Space flights into space. Manned programs

the first successful manned flight into space, Yuri Gagarin - he said "Let's go"

The history of cosmonautics, the first flights into space. Who flew into space before Gagarin. The first flights to space- territories of cold and weightlessness, and the world of great secrets. April 12, the official holiday of cosmonautics, in honor of the first flight of Yuri Gagarin.

April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin, cosmonaut Soviet Union, committed first manned space flight lasting 108 minutes. It was a huge success. A colossal step in mastering outer space.

It was a time of great achievements for Soviet scientists. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin makes a manned space flight in Earth orbit! The whole country was jubilant and celebrating!

This is how it was remembered in the history of space exploration.….

The flight of Yuri Gagarin into space was extremely important for the Union, because there was a race of space conquests of two superpowers, the USSR and the USA. And it was necessary to prove to the whole world that only in the Union everything is the most advanced, and only under the control of the Communist Party great things are accomplished.

But before the first cosmonaut made a historic flight, animals were the first to be in space. These are world-famous dogs, Belka and Strelka. Those who made the first orbital flight around the Earth, and spent a day in zero gravity. But as academician Oleg Georgievich Gazenko, an employee of the special laboratory of the Institute of Aviation Medicine of the Air Force, says, they were not the first to go into space.

- In 1948, the task of preparing dogs for space flights was set before the special laboratory. For this, the animals were caught in the streets, weighing 4-5 kilograms. And already in 1951 we got down to work. These are multilevel training systems - the dogs getting used to wearing a vest with sensors for removing bioparameters.

Train them to the cramped cabin of the ship so that animals do not have a fear of claustrophobia. Almost all kinds of tests that could be foreseen during launch and flight of a rocket in space, of course, except for zero gravity conditions. It was weightlessness that worried scientists a lot about what its effect on the body would be. The experimental animals answered this question.

But before the successful flight of Belka and Strelka, many will remember that Laika was sent to orbit in 1957. Preparation for this flight went on for 10 years. But artificial satellite was not equipped with a descent system, and the dog died.

And the first in space were the dogs Tsygan and Dezik, albeit on a high-altitude rocket, but the flight of the dogs was successful, and they returned safely to Earth. Remembers Oleg Georgievich and the dog Zhulka, who visited space three times... This is a little-known, white and fluffy cosmonautics heroine... She successfully launched into space twice on high-altitude rockets. For the third time, Zhulka went into orbit in December 1960, aboard the predecessor spacecraft of the Gagarin ship.

But this time, many dangers fell to her lot. Due to failures technical equipment, the ship does not reach orbit. In this case, the destruction of the ship was ordered. But again there is a misfire in the operation of the systems, the ship is not undermined. And the satellite falls to Earth, in the vastness of Siberia, in the area of ​​the Podkamennaya Tunguska. For two days, the rescue team got to the crashed vehicle.

All this time, Zhulka, who survived all the vicissitudes of the fall of the spacecraft, was in the cold, without food or drink. But she survived, and then she was "written off" from the participants in the space program. Oleg Georgievich took pity on the brave astronaut, and took the dog to his home, where Zhulka lived for about 14 more years.

I must say that not only dogs and mice have been in space, but even turtles. By the way, little known fact, but it was the turtles who were the first to fly around the moon on the Soviet probe "Zond-5". The turtles returned safely to Earth after splashing down in the Indian Ocean.

And just before the flight of Senior Lieutenant Gagarin, a dog named Zvezdochka went into space. All future cosmonauts were invited to the launch of the spacecraft in March 1961, with Zvezdochka on board. To see and be convinced, the development of space technology allows a person to make a safe flight into space. Yuri Gagarin was also present, whose successful flight took place in April.

During this flight, senior lieutenant Gagarin pronounced the word known to several generations of earthlings “ Go". Gagarin landed when he was already a major. Some even now express doubts whether Yuri himself said “ Go“, Or it was“ necessary ”. - But is it really important for the history of astronautics? I don't think so.

