Kosmos 47


Kosmos 47 is the designation of an uncrewed test flight of a prototype Soviet Voskhod spacecraft, the first multiple-occupant spacecraft. Launched on 6 October 1964, the successful flight paved the way for the first crewed mission, Voskhod 1, which occurred just 6 days later on 12 October 1964.
The spacecraft was one of many designated under the Kosmos system, which is applied to a wide variety of spacecraft of different designs and functions including test flights of crewed vehicles.

Launch

The launch took place on 6 October at 07:12 GMT from Gagarin's Start, Site 1/5 at Baikonur Cosmodrome onboard a Voskhod rocket s/n R15000-02. Kosmos 47 was operated in a low Earth orbit, it had a perigee of, an apogee of, an inclination of 64.8° and an orbital period of 90.0 minutes. On 7 October 1964, testing of all the spacecraft's systems occurred in the space of 24 hours. The landing took place on 7 October 1964 at around 07:30 GMT. The spacecraft was deorbited with its return capsule descending by parachute for recovery by Soviet Forces.

Spacecraft

The Voskhods spacecraft were adaptations of the single place Vostok spacecraft meant to conduct flights with up to three crew and for spacewalks in advance of the American Gemini program. Work on the 3KV and 3KD versions of the basic Vostok spacecraft began with the decree issued on 13 April 1964. In order to accommodate more than one crew, the seats were mounted perpendicular to the Vostok ejection seat position, so the crew had to crane their necks to read instruments, still mounted in their original orientation. The "Elburs" soft landing system replaced the ejection seat and allowed the crew to stay in the capsule. It consisted of probes that dangled from the parachute lines. Contact with the Earth triggered a solid rocket engine in the parachute which resulted in a zero velocity landing.