The USSR deservedly held the title of the most powerful space power in the world. The first satellite launched into the orbit of the Earth, Belka and Strelka, the flight of the first man into space are more than good reasons for this. But there were scientific breakthroughs and tragedies in Soviet space history unknown to the general public. They will be discussed in our review.

1. Interplanetary station "Luna-1"



The interplanetary station "Luna-1", which was launched on January 2, 1959, became the first spacecraft to successfully reach the vicinity of the moon. The 360-kilogram spacecraft carried a load of Soviet symbols that were supposed to be placed on the surface of the Moon to demonstrate the superiority of Soviet science. However, the craft missed the moon, passing within 6,000 kilometers of its surface.

During the flight to the Moon, an experiment was carried out to create an "artificial comet" - the station released a cloud of sodium vapor, which glowed for several minutes and made it possible to observe the station from Earth as a 6th magnitude star. Interestingly, Luna 1 was at least the fifth attempt by the USSR to launch a spacecraft to natural satellite Earth, the first 4 ended in failure. Radio signals from the station ceased three days after launch. Later in 1959, the Luna 2 probe reached the lunar surface with a hard landing.



Launched on February 12, 1961, the Soviet space probe Venera-1 launched towards Venus to land on its surface. As in the case of the Moon, this was not the first launch - the device 1VA No. 1 (also dubbed "Sputnik-7") failed. Although the probe itself was supposed to burn up upon re-entry into the atmosphere of Venus, the descent capsule was planned to reach the surface of Venus, which would make it the first anthropogenic object on the surface of another planet.

The initial launch went well, but communication with the probe was lost after a week (presumably due to overheating of the direction sensor on the Sun). As a result, the unmanaged station passed 100,000 kilometers from Venus.


The Luna-3 station, launched on October 4, 1959, was the third spacecraft successfully sent to the Moon. Unlike the previous two probes of the Luna program, this one was equipped with a camera that was designed to take pictures of the far side of the Moon for the first time in history. Unfortunately, the camera was primitive and complex, so the pictures turned out to be of poor quality.

The radio transmitter was so weak that the first attempts to transmit images to Earth failed. When the station approached the Earth, having made a flight around the Moon, 17 photos were obtained, in which scientists found that the “invisible” side of the Moon is mountainous, and unlike the one that is turned towards the Earth.

4The First Successful Landing On Another Planet


On August 17, 1970, the Venera-7 automatic research space station was launched, which was supposed to land a descent vehicle on the surface of Venus. In order to survive in the atmosphere of Venus for as long as possible, the lander was made of titanium and equipped with thermal insulation (it was assumed that the pressure at the surface could reach 100 atmospheres, the temperature - 500 ° C, and the wind speed at the surface - 100 m / s).

The station reached Venus, and the apparatus began its descent. However, the descent vehicle's drag parachute exploded, after which it fell for 29 minutes, eventually crashing into the surface of Venus. It was believed that the craft could not survive such an impact, but later analysis of the recorded radio signals showed that the probe transmitted temperature readings from the surface within 23 minutes after a hard landing.

5. The first artificial object on the surface of Mars


"Mars-2" and "Mars-3" are two automatic interplanetary stations - a twin, which were launched in May 1971 to the Red Planet with a difference of several days. Since the US had beaten the Soviet Union to orbit Mars first (Mariner 9, which also launched in May 1971, beat two Soviet probes by two weeks to become the first spacecraft to orbit another planet), the USSR wanted to make the first landing on the surface. Mars.

The Mars 2 lander crashed on the surface of the planet, and the Mars 3 lander managed to make a soft landing and began transmitting data. But the transmission stopped after 20 seconds due to a severe dust storm on the surface of Mars, as a result of which the USSR lost the first clear images taken on the surface of the planet.

