It is well known that the Soviet Union was the first to launch a satellite, a living creature and a person into space. During the space race, the USSR, whenever possible, sought to overtake and overtake America.
Having won a decisive victory in World War II, the Soviet Union did a lot to explore and explore space. Moreover, he became the first among all: in this matter, the USSR was ahead of even the superpower of the USA. The official beginning of practical space exploration was made on October 4, 1957, when the USSR successfully launched the first artificial Earth satellite into low-Earth orbit, and three and a half years after its launch, on April 12, 1961, the USSR launched the first living person into space. Historically, it turned out that the Soviet Union held the lead in space exploration for exactly 13 years - from 1957 to 1969. KM.RU offers its selection of tens of the most important achievements during this period.
1st success (first intercontinental ballistic missile).
In 1955 (long before the flight tests of the R-7 rocket), Korolev, Keldysh and Tikhonravov approached the USSR government with a proposal to launch an artificial Earth satellite into space using a rocket. The government supported this initiative, after which in 1957, under the leadership of Korolev, the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 was created, which in the same year was used to launch the world's first artificial Earth satellite. And although Korolev tried to launch his first liquid rockets into space back in the 30s, the first country to begin work on creating intercontinental ballistic missiles back in the 1940s was Nazi Germany. Ironically, the intercontinental missile was designed to strike the East Coast of the United States. But man has his own plans, and history has its own. These missiles failed to fall on the United States, but they managed to forever carry human progress into real outer space.
2nd success (the first artificial satellite of the Earth).
On October 4, 1957, the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched. The second country to acquire an artificial satellite was the United States - this happened on February 1, 1958 (Explorer 1). The following countries - Great Britain, Canada and Italy - launched their first satellites in 1962-1964 (though on American launch vehicles). The third country to independently launch the first satellite was France - November 26, 1965 (Asterix). Later, Japan (1970), China (1970) and Israel (1988) launched the first satellites on their launch vehicles. The first artificial Earth satellites of many countries were developed and purchased in the USSR, USA and China.
3rd luck (first animal astronaut).
On November 3, 1957, the second artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 2, was launched, which for the first time launched a living creature into space - the dog Laika. Sputnik 2 was a conical capsule 4 meters high, with a base diameter of 2 meters, containing several compartments for scientific equipment, a radio transmitter, a telemetry system, a software module, a regeneration system and cabin temperature control. The dog was placed in a separate sealed compartment. It so happened that the experiment with Laika turned out to be very short: due to the large area, the container quickly overheated, and the dog died already on the first orbits around the Earth.
4th success (the first artificial satellite of the Sun).
January 4, 1959 - the Luna-1 station passed at a distance of 6 thousand kilometers from the surface of the Moon and entered a heliocentric orbit. It became the world's first artificial satellite of the Sun. The Vostok-L launch vehicle launched the Luna-1 spacecraft onto the flight path to the Moon. This was a rendezvous trajectory, without using an orbital launch. This launch essentially successfully completed an experiment to create an artificial comet, and also for the first time, using an on-board magnetometer, the Earth's outer radiation belt was recorded.
5th success (the first spacecraft on the Moon).
September 14, 1959 - the Luna-2 station for the first time in the world reached the surface of the Moon in the region of the Sea of Serenity near the craters Aristides, Archimedes and Autolycus, delivering a pennant with the coat of arms of the USSR. This device did not have its own propulsion system. Scientific equipment included scintillation counters, Geiger counters, magnetometers, and micrometeorite detectors. One of the main scientific achievements of the mission was the direct measurement of the solar wind.
6th luck (first man in space).
On April 12, 1961, the first manned flight into space was made on the Vostok-1 spacecraft. In orbit, Yuri Gagarin was able to conduct the simplest experiments: he drank, ate, and made notes in pencil. “Putting” the pencil next to him, he discovered that it instantly began to float upward. Before his flight, it was not yet known how the human psyche would behave in space, so special protection was provided to prevent the first cosmonaut from trying to control the flight of the ship in a panic. To enable manual control, he needed to open a sealed envelope, inside of which was a piece of paper with a code that, by typing on the control panel, could unlock it. At the moment of landing after ejection and disconnecting the air duct of the descent vehicle, the valve in Gagarin’s sealed spacesuit did not immediately open, through which outside air should flow, so the first cosmonaut almost suffocated. The second danger for Gagarin could have been falling by parachute into the icy water of the Volga (it was the month of April). But Yuri was helped by excellent pre-flight preparation - by controlling the lines, he landed 2 km from the coast. This successful experiment immortalized the name of Gagarin forever.
7th luck (first man in outer space).
On March 18, 1965, the first human spacewalk in history took place. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov performed a spacewalk from the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. The Berkut spacesuit used for the first exit was of the ventilation type and consumed approximately 30 liters of oxygen per minute with a total supply of 1666 liters, calculated for 30 minutes of the astronaut’s stay in outer space. Due to the pressure difference, the suit swelled and greatly interfered with the astronaut’s movements, which made it very difficult for Leonov to return to Voskhod-2. The total time for the first exit was 23 minutes 41 seconds, and outside the ship it was 12 minutes 9 seconds. Based on the results of the first exit, a conclusion was made about the ability of a person to perform various work in outer space.
8th luck (the first “bridge” between two planets).
On March 1, 1966, the 960 kg Venera 3 station reached the surface of Venus for the first time, delivering the USSR pennant. This was the world's first flight of a spacecraft from Earth to another planet. Venera 3 flew in tandem with Venera 2. They were unable to transmit data about the planet itself, but they obtained scientific data about outer and near-planetary space in the year of the quiet Sun. The large volume of trajectory measurements was of great value for studying the problems of ultra-long-range communications and interplanetary flights. Magnetic fields, cosmic rays, flows of charged low-energy particles, solar plasma flows and their energy spectra, as well as cosmic radio emissions and micrometeors were studied. The Venera 3 station became the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.