Some researchers, looking closely at the history of Soviet cosmonautics, talk about other cosmonauts. Which supposedly went into space before Gagarin, but died, during unsuccessful launches, burning in spaceships.

according to researchers, archival documents hide the names and faces of people who will never see the light of spotlights. These are people who flew into space even before Gagarin. They were the pioneers, the first people to overcome the gravity of the Earth.

But the names of the first astronauts who looked for trails space roads do not sound among the names of astronauts. They died in spacecraft searching for a way to orbit. And unsuccessful launches of space rockets are not needed for history, just like people. - say the researchers.

Of course, I will now run a little ahead, but I want to immediately say the official point of view on this issue. Both officials and historians.

Here is what A. Pervushin said about it, - “Perhaps the secrecy surrounding the space program is not very justified. And gave rise to many rumors and speculation. But in the history of Soviet cosmonautics there are no hidden corpses, nor did they exist. " And he calls it “the fruit of a wild fantasy generated by strict regime secrecy "as well as -" no matter how cynical it may sound, but the successful return of the astronaut was not of interest - it did not matter, in the conditions of the race it was the main thing to declare one's own priority«

Historians say the same thing. As already mentioned, in the space race with the Americans, it was very important that the Soviet cosmonaut was the first to fly into space. As an example, refuting unknown flights, the document of the Central Committee of the CPSU, signed 9 days before the start of Gagarin, is cited - April 3, 1961. The document ordered the preparation of two TASS reports on the launch of a manned spacecraft.

One of them was laudatory, about the successful launch of a Soviet ship with a pilot on board, and the great achievement of the USSR. Another message was about the death of Gagarin. That is, there was no concealment of information, with any outcome of the flight, and there was no question. According to historians admitted to the study of documents, the names of the often mentioned deceased cosmonauts Ledovsky, Shiborin, Mitkov and Gromov did not exist in reality, these are fictitious names by someone unknown. In any case, according to historians, there was no connection with the people behind these names.

The story of the deceased cosmonauts who allegedly made the first flights into space before Gagarin.

We probably need to start with the famous photo on the cover of Ogonyok magazine from October 1959. The image shows five people, Kachura, Mikhailov, Zavadovsky, Belokonev, Grachev - testers from the Institute of Space Medicine. In the photograph, they are in pressure helmets, and many have decided that these are the future cosmonauts. However, their surnames are not found among the names of astronauts. And the Western press puts forward a version that they died during the first space flights.

Allegedly, the cosmonauts Grachev and Belokonev went into space in September 1961, with the aim of circling the moon in a two-seater spacecraft. According to journalists (in particular, the Western press), the ship is damaged and the astronauts cannot return. The ship with astronauts on board, having lost control, turns into a space wanderer, getting lost in the cold depths of space. - Tragic story of death.

However, at that time, space technology did not allow manned flights to the Moon. Otherwise, the USSR would have defeated the United States in the exploration of the moon. But this does not bother the journalists, the main thing is more smoke on the territory of the ideological enemy. The death of Gennady Mikhailov was completely timed to coincide with the unsuccessful launch of the automatic Venusian probe. On February 4, 1961, the launch of the station was unsuccessful, due to an accident in the upper stage, the automatic station "hovered" in near-earth orbit.

True, sometimes there are records that Kachura died in this way. But the station was unmanned, fully automatic. However, here and so everything is clear, from the name of the Institute it is clear what the mentioned people were doing. In addition, under the same secrecy regime, the persons who appeared on the covers of the magazine could not participate in space flights.

But there is still one case of unknown astronauts that researchers of the dark corners of astronautics can point to. This is Vladimir Ilyushin, the son of a famous designer, he is pointed out as the first cosmonaut. Officially, Ilyushin got into a car accident several months before the launch into Gagarin's orbit.

