# RD-214
The **RD-214** (GRAU index 8D59) was a Soviet four-chamber liquid-propellant rocket engine burning nitric acid and a kerosene-type hydrocarbon fuel in a gas generator cycle (turbine driven by separate gas, not chamber pressure), developed by [Valentin Glushko](https://www.edgepedia.org/valentin-glushko)'s OKB-456 design bureau to power the first stage of the R-12 medium-range ballistic missile and later the Kosmos-2 orbital launcher.[1](https://b14643.eu/Spacerockets/Specials/Russian_Rocket_engines/engines.htm) • [2](https://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/inostr-yazyki/muzei/RD-214.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Designation | RD-214, GRAU index 8D59; four combustion chambers fed by a single turbopump[1](https://b14643.eu/Spacerockets/Specials/Russian_Rocket_engines/engines.htm) • [2](https://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/inostr-yazyki/muzei/RD-214.pdf) |
| Propellants | TM-185 fuel (a kerosene and gasoline mix) with AK-27 nitric acid oxidizer[1](https://b14643.eu/Spacerockets/Specials/Russian_Rocket_engines/engines.htm) |
| Thrust | 65 metric tons at ground level and 74 tons in vacuum[3](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781394297504.ch3) |
| Performance | Vacuum specific impulse 264 s; combustion chamber pressure 45 atmospheres; nozzle expansion ratio 9.4[4](https://www.flickr.com/photos/martintrolle/3811591996) • [1](https://b14643.eu/Spacerockets/Specials/Russian_Rocket_engines/engines.htm) |
| Turbopump drive | Steam-gas from catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, fed by a dedicated centrifugal pump[2](https://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/inostr-yazyki/muzei/RD-214.pdf) |
| Development | by the engine office founded in 1929 within the Gas Dynamics Laboratory, later OKB-456[2](https://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/inostr-yazyki/muzei/RD-214.pdf) |
| Applications | First stage of the R-12 (SS-4 Sandal) missile and the Kosmos-2 (11K63/63S1) launch vehicle[1](https://b14643.eu/Spacerockets/Specials/Russian_Rocket_engines/engines.htm) • [5](https://www.russianspaceweb.com/cosmos2.html) |
## Design
As a four-chamber design, the RD-214 relies on a single turbopump assembly that contains a turbine together with a pair of centrifugal pumps, one handling the oxidizer and the other the fuel. The turbopump also carries a third centrifugal pump for hydrogen peroxide feed to the gas generator; the turbine runs on the steam-gas produced by catalytic decomposition of that peroxide.[2](https://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/inostr-yazyki/muzei/RD-214.pdf) A museum diagram of the engine labels the combustion chambers, the turbopump gas intake from the hydrogen peroxide system, the turbine, the oxidizer and [fuel pump](https://www.edgepedia.org/fuel-pump) inlets, and the associated pressure regulators and shutoff valves.[4](https://www.flickr.com/photos/martintrolle/3811591996)
The engine burned AK-27, a nitric-acid-based oxidizer, against TM-185, a kerosene and gasoline mixture, in the gas generator cycle.[1](https://b14643.eu/Spacerockets/Specials/Russian_Rocket_engines/engines.htm) Both components are storable at ambient temperature, unlike the liquid oxygen of earlier Soviet missiles, which boiled off within hours and forced a fueled missile to launch almost immediately or be drained and refueled.[6](https://militaryarchive.org/en/weapons/r-12-dvina) The hydrocarbon fuel was chosen deliberately: kerosene gave harsh combustion with nitric acid, so Glushko used TM-185, a turpentine-type hydrocarbon with smoother ignition characteristics and more stable combustion.[7](https://astronaut.ru/bookcase/books/afanasiev/text/03.htm)
## Development
Glushko's bureau built the engine family on nitric acid and kerosene from 1951 onward. The RD-211, with four combustion chambers each producing twice the thrust of the RD-100 adaptation of the V-2 engine, proved too weak for the first storable-propellant ballistic missile requirement, and related designs RD-212 and RD-213 were developed for the Buran intercontinental cruise missile project.[7](https://astronaut.ru/bookcase/books/afanasiev/text/03.htm) Using this accumulated work, Glushko quickly created a powerful and very reliable engine for the R-12, named the RD-214.[7](https://astronaut.ru/bookcase/books/afanasiev/text/03.htm) According to a Wiley history of Yuzhnoye launchers, work began in 1955 on an engine delivering 65 t of thrust at sea level and 74 t in a vacuum, intended for the missile that would go on to be designated the R-12.[3](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781394297504.ch3)