9th success (first experiment with living plants and creatures).
On September 15, 1968, the first return of the spacecraft (Zond-5) to Earth after flying around the Moon. There were living creatures on board: turtles, fruit flies, worms, plants, seeds, bacteria. “Probes 1-8” are a series of spacecraft launched in the USSR from 1964 to 1970. The manned flight program was curtailed due to the US loss of the so-called “moon race”. The “Zond” devices (as well as a number of others called “Cosmos”), according to the Soviet program of flyby of the Moon during the “lunar race”, tested the technology of flights to the Moon with a return to Earth after a ballistic flyby of the Earth’s natural satellite. The latest device in this series successfully flew around the Moon, photographed the Moon and Earth, and also tested the landing option from the northern hemisphere.
10th success (first on Mars). On November 27, 1971, the Mars 2 station reached the surface of Mars for the first time.
The launch onto the flight path to Mars was carried out from the intermediate orbit of an artificial earth satellite by the last stage of the launch vehicle. The mass of the Mars-2 apparatus was 4650 kilograms. The orbital compartment of the apparatus contained scientific equipment intended for measurements in interplanetary space, as well as for studying the environs of Mars and the planet itself from the orbit of an artificial satellite. The Mars-2 descent vehicle entered the Martian atmosphere too abruptly, which is why it did not have time to brake during the aerodynamic descent. The device, having passed through the planet's atmosphere, crashed on the surface of Mars in the Nanedi Valley in the Land of Xanth (4°N; 47°W), reaching the surface of Mars for the first time in history. The pennant of the Soviet Union was fixed on board Mars 2.
Since 1969-71, the United States has zealously picked up the baton of human space exploration and made a number of important, but still not so epoch-making steps for the history of astronautics.
The first serious action of the main competitors of the USSR was the first landing of a man on the Moon as part of the lunar expedition of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, which delivered the first samples of lunar soil to Earth, but is this really so, read on our front project “Americans have never flew to the moon!
Despite the fact that the USSR continued to actively explore space in the 1970s (the first artificial satellite of Venus in 1975, etc.), starting from 1981 and, alas, to this day, the leadership in astronautics has been held by the United States. And yet history does not seem to stand still - since the 2000s, China, India and Japan have actively entered the space race. And, perhaps, soon, due to powerful economic growth, primacy in astronautics will pass into the hands of post-communist China.
It is well known that the Soviet Union was the first to launch a satellite, a living creature and a person into space. During the space race, the USSR, whenever possible, sought to overtake and overtake America. There were victories, there were defeats, but the younger generation, who grew up after the collapse of the USSR, knows little about them, because space successes, according to the Internet, are the lot of “strong, superhero-like American astronauts.” But don’t forget what the Soviet cosmonautics accomplished...
10. First flyby around the Moon
Launched on January 2, 1959, Luna 1 was the first spacecraft to successfully reach the Moon. The 360-kilogram spacecraft, bearing the Soviet coat of arms, was supposed to reach the surface of the Moon and demonstrate the superiority of Soviet science. However, the satellite missed, passing 6,000 kilometers from the lunar surface. The probe released a cloud of sodium vapor, which glowed so brightly for some time that it made it possible to track the satellite's movement.
Luna 1 was at least the Soviet Union's fifth attempt to land on the Moon, with classified information about previous failed attempts kept in Top Secret files.
Compared to modern space probes, Luna 1 was extremely primitive. It did not have its own engine, and its electrical supply was limited to the use of primitive batteries. The probe also did not have cameras. Signals from the probe stopped arriving three days after launch.
9. First flyby of another planet
Launched on February 12, 1961, the Soviet space probe Venera 1 was intended to make a hard landing on Venus. This was the second attempt by the USSR to launch a probe to Venus. The descent capsule "Venera-1" was also supposed to deliver the Soviet coat of arms to the planet. Although most of the probe was expected to burn up upon re-entry, the Soviet Union hoped that the descent capsule would reach the surface, which would automatically make the USSR the first country to reach the surface of another planet.
The launch and the first communication sessions with the probe were successful; the first three sessions indicated normal operation of the probe, but the fourth took place five days late and showed a malfunction in one of the systems. Contact was eventually lost when the probe was about 2 million kilometers from Earth. The spacecraft was drifting in space 100,000 kilometers from Venus and was unable to obtain data to correct its course.
8. The first spacecraft to photograph the far side of the Moon
Launched on October 4, 1959, Luna 3 was the third spacecraft successfully launched to the Moon. Unlike the two previous probes, Luna 3 was equipped with a camera for photography. The task that was set for scientists was to use the probe to take a photograph of the far side of the Moon, which at that time had never been photographed.
The camera was primitive and complex. The spacecraft could only take 40 photographs, which had to be taken, developed and dried on the spacecraft. The onboard cathode ray tube would then scan the developed images and transmit the data to Earth. The radio transmitter was so weak that the first attempts to transmit images failed. When the probe, having completed a revolution around the Moon, approached the Earth, 17 photographs were obtained that were not of very high quality.
However, scientists were excited by what they found in the image. Unlike the visible side of the Moon, which was flat, the far side had mountains and unknown dark areas.
