Zarya (spacecraft)
| Country of origin | USSR |
|---|---|
| Operator | Soviet space program |
| Applications | Carry passengers and supplies to low Earth orbit and back |
| Specifications | |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Production | |
| Status | Canceled, 1989 |
| Launched | None |
| Related spacecraft | |
| Derived from | Soyuz |
The Zarya spacecraft was a secret Soviet project of the late 1980s aiming to design and build a large, manned, vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) reusable space capsule, a much larger replacement for the Soyuz (spacecraft). The project was shelved in 1989, "on the eve of the Soviet Union's collapse."
After the project was shelved in January 1989, for financial reasons, the name was reused for Zarya, the first of the components of the International Space Station.
The Zarya spacecraft would have differed from all previous spacecraft by having an array of a dozen rockets engines for making a soft landing upon return to Earth, without using a parachute.
Zarya spacecraft would have brought crew and supplies to Mir, or supplies only in automated mode. It would have had a normal crew of one or two, and offered the possibility of carrying a maximum of eight to twelve if used as a Mir lifeboat.
1985 January 27
1986 December 22
1989 During the Year
Zarya http://www.astronautix.com/craft/zarya.htm
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