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Our country began to dream about flights to planets and stars even before the Revolution. The revolutionaries dreamed of a breakthrough to the stars of the Society of the Future, realizing that only the society for which they were going to die could do this. The brilliant inventor-revolutionary Kibalchich, sentenced to death on death row, does not write letters to his relatives, not petitions for pardon, but draws sketches of a jet interstellar apparatus, knowing that it can be preserved in the prison archive for posterity. The most advanced people of Russia dreamed of the Cosmos, a whole trend in the philosophy of Russian - Cosmism was formed. The founder of cosmonautics, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, also belongs to the cosmist philosophers, who laid the foundation for theoretical basis space flights, gave a philosophical and technical justification for space exploration by Mankind. Tsiolkovsky was so ahead of his time that he was simply not understood in the West at that time and ... forgotten! Only the Russians remembered and honored him.
Nevertheless, starting from the 60s in the West, prominent scientists began to put forward space exploration projects, one-to-one coinciding with Tsiolkovsky's projects, but fully appropriating the authorship of his ideas. This category includes the so-called "Dyson Sphere", "O'Neill Space Settlements" and much more. In the West, the legacy of the great scientist and philosopher is almost erased from history and is practically unknown even to specialists.
Tsarist Russia, as well as modern oligarchic Russia, did not need any and was even harmful. The Great October Socialist Revolution gave a chance for the development of Tsiolkovsky's ideas. The enthusiasm for the construction of the New Society, which was overwhelming the Land of Soviets, was inseparable for a Russian person with a dream of other worlds.
There is even a semi-legend that the red star on the coat of arms of the country is none other than Mars. A planet you MUST go to! A ruined, impoverished peasant country dreamed of flying into space. In the 1920s, A. Tolstoy's wonderful science fiction book Aelita, about the flight of two enthusiasts to Mars on a homemade rocket, gained immense popularity in the USSR. Fantastic for that time was an interplanetary rocket, but the reflection of the state of mind in Red Russia was completely real: groups of enuziast engineers lived with the idea of creating real money overcoming interplanetary spaces. By the end of the twenties of the twentieth century, it became obvious that only rocket technology with reactive thrust was suitable for space exploration. The prototype of the engineer Los from Aelita was a real Soviet engineer - Friedrich Zander, a teacher at the Moscow Aviation Institute. Mortally ill with an incurable form of tuberculosis, he manages to found a scientific and engineering group GIRD, lay the foundations for theoretical calculations of jet engines, rocket astrodynamics, calculate the duration of space flights, put forward the concept of a space plane - a combination of an aircraft and a rocket, theoretically substantiate the principle of a gliding descent from near-Earth space, prove the idea " gravitational sling, which is now used by almost all spacecraft sent to study groups of planets. Almost all subsequent developments in rocket technology were based on Zander's work.
The Moscow GIRD group included the future Chief Designer of Soviet launch vehicles - Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. At the beginning of the work, our rocket scientists had only one idea: to build a spacecraft for flying into space, as Zander dreamed - to Mars, which was supposed to be inhabited, and as an intermediate stage - to the Moon, as Tsiolkovsky believed. But reality has shown that without the completion of Industrialization, there can be no chance of a flight to Mars. Therefore, not romantic plans began to be built, but more realistic, but executable ones: rockets were supposed to be used in two main areas: “geophysical rockets” for research upper layers atmosphere, where then balloons and planes could not rise, and even in military affairs. Geopolitical and ideological adversaries did not hide their plans to prepare for military destruction Soviet Russia. By the way, the result of the development of the military direction was simple in concept, but with terrifying efficiency, multiple launch rocket systems - Katyusha rocket launchers designed by Ivan Platonovich Grave, who is also the inventor of a solid-fuel rocket on smokeless powder. Unfortunately, due to the total falsification of history, the name of the real creator of the legendary weapon is now little known. After the outbreak of the War, it was clearly not up to the development of flights to Mars, things were done that could directly help defeat the enemy: jet fighters, rocket boosters for heavy bombers, heavy 300-mm rocket mines ("Andryusha"), etc. were designed.
The use of V-1 cruise missiles and V-2 ballistic missiles by the Germans against England showed their high efficiency. Practice has shown that ballistic missiles were invulnerable to air defense of that time and were an irresistible weapon.
By the way, the idea of a cruise missile and the priority of its creation belongs to S.P. Korolev, who called her "aircraft projectile". Such a rocket was tested by the Moscow GIRD in 1936. The Germans repeated this idea, according to their statements, not knowing about the Soviet development, however, according to one of the versions, the promising development was nevertheless stolen by German intelligence.
The birth of the space program
The rapid development of rocket technology after the Great Patriotic War inevitably led to the development of the Soviet Space Program. The Soviet Space Program was born as a natural extension of defense programs. The plan for the flight of man into space was proposed to Stalin in 1946, but the answer was: "Half the country is in ruins, we must wait 7-8 years until we rise." Stalin remembered these plans and the state plans for the creation of the R-7, the basis of all Soviet space exploration, were signed by Stalin and accepted for execution just a few weeks before his death.
It was planned not only to send a man into near-Earth space, but also to create an unprecedented weapon delivery vehicle in history - an intercontinental ballistic missile. By that time, the USSR had managed to create a nuclear bomb, but without means of delivery to the target, it could not become a full-fledged weapon of retaliation. The Americans had a completely reliable means of delivery - B-52 heavy bombers, especially the Americans, surrounded the USSR on all sides with their military bases, from which they can freely reach any city in the USSR with their bombers, while the main American cities were out of reach Soviet bombers. The territory of the United States, with the exception of Alaska, remained practically inaccessible for a retaliatory strike. The Americans believed that the USSR was in a hopeless situation and would be a practically defenseless victim.
The US plans to deliver nuclear strikes on the cities of the USSR and unleash a war were well known, and yesterday's allies did not particularly hide them - preparations for the destruction of the USSR and the Russian people were in full swing in the USA. According to the Dropshot plan, it was planned to drop 300 atomic bombs on Soviet cities, destroying almost half the population and most of the industrial potential. Plans were seriously created for dividing Russia into zones of occupation, personnel were selected for this, and so on.
In order to frustrate these plans, it was vital to create such an atomic bomb delivery vehicle that could reach the opposite hemisphere, otherwise the Anglo-Saxon fascists' terrible blow to Russian civilization was inevitable. Reachability of the territory of the aggressor for the retaliatory nuclear strike I would seriously cool down these nonhumans, who delight in exterminating defenseless people, but fearing a formidable enemy. Which, by the way, confirmed the near future.
In the mid-40s, our engineers had two options for solving the problem: a long-range bomber and a ballistic missile that went into near space.
Calculations showed that the United States could well protect itself from bombers mainly because of military bases around the world, often almost on the border of the USSR. It was almost impossible to shoot down a rocket. It is only now that relatively reliable means of intercepting warheads have appeared, but even in the foreseeable future they are still unable to repel a massive strike of thousands of missiles.
It is quite natural that it was the development of the rocket industry that received the maximum funding. But our engineers continued to dream about the stars. The rocket not only can deliver an atomic bomb to any point on the Earth, but can also be put into orbit by an artificial earth satellite (AES). The Soviet people believed that the military theme of their developments was an inevitable but transient evil that was about to end. They believed in a bright future, when war and violence would go forever into the past, and it would be possible to directly study the secrets of the universe.
In the country that defeated fascism, such ideas were in the air. Works of fantastic literature of the 30s and postwar years directly testify to this.