7. First successful landing on another planet
On August 17, 1970, the Venera 7 spacecraft, one of two Soviet twin spacecraft, was launched. After landing softly on the surface of Venus, the probe had to deploy a transmitter to transmit data to Earth, setting a record as the first successful landing on another planet and to survive in Venus' atmosphere, the lander was cooled to -8 degrees Celsius. Soviet scientists also wanted the lander to remain quiet for as long as possible. Therefore, it was decided that the capsule would be docked with the carrier during entry into the Venusian atmosphere until atmospheric resistance forced them to separate.
Venera 7 entered the atmosphere as planned, but 29 minutes before touching the surface, the drogue parachute could not hold up and ruptured. The lander was initially thought to have failed under the impact, but later analysis of recorded signals showed that the probe was transmitting temperature readings from the planet's surface within 23 minutes of landing, just as the engineers who designed the spacecraft had hoped.
6. The first artificial object on the surface of Mars
Mars 2 and Mars 3, twin spacecraft, were launched within one day of each other in May 1971. While orbiting Mars, they were supposed to map its surface. In addition, it was planned to launch descent vehicles from these spacecraft. Soviet scientists hoped that these landing capsules would be the first man-made objects on the surface of Mars.
However, the Americans were ahead of the USSR by being the first to reach the orbit of Mars. Mariner 9, which also launched in May 1971, reached Mars two weeks earlier and became the first spacecraft to orbit Mars. Arriving at the site, both American and Soviet probes discovered that Mars was covered with a planet-wide dust curtain, which interfered with data collection.
Although the Mars 2 lander crashed, the Mars 3 lander successfully landed and began transmitting data. But after 20 seconds the transmission stopped; only photos with subtle details and low light were transmitted. The failure probably occurred due to a large sandstorm on Mars, which prevented the Soviet spacecraft from taking the first clear photographs of the Martian surface.
5. First automated return system to deliver samples
NASA had rocks from the lunar surface brought back by Apollo astronauts. The Soviet Union, having failed to be the first to land men on the Moon, was determined to beat the Americans with an automated space probe to collect lunar soil and return it to Earth. The first Soviet probe, Luna 15, crashed during landing. The next five attempts failed near Earth due to problems with the launch vehicle. However, the sixth Soviet probe, Luna 16, was successfully launched.
Having landed near the Sea of Plenty, the Soviet station took samples of lunar soil and placed them in the return vehicle, which took off and returned to Earth with the samples. When the sealed container was opened, Soviet scientists received only 101 grams of lunar soil, compared to 22 kilograms delivered by Apollo 11. The Soviet samples were carefully examined, and it was determined that the soil structure was similar in quality to wet sand, but this was the first successful return of an automatic lander.
4. The first spacecraft for three people
Launched on October 12, 1964, Voskhod 1 was the first spacecraft capable of carrying more than one person into space. Although Voskhod was billed as a new spacecraft by the Soviet Union, it was in fact an upgraded version of the same vehicle that carried Yuri Gagarin into space. Nevertheless, for the Americans, who at that time did not have devices even for crews of two, it sounded impressive.
Soviet designers considered Voskhod unsafe. They continued to object to its use until the government bribed them with an offer to send one of the designers into orbit as an astronaut. However, in terms of safety, the design of the spacecraft had a number of serious criticisms.
Firstly, it was impossible to emergency eject the astronauts in case of an unsuccessful launch, since it was not possible to construct a hatch for each astronaut.
Secondly, the astronauts were so cramped in the capsule that they could not wear spacesuits. As a result, in the event of depressurization, they would die.
Thirdly, the new landing system, consisting of two parachutes and a braking engine, was tested only once before the flight.
Finally, the astronauts had to diet before the flight to ensure that the total weight of the astronauts and capsule was low enough to launch the rocket.
Taking into account all these serious difficulties, it was simply surprising that the flight went flawlessly.
3. First person of African descent in space
On September 18, 1980, Soyuz-38 flew to the orbital space station Salyut-6. On board were the Soviet cosmonaut and the Cuban pilot Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, who became the first person of African descent to go into space. His flight was part of the Soviet Intercosmos program, which allowed other countries to participate in Soviet space flights.
Mendes only remained aboard Salyut 6 for a week, but he conducted more than 24 experiments in chemistry and biology. Its metabolism, the structure of the electrical activity of the brain, and the change in the shape of the leg bones under conditions of weightlessness were studied. Upon returning to Earth, Mendes was awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union" - the highest award of the USSR.
Since Mendez was not American, America did not consider this an achievement, so for the United States, the first African-American in space in 1983 was Guyon Stewart Bluford, a member of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger.
2. First docking with a dead space object
On February 11, 1985, the Soviet space station Salyut 7 fell silent. A cascade of short circuits occurred at the station, shutting down all its electrical systems and plunging Salyut 7 into a dead, frozen state.
In an attempt to save Salyut 7, the USSR sent two veteran cosmonauts to repair the station. The automated docking system did not work, so the astronauts had to get close enough to try a manual docking. Fortunately, the station was stationary and the astronauts were able to dock, demonstrating for the first time that it was possible to dock with any object in space, even if it was dead and uncontrollable.
The crew reported that the inside of the station was covered with mold, the walls were covered with icicles, and the temperature was -10 degrees Celsius. Work to restore the space station took several days, and the crew had to test hundreds of cables to determine the source of the electrical fault, but they succeeded.
1. The first human victims in space
On June 30, 1971, the Soviet Union eagerly awaited the return of the world's first three cosmonauts after spending more than 23 days in orbit. But when the capsule landed, there was no signal from the crew inside. Opening the hatch, ground workers found three dead astronauts with dark blue spots on their faces and streaks of blood from their noses and ears. What happened?
According to the investigation, the tragedy occurred immediately after the separation of the descent module from the orbital module. The valve in the descent module remained open and in less than two minutes all the air was released from the capsule. As the pressure dropped, the astronauts quickly suffocated, unable to find and close the valve before they lost consciousness and died.