After recovering in his homeland, he went to China to improve his health with the help of oriental medicine. His health problems were immediately credited for an unsuccessful flight into space. Allegedly, the ship, completing its flight, made an unsuccessful landing, in which the astronaut was injured. And for the sake of all the same, notorious secrecy, the astronaut's injuries were officially "recorded" as a car accident.

However, this version does not stand up to criticism, not only is there no logic in it, but it is also ridiculous. What can you hide here? Even in this version, the launch of the ship was successful - it is easier to hide its difficult landing - and one can safely inform the whole world about the achievements of Soviet scientists.

Pyotr Dolgov, a test pilot, was burned to death in the ship during an unsuccessful launch in September 1960. Yes, he died, but not during the launch into orbit. And two years later, in November 1962, he jumped from the stratospheric balloon with a parachute. Presumably died while testing a new model of a spacesuit.

Other facts cited by researchers of the alternative history of astronautics and secretly buried dead astronauts are identical. But there were losses among the 20 cosmonauts of the "Gagarin" set. These are Grigory N., Ivan A., and Valentin F., expelled from the detachment for resisting an army patrol in a drunken state (names are not indicated based on ethical norms).

It is known that Grigory N. while serving on Far East in an ordinary air regiment, he said that it was he who was supposed to fly into space instead of Gagarin. True, his colleagues did not believe him. In 1966, Gregory died after being run over by a train. It remained unknown whether it was an accident, a suicide, or as the researchers ask, it was overtaken by the secrecy regime.

Another, the story of the disastrous "before the Gagarin" launches, as well as the subsequently deceased cosmonauts, was told by the Italians, - by the Cordilla brothers... I'll start with technical capabilities brothers. Maybe now the design engineers will laugh, but the Cordilla brothers, alone, using only photographs of NASA ground tracking stations, were able to assemble their own device. With the help of which they listened to the conversations of astronauts in orbit with the MCC.

The brothers managed to accomplish the impossible, while all countries, follow the actions of the Soviet cosmonauts trying to listen to the broadcast, do it only the Cordilla brothers could. In particular, only they managed to hear how the dying cosmonauts talk with the Earth in the last seconds of their lives. In the press, including on television, the story of the Cordilla brothers is retelling in sufficient detail.

Therefore, we will not dwell on how many distress signals in orbit, screams and groans of dying cosmonauts were recorded by the Italians Cordilla. But even a person who is not familiar with the details of special communication devices knows that it is impossible to listen to a communication channel on a "closed" frequency, even if you have a supercomputer of the future three times, you will not be able to "sit down" on this channel. Here we can add that the work of the special equipment used is strikingly different from the now known scramblers (a device for encrypting information from unauthorized persons).

So really within the framework space program, did the military use open frequencies for communication? And they were able to find it, only the Cordilla brothers, and the technical staff of the special services of other states turned out to be absolutely incompetent? At the same time, the Italians have been listening to the negotiations since the time of Laika's flight. But they shared the information only in 2007, by publishing their observation diary.

But what is curious, as the Italian brothers report, the first flight into space was made by the dog Laika, whose heart work they managed to record. Indeed, they could not know that the dogs Gypsy, Dezik, Zhulka had been in space, this information, due to the absence of any importance, did not spread. And the brothers could not know about it. This means that everything else can be considered fiction.

And the repetition of the known cases of the death of cosmonauts, in terms of hiding space secrets "before the Gagarin" flights, is of no interest, they are well known.

I remember space history America. After all, as is reported in the press, a manned rocket launch was carried out in Germany back in 1945. famous inventor Fau, Dr. von Braun. Allegedly, the last version of the V-2 rocket was a full-fledged spacecraft. On it one of the pilots went into outer space. And later he landed safely.

