Part One: Out of the cold

Now, more than three decades after Wernher Von Brauns fleet of Saturns carried U.S. astronauts to their lunar triumph, the rocket that was made to compete with them has evolved from a Cold War workhorse to a commercial cash cow. That rocket, called Proton, has become an instrument that serves as a bridge from the old space race to todays new competition; shaped by a quest for profits first and prestige later.

In the beginning, Proton was conceived not as a booster but as a weapon. In the early 1960s, every new rocket to leap from the designers drawing boards in Russia had to have a military mission. The old Soviet military planners conceived of the need for a heavy-lift missile that could orbit very large military satellites, as well as loft large nuclear bombs toward their intercontinental targets. According to space analyst and researcher Mark Wade, the first drawings of Proton designs called for lifting atomic bombs up to 100 megatons in size, powerful enough to reduce large U.S. cities to rubble. But the weapon-carrying version was never built. Instead a satellite launcher emerged from the drawing boards.

The order to begin development of what would eventually be called the Proton was given on April 24, 1962. By the following year, the overall configuration of the rocket -- called then the UR 500 -- was complete. A two-stage version was blasted into space on July 16, 1965 successfully orbiting a military satellite. Designers were planning a larger, three-stage version capable of lofting larger satellites, probes and a piloted spaceship testbed as part of the Soviet man-on-the-moon program.

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Designers notebook: Like Saturn, like Titan

To make the Proton powerful enough to carry moon-ship prototypes, the Soviet designers took a page from their western counterparts design books. Like the American Titan 3-C and Saturn 1 and 1-B, the Russians lashed together several boosters and engines in clusters to form their heavy-lifting first stage. Like the American Saturns, the Proton booster would use only liquid fuels, and like the American Titans, those liquid fuels would be storable at room temperature. That would allow the big rocket to be held in readiness for a rapid blastoff command, or to be available for space missions when a wide range of temperatures washed over the launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

"They had to make substantial changes in the way they did business to support western payloads. They had to learn to be more open. There were many cultural differences."

As engineers looked at missions for their new booster, several payloads were under design. Scientific missions carrying space probes were studied, as were other military projects. A prime Proton payload design was a spaceplane called Raketoplan. According to Wade, these spaceships would carry Russian pilots and conduct orbital reconnaissance and observation missions. The pilot would use the planes engines to change orbits and spy from space.

By lengthening Protons fuel tanks, adding upgraded engines and additional stages, the rocket could put 45,000 pounds (20,400 kilograms) into low orbit -- giving it the capability to send versions of proposed lunar ships into orbit for test flights and dress rehearsals for more advanced missions to the moon.

But while the Proton boosted many different classes of spacecraft, budget cuts and technological limits doomed their spaceplane and moon-ship plans. By the early 1980s Proton found its most consistent use in lofting interplanetary probes. But evolutionary changes were about to alter the old Soviet space program.

Good-bye Cold War, hello profits

A similar evolution was underway in the rocket stables of the U.S. In the aftermath of the Challenger accident, new U.S. space policy called for commercializing the existing rocket fleets. The largest rockets then in existence were the Atlas and Titan families, built by Martin Marietta and General Dynamics. By the late 1980s a commercial version of the Atlas emerged as a major commercial carrier for satellites. A commercial version of the Titan flew only twice before being shelved.

As the Cold War ended, leaving the future of the Soviet space program uncertain, the Lockheed Corporation sought to develop a commercial version of the Proton. That joint venture between Lockheed and the Russians was approved in 1992 and incorporated the following year. The project continued following the merger between Lockheed and the Martin Marietta Corporation.

Martin Marietta, following its merger with General Dynamics rocket builders, had been selling commercial versions of the Atlas.

But how would the Proton and the Atlas go together as commercial cousins?

"The Atlas and the Proton were complementary," said Eric Laursen. Lockheed Martins chief engineer on Proton, Laursen helped to oversee the efforts at bringing the old Russian workhorse into the commercial arena.

It wasnt exactly easy.

"We both had some preconceptions about the other," Laursen said by telephone from the Russian launching site at Baikonur. He was part of the team preparing Proton rockets for launch. Laursens company joined with Russias Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia in 1995 to form a commercial firm to sell the combined Atlas and Proton catalog. Called International Launch Services, or ILS, the idea of blending both Western and Russian boosters was considered a radical one.

The Russians thought so, too.

"We both (U.S. and Russia) had to learn to trust each other," he recalled. "We had a lot of talking and a lot of meetings." Technically, Laursen said the engineers spoke the same language. But in moving the big booster into a commercial environment called for more stringent procedures than the Russians had been following.

"They had to make substantial changes in the way they did business to support Western payloads," Laursen said. "They had to learn to be more open. There were many cultural differences."

Eventually the Russians, in dire need of the cash from such commercial space ventures and proud of their boosters history, learned to forge an alliance with Western engineers. "They were challenged to meet American standards, in cleanliness and also in payload preparation," said Laursen.

The acid test came in the spring of 1996. A Proton rolled to the Baikonur launch pad with the Astra 1-F satellite sealed in its nosecone. "They made a tremendous effort for that launch," Laursen said, remembering the historic flight. The commercial launch actually restored the Proton to service following a malfunction on a February 1996 military mission.

In the dark skies of April 9, 1996 the booster thundered away on a flawless flight. The satellite mission opened a catalog of Proton configurations for Western sales.

"It became a very successful partnership," recalled Laursen.

But the unique partnership would face a testing time in the summer of 1999. Then a pair of back-to-back launch disasters threatened the big rockets future -- and the schedule of the beleaguered space station as well.

In Part Two: New wings for an old bird: The Proton rises again