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Above: Two artists' impressions of the LOK spacecraft.
Note that there are significant differences between the two. The
vehicle would have no doubt been clothed in the ubiquitous green thermal
blankets of the Soyuz.
(Bottom image courtesy Mark Wade)
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Rendezvous & Docking
(Thumbnails - click for full
size image)
Above Left & Center: Two images ~90 degrees
apart of the RCS/docking section, mounted on the nose of the vehicle.
Right: Docking probe, which was mounted on the
very tip of the nose of the vehicle. (see text below)
(Center photo courtesy Mark Wade)
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LOK Museum Artifacts
(Thumbnails - click for full
size image)
Above Left: Literally, a cutaway
mockup of the LOK Orbital and Reentry modules.
Right: Service module, looking
aft from the area where this section and the reentry module interfaced.
(Right photo courtesy Mark Wade)
The LOK spacecraft was roughly equivalent to the Apollo
Command/Service Module (CSM) "mother ship". Basically a souped-up Soyuz,
it served as transport vehicle & living quarters for the 2 man lunar
crew to and from the moon. The middle section, just like Soyuz, was used
during launch and reentry, and for most of the vehicle control functions.
Also note the rear instrument section, which has been elongated from the
basic Soyuz design to allow for extra propellants, and the fact that no
solar panels were used (for those readers who like to track Soyuz variants).
Electrical power was supplied by fuel cells.
The odd looking apparatus on the nose of the vehicle was
used for reaction control and docking. 4 small metal fingers were used
to guide the docking probe, which could snap into any one of 108 small
hexagonal holes in the "Kontact" docking plate
on the top of the LK ascent stage. This enabled a docking to take place
no matter where on the LK docking plate the LOK managed to make contact.
This design was probably incorporated because of a lack of precision radar
equipment.
Special Thanks to Mark
Wade's Encyclopedia Astronautica for LOK photos
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