There were other deaths, but they occurred during launch and passage through the atmosphere. The Soyuz 11 accident occurred at an altitude of 168 kilometers while the cosmonauts were still in space, making them the first, and so far the only, to die in space.
So remember. She knows both victories and failures, and do not let anyone doubt that you live in a great country.
« Two things strike my imagination:
starry sky overhead
and the moral law is within us»
I. Kant
The mysterious and unknown has always attracted and captivated the human mind and imagination.
Apologists for science say that this property of the mind is just one of the instincts transmitted genetically.
For a religious person, the reason for the craving for creativity and research lies in the realm of metaphysics; It is this quality that opens up the opportunity for a person to become a co-creator of the Almighty.
The third will say that creativity and research are the objective needs of people, since they ensure the active transformation of the surrounding space in accordance with their needs and desires.
We believe that all these points of view not only do not contradict each other, but also complement each other. They reflect those facets of truth that have been revealed to a particular person.
Be that as it may, it was the starry sky and space that represented one of the greatest secrets that people tried to understand from the very beginning of their existence.
Already the first civilizations known to us made attempts to explore space. But only with the invention of the telescope in 1608 by John Lippershey, humanity was able to more thoroughly engage in space exploration.
And the exponential development of technology and technology in the 20th century made it possible not only to contemplate the starry sky, but also to “touch” it with your hand. The Soviet Union became the leader in this process.
In this article we will talk about the formation of astronautics in the USSR.
COSMONAUtics IN THE USSR
« What seemed impossible for centuries, what yesterday was just a daring dream, today becomes a real task, and tomorrow - an accomplishment».
S.P. Korolev
Cosmonautics as a science, and then as a practical branch, was formed in the middle of the 20th century.
But this was preceded by a fascinating history of the birth and development of the idea of flying into space, which began with fantasy, and only then did the first theoretical works and experiments appear. Thus, initially in human dreams, flight into outer space was carried out with the help of fairy tales or the forces of nature (tornadoes, hurricanes).
Closer to the 20th century, technical means were already present in the descriptions of science fiction writers for these purposes - balloons, super-powerful guns and, finally, rocket engines and rockets themselves.
More than one generation of young romantics grew up on the works of J. Verne, G. Wells, A. Tolstoy, A. Kazantsev, the basis of which was a description of space travel.
Everything described by science fiction writers excited the minds of scientists. So, K.E. Tsiolkovsky said:
« First inevitably comes: thought, fantasy, fairy tale, and behind them comes precise calculation.».
Tsiolkovsky and the designer of the first Soviet liquid-propellant rocket GIRD-09 M.K. Tikhonravov
The publication at the beginning of the 20th century of the theoretical works of astronautics pioneers K.E. Tsiolkovsky, F.A. Tsandera, Yu.V. Kondratyuk, R.Kh. Goddard, G. Hanswindt, R. Hainault-Peltry, G. Aubert, V. Homan to some extent limited the flight of fancy, but at the same time gave rise to new directions in science - attempts appeared to determine what astronautics can give to society and how it affects him.
It must be said that the idea to connect the cosmic and terrestrial directions of human activity belongs to the founder of theoretical cosmonautics K.E. Tsiolkovsky. When the scientist said:
« The planet is the cradle of the mind, but you cannot live forever in the cradle»
He did not put forward alternatives - either Earth or space. Tsiolkovsky never considered going into space as a consequence of some hopelessness of life on Earth. On the contrary, he spoke about the rational transformation of the nature of our planet by the power of reason. People, the scientist argued,
« will change the surface of the Earth, its oceans, atmosphere, plants and themselves. They will control the climate and will rule within the solar system, as on the Earth itself, which will remain the home of humanity for an indefinitely long time».
THE BEGINNING OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPACE PROGRAM IN THE USSR
In the USSR, the beginning of practical work on space programs is associated with the names of S.P. Koroleva and M.K. Tikhonravova.
At the beginning of 1945, M.K. Tikhonravov organized a group of RNII specialists to develop a project for a manned high-altitude rocket vehicle (a cabin with two cosmonauts) to study the upper layers of the atmosphere.
The group included N.G. Chernyshev, P.I. Ivanov, V.N. Galkovsky, G.M. Moskalenko and others. It was decided to create the project on the basis of a single-stage liquid rocket, designed for vertical flight to an altitude of up to 200 km.
One of the launches within the framework of the “VR-190 Project”
This project (it was called VR-190) provided for the solution of the following tasks:
- study of weightlessness conditions in short-term free flight of a person in a pressurized cabin;
- studying the movement of the center of mass of the cabin and its movement around the center of mass after separation from the launch vehicle;
- obtaining data on the upper layers of the atmosphere;
- checking the functionality of the systems (separation, descent, stabilization, landing, etc.) included in the design of the high-altitude cabin.
The VR-190 project was the first to propose the following solutions that have found application in modern spacecraft:
- parachute descent system, soft landing braking rocket engine, separation system using pyrobolts;
- electric contact rod for pre-ignition of the soft landing engine, non-ejection sealed cabin with a life support system;
- cabin stabilization system outside the dense layers of the atmosphere using low-thrust nozzles.
In general, the VR-190 project was a complex of new technical solutions and concepts, now confirmed by the progress of development of domestic and foreign rocket and space technology.
In 1946, the materials of the VR-190 project were reported to M.K. Tikhonravov I.V. Stalin. Since 1947, Tikhonravov and his group have been working on the idea of a rocket package and in the late 1940s - early 1950s showed the possibility of obtaining the first cosmic speed and launching an artificial Earth satellite (AES) using the rocket base being developed at that time in the country.