Even before the launch of the First Artificial Earth Satellite (AES) in our country, Ivan Antonovich Efremov created a brilliant fantasy work "The Andromeda Nebula" about the people of the Future and flights to the stars. I.A. Efremov could have known about the deeply classified work on the creation of powerful rockets capable of launching satellites into Earth's orbit and launching vehicles to celestial bodies. He simply reflected the current state of mind of the people of the country, their dreams and specific ideas about the beautiful Future. And the fact that this Future is directly connected with the stars was very significant.
First steps for the atmosphere
Naturally, in the process of creating missiles, it could not do without test launches. These launches were often used to probe the upper atmosphere. Therefore, even a special direction in the design and use of ballistic missiles stood out - a geophysical missile. Almost all the rockets before the "seven", which launched the first satellite into orbit, were also geophysical. The numbering was unpretentious: the first letter was "rocket", and then the model number. The seventh model is the one that brought out both the first satellite and the first ship with a man on board.
The more powerful rockets became, the higher they climbed into the upper layers of the atmosphere, which were already less and less different from outer space. Already R-5 could go into space along a ballistic trajectory. But for a full-fledged launch of the satellite, it was not yet suitable.
Our scientists were aware that the US was also working on rocket issues, especially since they brought the talented inventor of German rockets, von Braun, to the US and managed to kidnap a number of other prominent German scientists. But since the United States had carriers of nuclear weapons, the B-52 aircraft, they were in no hurry to develop powerful missiles. Apparently, they believed that it would not come to this - the USSR would fall earlier. Nevertheless, they announced quite noisily that they were going to launch the first artificial satellite of the Earth. They even demonstrated what they were going to launch - an apparatus the size of an orange. Around this case, as usual for Americans, an incredible propaganda noise was raised. It was believed that this launch would be a triumph of American science and an undoubted demonstration to the whole world of the absolute superiority of Anglo-Saxon science over all others, above all over Soviet science. They did not even doubt that this would be the case - they would be the first. Moreover, there was deafening silence on the part of the “Russians” in this area. US intelligence knew that work on missiles was being carried out in the USSR, but they did not know how successful it was. By default, it was believed that the Russians "always" lag behind the Americans.
The launch of the American rocket was timed to coincide with the International Geophysical Year. But they were followed by a series of failures.
We also thought about launching the first satellite.
A preliminary design of a rocket for launching a satellite was even carried out on the basis of already worked out, working models. In the course of these works, it became clear that even with the R-5 it is technically possible, although it was a medium-range missile. It was supposed (according to the draft design) to link four of these rockets to launch a satellite.
Sputnik Photo
But the most important goal at that time was the creation of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying an atomic bomb.
Therefore, the satellite launch project was put on hold until the R-7 arrived. "Seven" was successfully tested just in time for the geophysical year. Since it was absolutely not important for the rocket what kind of cargo to carry, it was decided to put Sputnik as a payload in one of the launches.
By the way, Sputnik, according to engineers, was made very interestingly: the shell of an atomic bomb with a completely removed filling served as its body. The filling for the first satellite was a simple radio transmitter.
The political significance of the launch of the first satellite
Already the weight of the first satellite plunged American engineers into amazement. If they were counting on using their super-advanced launch vehicle to “launch an orange”, then the Soviet satellite weighed almost a centner.
The second artificial satellite of the Earth is the first biological satellite in the world, in the pressurized cabin of which in November 1957 the dog Laika flew. And the launch of the third satellite was generally shocking - its weight was one and a half tons.
Second Sputnik Model
Photo of the third satellite.
Further detailing the space program
At first, the program as such was only in the minds of engineers and scientists directly involved in the creation of rocket technology. She wore a completely abstract character like: “It would be nice to fly to the Moon, to Mars, to the Stars,” but when it became absolutely clear that Sputnik would be launched in the next few years, Korolev sent a letter to the academicians asking them to express their opinion on the tasks, that could be solved and studies that could be carried out on board an artificial Earth satellite. Some academicians thought that this was a stupid joke and answered in the spirit: “I'm not fond of science fiction!” - there were, unfortunately, retrogrades. But the proposals of those scientists who approached the issue seriously became the basis of the Soviet Space Program.
All proposals that were received were grouped into the following sections:
study of the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere (ionosphere), and near-Earth space;
study of the Earth from space in the interests of cartography, meteorology, geophysics;
Study of near-Earth space;
extra-atmospheric astronomy;
Direct study of the Moon and the bodies of the solar system.
Subsequently, this Program was only supplemented in detail and concretized.
It was somehow taken for granted that this Program was forever, and that the study and exploration of outer space would be a continuous, planned process and completely abstracted from any purely “entertainment”, ambitious goals, such as the naked pursuit of records. As always in the USSR, in relation to such areas of activity, the planning horizon was "for centuries", in contrast to the Western 4-5 years.
Clarifications from S.P. Queen
Korolev was an engineer, and, of course, he calculated those steps that led to the solution of the grandiose tasks laid down in the Space Program. Korolev had a specific goal-dream - a flight to Mars, and for its implementation he built his "stairway to heaven" - consistently, methodically, purposefully. All those steps that he outlined for the Martian expedition, the country subsequently carefully passed without an empty pursuit of records and useless spending of funds to achieve momentary benefits to the detriment of the main thing.
Everything was done according to the master plan drawn up by S.P. Korolyov, designed for decades to come, with which the majority of engineers and those who were responsible for decision-making in the country's leadership agreed. It is quite natural to forget about "Earthly affairs", and no one was going to take care of the fulfillment of the current needs of the country. But setting long-term goals along with closer and more purely pragmatic goals was the rule, because the country was building communism - the Society of General Social Justice, and this plan was for centuries. And if so, now it was necessary to attend to the solution of those small and large tasks that are necessary for the implementation of such a superproject. Consider the steps, after which, Soviet science will be able to solve the problem of sending a manned expedition to Mars, to solve it without overstraining forces and means. Hence the questions...
What do you need "for Mars"?
AMS or...?
Obviously, it was necessary to obtain reliable preliminary data on the nature of Mars in order to know what astronauts would encounter on this planet. It was extremely difficult to find out by purely astronomical methods. So, it was necessary to find out by flying there, but how? Reliable automatic spacecraft have already appeared, but they flew near the Earth. Is it even possible to send an apparatus to Mars and, by controlling it at a distance of hundreds of millions of kilometers, accurately “taxi” to Mars? This was a completely new question when celestial navigation was on the agenda. It was necessary to have a very clear idea in space and time where the spacecraft is located at distances unimaginable to humans. In addition, it was necessary to know a lot of things, for example, whether conditions would kill a person space flight? It turned out that there were two possibilities - a manned expedition and flights of automatic interplanetary stations. An interesting problem arose: where does what can be studied with the help of automatic stations end and what can only be done by a person begin?
Already from the most rough calculations it followed that the expedition itself was an extremely expensive business. After all, the apparatus with people not only needs to be launched towards Mars, but also to ensure its return, to ensure a minimum of comfort and safety for people, and much more.
With an automatic, everything was easier. It does not need to be returned back - it is made for a specific task. Consequently, AMS (automatic interplanetary station) is simpler, lighter and thousands of times cheaper. One way or another, it followed that the beginning of the direct study of the bodies of the solar system would be laid by Automatic Interplanetary Stations.
And what is needed for a manned expedition?
But one way or another, a person will still have to fly sooner or later. What is needed for this?
First, life support systems capable of working reliably for the required time and providing astronauts with clean air and water.