6. The first automatic device that delivered extraterrestrial matter to Earth



Since the American astronauts of Apollo 11 had already brought the first samples of lunar matter to Earth, the USSR decided to launch the first automated space probe to the Moon to collect lunar soil and return to Earth. The first Soviet apparatus, Luna-15, which was supposed to reach the surface of the Moon on the day of the launch of Apollo 11, crashed while trying to land.

Before that, 5 attempts were also unsuccessful due to problems with the launch vehicle. However, Luna 16, the sixth Soviet probe, was successfully launched after Apollo 11 and Apollo 12. The station landed in the Sea of ​​Plenty. After that, she took soil samples (in the amount of 101 grams) and returned to Earth.

7. The first three-seat spacecraft


Launched on October 12, 1964, Voskhod 1 became the first spacecraft to have a crew of more than one. Although Voskhod was touted as an innovative spaceship, in fact, it was a slightly modified version of the Vostok, which was first visited in space by Yuri Gagarin. The United States at that time did not even have two-seater ships.

"Voskhod" was considered unsafe even by Soviet designers, since the place for three crew members was freed up due to the fact that ejection seats were abandoned in the design. Also, the cabin was so cramped that the astronauts were in it without spacesuits. As a result, if the cabin had depressurized, the crew would have died. In addition, the new landing system, consisting of two parachutes and an antediluvian rocket, was tested only once before launch.

8. The first astronaut of African descent



On September 18, 1980, as part of the eighth expedition to the Salyut-6 orbital scientific station, the Soyuz-38 spacecraft was launched. Its crew consisted of Soviet cosmonaut Yury Viktorovich Romanenko and explorer Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, a Cuban aviator who became the first person of African descent to go into space. Mendez stayed aboard the Saluat-6 for a week, where he took part in 24 experiments in chemistry and biology.

9. First docking with an uninhabited object

February 11, 1985, after a six-month absence from space station"Salyut-7" people communication with her was suddenly interrupted. The closure resulted in all electrical systems Salyut-7 turned off, and the temperature at the station dropped to -10 °C.

In an attempt to save the station, an expedition was sent to it on a Soyuz T-13 spacecraft converted for this purpose, piloted by the most experienced Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov. Automated system docking did not work, so it was necessary to carry out manual docking. The docking was successful, and work to restore the space station took place over several days.

10. The first human sacrifice in space

On June 30, 1971, the Soviet Union was looking forward to the return of three cosmonauts who spent 23 days at the Salyut-1 station. But after the landing of the Soyuz-11, not a single sound came from inside. When the capsule was opened from the outside, three astronauts were found dead inside, with dark blue spots on their faces, and blood flowing from their noses and ears.

According to investigators, the tragedy occurred immediately after the separation of the descent vehicle from the orbital module. A depressurization occurred in the cabin of the spacecraft, after which the astronauts suffocated.

Spaceships that were designed at the dawn of the space age seem like rarities compared to. But it is possible that these projects will be implemented.

10/04/1957. The launch vehicle "Sputnik" was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome, which put the world's first artificial Earth satellite into low Earth orbit. This launch opened space age in the history of mankind.

11/03/1957 the Second Soviet AES was launched - the first in the world artificial satellite Earth with a living being. On board was the dog Laika. The third Soviet satellite (05/15/1958) was the world's first satellite for scientific research.

01/02/1959. The Vostok carrier rocket was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome, which put the Soviet automatic interplanetary station Luna-1 on a flight path to the moon. 01/04/1959 "Luna-1" passed at a distance of 6000 kilometers from the surface of the Moon and entered the heliocentric orbit. It became the world's first artificial satellite of the Sun. 09/12/1959 AMS "Luna-2" was launched to the Moon. The next day, Luna-2 reached the surface of the Moon for the first time in the world, delivering a pennant with the emblem of the USSR to the Moon. 10/07/1959 AMS "Luna-3" transmitted to Earth the first pictures of the far (invisible) side of the Moon.