In 1950 - 1953, the efforts of members of the group M.K. Tikhonravov were aimed at studying the problems of creating composite launch vehicles and artificial satellites.
Work began to prepare for the launch of the first satellite PS-1. The first Council of Chief Designers was created, headed by S.P. Korolev, who later led the space program of the USSR, which became the world leader in space exploration.
Created under the leadership of S.P. Korolev OKB-1-TsKBEM-NPO Energia has become the center of space science and industry in the USSR since the early 1950s.
Cosmonautics is unique in that much that was predicted first by science fiction writers and then by scientists has truly come true at cosmic speed.
Already on October 4, 1957 - just 12 years after the end of the most destructive Great Patriotic War - a launch vehicle called Sputnik was launched from a comic airfield located in the city of Baikonur, which was subsequently launched into low-Earth orbit - it was the very first satellite created by human hands and launched from Earth.
The launch of this rocket marked a new era in the development of space research. A month later, the USSR launched the second artificial Earth satellite.
Moreover, the unique feature of this satellite was that the first living creature taken outside the Earth was placed in it. A dog named Laika was placed on board the satellite.
The triumph of astronautics was the launch of the first man into space on April 12, 1961 - Yu.A. Gagarin (http://inance.ru/2015/04/den-cosmonavtiki/).
Then - a group flight, manned spacewalk, the creation of the Salyut and Mir orbital stations... The USSR for a long time became the leading country in the world in manned programs.
Indicative was the trend of transition from the launch of single spacecraft intended to solve primarily military problems, to the creation of large-scale space systems in the interests of solving a wide range of problems (including socio-economic and scientific).
Yuri Gagarin in an astronaut suit
Other important achievements of astronautics in the USSR
But besides such world-famous achievements, what else has Soviet space science achieved in the 20th century?
Let's start with the fact that powerful liquid rocket engines were developed to propel launch vehicles to cosmic speeds. In this area, the merit of V.P. is especially great. Glushko.
The creation of such engines became possible thanks to the implementation of new scientific ideas and schemes that practically eliminate losses in the drive of turbopump units.
The development of launch vehicles and liquid rocket engines contributed to the development of thermo-, hydro- and gas dynamics, the theory of heat transfer and strength, metallurgy of high-strength and heat-resistant materials, fuel chemistry, measuring technology, vacuum and plasma technology.
Solid propellant and other types of rocket engines were further developed.
In the early 1950s. Soviet scientists M.V. Keldysh, V.A. Kotelnikov, A.Yu. Ishlinsky, L.I. Sedov, B.V. Rauschenbach and others developed mathematical laws and navigation and ballistic support for space flights.
The problems that arose during the preparation and implementation of space flights served as an impetus for the intensive development of such general scientific disciplines as celestial and theoretical mechanics.
The widespread use of new mathematical methods and the creation of advanced computers made it possible to solve the most complex problems of designing spacecraft orbits and controlling them during flight, and as a result, a new scientific discipline arose - space flight dynamics.
Design bureaus headed by N.A. Pilyugin and V.I. Kuznetsov, created unique control systems for rocket and space technology that are highly reliable.
At the same time, V.P. Glushko, A.M. Isaev created the world's leading school of practical rocket engine building. And the theoretical foundations of this school were laid back in the 1930s, at the dawn of domestic rocket science.
UR-200 missile
Thanks to the intense creative work of the design bureaus under the leadership of V.M. Myasishcheva, V.N. Chelomeya, D.A. Polukhin carried out work on creating large-sized, especially durable shells.
This became the basis for the creation of powerful intercontinental missiles UR-200, UR-500, UR-700, and then manned stations “Salyut”, “Almaz”, “Mir”, twenty-ton class modules “Kvant”, “Kristall”, “Priroda” , "Spectrum", modern modules for the International Space Station (ISS) "Zarya" and "Zvezda", launch vehicles of the "Proton" family.
Much work on the creation of launch vehicles based on ballistic missiles was carried out at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, headed by M.K. Yangel. The reliability of these light-class launch vehicles had no analogues in the world astronautics at that time. In the same design bureau under the leadership of V.F. Utkin created the Zenit medium-class launch vehicle - a representative of the second generation of launch vehicles.
Over the four decades of development of cosmonautics in the USSR, the capabilities of control systems for launch vehicles and spacecraft have increased significantly.
If in 1957 - 1958. When placing artificial satellites into orbit around the Earth, an error of several tens of kilometers was allowed, then by the mid-1960s. The accuracy of the control systems was already so high that it allowed a spacecraft launched to the Moon to land on its surface with a deviation from the intended point of only 5 km.
Design control systems N.A. Pilyugin were one of the best in the world.
Great achievements of astronautics in the field of space communications, television broadcasting, relaying and navigation, the transition to high-speed lines made it possible already in 1965 to transmit photographs of the planet Mars to Earth from a distance exceeding 200 million km, and in 1980 an image of Saturn was transmitted to Earth from a distance of about 1.5 billion km.
The Scientific and Production Association of Applied Mechanics, headed for many years by M.F. Reshetnev, was originally created as a branch of the S.P. Design Bureau. Queen; Today this NPO is one of the world leaders in the development of spacecraft for this purpose.
Qualitative changes have also occurred in the field of manned flights. The ability to successfully operate outside a spacecraft was first proven by Soviet cosmonauts in the 1960s and 1970s, and in the 1980s and 1990s. the ability of a person to live and work in conditions of weightlessness for a year was demonstrated. During the flights, a large number of experiments were also carried out - technical, geophysical and astronomical.