Secondly, to find out the impact on a person of the impact of all factors of long-term space flight (primarily weightlessness) and neutralize them as far as possible.
Thirdly, to create efficient engines for interplanetary ships. The available chemical ones were not suitable due to the low velocity of the jet. As a result, the launch mass of the spacecraft turned out to be prohibitively large.
Immediately there were ideas to use nuclear energy to run the engine. There are two types of such engines:
Electric rocket (invented back in 30 g), but with a compact nuclear reactor - a current source
Actually a nuclear engine.
According to the last of all possible, three directions were singled out that can give results in the near future - solid-phase, liquid-phase and gas-phase nuclear engines.
In the first type, the core of the engine is a small nuclear reactor, where the fissile material is in a solid state, through which hydrogen is driven, which is heated and ejected, due to heating, at speeds of 8-10 km / s.
In the second, the fissile substance is in a liquid state and is pressed against the walls of the chamber by its rotation, and the speed of the outflow of hydrogen will be up to 20 km/s.
But the most promising, though the most problematic, is the gas-phase nuclear jet engine. His idea is based on the fact that if it is possible to isolate the gaseous fissile material from contact with the walls of a nuclear engine, then hydrogen can be dispersed up to 70 km / s! If such engines were created, then travel within the solar system would become something very everyday, for example, it would be possible to make a manned expedition to Saturn in 1 year. The launch mass of the ship in near-Earth orbit would be very small - several hundred tons, and not hundreds of thousands, as for a chemical rocket. It should be noted that the USSR last years came very close to solving this problem. We stood on the threshold of intensive human study solar system and sending automatons to the nearest stars. One of the reasons for such an urgent destruction of the USSR was the task of stopping the movement of the Red Project and all of humanity to the Stars. Consideration of the causes of the latter question is far beyond the scope of this work.
Pragmatic tasks
Well, these are lofty and distant goals, so to speak. But what to use right now? This is also logically connected with distant goals - "near space" - near-Earth space
Providing satellites with reliable television and radio communications with all points of our vast country. Several satellites cost hundreds of times cheaper than building a permanent network of relay stations.
The study of the meteorological situation on a scale of the entire Earth in order to reliably predict the weather, warning of disasters for a sufficiently long period.
Watching natural resources Earth and natural hazards - forest fires, insect migrations, tsunamis and geological shifts ...
Production of unique materials in space. Ultrapure vacuum and almost unlimited time weightlessness provide exceptional opportunities for the production of materials that are simply impossible to obtain on Earth.
And, of course, as long as there are countries that are actively nurturing plans to destroy the USSR, military satellites are needed - space reconnaissance, a warning about aggression, and, if necessary, a counterattack.
To accomplish these tasks, it was necessary to provide the country with a whole range of vehicles that completely cover all possible tasks here - from launching a satellite into orbit, to ensuring communication with them and the subsequent delivery of the received materials to Earth.
This meant:
Building heavy launch vehicles to put more payloads into orbit at a lower cost. Development of reusable systems.
Creation of a permanent outpost in near-Earth orbit, where it would be possible to carry out the entire range of research: from biomedical, technological, military to fundamental scientific research Space. Research into the behavior of materials in space was needed. This knowledge was necessary to create reliable, permanent objects in space. At that time, they did not know at all how terrestrial materials would behave in a vacuum under continuous long-term exposure to all types of radiation.
Automated robots can handle relatively simple experiments and measurements, which means they need to be created, which requires the development of applied mathematics, computer technology and many other industries. But complex tasks required the presence of a person, that is, the creation of a permanent orbital station.
All this represented a single Soviet Space Program, interconnected to such an extent that it was often impossible to separate one direction from another.
One of the distant targets of this program was Mars.
The first manned flight into space. Space race.
After the triumph of the first satellite, only the first manned flight into space could really save the face of American science. At that time, the United States did not have a sufficiently powerful launch vehicle to launch a spacecraft with a man on board into near-Earth orbit, so that it became an Earth satellite, so only a short-term launch of the vehicle into space along a ballistic trajectory was planned. American engineers figuratively called it "flea jump".
The ship started from the ground, emerged for about ten minutes from the atmosphere into space and fell back. It is quite natural that such space flight"could not be complete. But for the United States, the main thing was to stake out space first and thereby save face.
Unlike the USA, the USSR already had a fairly powerful P7. Therefore, immediately after the launch of the satellite, it was the orbital, and not the ballistic flight of the ship with a person on board that began to be planned.
Here, it is true, one should mention the episode when the R-5 rocket was created. Soviet engineers calculated that a bunch of four of these rockets could take a cabin with a man into space (“a flea jump” in American). This worthless and very expensive option of setting an altitude record was abandoned in favor of a real, and not propaganda, goal - the launch of an artificial satellite and orbital flight.
After a successful experiment with the launch of the automaton, the following stages of space exploration unfolded - the second and third satellites were biological. The effect of space flight factors was studied on living organisms. The first animal astronauts flew into space. The name of the first dog in space - Laiki - flew around the world. Her mongrel muzzle was printed on the front pages of all the newspapers of the world, they played documentary footage with her in all cinemas. The next "cosmonauts" who returned to Earth alive were dogs - Belka and Strelka, not only a purely scientific program was worked out, but also the technical problem of returning a spacecraft from space to earth with a soft landing was also solved. Having worked out on dogs what a person later had to go through, the Soviet space program came close to solving the problem of human flight into space.
The first apparatus for manned space flight was created with the preliminary testing of all nodes in an unmanned mode, and many of them are modular - in parts, this was the rule in Soviet Cosmonautics. After all the parts were worked out, flew unmanned ships"East". One of the flights was unsuccessful - due to incorrect processing of the deorbit impulse, instead of landing on Earth, the device moved to a higher orbit. Instead of an astronaut, a mannequin flew in the pilot's seat. Our engineers, who prepared it for flight, jokingly called the mannequin "Uncle Vanya".
Apparently, these unmanned launches of the Vostok spacecraft with dummies became the basis for a wild legend, according to which, before Y. Gagarin's flight, someone else allegedly flew, who even died.
Finally, when all the elements of the flight were successfully worked out, on April 12, 1961, starting from the cosmodrome, the Vostok spacecraft with a person on board made one complete revolution around the Earth and sat down in a given area of the Soviet Union. Thus, the first manned flight into space in the history of mankind took place. Yuri Alekseevich became the first cosmonaut of the planet.
The second flight was the flight of German Titov on August 7, 1961 (he was Gagarin's understudy). Titov spent more than a day in orbit - 25 hours and 11 minutes.
Photo: at the Mission Control Center
After SUCH achievements, the American "flea jump" performed on the Mercury spacecraft, quite naturally, was not perceived as a full-fledged space flight (although they pompously announced two space flights performed between Gagarin's launch and Titov's flight).
For the Americans, this circumstance was no longer just a serious failure, but a shame. Trying to somehow wash it off and restore the completely destroyed legend of “the undeniable leadership of science and technology in the United States,” America violently joined the space race.
New manned flights and our priorities
Unfortunately, at present, a targeted campaign is being carried out in our country to tarnish the great victories of the past. Many young people often simply do not know anything about what really happened in the days of "totalitarianism". They hear only the slander of the enemies of the USSR, but the real facts from them turn out to be "with seven seals." The policy of slanderers against the Soviet Union is elementary here: to convince a person that there was nothing good "then" ... and in general there was nothing special - everything important and important happened only in the USA, and we only knew that we were lagging behind and repeating other people's achievements.