On May 15, 1960, the Vostok rocket launched the First satellite ship into orbit, and on August 19, 1960, the Second Vostok-type satellite ship was launched, with the dogs Belka and Strelka on board. 08/20/1960 Belka and Strelka returned safely to Earth. For the first time in the world living beings, having been in space, returned to Earth.

04/12/1961. This day was the day of the triumph of the human mind. For the first time in the world, a spaceship with a man on board broke into the expanses of the universe. The Vostok launch vehicle launched the Soviet spacecraft Vostok with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into low Earth orbit.

08/06/1961 the flight of the Soviet spacecraft "Vostok-2" with G. Titov began. It lasted 1 day 1 hour 18 minutes. During this flight, the first filming of the Earth from space was made.

10/12/1964 The Voskhod launch vehicle launched the Soviet spacecraft Voskhod into orbit. The world's first flight of a multi-seat spacecraft. Cosmonauts V. Komarov, K. Feoktistov, B. Egorov for the first time in the world flew without spacesuits. On March 18, 1965, cosmonaut A.Leonov ("Voskhod-2") first went into open space.

02/12/1961. The Molniya launch vehicle was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome, which for the first time in history put the Soviet automatic interplanetary station Venera-1 on a flight path to Venus. During this flight, for the first time in the world, two-way communication was carried out with a station remote at 1,400,000 km.

11/01/1962. The first successful launch towards Mars took place. AMS "Mars-1" conducted research into interplanetary space, tested deep space communications (10,000,000 km), and on July 19, 1963, it made the world's first flyby of Mars.

11/12/1965. The Molniya launch vehicle put the Venera-2 station on a flight path to Venus. She flew at a distance of 24,000 km from Venus. And on March 1, 1966, the Venera-3 station reached the surface of Venus for the first time, delivering a pennant to the USSR. It was the world's first flight of a spacecraft from Earth to another planet.

02/03/1966. The Soviet automatic station "Luna-9" was the first in the world to make a soft landing on the lunar surface, after which it transmitted a panoramic image of the lunar surface. On April 3, 1966, the Luna-10 station became the world's first artificial satellite of the Moon.

10/18/1967. The Soviet automatic interplanetary station "Venera-4" reached Venus. The AMS descent vehicle made a smooth descent in the atmosphere of Venus and reached its surface. The signal from the station during the descent was received up to an altitude of 24.96 km. On May 16 and 17, 1969, Venera-5 and Venera-6 made a smooth descent in the atmosphere of Venus, transmitting scientific information up to 10 kilometers above the surface. On December 15, 1970, the Venera-7 descent vehicle made a smooth parachute descent in the atmosphere of Venus, reached the surface, after which the signals from the vehicle were received for another 23 minutes. 07/22/1972 AMS "Venera-8" for the first time landed on the illuminated side of the planet Venus.

07/16/1965. The launch vehicle "UR-500" ("Proton") was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome, which launched a Soviet satellite "Proton-1" to study cosmic rays and interact with ultrahigh-energy matter.

11/02/1965 "UR-500", which launched the Soviet satellite "Proton-2" into orbit.

03/02/1968. Launch vehicle "Proton-K" with upper stage"D" put the Soviet unmanned spacecraft "Zond-4" on a flight path to the Moon. 03/05/1968. The Soviet spacecraft "Zond-4" circled the Moon and switched to a return trajectory to the Earth.

09/14/1968. The Proton-K launch vehicle launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which put the Soviet unmanned spacecraft Zond-5 on a flight path to the Moon. On board were living creatures: turtles, fruit flies, worms, plants, bacteria. 09/18/1968 "Zond-5" circled the Moon, passing at a minimum distance from its surface of 1960 kilometers. From a distance of 90,000 kilometers, a high-resolution survey of the Earth was made.

On September 21, 1968, the Zond-5 descent vehicle splashed down in the Indian Ocean. For the first time in the world, the station, having circled the Moon, successfully returned to Earth with the second cosmic velocity.

