PA-0207 Vernier rocket engine from the second stage of UR-200 space rocket proposed as the launcher for the anti-satellite spacecraft. Engine measures approximately 23″ long, with a nozzle diameter of 8.5″. Engine is attached to a u-shaped metal rod which is affixed to a 15 x 8 metal stand. In overall fine condition. At the beginning of the 1960s, Vladimir Chelomei, the head of the OKB-52 design bureau, proposed to Nikita Khrushchev to develop a series of the ‘versatile rockets’ or in Russian abbreviation,the UR series. Based on the each vehicle's expected liftoff mass, they received designations: UR-100, UR-200 and UR-500. In 1961, the Kremlin chose Chelomei's concept. Dubbed Istrebitel Sputnikov (for the Satellite Destroyer), the barrel-shaped spacecraft would sport 17 thrusters to make any conceivable maneuver in orbit. It would be supported by a complex network of ground stations spread over several time zones across the Soviet Union for tracking enemy satellites and guiding the killer to its target. A pair of guidance stations were deployed in the Siberian town of Irkutsk and near Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan. On November 1, 1963, the Soviet Union launched the first prototype of the ‘killer satellite’—what we would refer to today as an anti-satellite system, or ASAT. Officially announced as Polyot-1 (or Flight-1), this highly maneuverable spacecraft was intended to test whether the Soviets could approach an enemy satellite and destroy it. This mission set off a decades-long race to develop and deploy offensive weapons in space that culminated in the 1980s with Ronald Reagan's famous Star Wars program.
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