But in reality, it was quite the opposite. And a prime example to that - the Soviet achievements in the exploration of outer space.
Here is just a small list of what was done and MADE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE WORLD by the Soviet Union in space.
The first female cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova. She flew 16-19.06.1963. on the Vostok-6 ship with a flight duration of 2 days 22 hours 50 minutes. This flight was not a purely political action, but was aimed at obtaining serious scientific information about the behavior of the female body in space flight conditions, which was later used during the flights of other female astronauts, including American women who flew much later than ours.
Photo of Gagarin with Tereshkova
Since the Soviet Union intended to seriously explore near space, it was necessary to make ships on which it was possible to “carry” not one, but several astronauts, performing not only the functions of piloting the ship, but also full-scale scientific experiments. This first three-seat spacecraft was launched on 10/12/1964. The crew consisted of the spacecraft commander V.M. Komarov, researcher K.P. Feoktistov and doctor B.B. Egorova.
To find out for the possibility of operating human operations outside of a spacecraft for the first time in our world, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov carried out a manned spacewalk as part of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft flight on March 18-19, 1965. Duration of stay in space - 12 min 9 s. Needless to say, for this it was necessary for the first time to create a special spacesuit, which was not equal then?
Photo: Leonov in space.
Leonov was not only an astronaut, but also an artist. Himself and together with the artist Sokolov, he painted many "space paintings". The legacy of these two artists is truly enormous and priceless. The artist can display such facets of the world and perception that no photo or film can reproduce.
Naturally, our achievements were not limited to these priority actions. And further, our science has more than once placed the Americans in an extremely difficult and unrespectable position of catching up and repeating other people's achievements. Our ability to do something first and for the first time in the world ended only in 1991 with the treacherous destruction of the USSR.
The first flight outside the earth's atmosphere on the Vostok spacecraft was made by our compatriot Air Force Major Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin on April 12, 1961. Since then, about […]
What can be said about the space program of the USSR? It lasted a little more than half a century and was extremely successful. Over its 60-year history, this primarily classified military program has been responsible for a number of groundbreaking achievements in spaceflight, including:
- the first in the world and in history intercontinental ballistic missile (R-7);
- the first satellite ("Sputnik-1");
- the first animal in Earth's orbit (the dog Laika on Sputnik 2);
- the first man in space and earth orbit (cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on Vostok-1);
- the first woman in space and earth orbit (cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova on Vostok-6);
- the first human spacewalk in history (cosmonaut Alexei Leonov on Voskhod-2);
- the first image of the far side of the Moon ("Luna-3");
- unmanned soft landing on the Moon ("Luna-9");
- the first space rover ("Lunokhod-1");
- the first sample of lunar soil is automatically extracted and delivered to Earth ("Luna-16");
- the world's first known space station ("Salyut-1").
Other notable achievements: the first interplanetary probes "Venera-1" and "Mars-1", which flew past Venus and Mars. The reader will learn briefly about the space program of the USSR from this article.
German scientists and Tsiolkovsky
The USSR program, initially enhanced by the help of captured scientists from the advanced German missile program, was based on some unique Soviet and pre-revolutionary theoretical developments, many of which were invented by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. He is sometimes called the father of theoretical astronautics.
Queen's contribution
Sergei Korolev was the head of the main design team; his official title sounded like "chief designer" (the standard title for similar positions in the USSR). Unlike its American rival, which had NASA as a single coordinating body, the Soviet Union's program was divided among several competing bureaus headed by Korolev, Mikhail Yangel, and such prominent but half-forgotten geniuses as Chelomey and Glushko. . It was these people who made it possible to send the first man into space to the USSR, this event glorified the country throughout the world.
failures
Because of the secret status of the program and the propaganda value, announcements of mission results were delayed until success was determined. During the glasnost era of Mikhail Gorbachev (in the 1980s), many facts about the space program were declassified. Significant failures include the deaths of Korolev, Vladimir Komarov (in the crash of the Soyuz-1 spacecraft) and Yuri Gagarin (during a routine fighter mission), as well as the failure to develop the giant N-1 rocket designed to power a manned lunar satellite. She exploded shortly after launch on four unmanned tests. As a result, the USSR cosmonauts in space became real pioneers in this field.
Heritage
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine inherited this program. Russia created the Russian Aerospace Agency, now known as State Corporation Roskosmos, and Ukraine - NSAU.
Prerequisites
The theory of space exploration had a solid foundation in Russian Empire(before the First World War) thanks to the work of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), who expressed a number of completely revolutionary ideas in the late XIX and early XX centuries, and in 1929 introduced the concept of a multi-stage rocket. A large role was played by various experiments carried out by members research groups in the 1920s and 1930s, among which were such geniuses and desperate pioneers as Sergei Korolev, who dreamed of flying to Mars, and Friedrich Zander. On August 18, 1933, Soviet testers launched the first Soviet rocket on liquid fuel Gird-09, and on November 25, 1933 - the first hybrid rocket GIRD-X. In 1940-1941. there was another breakthrough in the field of jet propulsion: the development and mass production reusable rocket launcher "Katyusha".
1930s and the Great Patriotic War
In the 1930s, Soviet rocket technology was comparable to that of Germany, but Joseph Stalin's Great Purge seriously harmed its development. Many leading engineers were killed, and Korolev and others were imprisoned in the Gulag. Although "Katyusha" was in great demand on Eastern Front during WWII, the state of the art of the German missile program astounded the Soviet engineers, who inspected the remnants of it at Peenemünde and Mittelwerk after all the battles for Europe were over. The Americans smuggled most of the leading German specialists and about a hundred V-2 missiles to the United States in Operation Paperclip, but the Soviet program benefited greatly from captured German records and scientists, in particular blueprints obtained from V-2 production sites.
After the war
Under the direction of Dmitry Ustinov, Korolev and others examined the drawings. With the support of rocket scientist Helmut Grottrup and other captured Germans, until the early 1950s, our scientists created a complete duplicate of the famous German V-2 rocket, but under its own name R-1, although the dimensions of Soviet warheads required a more powerful launch vehicle. The work of Korolev's OKB-1 design bureau was devoted to liquid-fueled cryogenic rockets, which he experimented with in the late 1930s. As a result of this work, the famous rocket "R-7" ("seven") was developed, which was successfully tested in August 1957.
The Soviet space program was tied to the five-year plans of the USSR and from the very beginning depended on the support of the Soviet military. Although he was "unanimously driven by the dream of space travel," Korolev generally kept it a secret. Then the priority was the development of a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to the United States. Many ridiculed the idea of launching satellites and manned spacecraft. In July 1951, animals were launched into orbit for the first time. Two dogs were found alive after reaching a height of 101 km.
This was another success of the USSR in space. With its enormous range and heavy payload of approximately five tons, the R-7 was not only effective at delivering nuclear warheads, but also an excellent basis for spacecraft. The announcement by the United States in July 1955 of its plan to launch Sputnik greatly helped Korolev convince Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to support his plans to outdo the Americans. A plan was approved to launch satellites in low-Earth orbit ("Sputnik") to gain knowledge about space, as well as the launch of four unmanned military reconnaissance satellites "Zenith". Further planned developments called for a manned flight to orbit by 1964, as well as an unmanned flight to the Moon more than early dates.