11/10/1968. Zond-6 was launched, which flew around the Moon on November 14, 1968, passing at a distance of 2420 kilometers from its surface. During the flyby, panoramic photographs of the visible and far sides of the lunar surface were taken.

11/17/1968 "Zond-6" landed in a given area on the territory of the USSR.
On August 11, 1969, the Soviet spacecraft Zond-7 circled the Moon at a minimum distance of about 1200 kilometers from its surface, and on August 14, 1969 it landed in a given region of the USSR.

09/12/70. The launch vehicle "Proton-K" was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome, which put the Soviet automatic interplanetary station "Luna-16" on a flight path to the Moon. 09/20/70 automatic interplanetary station "Luna-16" made a soft landing on the moon. On September 21, 1970, the Luna-16 reentry vehicle took off from the surface of the Moon. Before the launch, samples of lunar soil were taken, which were delivered to Earth on September 24, 1970.

11/10/70. The Proton-K carrier rocket launched the Luna-17 automatic interplanetary station with the Lunokhod-1 self-propelled vehicle on board the flight path to the Moon. 11/17/70 "Luna-17" made a soft landing on the moon. Two and a half hours later, Lunokhod-1 descended the ladder from the landing platform, starting the program.

12/02/1971. The descent vehicle of the Mars-3 automatic interplanetary station made a soft landing on the surface of Mars. 1.5 minutes after landing, the station was brought into working condition and began to transmit a video signal to Earth.

May 15, 1987. The first test launch of the Energia launch vehicle was carried out from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch of the launch vehicle was successful.

11/15/1988. The Energiya-Buran carrier rocket was launched, which put the Soviet MTKK Buran into low-Earth orbit. reusable ship"Buran" for the first time in the world carried out an automatic landing on Earth.
The Energia-Buran rocket and space system was many years ahead of its time, and in a number of characteristics it significantly surpassed the means space technology operated in the USA.

The launch on November 3, 1957 of the second satellite with a living being on board, the first manned flight into space on April 12, 1961 and the first manned spacewalk on March 19, 1965, the creation of the Mir multi-module orbital station in earth's orbit.

They were created under the leadership of the General Designer of OKB-1 Sergey Pavlovich Korolev from 1958 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- 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.

Testing of 7K-OK began in 1966. The first 3 unmanned launches were unsuccessful and revealed serious errors in the design of the ship. The 4th launch with V. Komarov turned out to be tragic - the cosmonaut died. Nevertheless, the program continued, and already in 1968 the first automatic docking of 2 Soyuz took place, in 1969 - the first manned docking and group flight of three ships, in 1970 - the first long-term flight, in 1971 - the first docking and expedition (after which the crew died) to the Salyut-DOS orbital station.

Several dozen flights have been made and continue (including only two that ended in the death of the crews) of the ship in different versions of the Soyuz (including 7K-T, 7K-TM, 7K-MF6, 7K-T-AF, 7K-S) , Soyuz-T (7K-ST), Soyuz-TM (7K-STM), Soyuz-TMA (7K-STMA), Soyuz-TMA-M/TMAC (7K-STMA-M) , including for the first docking with a foreign ship, expeditions to orbital stations Salyut-DOS, Almaz, Mir, etc.

The ship became the basis for the creation of manned ships of unrealized lunar programs (L1 and L3 and Soyuz-Kontakt for testing the docking of L3 modules) and military programs (Soyuz 7K-VI military researcher, -P interceptor, -R reconnaissance, multifunctional "Zvezda"), as well as for the automatic cargo ship "Progress".

L1 [ | ]

The lunar flyby manned program of the Design Bureau of Korolev, brought to the stage of the last unmanned developmental launches and flights and canceled before the first manned flight.

L3 [ | ]

Manned lunar landing program of Design Bureau Korolev, brought to the stage of the first unmanned test launches and flights and canceled before the first manned flight.