Another amusing story tells how in the mid-80s, in the coastal waters near Miami, sometimes the Canary Islands are mentioned, a spacecraft crashed. The police who arrived at the splashdown site freeze, in front of them are three people dressed in German uniforms. and they confirm - yes, they are the pilots of the great Germany. And they were launched into orbit in the 45th year. But due to a malfunction of the suspended animation, their sleep lasted longer.

Thus, they also claim to be the first astronauts. However, in reality, you need to pay attention to one fact, and then all these stories burst easier than a soap bubble. Dr. von Braun defected to the United States and took part in the space race against the Soviet Union. Then why, the inventor who has already sent astronauts into orbit, has been painstakingly working on the creation of a manned spacecraft for more than a dozen years. The answer is simple, there was no technology needed, and all the stories are fiction.
***
Of course, the unsuccessful launches of the Soviet spacecraft were. And many astronauts died in unsuccessful launches. But no one hid their names. It is another matter that little has been said about this, but this is a completely different story.

Some of the achievements of space technology are also interesting for use in Everyday life, so to speak in civil. For example, the "Penguin" space suit, designed to combat astronauts with zero gravity, was subsequently used to cure infantile cerebral palsy.

Another space development is "Bifidum-bacterin", which has stepped onto store shelves. Initially, it was developed for astronauts as a prophylactic agent for dysbiosis.

The content of the article

SPACE FLIGHTS MANNED. Manned space flight is the movement of people in an aircraft outside the earth's atmosphere in an orbit around the Earth or along a trajectory between the Earth and other celestial bodies in order to explore outer space or conduct experiments. In the Soviet Union, space travelers were called cosmonauts; in the USA they are called astronauts.

PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF DESIGN AND OPERATION

The design, launch and operation of manned spacecraft, called spaceships, are much more complex than unmanned vehicles. In addition to the propulsion system, guidance systems, power supply and others available on automatic spacecraft, manned spacecraft require additional systems- life support, manual flight control, living quarters for the crew and special equipment - to ensure the possibility of finding the crew in space and performing the necessary work. With the help of the life support system, conditions are created inside the ship, similar to those on Earth: the atmosphere, fresh water for drinking, food, waste disposal and a comfortable heat and humidity regime. Spaces for the crew require special planning and equipment, since conditions of weightlessness are maintained on the ship, in which objects are not held in place by gravity, as is the case under terrestrial conditions. All objects on the spacecraft are attracted to each other, therefore special fastening devices must be provided and the rules for handling liquids, from food water to waste, must be carefully thought out.

To ensure human safety, all QC systems must be highly reliable. Usually, each system is duplicated or implemented in the form of two identical subsystems so that the failure of one of them does not threaten the life of the crew. The ship's electronic equipment is made in the form of two or more sets or independent sets of electronic blocks (modular redundancy) to ensure the safe return of the crew in the event of the most unforeseen emergencies.

BASIC MANNERED SPACE FLIGHT SYSTEMS

Three main systems are required for a long-term spacecraft flight outside the atmosphere and a safe return to Earth: 1) a sufficiently powerful rocket to launch a spacecraft into orbit around the Earth or a flight trajectory to others celestial bodies; 2) thermal protection of the spacecraft from aerodynamic heating during its return to Earth; 3) guidance and control system to ensure the desired trajectory of the ship.

FIRST FLIGHTS

"East".

After the launch of the first satellite, the Soviet Union began to develop a program for manned space flights. The Soviet government gave scant information about the planned flights. Few in the West took these messages seriously until Yuri Gagarin's flight was announced on April 12, 1961, shortly after he made one orbit around the globe and returned to Earth.

Gagarin made his flight on the Vostok-1 spacecraft - a spherical capsule with a diameter of 2.3 m, which was installed on a three-stage A-1 rocket (created on the basis of the SS-6 ICBM), similar to the one that put Sputnik-1 into orbit ... Asbestos laminate was used as a heat-shielding material. Gagarin flew in an ejection seat, which was supposed to be fired in the event of a launch vehicle accident.