The success of "Sputnik" and future plans
After the first satellite proved successful from a propaganda point of view, Korolev, known publicly only as the anonymous "chief designer of space-rocket systems", was tasked with speeding up the manned production program for the Vostok spacecraft. Still under the influence of Tsiolkovsky, who chose Mars as the most important goal for space travel, early 1960s Russian program under the guidance of Korolev, she developed serious plans for manned flights to Mars (from 1968 to 1970).
militarism factor
In the West, it was believed that Khrushchev, the curator of the Soviet space program, ordered all the missions for propaganda purposes and was in unusually close relations with Korolev and other chief designers. Khrushchev himself actually emphasized rockets rather than space exploration, so he wasn't very interested in competing with NASA. Americans' perceptions of their Soviet counterparts were heavily clouded by ideological hatred and competitive struggle. Meanwhile, the history of the USSR space program was approaching its stellar era.
Systematic plans for missions conceived for political reasons were very rarely created. An exception was the entry into space Valentina Tereshkova (the first woman in space in the USSR) on Vostok-6 in 1963. The Soviet government was more interested in using space technology for military purposes. For example, the government in February 1962 suddenly ordered a mission involving two Vostoks (simultaneously) in orbit, launched "in ten days", to break the record of the Mercury-Atlas-6 launched in the same month. The program could not be implemented until August, but space exploration in the USSR continued.
Internal structure
The space flights organized by the USSR were very successful. After 1958, Korolev's OKB-1 design bureau faced increasing competition from Mikhail Yangel, Valentin Glushko, and Vladimir Chelomey. Korolev planned to move forward with the Soyuz spacecraft and the N-1 heavy booster, which would form the basis of a permanent manned space station and manned lunar exploration. Nevertheless, Ustinov instructed him to focus on near-Earth missions using the highly reliable Voskhod spacecraft, a modified Vostok, as well as interplanetary unmanned missions to the nearby planets Venus and Mars. In a nutshell, the USSR's space program ran very smoothly.
Yangel was Korolev's assistant, but with the support of the military, he was given his own design bureau in 1954 to work mainly on the military space program. He had a stronger development team rocket engines, they were allowed to use hypergolic propellants, but after the Nedelin disaster in 1960, Yangel was assigned to focus on the development of ICBMs. He also continued to develop his own heavy booster designs, similar to Korolev's H-1, both for military applications and for spaceflight in the construction of future space stations.
Glushko was the chief rocket engine designer, but he had personal friction with Korolev and refused to develop the large single-chamber cryogenic engines that Korolev needed to build heavy boosters.
Chelomei took advantage of the patronage of Khrushchev, the curator of the Soviet space program, and in 1960 he was tasked with developing a rocket to send a manned spacecraft around the moon and a manned military space station.
Further development
The success of the American shuttle Apollo alarmed the main developers, each of whom advocated their own program. Several projects have been approved by the authorities, and new proposals have jeopardized already approved projects. Due to Korolev's "special perseverance," in August 1964, three years after the Americans had loudly declared their ambitions, the Soviet Union finally decided to fight for the Moon. He set the goal of landing on the moon in 1967 - on the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. At one stage, back in the 1960s, the Soviet space program was actively developing 30 projects for launchers and spacecraft. With the removal of Khrushchev from power in 1964, Korolev was given complete control over the space program.
Korolev died in January 1966 after a colon operation, as well as complications from heart disease and heavy bleeding. Kerim Kerimov oversaw the development of both manned vehicles and drones for the former Soviet Union. One of Kerimov's greatest achievements was the launch of Mir in 1986.
The leadership of OKB-1 was entrusted to Vasily Mishin, who was supposed to send a man flying around the moon in 1967 and land a man on it in 1968. Mishin lacked Korolev's political power and still faced competition from other chief designers. Under pressure, Mishin approved the launch of Soyuz 1 in 1967, although the craft was never successfully tested in unmanned flight. The mission started with design flaws and ended with the car crashing to the ground, killing Vladimir Komarov. It was the first death in the history of the USSR space program.
Fight for the moon
After this disaster, and under increased pressure, Mishin developed a problem with alcohol. The number of new achievements of the USSR in space has significantly decreased. The Soviets were beaten by the Americans when they sent the first manned flight around the moon in 1968 with Apollo 8, but Mishin continued to develop the problematic super-heavy N-1 in the hope that the Americans would fail, which would provide enough time to make the N-1 "capable and land a man on the moon first. There was a successful joint flight between Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5, during which the rendezvous, docking and crew transfer methods to be used for landing were tested. LK Lander has been successfully tested in Earth orbit. But after four unmanned tests of the "N-1" ended in failure, the development of the rocket was completed.
secrecy
The USSR space program concealed information about its projects that preceded the success of Sputnik. The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) had the right to announce all the successes of the space program, but only after the successful completion of the missions.
The achievements of the USSR for a long time were unknown to the Soviet people themselves. The secrecy of the Soviet space program served both as a means to prevent information from leaking outside the state, and to create a mysterious barrier between the space program and the Soviet population. The program was so secret that the average Soviet citizen could only paint a superficial picture of its history, current activities or future efforts.
Events in the USSR in space embraced the whole country with enthusiasm. However, due to secrecy, the Soviet space program faced a paradox. On the one hand, officials tried to push the space program forward, often tying its successes to the strength of socialism. On the other hand, the same officials understood the importance of secrecy in the context of cold war. This emphasis on secrecy in the USSR can be understood as a measure to protect its strengths and weaknesses.
Latest projects
In September 1983, a Soyuz rocket launched to deliver cosmonauts to the Salyut-7 space station exploded on the pad, causing the Soyuz spacecraft's capsule ejection system to operate, saving the crew's lives.
In addition to this, there have been several unconfirmed reports of lost cosmonauts whose deaths were allegedly covered up by the Soviet Union.
The Buran space program has released a space shuttle of the same name based on the Energia, the third superheavy launcher in history. Energia was to be used as a base for a manned mission to Mars. Buran was intended to support large space military platforms as a response first to the US space shuttle and then to the famous Reagan space defense program. In 1988, when the system was just starting to work, strategic arms reduction treaties made the Buran unnecessary. On November 15, 1988, the Buran and the Energia rocket were launched from Baikonur, and after three hours and two orbits, they landed a few miles from the launch pad. Several machines were built, but only one of them made an unmanned test flight into space. As a result, these projects were considered too expensive, and they were curtailed.
The beginning of radical economic transformations in the country worsened the position of the defense industry. The space program is in trouble political position: previously serving as an indicator of the advantage of the socialist system over the capitalist, with the advent of glasnost, it revealed its shortcomings. By the end of 1991, the space program had ceased to exist. After the collapse of the USSR, its activities were not resumed either in Russia or in Ukraine.
Good afternoon, my dear reader. Your venerable servant, like millions of boys born in the Soviet Union, dreamed of becoming an astronaut. I did not become one, due to health and, strange as it may sound, growth. But the distant and unknown space attracts me to this day.
In this article, I want to tell you about such interesting and truly cosmic things as launch vehicles and the payload that they delivered into outer space.
Dense space exploration began in the middle of the third five-year plan, after the end of World War II. Active developments were carried out in many countries, but the main leaders were naturally the USSR and the USA. The championship in the successful launch and launch of a launch vehicle from PS-1 (the simplest satellite) into low Earth orbit belonged to the USSR. Before the first successful launch, there were already six generations of missiles and only the seventh generation (R-7) was able to develop the first cosmic speed at 8km/s to overcome gravity and enter Earth orbit. Space rockets originated from long-range ballistic missiles, by boosting the engine. First, I'll explain something to you. A rocket and a spaceship are two different things.