Star [ | ]

The military manned spacecraft of the Kozlov Design Bureau, the project of which was developed to replace the Soyuz 7K-VI of the Korolev Design Bureau, was brought to the pre-flight stage and was canceled in favor of the Chelomey Design Bureau complex from the Almaz military orbital station and the TKS spacecraft.

tks [ | ]

A manned spacecraft of the Chelomey design bureau for servicing the Almaz military orbital station and other tasks of the Ministry of Defense, launched on the Proton launch vehicle only in unmanned mode, but docked with Salyut-DOS orbital stations (including manned ones).

Dawn [ | ]

Partially reusable manned transport ship of the Korolev design bureau with launch on the Zenit launch vehicle, the project of which was canceled at the design stage due to the concentration of resources on the creation of the Energia-Buran system.

Diamond [ | ]

Long-term manned military orbital stations of the Chelomey design bureau, launched on the Proton launch vehicle under the names Salyut-2, -3, -5, Kosmos-1870, Almaz-1, of which two were operated by manned ones (Salyut-3 ,-5"). They had on board, including weapons (guns).

Salyut-DOS [ | ]

Long-term manned orbital stations TsKBEM, launched on the Proton launch vehicle under the names Kosmos-557, Salyut-1, -4, -6, -7, of which all but the first were operated by manned ones. The latter two had two docking stations each and simultaneously took on board two manned or automatic cargo and other ships, including heavy TCS.

World [ | ]

Spiral [ | ]

Buran [ | ]

Sample Buran OK-GLI (BTS 002) for testing in the atmosphere. Aerospace Salon MAKS, 1999

Buran is a Soviet heavy manned winged reusable transport spacecraft-spaceplane launched by the super-heavy launch vehicle Energia.

According to the deputy chief designer of the Buran reusable space system (ISS), “The need to create a domestic reusable space system as a means of deterring a potential adversary was identified in the course of analytical studies conducted by the Institute of Applied Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences and NPO Energia in the period 1971-1975 gg. It has been shown that the United States, by putting its reusable Space Shuttle system into service, will be able to gain a decisive military advantage in terms of preemptive (that is, preemptive) application.

The only one of the five 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 the projects of the reusable spacecraft MAKS (cancelled) and the partially reusable spacecraft Clipper (cancelled) and Rus (continued) were developed.

Spaceships "Vostok". On April 12, 1961, a three-stage launch vehicle delivered the Vostok spacecraft, carrying a citizen Soviet Union Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin.

The three-stage launch vehicle consisted of four side blocks (stage I) located around a central block (stage II). The third stage of the rocket is placed above the central block. A four-chamber liquid-propellant engine RD-107 was installed on each of the blocks of the first stage, and a four-chamber jet engine RD-108 was installed at the second stage. Stage III was equipped with a single-chamber liquid-propellant engine with four steering nozzles.

Launch vehicle "Vostok"

1 - head fairing; 2 - payload; 3 - oxygen tank; 4 - screen; 5 - kerosene tank; 6 - control nozzle; 7 - liquid rocket engine(LPRE); 8 - transition farm; 9 - reflector; 10 - instrument compartment of the central unit; 11 and 12 - variants of the head unit (with AMS "Luna-1" and with AMS "Luna-3", respectively).

Lunar For human flight
Starting weight, t 279 287
Payload weight, t 0,278 4,725
Fuel mass, t 255 258
Engine thrust, kN
Stage I (on Earth) 4000 4000
II stage (in the void) 940 940
III steps (in the void) 49 55
Maximum speed, m/s 11200 8000

The Vostok spacecraft consisted of a descent vehicle and an instrument-assembly compartment connected together. The mass of the ship is about 5 tons.

The descent vehicle (cockpit) was made in the form of a ball with a diameter of 2.3 m. The descent vehicle was equipped with an astronaut's seat, control devices, and a life support system. The seat was located in such a way that the overload that occurs during takeoff and landing had the least effect on the astronaut.

