Soyuz-L

The Soyuz-L, with the GRAU index 11A511L, was a Soviet expendable carrier rocket designed by the OKB-1 design bureau and manufactured at State Aviation Plant No. 1 in Samara, the works that grew into the Progress Rocket Space Centre. It was created to test the LK lunar lander in low Earth orbit as part of the Soviet lunar programme. The rocket was a derivative of the original Soyuz, with a reinforced first stage and strap-on boosters that supported the third stage of the Molniya-M, so that it could lift a heavier payload, and it carried a larger payload fairing to enclose the LK spacecraft. The Soyuz-L flew only three times, between 1970 and 1971, and every flight succeeded. The later Soyuz-U used a similar configuration to the Soyuz-L.