Soyuz 7K-LOK
The Soyuz 7K-LOK, or simply LOK ( meaning "Lunar Orbital Craft") was a Soviet crewed spacecraft designed to launch men from Earth to orbit the Moon, developed in parallel to the 7K-L1. The LOK would carry two cosmonauts, acting as a mother ship for the LK Lander which would land one crew member to the surface. It was part of the N1-L3 programme which also included the LK lander and the N1 rocket. Design. Like the 7K-OK model, the 7K-LOK was divided into three sections, an ellipsoid Orbital Module, the "headlight"-shaped Descent Module , and a cylindrical equipment module. Like the 7K-OK, the 7K-LOK was capable of physically docking with another spacecraft, but lacked the transfer tunnel used on the Apollo (spacecraft), thus forcing the cosmonaut to make a spacewalk from the 7K-LOK's orbital module to the LK Lander using the new Krechet space suit (the predecessor to the Orlan space suits used today on the International Space Station). Another change to the 7K-LOK was the elimination of the solar panels used on the 7K-OK, replacing them with fuel cells similar to those found on the Apollo CSM . Another feature, a "cupola" located on the Orbital Module, allowed the cosmonaut in the 7K-LOK to perform the docking procedure with the LK Lander after lunar liftoff. Only the Descent Module from the 7K-L1, with a thicker, reinforced heatshield, is used on the 7K-LOK and like the 7K-L1, is capable of doing a "skip reentry" so that the Soyuz could be recovered in the Soviet Union. The information display systems (IDS) on the LOK were different from those of the Soyuz-7K. The Descent Module was equipped with the "Uran" control panel and the Orbital Module featured  the "Orion" approach control panel. Flights. Only three uncrewed 7K-LOKs were flown in the short lifespan of the failed Soviet lunar program. Later proposal. The joint Russian/ESA ACTS missions to the Moon were planned as a response to NASA's Project Constellation and would have seen the use of a Soyuz spacecraft in a similar role as the 7K-LOK, but with the current Soyuz TMA hardware (solar panels, docking & transfer system, etc.). However, nothing came of these plans.