Spaceship "Vostok"

1 - descent vehicle; 2 — ejection seat; 3 - cylinders with compressed air and oxygen; 4 — brake rocket engine; 5 - the third stage of the launch vehicle; 6 - third stage engine.

The cockpit maintained normal Atmosphere pressure and the same as on Earth, the composition of the air. The helmet of the suit was open, and the astronaut breathed the cabin air.

A powerful three-stage launch vehicle put the ship into orbit with a maximum height above the Earth's surface of 320 km and a minimum height of 180 km.

Let's consider how the landing system of the Vostok spacecraft is arranged. After turning on the brake engine, the flight speed decreased and the ship began to descend.

At an altitude of 7000 m, the hatch cover opened and a chair with an astronaut was fired from the descent vehicle. At 4 km from the Earth, the chair separated from the astronaut and fell, while he continued to descend by parachute. On a 15-meter cord (halyard), together with the astronaut, an untouchable emergency supply (NAZ) and a boat descended, which automatically inflated when landing on the water.

Scheme of the descent of the ship "Vostok"

1 and 2 - orientation to the Sun;

4 - turning on the brake motor;

5 - compartment of the instrument compartment;

6 - flight path of the descent vehicle;

7 - ejection of the astronaut from the cabin together with the seat;

8 - descent on a braking parachute;

9 — commissioning of the main parachute;

10 - department of NAZ;

11 — landing;

12 and 13 - opening of the brake and main parachutes;

14 - descent on the main parachute;

15 - landing of the descent vehicle.

Regardless of the cosmonaut, at an altitude of 4000 m, the drag parachute of the descent vehicle opened and its fall speed decreased significantly. At 2.5 km from the Earth, the main parachute opened, smoothly lowering the apparatus to the Earth.

Spaceships Voskhod. The tasks of space flights are expanding and spacecraft are being improved accordingly. On October 12, 1964, three people immediately ascended into space on the Voskhod spacecraft: V. M. Komarov (ship commander), K. P. Feoktistov (now Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences) and B. B. Egorov (doctor).

The new ship was significantly different from the ships of the Vostok series. It accommodated three astronauts, had a soft landing system. "Voskhod-2" had an airlock to exit the ship into outer space. He could not only descend to land, but also splash down. The cosmonauts were in the first Voskhod spacecraft in flight suits without spacesuits.

The flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft took place on March 18, 1965. On board were the commander, pilot-cosmonaut P.I. Belyaev and co-pilot, pilot-cosmonaut A.A. Leonov.

After the spacecraft entered orbit, the lock chamber was opened. The airlock unfolded on the outside of the cabin, forming a cylinder that could accommodate a man in a space suit. The airlock is made of durable sealed fabric, and when folded it takes up little space.

Voskhod-2 spacecraft and locking scheme on the ship

1,4,9, 11 - antennas; 2 - television camera; 3 - cylinders with compressed air and oxygen; 5 - television camera; 6 - lock before filling; 7 - descent vehicle; 8 - aggregate compartment; 10 - the engine of the braking system; A - filling the lock with air; B - exit of the cosmonaut into the airlock (the hatch is open); B - air outlet from the airlock to the outside (the hatch is closed); G - exit of the cosmonaut into space with the outer hatch open; D - separation of the airlock from the cabin.

A powerful pressurization system ensured that the airlock was filled with air and created the same pressure in it as in the cabin. After the pressure in the airlock and in the cockpit equalized, A. A. Leonov put on a knapsack, which housed cylinders with compressed oxygen, connected the communication wires, opened the hatch and “passed” into the airlock. Leaving the airlock, he retired some distance from the ship. Only a thin thread of a halyard connected him with the ship, the man and the ship move side by side.

A. A. Leonov was out of the cockpit for twenty minutes, of which twelve minutes were in free flight.

The first exit of a man into outer space made it possible to obtain valuable information for subsequent expeditions. It has been proven that a well-trained cosmonaut, even under conditions open space can perform various tasks.

