Editing Proton (satellite program) (section)

==Background==

The Proton satellites were heavy automated laboratories launched 1965–68 to study high energy particles and cosmic rays.<ref name=astro>{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/u/ur-500.html|title=UR-500|last=Wade|first=Mark|access-date=23 October 2020|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026155026/http://www.astronautix.com/u/ur-500.html|archive-date=26 October 2020}}</ref> These satellites were built to utilize the test launches of the [[UR-500]], a heavy two-stage [[ICBM]] designed by [[Vladimir Chelomey|Vladimir Chelomey's]] [[OKB-52]] to carry a 100-megaton nuclear payload. Each Proton was housed in a purpose-built third stage added to the UR-500 stack.<ref name=rop>{{cite book|title=Rockets and People. Volume IV, The Moon Race| last = Chertok |  first = Boris | publisher = NASA | location = Washington D.C. | oclc= 775599532 | date = 2011 | page = 21}}</ref>