The Vostok-2 spacecraft (G.S. Titov, August 6–7, 1961) made 17 orbits around the Earth (25.3 hours); it was followed by two flights of twin ships. "Vostok-3" (A.G. Nikolaev, August 11-15, 1962) and "Vostok-4" (P.R. Popovich, August 12-15, 1962) flew 5.0 km from each other in almost parallel orbits ... Vostok-5 (VF Bykovsky, June 14-19, 1963) and Vostok-6 (VV Tereshkova, the first woman in space, June 16-19, 1963) repeated the previous flight.

"Mercury".

In August 1958, President D. Eisenhower assigned responsibility for the implementation of a manned flight to the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which chose Project Mercury, a ballistic capsule, as the first manned flight program. Two 15-minute suborbital flights of cosmonauts were carried out in a capsule launched by the Redstone medium-range ballistic missile. A. Shepard and V. Griss made these flights on May 5 and July 21 in capsules of the "Mercury" type, named "Freedom-7" and "Liberty Bell-7". Both flights were successful, although a malfunction led to the premature firing of the hatch cover on the Liberty Bell 7, which nearly drowned Grissom.

Following these two successful Mercury-Redstone suborbital missions, NASA conducted four Mercury orbital missions launched by the more powerful Atlas ICBM. The first two three-turn flights (J. Glenn, Friendship-7, February 20, 1962; and M. Carpenter, Aurora-7, May 24, 1962) lasted about 4.9 hours. The third flight (W. Shirra, Sigma -7 ", October 3, 1962) lasted 6 turns (9.2 hours), and the fourth (Cooper," Faith-7 ", May 15-16, 1963) - 34.3 hours (22.9 turns). These flights provided a wealth of valuable information, including the conclusion that crew members should be pilots and not just passengers. Several small malfunctions that occurred during the flights, in the absence of a specialist on board, could cause a premature termination of the flight or the ship's failure.

THE DECISION TO FLY TO THE MOON

Mercury was just preparing for its maiden flight, while NASA management and specialists were planning future space programs. In 1960, they announced plans for a three-seat Apollo spacecraft that could fly manned flights for up to two weeks in low-Earth orbit, and fly around the moon in the 1970s.

However, for political reasons, the Apollo program had to be radically changed even before the preliminary design phase was completed in 1961. Gagarin's flight made a huge impression around the world and gave the Soviet Union an edge in the space race. President John F. Kennedy instructed his advisers to identify areas of space activity in which the United States can surpass the Soviet Union.

It was decided that only one project - the landing of a man on the moon - would be of greater significance than Gagarin's flight. This flight, obviously, was beyond the capabilities of both countries at that time, but American specialists and the military believed that the task could be solved if the entire industrial power of the country was directed to achieve such a goal. In addition, Kennedy's advisers convinced him that the United States possessed some key technologies that could be used to fly. These technologies included the Polaris ballistic missile guidance system, cryogenic missile technology and great experience implementation of large-scale projects. For these reasons, despite the fact that the United States had at that time only 15 minutes of experience in manned space flight, Kennedy on May 25, 1961 declared in Congress that the United States had set the goal of a manned flight to the moon within the next ten years.

Because of the difference in political systems, the Soviet Union did not at first take Kennedy's statement seriously. Soviet Prime Minister N.S. Khrushchev viewed the space program mainly as an important propaganda resource, although the qualifications and enthusiasm of Soviet engineers and scientists were no lower than those of their American rivals. Only on August 3, 1964, the CPSU Central Committee approved the plan for a manned flyby of the moon. A separate lunar landing program was approved on December 25, 1964, more than three years behind the United States.

PREPARATION FOR FLIGHT TO THE MOON

Meeting in a circumlunar orbit.