Fire development tests began in 1957, conducted in two stages with the engine tested from the start in its full four-chamber configuration. The first stage worked out starting and shutdown transients; a delayed buildup to nominal thrust was found to cause high-frequency pulsations in the combustion chambers. By 1959, during the R-12 flight tests, the RD-214 had completed its development and flight test program, entered serial production, and been accepted into service with the [Soviet Army](https://www.edgepedia.org/soviet-army).[7](https://astronaut.ru/bookcase/books/afanasiev/text/03.htm) Serial production of R-12 engines was organized at Perm, where a new test facility was built near Novye Lyady; the first engine was fired there during the night of October 13 to 14, 1961.[8](https://mail.russianspaceweb.com/r12.html)
## Application on the R-12 and Kosmos
The R-12, known in the West as SS-4 Sandal, was the Soviet Union's first storable-propellant ballistic missile, developed by Mikhail Yangel's OKB-586 (later Yuzhnoye).[6](https://militaryarchive.org/en/weapons/r-12-dvina) • [8](https://mail.russianspaceweb.com/r12.html) The RD-214 shaped the missile's appearance: it was too large to fit the airframe diameter inherited from the R-5, so a conical tail section was added to house the engine, and aerodynamic testing showed this skirt actually improved the rocket's stability.[8](https://mail.russianspaceweb.com/r12.html) • [7](https://astronaut.ru/bookcase/books/afanasiev/text/03.htm) Flight control used tail rudders instead of the vernier engines traditional on earlier Soviet rockets.[8](https://mail.russianspaceweb.com/r12.html) R-12 missiles armed with this engine later figured in the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962.[8](https://mail.russianspaceweb.com/r12.html)
A universal variant, the RD-214U, was developed for the R-12U, which could launch from both surface and silo positions; it passed flight development tests in 1961 and was also used on the two-stage 11K63 (63S1) rocket for launching Kosmos-series satellites, whose first launch took place on March 16, 1962.[9](https://ru.djvu.online/file/AdNYudzmDaGLh) On the Kosmos-2 launcher the RD-214 propelled the first stage, burning for 140 seconds and delivering a payload of 450 kilograms to a 200 km orbit.[5](https://www.russianspaceweb.com/cosmos2.html) The 63S1 rocket launched 22 payloads before the end of 1965.[5](https://www.russianspaceweb.com/cosmos2.html)
## Family and legacy
For the R-14 missile, Yangel's bureau used an upgraded version called the RD-215, running on nitric acid and UDMH; it split the four chambers into a pair of dual-chambered engines, and the RD-216 flown on the R-14 consisted of two such RD-215 units.[10](https://everydayastronaut.com/soviet-rocket-engines/) • [1](https://b14643.eu/Spacerockets/Specials/Russian_Rocket_engines/engines.htm) The R-12 and R-14 rockets became the basis for the orbital Kosmos launcher family, which flew 625 times with about a 90 percent success rate overall.[10](https://everydayastronaut.com/soviet-rocket-engines/)
Within Glushko's own engine lineage, the RD-214 was the most advanced of the OKB-254 family of nitric acid and kerosene engines and the only one of them to reach practical application.[7](https://astronaut.ru/bookcase/books/afanasiev/text/03.htm) Its success with the four-chamber, single-turbopump layout encouraged Glushko to reconfigure the R-7 engines from single-chamber to four-chamber form when thrust had to be increased, and the multi-chamber arrangement with a common turbopump then became widely used at his design bureau.[7](https://astronaut.ru/bookcase/books/afanasiev/text/03.htm) An example of the engine is preserved and displayed in Moscow's Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics.[11](https://galspace.spb.ru/museum-2.php?foto_page=31)
## References
1. [Russian Space-Rocket and Missile liquid propellant engines (engine table)](https://b14643.eu/Spacerockets/Specials/Russian_Rocket_engines/engines.htm)
2. [PD-214 Liquid-Propellant Rocket Engine for Cosmos Vehicle First Stage, museum brochure (translated)](https://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/inostr-yazyki/muzei/RD-214.pdf)
3. [Christian Lardier (2024). R-12, in *Yuzhnoye Launchers and Satellites*, Wiley](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781394297504.ch3)
4. [Kaluga Tsiolkovsky Museum, RD-214 Rocket Engine diagram](https://www.flickr.com/photos/martintrolle/3811591996)
5. [Kosmos-2, Russianspaceweb](https://www.russianspaceweb.com/cosmos2.html)
6. [R-12 Dvina, Medium-Range Ballistic Missiles, Military Archive](https://militaryarchive.org/en/weapons/r-12-dvina)
7. [Afanasiev, Prototip (history of OKB-456 engine family), astronaut.ru](https://astronaut.ru/bookcase/books/afanasiev/text/03.htm)
8. [R-12 | 8K63 | SS-4 | Sandal, Russianspaceweb](https://mail.russianspaceweb.com/r12.html)
9. [Pervov M.A. (2018). History of Russian Rocket and Space Propulsion, Vol. 5](https://ru.djvu.online/file/AdNYudzmDaGLh)
10. [Soviet Rocket Engines, Everyday Astronaut](https://everydayastronaut.com/soviet-rocket-engines/)
11. [Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, Moscow: RD-214](https://galspace.spb.ru/museum-2.php?foto_page=31)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Transport and spaceflight › Spaceflight › Launch systems and rocketry › Rocket propulsion › Rocket engines › Gas-generator cycle engines*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license