S1.5400

The S1.5400 (GRAU Index 11D33) was a Soviet single nozzle liquid propellant rocket engine burning liquid oxygen and kerosene in an oxidizer rich staged combustion cycle. It was the first rocket engine to use this cycle in the world, and it was designed by V. M. Melnikov, an alumnus of Isaev, within Korolev's Bureau, for the Molniya fourth stage, the Block-L. It was also the first Soviet engine designed for start and restart in vacuum, and had the highest isp at the time of its deployment.

Its development took from 1958 to 1960. The first production run was started on May 1960, and it passed all the firing tests. Its first flight failed before the Block-L was activated and it was in a Venera flight during 1961 that it had its first success. Between 1961 and 1964 it went through an improvement program that ended up in the S1.5400A1 version (GRAU Index 11D33M). It improved thrust from 63.74 kilonewtons (14,330 lbf) to 66.69 kilonewtons (14,990 lbf) and isp from 338.5s to 340s, while keeping weight the same.