Lonniy Korabl (LK or LK-T2K)
Spacecraft
(see text below photo)
Artists' depiction of the LK touching down. After
jettisoning the Block D "crasher" stage, the cosmonaut had about a minute
to pitch the vehicle up, find a smooth area, and get the thing down. For
some reason as yet unknow to me, the Soviets believed that the vehicle
might actually bounce off the surface upon landing. Therefore, there was
a small rocket attached to each landing leg which fired up when the vehicle
made contact, to keep it from bouncing. These are shown firing in this
view.
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