R-36O 8K69M

In-active

Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (OKB-586)

Sept. 25, 1970

Description

The R-36O was the only orbiting military nuclear weapon ever deployed, although in order to remain legal under international treaties it was a 'fractional orbital' weapon. Although American infrared early warning satellites invalidated the 'surprise attack' component of the concept, 18 missiles were operational from 1969 to 1983.

Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    35.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.0 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    3.0 m
  • Launch Mass
    180 T
  • Thrust
Family
  • Name
    R-36O 8K69M
  • Family
  • Variant
    8K69M
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    R-36O 8K69M
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Yuzhnoye Design Bureau

Commercial
Director: Alexander Degtyarev
OKB-586 1951

Yuzhnoye Design Office, located in Dnipro, Ukraine, is a designer of satellites and rockets, and formerly of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) established by Mikhail Yangel in 1951. The Zenit launch vehicle currently launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome but also used to launch from an ocean platform, Odyssey.

R-36O 8K69M | OGCh 24

Yuzhnoye Design Bureau | Ukraine
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Aug. 8, 1971, 11:45 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Missile equipped with the 8F021 warhead

Low Earth Orbit
Explore Share

R-36O 8K69M | OGCh 23

Yuzhnoye Design Bureau | Ukraine
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Sept. 25, 1970, 2:05 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Missile equipped with the 8F021 warhead

Low Earth Orbit
Explore Share

Long March 6A
Success
1 day, 5 hours ago
Tianhui 5 Group 02
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

A pair of satellites officially described as for cartographic surveying purposes, details TBD.


Firefly Alpha
Success
2 days ago
FLTA005 (Noise of Summer)
Space Launch Complex 2W - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Fifth flight of the Firefly Alpha small sat launcher, carrying eight cubesats for NASA's ELaNa 43 (Educational Launch of a Nanosatellite) mission.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 19 hours ago
Starlink Group 8-9
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


H3-22
Success
5 days, 1 hour ago
Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4)
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4) is a Japanese satellite designed to observe the Earth's surface using a phased array type L-band syn…


Long March 7A
Success
6 days, 16 hours ago
ChinaSat 3A
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Chinese communication geostationary satellite for unknown purposes.