To achieve Kennedy's goal of a manned flight to the moon and back, NASA management and specialists had to choose a way to carry out such a flight. The preliminary design team considered two options - a direct flight from the Earth's surface to the lunar surface and a flight with an intermediate docking in near-earth orbit. A direct flight would require the development of a huge rocket, tentatively named Nova, to put the lunar craft on a direct flight path to the Moon. An intermediate docking in low-earth orbit would require the launch of two smaller rockets (Saturn-5) - one to launch the spacecraft into low-earth orbit and the other to refuel it before flying from orbit to the Moon.

Both of these options provided for the landing of an 18-meter spacecraft directly to the moon. Since the management and specialists of NASA considered this task too risky, in 1961-1962 they developed a third option - with a meeting in a circumlunar orbit. With this approach, the Saturn-5 rocket launched into orbit two smaller spacecraft: the main unit, which was supposed to deliver three astronauts to the circumlunar orbit and back, and a two-stage lunar cabin, which was supposed to deliver two of them from orbit to the lunar surface and back to meet and dock with the main unit remaining in circumlunar orbit. This option was chosen at the end of 1962.

Gemini project.

NASA tested various methods of meeting and docking, which were supposed to be used in circumlunar orbit, during the implementation of the Gemini program (Gemini) - a series of flights of increasing complexity on two-seat spacecraft equipped for rendezvous with a target SC (unmanned upper stage of the rocket " Agena ") in near-earth orbit. The Gemini spacecraft consisted of three structural units: a descent module (crew compartment) designed for two cosmonauts and resembling a Mercury capsule, a braking propulsion system and an aggregate compartment, which housed power sources and fuel tanks. Since the Gemini was to be launched by the Titan 2 rocket, which used less explosive fuel than the Atlas rocket, the ship lacked the emergency rescue system of the Mercury. In the event of an emergency, the rescue of the crew was provided by ejection seats.

The ship "Voskhod".

However, even before the start of the Gemini flights, the Soviet Union made two rather risky flights. Not wishing to concede the priority of launching the first multi-seat spacecraft to the United States, Khrushchev ordered the urgent preparation of the three-seat spacecraft Voskhod-1 for flight. Following Khrushchev's orders, Soviet designers modified the Vostok to carry three cosmonauts. The engineers abandoned the ejection seats, which saved the crew in the event of an unsuccessful launch, and placed the center seat slightly ahead of the other two. The Voskhod-1 spacecraft with a crew of VM Komarov, KP Feoktistov and BB Egorov (the first doctor in space) made a 16-orbit flight on October 12-13, 1964.

The Soviet Union also performed another priority flight on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft (March 18-19, 1965), in which the left seat was removed to make room for an inflatable airlock. While P.I.Belyaev remained inside the spacecraft, A.A. Leonov left the spacecraft through this airlock for 20 minutes and became the first person to perform a spacewalk.

Flights under the Gemini program.

The Gemini project can be divided into three main phases: flight design tests, long-term flight and flight with rendezvous and docking with the target ship. The first stage began with unmanned flights of Gemini 1 and 2 (April 8, 1964 and January 19, 1965) and a three-turn flight of W. Grissom and J. Young aboard Gemini 3 (March 23, 1965). On the flights of Gemini 4 (J. McDivitt and E. White, Jr., June 3-7, 1965), 5 (L. Cooper and C. Conrad, Jr., August 21-29, 1965) and 7 (F. Borman and J. Lovell, Jr., December 4-18, 1965) investigated the possibility of a long stay of man in space by gradually increasing the duration of the flight to two weeks - the maximum duration of the flight to the Moon under the Apollo program. Gemini flights 6 (W. Shirra and T. Stafford, December 15-16, 1965), 8 (N. Armstrong and D. Scott, March 16, 1966), 9 (T. Stafford and J. Cernan, June 3-6 1966), 10 (J. Young and M. Collins, 18-21 July 1966), 11 (C. Conrad and R. Gordon Jr., 12-15 September 1966) and 12 (J. Lovell and E. Aldrin- Jr., November 11-15, 1966) were originally planned for docking with the target ship Agena.

