The Entire Soviet Rocket Engine Family Tree

Today we’re going to actually straighten out the confusing family tree of the Soviet rocket engines by drawing out a super comprehensive chart of almost every engine that has flown to orbit while also walking you through some INCREDIBLE stories and fun anecdotes behind these engines.

00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:45 - Chart, Key, Tips And Glossary
00:11:45 - The Origins Of Soviet Rocket Engines
00:18:55 - R-7 Family of Rockets
00:34:05 - Yangel’s Hypergolic Rockets
00:46:10 - Universal Family Of Rockets
00:58:35 - N1 Rocket Engines
01:07:00 - Energia / Buran
01:15:25 - Soviet Engines Outside The Soviet Union
01:23:00 - Engines Too Cool To Not Talk About
01:29:50 - Summary

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[EverydayAstronaut]

We accidentally had the wrong specs on our NERVA / RD-0410 card at 1:26:00. The engine cycle type should be “nuclear/closed” and fuel should say Hydrogen. We messed something up there, our apologies.

Also: I pronounced names the best I could. I listened to lots of documentaries and stuff and tried my best, but it’s not great 😂 so sorry! I’m terrible enough at pronouncing things in English, let alone Russian 😬

[jaredliechty]

Shoutout to people like Tim who put together highly polished, educational video content that is more intuitive and engaging than 99% of paid lectures, while being better structured than most textbooks and FREE. In a few decades time when the last public library gets boarded up, you guys will be the last bastion of educators freely sharing your knowledge and research with the public. Thanks for another great watch.

[spychopath]

IT'S FINALLY HERE! Congrats Tim. Not that I have watched it yet, but we have seen you pour your heart and soul into this project and I am glad to see you've finally got to the end :)

[seanbaskett]

Once again, I'm absolutely floored as to the accuracy and depth of this rather turgid, esoteric material. It is beyond me how you find it to begin with. As a rocket nerd, (if I didn't know better) I would assume there are about 34 people interested in this kind of stuff. Yet you are reaching literally millions of people with a level of production and quality that, frankly, puts a lot of NASA historians to shame, and leads to a level of understanding that the Discovery Channel couldn't convey. Most importantly, you have the young generations looking not at their smartphones, but at the night sky. Most important channel on Youtube.

[wadewilson]

Tim… this kind of work is what has EARNED you such a great reputation not only among spaceflight enthusiasts, but also with the highest echelons of the space industry! Congratulations on not only this production, but also all that you have achieved so far.

[akuklev]

Thank you for such an awesome overview!
My granddad, a rocket engineer, used to work with OKB-52 and later for the Energia project, so recognize quite a few anecdotes you're telling. :-)

I think this is _the_ first overview of the Soviet rocket history made for everyday people. Certainly the first of such quality, depth, and extent.

Огромное спасибо!

[Sammy]

Soviet engines are such an underappreciated contribution to humanity's exploration of space. No one else has had the time, resources and will to tinker around and experiment so much with the design of their rocket engines. At first glance it feels like overkill to develop so many engines, but through their efforts we have learned so much about how to make them as efficient and powerful as possible. Thanks for sharing Tim!

[acanuck]

Tim Dodd: This was an incredible--and incredibly well-researched and well-produced review of the incredible Soviet rocket program. Thank you, both for the respect you showed to the Soviet program and the diligence that you put into this effort. Merveilleux!

[MaxTechEngineering]

Tim, you’re truly a beautiful gift to the world of space enthusiasts. Happy Thanksgiving!

[lucrolland]

I visited St-Petersburg three years ago and there is the Russian Rocket Museum where I could see all of them shown and explained. I was amazed about they have achieved and we never speak enough about the Russiansand indeed their scientists and engineers need a proper recognition.

[valeriynefedov]

I once heard a beautiful phrase. It was from a man from ex-OKB-154(КБХА as of now) who worked on Energia-Buran project.
It was like "we thought in metal" (дословно, "мы думали металлом"). It was like anyone could say anything and if it barely made just ANY sense at all, they went for it. Just tested the idea over and over again. Imagine how cool was that. It may be some kind of nostalgia or over-romantic memories of the past or something else, but given the number of those engines just in this video, I really do believe in this.
Anyway, this is video is truly epic. Thank you so much for the great job!

[Lunev]

Это великолепная работа, Тим. Мне 38 лет, я русский, интересуюсь космосом. За всю жизнь я не узнал о советских ракетных двигателях и половины того, что узнал за последние полтора часа. Браво!

[StanleyCreative]

This was so awesome to work on. What an absolute MONSTER of a video, incredible to see my renders being a part of such a great end product. Big props on the editing too, it's so clean – I do not feel like I just watched a 1.5 hour video haha. Reading through the comments is so amazing too 😍

[CuriousMarc]

Everyday Astronaut has gone full-flow staged encyclopedic! And we like it.

[edore]

You could make a deck of collector cards with each one these engines and there spec's. Awesome work Tim, thank you.

[snwendland]

Just finished and WOW that's some seriously dense information. AMAZING job! I loved it. And yeah, it's a lot but you made it as easy as you could to follow. Really really appreciate all the work that you and your teams put into this.

[pathfinderreality]

RD 170 is just a masterpiece.
By creating ONE engine, the Soviets actually created FOUR.
ENERGOMASH never built a 3 combustion chamber variant, but I am sure they would do it in record time if they ever neaded such a configuration.

[KMcKaig]

I'm glad to see the Soviet scientists, engineers, and workers get the recognition they deserve, at least here in the west, for the fantastic rocket engines they created then that are still relevant and influential now. My personal favorite is the NK-33. It's a simple and elegant design, very high performance and the story of it's survival and resurrection is interesting. Thanks for this!

[ryeb_]

You literally THE person who has inspired me to become a rocket nerd, and 13 year-old-me now is addicted to rockets. So thank you Tim and your team, and may you continue to inspire more young people to become rocket nerds!

[viktorsergeev]

Шикарное видео! В легком шоке от-того что блогер из США делает обзор на космическую технику СССР такого уровня. Надо быть исключительным фанатом ракетостроения и космической техники чтоб выдать такой уровень. Снимаю шляпу, крутейшее видео, аналогов которому (по полноте обзора, систематизации и качестве подачи) на ютубе точно нет. Смотрел с субтитрами в автоматическом переводе и все равно на одном дыхании, все понял без проблем. Пойду смотреть что еще есть на канале и подпишусь пожалуй.