# R-7 (8K72K) core and Blok E 3D model

> Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.

Free 3D model of R-7 (8K72K) core and Blok E, a rocket stage, built from published dimensions by Space Radar. 39,056 triangles, 292 kB glTF, MIT.

- **Class:** Rockets and stages
- **Mission:** Launch vehicles
- **Triangles:** 39,056
- **File:** r7-8k72k.glb, 292 kB, glTF 2.0 binary (meshopt)
- **Look:** Physically based
- **Size:** 38 m across
- **Made:** Built from dimensions
- **Added:** 2026-10-29
- **Download:** https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/main/site/models/r7-8k72k.glb
- **Mirror:** https://git.sara-agent.org/sara-projects/space-radar/raw/branch/main/site/models/r7-8k72k.glb
- **Viewer:** https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=r7-8k72k
- **Licence:** MIT (https://github.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/blob/main/LICENSE)
- **Credit:** R-7 (8K72K) core and Blok E 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT License

Canonical: https://models.spaceradar.ai/r7-8k72k/

## How it was made

Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions; compared with museum photographs of the R-7 at VDNKh and Kaluga (CC BY, CC BY-SA) and a Russian cutaway drawing (public domain).

built by this project in code (tools/vostok-builder/, release 1.5.0 stage r15-c2: vlib.py on the stage builder of 1.4.0, r7.py); no agency or museum 3D model of this craft exists under a free licence (read 2026-10-29): NASA 3D Resources' file listing (1 583 paths, the GitHub tree of nasa/NASA-3D-Resources) has nothing of Vostok or the R-7 (its one Soyuz is the Apollo-Soyuz one); the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum records show physical models only (its 3D site was down); Wikimedia Commons has no 3D file of any of them; the downloadable meshes a web search found (CGTrader, MyMiniFactory, RenderHub, Unity) are sold or personal-use only. So it is built, as the quality bar says: from opened dimensions and many pictures of the flown hardware and the museum copies. No image-to-3D model was used and no published mesh.

## Dimensions

- Length: 38.246 m
- Span: 10.303 m
- Central block length: 28.131 m
- Strap on length: 19.608 m
- Blok e length: 2.98 m
- Core diameter: 2.95 m
- Strap on diameter: 2.68 m
- Blok e diameter: 2.56 m

Source: THE CUTAWAY of 'R-7 vostok.jpg' (Commons, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:R-7_vostok.jpg, read 2026-10-28) has the metres written on it: 'головной обтекатель' (the shroud), '38246' (overall), 'Блок III ступени 2980', 'Центральный блок I-II ступеней 28131', 'Боковой блок I ступени 19608', and '10303' across the rudders; the joints are placed where that drawing puts them (the shroud's base at 31.5 m, the truss between 27.2 and 28.4 m). Diameters: ru.wikipedia 'Восток (ракета-носитель)', read 2026-10-28: the central block 'largest diameter 2,95 m', the side blocks 'largest diameter 2,68 m', 'one four-chamber main engine plus 4 steering chambers' on the central block and 'plus 2 steering chambers' on each side block, block E with 'a single-chamber engine RD-0109 ... 54,5 kN ... with 4 steering nozzles'; Astronautix 'Vostok 8K72K' (http://www.astronautix.com/v/vostok8k72k.html, read 2026-10-28): block E 2.56 m across and 2.84 m long. THE SOURCES DISAGREE: ru.wikipedia gives the central block 28.75 m and the side blocks 19.8 m; Astronautix 19 m, 28 m and a height of 30.84 m without the shroud; the DRAWING'S numbers are built because they add up (28.131 + 2.98 + the shroud = 38.246 less the truss). THE SHROUD'S 6.75 m and its 2.72 m width, the strap-ons' cone (a straight taper from 2.68 m at 4.6 m to a point at 19.6 m, the inner side standing straight against the core), the tail drums, the rudders' reach (1.0 m beyond the strap-on, which makes the cited span), the hatches, the truss's twelve pairs of struts and every fitting are READ OFF THE PHOTOGRAPHS and are ILLUSTRATIVE in the metre. NOT CITED: the truss and shoulder dimensions; the shroud's wall.

## References

- [R-7 vostok.jpg (Russian cutaway of the Vostok launcher with its dimensions)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:R-7_vostok.jpg), SoM33 (Wikimedia Commons) (Public domain (Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-28))
- [Vostok rocket drawing.png](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vostok_rocket_drawing.png), NASA (Public domain (NASA; Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-28))
- [Vostok-K Carrier Rocket - VDNKh, Moscow (38921927071).jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vostok-K_Carrier_Rocket_%E2%80%93_VDNKh,_Moscow_(38921927071).jpg), Alan Wilson (CC BY-SA 2.0 (Commons, read 2026-10-28))
- [Mil Mi-8T helicopter and Vostok 8K72K at VDNKh.jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mil_Mi-8T_helicopter_and_Vostok_8K72K_at_VDNKh.jpg), Dmitry Ivanov (CC BY-SA 4.0 (Commons, read 2026-10-28))
- [Moscow, VDNKh, engine arrangement on the R-7 rocket (10656172226).jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moscow,_VDNKh,_engine_arrangement_on_the_R-7_rocket_(10656172226).jpg), Gennady Grachev (CC BY 2.0 (Commons, read 2026-10-28))
- [Rocket Vostok in Kaluga.jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rocket_Vostok_in_Kaluga.jpg), Andrey Baburov (CC BY-SA 3.0 (Commons, read 2026-10-28))
- [Ракета-носитель «Восток».jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%A0%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0-%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C_%C2%AB%D0%92%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BA%C2%BB.jpg), Tatyanakorneeva (CC BY-SA 4.0 (Commons, read 2026-10-28))
- [Vostok-2M (8A292M) in Korolyov, Moscow Oblast.jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vostok-2M_(8A292M)_in_Korolyov,_Moscow_Oblast.jpg), Dmitry Ivanov (CC BY-SA 4.0 (Commons, read 2026-10-28))
- [Block-E rocket stage.png](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Block-E_rocket_stage.png), Alexander Mokletsov (CC BY-SA 3.0 (Commons, read 2026-10-28))