A partial setback led NASA to carry out one of the most dramatic orbital experiments of the 1960s. When the Agena missile, the target ship for the Gemini 6, exploded at launch on October 25, 1965, it was left without a target. Then the leadership of NASA decided instead to carry out a rendezvous in space of two Gemini spacecraft. According to this plan, it was necessary to first launch Gemini 7 (on its two-week flight), and then, after quickly repairing the launch pad, launch Gemini 6. During the joint flight, a colorful film was shot showing the convergence of ships up to touchdown and their joint maneuvering.

Gemini 8 docked with the target ship Agena. This was the first successful docking of two ships in orbit, but the flight was interrupted less than a day later when one of the attitude control engines did not turn off, causing the ship to spin so fast that the crew almost lost control of the situation. However, using the brake motor, N. Armstrong and D. Scott regained control and carried out an emergency splashdown in Pacific.

When its Agena target failed to enter orbit, Gemini 9 attempted to dock with a retrofitted target docking assembly (Agena docking target mounted on a small satellite launched by an Atlas rocket). However, since the fairing used during withdrawal did not open, it could not be reset, which made docking impossible. In the last three flights, the Gemini ships have successfully docked with their targets.

During the Gemini 4 mission, E. White became the first American to perform a spacewalk. The next spacewalks (Y. Cernan, M. Collins, R. Gordon and E. Aldrin, Gemini 9–12) showed that cosmonauts must carefully think over and control their movements. Due to weightlessness, there is no friction force that gives a fulcrum; even just standing becomes difficult. The Gemini program also tested new equipment (for example, fuel cells for generating electricity from chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen), which later played an important role in the implementation of the Apollo program.

Daina-Sor and MOL.

While NASA was running the Mercury and Gemini projects, the US Air Force was involved in the X-20 Dyna Sor and MOL manned spacecraft projects as part of a broader manned spacecraft program. These projects were eventually canceled (not for technical reasons, but due to changing requirements for space flights).

FLIGHT TO THE MOON

The main unit of the Apollo spacecraft.

Like the ships Mercury and Gemini, the Apollo crew compartment has the shape of a cone with a heat shield made of ablative material. Parachutes and landing equipment are located in the bow of the cone. The three astronauts take seats next to each other in special chairs attached to the base of the capsule. In front of them is the control panel. A small tunnel is provided at the top of the cone to the exit hatch. On the opposite side, there is a docking pin that fits into the lunar cabin's docking hole and pulls them tightly so that the grippers can provide a tight connection between the two ships. An emergency rescue system (more powerful than on the Redstone rocket) is installed at the very top of the ship, with the help of which the crew compartment can be taken to a safe distance in the event of an accident at the start.

On January 27, 1967, during a simulated countdown before the first manned flight, there was a fire that killed three astronauts (W. Grissom, E. White and R. Chaffee).

The main changes in the design of the crew compartment after the fire were as follows: 1) restrictions were introduced on the use of combustible materials; ( the crew, while in spacesuits, used pure oxygen all the time); 3) added a quick-opening escape hatch, which allowed the crew to leave the ship in less than 30 seconds.

The crew compartment is connected to the cylindrical engine compartment, which contains the propulsion system (DP), attitude control engines (CO) and the power supply system (EPS). The propulsion system consists of a propulsion rocket engine, two pairs of fuel and oxidizer tanks. This engine should be used to decelerate the spacecraft during the transfer to a circumlunar orbit and accelerate to return to Earth; in addition, it is turned on for intermediate flight path corrections. CO allows you to control the position of the ship and maneuver during docking. BOT supplies the ship with electricity and water (which is formed by a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen in fuel cells).

Lunar cabin.