The rocket itself is just a means of delivering a spacecraft into space. These are the first 30 meters in the picture. And the spaceship is already attached to the rocket at the very top. However, there may not be a spaceship there, anything can be located there, from a satellite to a nuclear warhead. Which served as a great incentive and fear for the powers. The first successful launch and launch of a satellite into orbit meant a lot for the country. But above all else, the military advantage.
The launch vehicles themselves, until the first successful launch, have only an alphanumeric designation. And only after fixing the successful output of the payload to a given height, they get a name.
The 8K71 (R-7) intercontinental ballistic missile, as well as the well-known ball with four antennas, which she launched into space, also became an erudite's piggy bank: "Sputnik" - became. It happened on October 4, 1957.
Here is the very first artificial satellite PS-1 undergoing a final check of all systems.
PS-1 in space. (the picture is not the original shooting)
Five months later, another launch vehicle (8A91) Sputnik 3 was launched. Such a short period in development is due to the fact that the first launch vehicles could lift a payload of several kilograms into space, and launch from PS-1 on board , was only the first goal against the United States. When the Americans accepted the fact that the USSR had overtaken them in the race for first place in spacewalks, they began to finish their rockets with a vengeance. The USSR needed to get ahead of the United States again and create a rocket that could launch a payload of a ton into space. And this is, after all, a real threat. Who knows how to stuff such a rocket and send it to Washington? And Sputnik-3 was just the first rocket, with a payload of 1300 kg.
Launch vehicle "Sputnik". On the left are three satellites that he put into orbit around the earth.
In the US, there was nuclear hysteria without it. In kindergartens, schools, factories and factories, endless exercises began in case of a nuclear strike. This was the first time that the Americans had nothing to oppose the USSR. Intercontinental ballistic missiles can reach the USSR in 11 minutes. A nuclear charge can fly from space much faster. Of course, all this is too complicated to really think so. But fear has big eyes.
By the way, here's something else to add to the piggy bank of an erudite: How long do you think a rocket flies into space? One hour, two? Maybe half an hour?
To reach an altitude of 118 km, the rocket takes approximately 500 seconds, which is less than 10 minutes. An altitude of 118 km (100 km) is the so-called Karman line, where aeronautics becomes completely impossible. It is generally accepted that a flight is considered space if the Karman line has been overcome.
The rocket is really American, but this picture very well reflects the atmosphere of the earth and the transition points.
The third rocket was the Luna. The USSR, seeing the futile attempts of the Americans, with their capitalist system, where the rocket is built not by the state, but by private companies that are more interested in profit than in the space race, began to think about flying to the moon. And already on December 2, 1959, the launch vehicle (8K71), by equipping the third stage (block "E"), successfully set off towards our cause of the ebb and flow. They could have done earlier, but due to the developing self-oscillations, the launch vehicles were destroyed in flight at 102-104 seconds. And only after the installation of hydraulic damper blocks in the fuel systems, the rocket successfully reached ... a heliocentric orbit and became the first artificial satellite of the sun. And all because of the failure to take into account the propagation time of the AMS radio command (automatic interplanetary station).
The next launch vehicle was Vostok 8K72. He then flew in September 1959 to the moon and successfully threw the Luna-2 AMS there, and a couple of pentagons with symbols of the USSR.
Launch vehicle "Vostok" standing on a pedestal at VDNKh in Moscow.
Two metal pentagons with the symbols of the USSR, sent along with AMS-2 to the moon.
(After this luck, the Americans began to build a pavilion where they decided to shoot a film about landing on the moon. Joke.) On October 4, the same year, a similar rocket was launched from the AMS Luna-3, which for the first time in the history of mankind, was able to photograph the reverse side Moon. Making ordinary Americans cry, huddled in a corner. Since, unfortunately, the moon on the other side is absolutely the same and there are no lunar parks and lunar cities on it.
Another side of the moon. 1959
Korolev, on the other hand, was planning to launch a man into space at full speed, and therefore, in complete secrecy, a life support system for a man in space was being developed. Spacecraft of the Sputnik series, launched on May 15, 1960. It was the first prototype of the Vostok satellite, which was used for the first human space flight.
A copy of the spacecraft "Sputnik"
The Sputnik 2 spacecraft was not intended to return to earth. But nevertheless, a decision was made to send a living being into orbit. It was a beautiful mongrel named Laika. She was found in one of the dog shelters. They were selected according to the principle - white, small, not thoroughbred, as it should not be picky about food. 10 dogs were selected, of which only three were selected and tested. But one was waiting for offspring, and the other had congenital curvature of the paws and was left as technological. Scientists have developed a feeding system, twice a day, a system of sewage and made a small operation to implant sensors. One was placed at the ribs, and the other at the carotid artery, to monitor breathing and pulse. Laika was launched into space on November 3, 1957. Having made incorrect calculations in thermoregulation, the temperature in the ship rose to 40 ° C and within 5 hours the dog died of overheating, although the flight was calculated for 7 days (the oxygen supply of the ship). Laika was doomed from the start. Many workers who participated in the experiment were morally depressed for a very long time. The Western press reacted very negatively to this flight and TASS transmitted information about the dog's well-being for another seven days, although the dog was already dead.
Laika. She was the first living creature to travel into space, but without a chance to return.
The Sputnik-4 spacecraft was created to study the operation of the life support system and various situations associated with human flight into space: a doll with a height of 164 cm and a weight of 72 kg was sent on it. After four days of flight, the satellite deviated from the planned course and at the beginning of deceleration, instead of entering the atmosphere, it was thrown into a higher orbit, after which it was no longer able to return to the atmosphere in the planned mode. The wreckage of the satellite was found in the middle of the main street in the town of Manitewak in the US state of Wisconsin, which seemed to hint.
The remains of "Sputnik-4" in the middle of the main street in the town of Manitewak in the US state of Wisconsin.
Sputnik-4
1. Photographic equipment; 2. Descent vehicle; 3. Cylinders of the orientation system; 4. Instrument compartment;
5. Antennas for telemetry systems; 6. Brake propulsion system; 7. Sun orientation sensor;
8. Vertical builder; 9. Program radio link antenna; 10. Antenna of the radio intelligence system
After this incident, every two months, there were launches on Vostok launch vehicles of any representatives of the earth's fauna. In July, the dogs Chaika and Chanterelle were launched, but unfortunately, at the 19th second of the flight, the side block of the first stage of the launch vehicle collapsed, as a result of which it fell and exploded. The dogs Chaika and Chanterelle died.
The first dogs to fly into space on a return spacecraft (descent vehicle).
Unfortunately, they were not destined to return.
And in August of the 60th, our two prides, Squirrel and Strelochka, made a successful flight! But write down the following information in your piggy bank: Together with Belka and Strelka, there were 40 mice and 2 rats on board. They spent 1 day and 9 hours in space. Shortly after landing, Strelka had six healthy puppies. One of them was personally asked by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev. He sent it as a gift to Carolyn Kennedy, daughter of US President John F. Kennedy.
Belka and Strelka, the first dogs to return from space.
There were not only dogs on board Sputnik 5, but also such cute rats.
In December of the same year, Sputnik-6 was launched. The crew of the ship were dogs Mushka and Pchelka, two guinea pigs, two white laboratory rats, 14 black mice of the C57 line, seven mice of hybrids from SBA and C57 mice and five outbred mice. A series of biological experiments, which included research on the possibility of flights by geophysical and space rockets of living beings, observation of the behavior of highly organized animals under the conditions of such flights, as well as the study of complex phenomena in near-Earth space.
