soviet Union's outer space weapons program, the Fractional Orbit Bombardment System (FOBS). The 'r' in its Sheldon code name stands for its retro-rocket stage. This carrier rocket was launched for the first time on September 17, 1966 from the Baikonur (Tyuratam) Cosmodrome and ended service in 1972. All that were launched carried military and experimental payloads.