In 1967, during the automatic docking of two unmanned artificial Earth satellites “Cosmos-186” and “Cosmos-188”, the largest scientific and technical problem of meeting and docking spacecraft in space was solved, which made it possible to create the first orbital station (USSR) in a relatively short time and choose the most rational scheme for the flight of spacecraft to the Moon with the landing of earthlings on its surface.
In general, solving various problems of space exploration - from launching artificial Earth satellites to launching interplanetary spacecraft and manned spacecraft and stations - has provided a lot of invaluable scientific information about the Universe and the planets of the Solar System and has significantly contributed to the technological progress of mankind.
Earth satellites, together with sounding rockets, have made it possible to obtain detailed data about near-Earth space. Thus, with the help of the first artificial satellites, radiation belts were discovered; during their research, the interaction of the Earth with charged particles emitted by the Sun was further studied.
Interplanetary space flights have helped us to better understand the nature of many planetary phenomena - solar wind, solar storms, meteor showers, etc.
Spacecraft launched to the Moon transmitted images of its surface, photographing, among other things, its side invisible from Earth with a resolution significantly superior to the capabilities of terrestrial means.
Samples of lunar soil were taken, and automatic self-propelled vehicles Lunokhod-1 and Lunokhod-2 were delivered to the lunar surface.
Lunokhod-1
Automatic spacecraft have made it possible to obtain additional information about the shape and gravitational field of the Earth, to clarify the fine details of the shape of the Earth and its magnetic field. Artificial satellites have helped obtain more accurate data about the mass, shape and orbit of the Moon.
The masses of Venus and Mars were also refined using observations of spacecraft flight trajectories.
The design, manufacture and operation of very complex space systems have made a major contribution to the development of advanced technology. Automatic spacecraft sent to the planets are, in fact, robots controlled from Earth via radio commands.
The need to develop reliable systems for solving problems of this kind has led to a better understanding of the problem of analysis and synthesis of various complex technical systems.
Such systems today find application both in space research and in many other areas of human activity. The requirements of astronautics necessitated the design of complex automatic devices under severe restrictions caused by the carrying capacity of launch vehicles and space conditions, which was an additional incentive for the rapid improvement of automation and microelectronics.
The undoubted success of the world cosmonautics was the implementation of the ASTP program, the final stage of which - the launch and docking in orbit of the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft - was carried out in July 1975.
Soyuz-Apollo docking
This flight marked the beginning of international programs that successfully developed in the last quarter of the 20th century and the undoubted success of which was the manufacture, launch and assembly in orbit of the International Space Station.
International cooperation in the field of space services has acquired particular importance, where the leading place belongs to the State Research and Production Space Center named after. M.V. Khrunicheva.
REASONS FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE USSR IN THE SPACE INDUSTRY
What were the main reasons that the USSR became the flagship in the exploration and development of near space? What features of the Soviet approach to the development of astronautics provided such a breakthrough?
Undoubtedly, the formation and development of astronautics in the USSR was influenced by a number of factors.
These are the historical traditions of the development of science and technology, the theoretical heritage of earlier periods, the innovative activities of individual outstanding individuals - the founders of RCT, their ability to take scientific risks; a combination of the required level of development of the theoretical base and the economic possibilities of their practical implementation; a sufficient amount of fundamental scientific research - but all these factors could not work so effectively without the participation of the country’s party-economic management mechanism, which is commonly called the administrative-command system.
At the same time, this dependence is also inverse; the “system” can set a task, mobilize resources, tighten the political regime, that is, promote or hinder, but not generate scientific and design thought.
By improving the education system and providing access to it to all segments of the population, the government has only opened up the opportunity for the development of cognitive and creative potential. The main task fell on the shoulders of Soviet workers. And for the time being, they coped with this task with dignity.
September 1967 was marked by the proclamation by the International Astronautical Federation of October 4 as the world day of the beginning of the space age of mankind. It was on October 4, 1957 that a small ball with four antennas tore apart the near-Earth space and marked the beginning of the space age, ushering in the golden age of astronautics. How it was, how space exploration took place, what the first satellites, animals and people in space were like - this article will tell you about all this.
Chronology of events
To begin with, we will give a brief description of the chronology of events that are in one way or another connected with the beginning of the space age.
Dreamers from the distant past
As long as humanity has existed, it has been attracted by the stars. Let's look for the origins of astronautics and the beginning of the space age in ancient tomes and give just a few examples of amazing facts and insightful predictions. In the ancient Indian epic "Bhagavad Gita" (circa 15th centuries BC), an entire chapter is devoted to instructions for flying to the moon. Clay tablets from the library of the Assyrian ruler Assurbanipal (3200 BC) tell the story of King Etan, who flew to a height from which the Earth looked like “bread in a basket.” The inhabitants of Atlantis left the Earth, flying to other planets. And the Bible tells about the flight on the fiery chariot of the prophet Elijah. But in 1500 AD, the inventor Wang Gu from Ancient China could have become the first astronaut if he had not died. He made a flying machine from kites. Which was supposed to take off when 4 powder rockets were set on fire. Since the 17th century, Europe has been delirious about flights to the Moon: first Johannes Kepler and Cyrano de Bergerac, and later Jules Verne with his idea of cannon flight.
Kibalchich, Hanswind and Tsiolkovsky
In 1881, in solitary confinement at the Peter and Paul Fortress, awaiting execution for the assassination attempt on Tsar Alexander II, N.I. Kibalchich (1853-1881) drew a jet space platform. The idea of his project is to create jet propulsion using burning substances. His project was discovered in the archives of the Tsarist secret police only in 1917. At the same time, the German scientist G. Hanswied is creating his own spacecraft, where thrust is provided by flying bullets. And in 1883, the Russian physicist K. E. Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) described a ship with a jet engine, which was embodied in 1903 in the design of a liquid rocket. It is Tsiolkovsky who is considered to be the father of Russian cosmonautics, whose works already in the 20s of the last century received wide recognition from the world community.
