Model, Rocket, Launch Vehicle, Proton, 1:20

This is a 1:20 scale model of the Soviet (now Russian) Proton launch vehicle. During the last quarter of the century this has been the most powerful operational launch vehicle in the world. The Russian rocket engine design bureau Khrunichev manufactures the Proton. All seven Salyut space stations and all major Mir space station modules were launched into orbit by the Proton launch vehicle as well as the Soviet missions to Venus, Mars, and Comet Halley.

The Proton is a two to four stage liquid fuel launch vehicle, first launched by the Soviet Union in 1965. This model measures 2.5 meters in height. The actual rocket is 44 meters tall, weighs 685,000 kilograms and provides 9 million newtons of thrust. The Proton is significant in its long use in the Soviet space program, its importance to the Soviet space program and its appearance on the commercial market. This particular model was donated to the museum in 1988 by the Soviet agency Glavkosmos. Glavkosmos was a governmental agency whose mission was to market Soviet space technology throughout the world.