LK-3 lunar lander

This lander would have carried a single cosmonaut to the Moon's surface. The cosmonaut would have stood at the controls in the near-spherical cabin during the descent to the surface, and exited the spacecraft via the circular hatch and down the steps.

At the end of the mission with the cosmonaut back inside, the same rocket engine that slowed the craft during its descent would fire and lift the cabin back into space to rendezvous with the orbiting LOK spacecraft, leaving the leg assembly on the Moon. Had the mission gone ahead the first cosmonaut to land on the Moon would have been Alexei Leonov.

Engineering model
Source: Moscow Aviation Institute
Object no: L2014-4363