Just a satellite
The artificial satellite, which marked the beginning of the space age, was launched by the Soviet Union from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on October 4, 1957. An aluminum sphere weighing 83.5 kilograms and a diameter of 58 centimeters, with four bayonet antennas and equipment inside, soared to a perigee altitude of 228 kilometers and an apogee height of 947 kilometers. They simply called it Sputnik 1. Such a simple device was a tribute to the Cold War with the United States, which was developing similar programs. America with their satellite Explorer 1 (launched on February 1, 1958) was almost six months behind us. The Soviets, who launched an artificial satellite first, won the race. A victory that was no longer conceded, because the time had come for the first cosmonauts.
Dogs, cats and monkeys
The beginning of the space age in the USSR began with the first orbital flights of rootless tailed cosmonauts. The Soviets chose dogs as astronauts. America - monkeys, and France - cats. Immediately after Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2 flew into space with the most unfortunate dog on board - the mongrel Laika. It was November 3, 1957, and the return of Sergei Korolev’s favorite Laika was not planned. The well-known Belka and Strelka, with their triumphant flight and return to Earth on August 19, 1960, were not the first and far from the last. France launched the cat Felicette into space (October 18, 1963), and the United States, after the rhesus monkey (September 1961), sent the chimpanzee Ham (January 31, 1961), who became a national hero, to explore space.
Human conquest of space
And here the Soviet Union was first. On April 12, 1961, near the village of Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), the R-7 launch vehicle with the Vostok-1 spacecraft took off into the sky. In it, Air Force Major Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin went on his first space flight. At a perigee altitude of 181 km and an apogee of 327 km, it flew around the Earth and, 108 minutes into the flight, landed in the vicinity of the village of Smelovka (Saratov region). The world was blown up by this event - agrarian and bastard Russia overtook the high-tech States, and Gagarin's "Let's go!" has become an anthem for space fans. It was an event of planetary scale and incredible significance for all humanity. Here America lagged behind the Union by a month - on May 5, 1961, the Redstone launch vehicle with the Mercury-3 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral launched the American astronaut Captain 3rd Rank of the Air Force Alan Shepard into orbit.
During a space flight on March 18, 1965, the co-pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Leonov (the first pilot was Colonel Pavel Belyaev), went into outer space and stayed there for 20 minutes, moving away from the ship at a distance of up to five meters. He confirmed that a person can be and work in outer space. In June, American astronaut Edward White spent just a minute longer in outer space and proved the possibility of performing maneuvers in outer space using a hand-held gun powered by compressed gas, similar to a jet. The beginning of the space age of man in outer space has come to an end.
First human casualties
Space has given us many discoveries and heroes. However, the beginning of the space age was also marked by sacrifices. The first Americans to die were Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee on January 27, 1967. The Apollo 1 spacecraft burned down in 15 seconds due to an internal fire. The first Soviet cosmonaut to die was Vladimir Komarov. On October 23, 1967, he successfully deorbited on the Soyuz-1 spacecraft after an orbital flight. But the main parachute of the descent capsule did not open, and it crashed into the ground at a speed of 200 km/h and completely burned out.
Apollo Lunar Program
On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin felt the surface of the Moon under their feet. Thus ended the flight of the Apollo 11 spacecraft with the Eagle lunar module on board. America did take over the leadership in space exploration from the Soviet Union. And although later there were many publications about the falsification of the fact of the American landing on the Moon, today everyone knows Neil Armstrong as the first person to set foot on its surface.
Salyut orbital stations
The Soviets were also the first to launch orbital stations - spacecraft for long-term stays of astronauts. Salyut is a series of manned stations, the first of which was launched into orbit on April 19, 1971. In total, in this project, 14 space objects were launched into orbit under the military program “Almaz” and the civil program “Long-term orbital station”. Including the Mir station (Salyut-8), which was in orbit from 1986 to 2001 (sunk in the spaceship cemetery in the Pacific Ocean on March 23, 2001).
First international space station
The ISS has a complex history of creation. It began as the American Freedom project (1984), became the joint Mir-Shuttle project in 1992, and today is an international project with 14 participating countries. The first module of the ISS was launched into orbit by the Proton-K launch vehicle on November 20, 1998. Subsequently, the participating countries brought out other connecting blocks, and today the station weighs about 400 tons. It was planned to operate the station until 2014, but the project has been extended. And it is jointly managed by four agencies - the Space Flight Control Center (Korolev, Russia), the Flight Control Center named after. L. Johnson (Houston, USA), European Space Agency Control Center (Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany) and Aerospace Exploration Agency (Tsukuba, Japan). There is a crew of 6 astronauts at the station. The station program provides for the constant presence of people. According to this indicator, it has already broken the record of the Mir station (3664 days of continuous stay). The power supply is completely autonomous - solar panels weigh almost 276 kilograms, power up to 90 kilowatts. The station contains laboratories, greenhouses and living quarters (five bedrooms), a gymnasium and bathrooms.
A few facts about the ISS
The International Space Station is currently the most expensive project in the world. More than $157 billion has already been spent on it. The station's orbital speed is 27.7 thousand km/h, with a weight of more than 41 tons. Cosmonauts observe sunrise and sunset at the station every 45 minutes. In 2008, the “Disc of Immortality” was delivered aboard the station, a device containing digitized DNA of outstanding representatives of humanity. The purpose of this collection is to preserve human DNA in the event of a global catastrophe. In the laboratories of the space station, quails are born and flowers bloom. And viable bacterial spores were found on its skin, which makes us think about the possible expansion of space.