The Voskhod-2 spacecraft was delivered into orbit by the Soyuz rocket and space system. The unified system "Soyuz" began to be created under the leadership of S.P. Korolev already in 1962. It was supposed to ensure not separate breakthroughs into space, but its systematic habitation as new sphere habitat and industrial activity.

When creating the Soyuz launch vehicle, the main refinement was head part, in fact, it was created anew. This was due to the only requirement - to ensure the rescue of astronauts in case of an accident on the launch pad and the atmospheric leg of the flight.

Soyuz is the third generation of spacecraft. The Soyuz spacecraft consists of an orbital compartment, a descent module, and an instrument-aggregate compartment.

Astronauts' chairs are located in the cabin of the descent vehicle. The shape of the chair makes it easier to endure the overloads that occur during takeoff and landing. On the seat are the ship's attitude control knob and the speed control knob for maneuvering. A special shock absorber softens the impacts that occur during landing.

The Soyuz has two autonomous operating systems life support: cockpit life support system and space suit life support system.

The life support system of the cabin maintains the usual human conditions in the descent vehicle and the orbital compartment: air pressure about 101 kPa (760 mm Hg), oxygen partial pressure about 21.3 kPa (160 mm Hg), temperature 25-30 °С, relative humidity air 40-60%.

The life support system purifies the air, collects and stores waste. The principle of operation of the air purification system is based on the use of oxygen-containing substances that absorb carbon dioxide and part of the moisture from the air and enrich it with oxygen. The air temperature in the cabin is controlled by means of radiators installed on the outer surface of the ship.

Launch vehicle "Soyuz"

Starting weight, t - 300

Payload weight, kg

Soyuz - 6800

"Progress" - 7020

Engine thrust, kN

I stage - 4000

II stage - 940

III steps - 294

Maximum speed, m/s 8000

1— emergency rescue system (SAS); 2—powder accelerators; 3 — ship "Soyuz"; 4 - stabilizing shields; 5 and 6 - fuel tanks III stage; 7 — engine stage III; 8 - farm between II and III steps; 9 - tank with oxidizer stage I; 10 - tank with oxidizer stage I; 11 and 12—tanks with fuel of the 1st stage; 13 - tank with liquid nitrogen; 14 — engine of the first stage; 15 — engine stage II; 16 - control chamber; 7 - air steering wheel.

The bus pulled up to the starting position. The astronauts got out of it and went to the rocket. Each has a suitcase in hand. Obviously, many felt that the essentials for long journey. But if you look closely, you can see that the suitcase is connected to the astronaut by a flexible hose.

After all, the spacesuit must be continuously ventilated in order to remove the moisture released by the astronaut. The suitcase contains an electric fan and a source of electricity - a rechargeable battery.

The fan sucks in air from the surrounding atmosphere and drives it through the ventilating system of the suit.

Approaching the ship's open hatch, the astronaut will disconnect the hose and enter the ship. Taking his place in the ship's work chair, he would connect to the suit's life support system and close the helmet's porthole. From this moment on, air is supplied to the suit by a fan (150-200 liters per minute). But if the pressure in the cabin starts to drop, then the emergency oxygen supply from specially provided cylinders will turn on.

Head unit options

I - with the ship "Voskhod-2"; II - with the Soyuz-5 spacecraft; III - with the Soyuz-12 spacecraft; IV - with the Soyuz-19 spacecraft

The Soyuz T spacecraft was created on the basis of the Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz T-2 was first launched into orbit in June 1980 by a crew consisting of ship commander Yu. V. Malyshev and flight engineer V. V. Aksenov. The new ship was created taking into account the experience of development and operation of the Soyuz spacecraft - it consists of an orbital (household) compartment with a docking unit, a descent vehicle and an instrument-aggregate compartment new design. The Soyuz T has new on-board systems, including radio communications, orientation, traffic control, and on-board computer complex. The launch weight of the ship is 6850 kg. The estimated duration of an autonomous flight is 4 days, as part of the orbital complex 120 days.