Scientists have studied the effects on animals of most factors of a physical and cosmic nature: altered gravity, vibration and overloads, sound and noise stimuli of varying intensity, exposure to cosmic radiation, hypokinesia and hypodynamia. The flight lasted a little over a day. On orbit 17, due to a failure of the braking engine control system, the descent began in an off-design area. It was decided to destroy the device by detonating the charge, in order to exclude an unplanned fall into foreign territory. All living beings on board perished. Despite the fact that the apparatus was destroyed, the objectives of the mission were achieved, the collected scientific data were transmitted to Earth using telemetry and television.
Dogs Mushka and Pcholka before space flight.
After this incident, there were two more successful and one not very successful launches of Vostok missiles. The Americans were indignant and every day became gloomier and gloomier and in every possible way intercepted the encrypted signals and tried to decipher them, but tolerated the fails.
Spy photo obtained by US intelligence who deciphered the radio broadcast code from Sputnik-6
On April 12, 1961, the USSR delivered its final blow and sent Yura into space on the same launch vehicle, in the Vostok-1 spacecraft, which completed one revolution around the Earth and landed at 10 hours 55 minutes. To understand what the Vostok-1 spacecraft is, I will give its overall characteristics:
The mass of the apparatus is 4.725 tons;
Diameter of the hermetic case - 2.2 m;
Length (without antennas) - 4.4 m;
Maximum diameter - 2.43 m
(As I wrote above, I'm not an astronaut, I just had the opportunity to sit in a similar apparatus on earth.) This is a very uncomfortable aircraft, I'll tell you. With my height of 190 cm, it was extremely uncomfortable to sit in a bucket chair, and even in a spacesuit. According to this, Gagarin was selected for height, weight and health. (170/70/excellent) But even Gagarin probably felt uncomfortable in such a tiny capsule.
The descent module "Vostok" and next to it is an ejection seat.
I want to note that the first human flight was fully automatic, but Yura could switch the ship to manual control at any time. To do this, it was necessary to enter a special security code to turn off the automation, which was in a sealed envelope, which was in an egg, an egg in a duck, a duck .... in short, before the flight, Korolev whispered this code to Yurka, after all, you never know? And everything was done for the sake of the fact that no one knew how to behave nervous system man in space and whether he will go crazy. Therefore, the code for manual control was placed in an envelope that only a sane person could open.
Our universal pride!
I want to tell you some interesting details about the first human flight.
Gagarin was that still "Cedar".
Rocket launches always occur at irregular times.
At 9-57 Gagarin waved his hand personally to the President of America, flying over it.
Bus carrying astronauts to the rocket, blue.
The same bus.
Gagarin could cancel the flight at any moment and be replaced by Titov, who in turn could be replaced by Nelyubov.
Pencils in space are best tied. By the way, due to weightlessness, ordinary fountain pens do not write in space.
During the descent of the spacecraft, due to problems in the propulsion system, the ship began to rotate for 10 minutes with a full rotation amplitude of 1 second. Gagarin, did not frighten the Queen and vaguely reported on an emergency situation, which speaks of his nerves of steel. All descent vehicles of the Vostok type land on a ballistic trajectory, which leads to overloads of up to 10 ji. In addition, the ship gets very hot and crackles wildly in the lower atmosphere, which can put a lot of pressure on the psyche. When the ship reaches a mark of 7 km above the ground, the astronaut ejects, who descends separately from the descent vehicle on his own parachutes. What is ejection on the ship Vostok? When the descent vehicle releases the parachute and the speed gradually drops from 900 km/h to 72 km/h, a pyrotechnic charge is triggered under the cosmonaut's seat and the seat, together with the astronaut, whistles into free fall. Then the cosmonaut must have time to detach from the seat and independently parachute down to earth. And this is with wild overloads, constant fear and distrust of automation. After the ejection, Gagarin's oxygen supply valve did not work and he began to suffocate. After a while, the valve opened and Yura took a deep breath. When the parachute opened, it began to be demolished straight into the Volga. Let me remind you that the water in April is a bit cold and he was again on the verge of death, and his ability to maneuver with the help of lines saved him. I think it is beyond words that he managed to endure a little during this hour. It was worth it. Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, the most famous (contemporary) person on earth who ever lived.
During the descent, the capsule begins to burn in the lower atmosphere.
Parachute opens at 900 km/h
The capsule lands at a speed of 7m/s
This is how the descent vehicle burns.
Prelaunch check of all systems.
Korolev, without hiding his excitement, communicates with Gagarin during the flight.
Most famous person on the planet! 
On the cover of Time magazine.
On the cover of Life magazine.
But he himself was very modest.
With this, I will finish the first part about the space exploration of the USSR. If you are interested in continuing, I will be happy to write. Later I will talk about other countries, including the United States, which have also done a lot in this area of activity.
A selection of photographs that will help you see the history of the development of the Soviet space program. 
October 4, 1957: Sputnik I was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Soviet Union, becoming the first artificial satellite to be launched into Earth orbit and marking the start of the serious space race. 
November 3, 1957: The dog Laika became the first living creature to orbit the Earth. Laika entered space aboard Sputnik II. Laika died a few hours after launch from stress and overheating. Most likely, the causes of the death of the dog were failures in the operation of the temperature control system. The exact date of her death was not made public until 2002 - according to official information, which was presented to the media mass media Soviet authorities, the dog died on the sixth day during his stay in space. 
August 19, 1960: Two dogs, Belka and Strelka, became the first living creatures to go into orbit and return to Earth alive. They were accompanied by a rabbit, several mice, flies. Plants were also sent into orbit. All returned alive and unharmed. 
April 12, 1961: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to travel into space and orbit the Earth. He spent 1 hour and 48 minutes in space... 
The Vostok 1 spacecraft carrying Yuri Gagarin takes off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. 
soviet leader, general secretary Nikita Khrushchev hugs cosmonauts German Titov and Yuri Gagarin after Titov became the second person to orbit our planet. He spent 25 hours in space, becoming the first person to sleep while in orbit. Titov was only 25 years old at the time of the flight, and remains the youngest person to ever go into space. 
June 16, 1963 Valentina Tereshkova became the first female cosmonaut to travel into space. Another nineteen years passed before the second female cosmonaut, Svetlana Savitskaya, went into space. 
March 18, 1965: Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov made the first spacewalk in the history of cosmonautics. Leonov made his journey on the Voskhod 2 spacecraft. 
February 3, 1966: The unmanned spacecraft Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon. This photograph of the Moon's surface was sent back to Earth by a Soviet spacecraft. 
Valentina Komarova, widow of Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, kisses a photo of her dead husband on April 26, 1967, during an official funeral ceremony on Red Square in Moscow. Komarov died on his second flight aboard the Soyuz 1 spacecraft on April 23, 1967, when the spacecraft crashed while returning to Earth. He was the first person to die during a space flight and the first Soviet cosmonaut to make space trip repeatedly. Shortly before Komarov's death, Soviet Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin told the cosmonaut that his country was proud of him. 
1968: Soviet scientists examine two turtles after they returned from a trip to the moon aboard the Zond 5 spacecraft. The spacecraft, carrying flies, plants and bacteria in addition to turtles, circled the moon and splashed down Indian Ocean, a week after takeoff. 
November 17, 1970: Lunokhod 1 became the first remote-controlled robot to land on the surface of another celestial body. Lunokhod analyzed the lunar surface and sent more than 20,000 photographs back to Earth, until finally the Soviets lost contact with it after 322 days had passed. 