Commercialization of space
Humanity can no longer imagine itself without space. In addition to all the advantages of practical space exploration, the commercial component is also developing. Since 2005, construction of private spaceports has been underway in the USA (Mojave), UAE (Ras Alm Khaimah) and Singapore. Virgin Galactic Corporation (USA) is planning space cruises for seven thousand tourists at an affordable price of 200 thousand dollars. And the famous space businessman Robert Bigelow, owner of the Budget Suites of America hotel chain, announced the project of the first orbital Skywalker hotel. For $35 billion, Space Adventures (a partner of Roscosmos Corporation) will take you on a space journey for up to 10 days tomorrow. By paying another 3 billion, you will be able to go into outer space. The company has already organized tours for seven tourists, one of them is the head of the Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberte. The same company is preparing a new tourism product for 2018 - a trip to the moon.
Dreams and fantasies became reality. Once overcoming gravity, humanity is no longer able to stop in its quest for stars, galaxies and universes. I would like to believe that we will not get too carried away, and that we will continue to be surprised and delighted by the myriads of stars in the night sky. All as mysterious, alluring and fantastic as in the first days of creation.
One of the most outstanding achievements of Soviet science is undoubtedly space exploration in the USSR. Similar developments were carried out in many countries, but only the USSR and the USA were able to achieve real success at that time, ahead of other states by many decades. Moreover, the first steps in space really belonged to the Soviet people. It was in the Soviet Union that the first successful launch was carried out, as well as the launch of a launch vehicle with the PS-1 satellite into orbit. Before this triumphant moment, six generations of rockets had been created, with the help of which it was not possible to successfully launch into space. And only the R-7 generation made it possible for the first time to develop the first cosmic speed of 8 km/s, which made it possible to overcome the force of gravity and place the object into low-Earth orbit. The first space rockets were converted from long-range combat ballistic missiles. They were improved and the engines were boosted.
The first successful launch of an artificial earth satellite occurred on October 4, 1957. However, only ten years later this date was recognized as the official day of the proclamation of the space age. The first satellite was called PS-1, it was launched from the fifth research site, under the jurisdiction of the Union Ministry of Defense. By itself, this satellite weighed only 80 kilograms, and its diameter did not exceed 60 centimeters. This object stayed in orbit for 92 days, during which time it covered a distance of 60 million kilometers.
The device was equipped with four antennas through which the satellite communicated with the ground. This device included an electrical power supply, batteries, a radio transmitter, various sensors, an on-board electrical automation system, and a thermal control device. The satellite did not reach the earth; it burned up in the earth's atmosphere.
Further space exploration by the Soviet Union was, of course, successful. It was the USSR that first managed to send a person on a space journey. Moreover, the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, managed to return alive from space, thanks to which he became a national hero. However, subsequently, space exploration in the USSR, in short, was restrained. The technical lag and the era of stagnation had an effect. However, Russia continues to enjoy the successes achieved in those days to this day.
Space exploration in the USSR: facts, results
August 12, 1962 - the world's first group space flight was carried out on the Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 spacecraft.
June 16, 1963 - the world's first flight into space by female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was made on the Vostok-6 spacecraft.
October 12, 1964 - the world's first multi-seat spacecraft, Voskhod-1, flew.
March 18, 1965 - the first human spacewalk in history took place. Alexey Leonov made a spacewalk from the Voskhod-2 spacecraft.
October 30, 1967 - the first docking of two unmanned spacecraft “Cosmos-186” and “Cosmos-188” was carried out.
September 15, 1968 - the first return of the Zond-5 spacecraft to Earth after orbiting the Moon. There were living creatures on board: turtles, fruit flies, worms, bacteria.
January 16, 1969 - the first docking of two manned spacecraft Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5 was carried out.
November 15, 1988 - the first and only space flight of the Buran spacecraft in automatic mode.
Planetary exploration in the USSR
January 4, 1959 - the Luna-1 station passed at a distance of 60 thousand km from the surface of the Moon and entered a heliocentric orbit. She is the world's first artificial satellite of the Sun.
September 14, 1959 - the Luna-2 station was the first in the world to reach the surface of the Moon in the region of the Sea of Clarity.
October 4, 1959 - the automatic interplanetary station “Luna-3” was launched, which for the first time in the world photographed the side of the Moon invisible from the Earth. During the flight, a gravity assist maneuver was carried out for the first time in the world.
February 3, 1966 - AMS Luna-9 made the world's first soft landing on the surface of the Moon, panoramic images of the Moon were transmitted.
March 1, 1966 - the Venera 3 station reached the surface of Venus for the first time. This is the world's first flight of a spacecraft from Earth to another planet. April 3, 1966 - the Luna-10 station became the first artificial satellite of the Moon.
On September 24, 1970, the Luna-16 station collected and subsequently delivered samples of lunar soil to Earth. This is the first unmanned spacecraft to bring rock samples from another cosmic body to Earth.
November 17, 1970 - soft landing and start of operation of the world's first semi-automatic self-propelled vehicle Lunokhod-1.
December 15, 1970 - the world's first soft landing on the surface of Venus: Venera 7.
October 20, 1975 - the Venera-9 station became the first artificial satellite of Venus.
October 1975 - soft landing of two spacecraft "Venera-9" and "Venera-10" and the world's first photographs of the surface of Venus.
The Soviet Union did a lot for the study and exploration of space. The USSR was many years ahead of other countries, including the superpower USA.
Sources: antiquehistory.ru, prepbase.ru, badlike.ru, ussr.0-ua.com, www.vorcuta.ru, ru.wikipedia.org
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