S. P. Umansky

1986 "Cosmonautics today and tomorrow"

Space and the Land of Soviets

Our country began to dream about flights to planets and stars even before the Revolution. The revolutionaries dreamed of a breakthrough to the stars, realizing that only the society of the Society of the Future, 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 the royal chisel-makers can save it in the prison archive for posterity.

The most advanced people of Russia dreamed about the Cosmos, a whole trend in philosophy was formed - Russian Cosmism. 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", " Space settlements O'Neill" 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.

By 1917, the ideas of Tsiolkovsky's flight to other worlds, to the stars and the resettlement of Mankind throughout the Universe, were noticeably spread among the progressive intelligentsia. One of the admirers of this idea was the closest associate (and opponent) of Lenin - Alexander Bogdanov. Being a very extraordinary person, he not only was a fan of these ideas, but also became famous then for writing two very popular science fiction novels (in 1907!) About an expedition to Mars - "Red Star" and "Engineer Manny ". These novels were classically utopian in style.

The impact of his novels on the minds of his contemporaries was very strong, for example, Alexei Tolstoy's "Aelita" was largely written under the influence of Bogdanov's books. By placing socialism on Mars, he thereby set the standard and goal - to do it the way it was on that very “red star named Mars”. Well, implicitly, he indicated another goal for the future of mankind - to rise to the stars.

Tsarist Russia, as well as modern oligarchic Russia, did not need any Cosmos 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. An interplanetary rocket was fantastic for that time, but the reflection of the state of mind in Red Russia was absolutely real: groups of enuziast engineers lived with the idea of ​​creating real means of 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 Arturovich Zander, 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 " gravity sling", which is now used by almost everyone spacecraft sent to explore 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 habitable, 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 studying the upper layers of the atmosphere, where balloons and planes could not then rise, and also in military affairs.

Geopolitical and ideological opponents made no secret of plans to prepare for the military destruction of Soviet Russia. By the way, the result of the development of the military direction was simple in concept, but with terrifying efficiency of the system salvo fire - jet mortars"Katyusha" designed by Ivan Platonovich Grave, he is also the inventor of a solid 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 cruise missile and the priority of its creation belongs to Zander, from whose unpublished pamphlet S.P. inherited it. Korolev, who called it "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 to 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 since the Americans surrounded the USSR on all sides with their military bases, from which they freely hit any city in the USSR, while the main American cities were out of reach of 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, but yesterday's allies did not particularly hide them - preparations for the destruction of the USSR and the Russian people were carried out 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.

To thwart these plans, it was vital to create such a delivery vehicle. atomic bomb, which could reach the opposite hemisphere, otherwise the terrible blow of the Anglo-Saxon fascists to Russian civilization was inevitable. Reachability of the territory of the aggressor for the retaliatory nuclear strike very seriously would have cooled the ardor of these non-humans, always with pleasure 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. Only now have relatively reliable means of intercepting warheads appeared, but even in the foreseeable future, they are still not able 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 can not only deliver an atomic bomb to any point on the Earth, but can also put an artificial earth satellite (AES) into orbit. Soviet people they 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 not have known about the deeply classified work on the creation of powerful rockets capable of launching satellites into Earth 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. Even a special direction in the design and use of ballistic missiles has emerged - a geophysical missile. Almost all the rockets before the "seven", which launched the first satellite into orbit, were geophysical. The numbering was unpretentious: the first letter "P" - "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 the 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, Wernher von Braun, to the US and managed to kidnap a number of other prominent German scientists. But since the USA had carriers nuclear weapons B-52 aircraft, they were in no hurry with the development of 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 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 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.

Start American missile 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 already with the R-5 it is technically possible, although it was a missile medium range. It was supposed (according to the draft design) to link four of these rockets to launch a satellite.

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.