1975: Venera 9 - this spacecraft was the first to land on another planet and send images back to Earth from the surface of this planet ... 
A photograph of the surface of Venus taken by Venera 9. 
July 17, 1975: Soviet crew commander of the Soyuz spacecraft, Alexei Leonov (left), and commander of the American Apollo mission crew, Thomas Stafford, shake hands in space, somewhere in the West Germany region, after the two spacecraft docked, which was successful. It was the last US manned space mission until the first shuttle flight, which took place in April 1981. 
July 25, 1984: Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to perform a spacewalk. She was also the second woman to go into space, nineteen years after Valentina Tereshkova, and one year before Sally Ride, who became the first American woman to go into space. 
From 1989 to 1999: The Mir space station became the first manned space station. Its construction began in 1986, the station was allowed to return to Earth in 2001. 
1987-88: Vladimir Titov (left) and Musa Manarov became the first people to stay in space for more than a year. The total duration of their mission was 365 days, 22 hours and 39 minutes.
They were created under the leadership of the general designer of OKB-1 Sergey Pavlovich Korolev from 1963 to 1963.
The first manned "Vostok", which was launched on April 12, 1961, became at the same time the first spacecraft in the world that allowed a man to fly into outer space. This day (April 12) is celebrated in Russia and in many other countries of the world as World Aviation and Cosmonautics Day.
Subsequently, five more ships of the series flew, including two group ships (without docking), including with the world's first female cosmonaut Tereshkova. The planned 4 more flights (including longer ones, with the creation of artificial gravity) were canceled.
Sunrise
The ship actually repeated the ships of the Vostok series, but had an enlarged front instrument compartment, its descent vehicle was reconfigured for flight and landing inside the SA of two or three astronauts (for which ejection seats were excluded and to save space, the astronauts were located without spacesuits), and the variant for spacewalks had a hinged lock chamber.
The flight of Voskhod-1 in 1964 was the world's first multi-seat flight, Voskhod-2 with the world's first spacewalk. After two flights, several more planned flights (including low-orbit, longer, group flights, with the first mixed female-male crew, the first spacewalk by a woman) were still ahead.
Union
The Soyuz ship began to be designed in 1962 at OKB-1, first to fly around the moon. A bunch of spacecraft and boosters were supposed to go to the moon 7K-9K-11K. Subsequently, this project was closed in favor of flying around the Moon on the L1 spacecraft, launched on the Proton launch vehicle, and on the basis of 7K and the closed project of the Sever near-Earth spacecraft, they began to make 7K-OK- a multi-purpose three-seat orbital ship (OK) with solar panels, designed to practice maneuvering and docking operations in near-Earth orbit, to conduct various experiments, including the transfer of astronauts from ship to ship through outer space.
Spiral
Buran
The only one of the 5 under construction, the first ship of the series made the only unmanned flight in 1988, after which the program was closed in 1993 due to the collapse of the USSR and the difficult economic situation. In post-Soviet Russia, projects were developed for the reusable spacecraft MAKS (cancelled) and the partially reusable spacecraft Clipper (cancelled) and Rus (ongoing).
Unmanned space programs
Mars- the name of Soviet interplanetary spacecraft launched to the planet Mars since 1962. At first, Mars-1 was launched, then simultaneously Mars-2 and Mars-3. In 1973, four spacecraft launched to Mars at once ("Mars-4", "Mars-5", "Mars-6", "Mars-7"). Launches of the Mars series spacecraft were carried out by the Molniya launch vehicle (Mars-1) and the Proton launch vehicle with an additional 4th stage (Mars-2 - Mars-7).
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An excerpt characterizing the USSR Space Program“Ah, don’t tell me about my regiment,” Pierre answered, kissing the hostess’s hand and sitting down beside her. - He bored me so much!"Are you sure you'll be in charge of it yourself?" - said Julie, exchanging sly and mocking glances with the militia. The militia in the presence of Pierre was no longer so caustique, and his face expressed bewilderment at what Julie's smile meant. Despite his distraction and good nature, Pierre's personality immediately stopped all attempts at ridicule in his presence. “No,” Pierre answered, laughing, looking at his big, fat body. “It’s too easy for the French to hit me, and I’m afraid that I won’t get on a horse ... Among the people being sorted out for the subject of conversation, Julie's society fell on the Rostovs. “Very, they say, their deeds are bad,” said Julie. - And he is so stupid - the count himself. The Razumovskys wanted to buy his house and the suburban area, and all this is dragging on. He is valued. - No, it seems that the sale will take place one of these days, - someone said. – Although now it’s crazy to buy anything in Moscow. - From what? Julie said. – Do you really think that there is a danger for Moscow? - Why are you going? - I? That's strange. I'm going because ... well, because everyone is going, and then I'm not John d "Arc and not an Amazon. - Well, yes, yes, give me more rags. - If he manages to conduct business, he can pay all the debts, - the militia went on about Rostov. – Kind old man, but very pauvre sire [bad]. And why do they live here for so long? They have long wanted to go to the village. Natalie seems to be well now? Julie asked Pierre with a sly smile. “They are waiting for a younger son,” said Pierre. - He entered the Obolensky Cossacks and went to Belaya Tserkov. A regiment is formed there. And now they have transferred him to my regiment and are waiting every day. The count has long wanted to go, but the countess will never agree to leave Moscow until her son arrives. - I saw them the third day at the Arkharovs. Natalie got prettier and happier again. She sang one romance. How easy it is for some people! - What's going on? Pierre asked indignantly. Julie smiled. “You know, Count, that knights like you only exist in the novels of Madame Suza. What knight? From what? – blushing, asked Pierre. - Well, come on, dear count, c "est la fable de tout Moscou. Je vous admire, ma parole d" honneur. [All Moscow knows this. Really, I'm surprised at you.] - Fine! Fine! the militiaman said. - OK then. You can't say how boring! - Qu "est ce qui est la fable de tout Moscou? [What does all of Moscow know?] - Pierre said angrily, getting up. - Come on, Count. You know! “I don’t know anything,” said Pierre. - I know that you were friendly with Natalie, and therefore ... No, I am always friendly with Vera. Cette chere Vera! [That sweet Vera!] - Non, madame, [No, madam.] - Pierre continued in an unhappy tone. - I did not take on the role of the knight of Rostov at all, and I have not been with them for almost a month. But I don't understand cruelty... - Qui s "excuse - s" accuse, [Whoever apologizes, he blames himself.] - Julie said smiling and waving lint, and in order for her to have the last word, she immediately changed the conversation. - What is it like, I found out today: poor Marie Volkonskaya arrived in Moscow yesterday. Did you hear she lost her father? - Really! Where is she? I would very much like to see her,” said Pierre. “I spent the evening with her last night. Today or tomorrow morning she is going to the suburbs with her nephew. - Well, how is she? Pierre said. Nothing, sad. But do you know who saved her? It's a whole novel. Nicholas Rostov. She was surrounded, they wanted to kill her, her people were wounded. He rushed and saved her... “Another novel,” said the militiaman. - Decisively, this general flight is made so that all the old brides get married. Catiche is one, Princess Bolkonskaya is another. “You know that I really think she is un petit peu amoureuse du jeune homme. [slightly in love with the young man.] - Fine! Fine! Fine! - But how can I say it in Russian? .. When Pierre returned home, he was served two posters of Rostopchin brought that day. On the 24th there was a battle at the Shevardinsky Redoubt, on the 25th not a single shot was fired from either side, on the 26th battle of Borodino. | |||||||||||||||||||