While the main unit of the spacecraft is designed for re-entry into the atmosphere, the lunar cockpit is only designed for airless flight. Since there is no atmosphere on the Moon and the acceleration of gravity on its surface is six times less than that of the Earth, landing and takeoff on the Moon requires significantly less energy consumption than on Earth.

The landing stage of the lunar cockpit has the shape of an octahedron, inside of which there are four fuel tanks and a variable-thrust engine. The four telescopic landing gear legs end in disc supports to keep the cockpit from sinking into moon dust. To cushion the impact when landing on the moon, the landing gear legs are filled with crushable aluminum honeycomb. Experimental equipment is housed in special compartments between the racks.

The takeoff stage is equipped with a small engine and two fuel tanks. Due to the fact that the overloads experienced by astronauts are relatively small (one lunar g when the engine is running and about five g during landing), and human legs absorb moderate shock loads well, the designers of the lunar cabin did not install chairs for the astronauts. Standing in the cockpit, the astronauts are close to the windows and have a good view; therefore, there was no need for large and heavy windows. The lunar cockpit portholes are slightly larger than the size of a human face.

Launch vehicle "Saturn-5".

The Apollo spacecraft was launched by the Saturn-5 rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket successfully tested in flight. It is built on the basis of a project developed by V. von Braun's group in the US Army's Ballistic Missile Command in Huntsville (Alabama). Three modifications of the rocket were built and flew - "Saturn-1", "Saturn-1B" and "Saturn-5". The first two rockets were built to test the joint operation of several engines in space and for experimental launches of the Apollo spacecraft (one unmanned and one manned) into low-earth orbit.

The most powerful of them - the Saturn-5 launch vehicle - has three stages S-IC, S-II and S-IVB and an instrument compartment to which the Apollo spacecraft is attached. The first stage of the S-IC is equipped with five F-1 engines fueled by liquid oxygen and kerosene. Each engine develops a thrust of 6.67 MN during launch. The second stage S-II has five J-2 oxygen-hydrogen engines of 1 MN thrust each; the third stage of the S-IVB has one such engine. The instrument compartment contains the guidance system equipment, which provides navigation and flight control up to the Apollo compartment.

General flight scheme.

The Apollo spacecraft was launched from the spaceport. Kennedy, located on about. Merritt, Florida. At the same time, the lunar cabin was located inside a special casing above the third stage of the Saturn-5 rocket, and the main unit was attached to the upper part of the casing. Three stages of the Saturn rocket launched the spacecraft into low-earth orbit, where the crew checked all systems for three orbits before re-engaging the third stage engines to put the spacecraft on a flight path to the Moon. Soon after turning off the third stage engines, the crew undocked the main unit, deployed it and docked to the lunar cabin. After that, the bundle of the main unit and the lunar cabin was separated from the third stage, and the spacecraft flew to the Moon for the next 60 hours.

Near the Moon, the link between the main block and the lunar cabin described a trajectory resembling an eight. While over the far side of the moon, the astronauts turned on the main unit's propulsion engine to decelerate and transfer the spacecraft to a circumlunar orbit. The next day, two cosmonauts transferred to the lunar cabin and began a gentle descent to the lunar surface. First, the vehicle flies forward with landing struts, and the landing stage engine slows down its movement. When approaching the landing site, the cabin rotates vertically (landing struts down) so that the astronauts can see the surface of the Moon and manually control the landing process.

To explore the moon, astronauts, being in spacesuits, had to depressurize the cabin, open the hatch and go down to the surface via a ladder located on the front landing gear pillar. Their spacesuits provided autonomous life activity and communication on the surface for up to 8 hours.

After the end of the research, the cosmonauts climbed into the take-off stage and, starting from the landing stage, returned to the circumlunar orbit. Then they had to approach and dock with the main unit, leave the take-off stage and join the third cosmonaut, who was waiting for them in the crew compartment. During the last orbit, from the far side of the moon, they fired up the main engine to complete the figure eight and return to Earth. The return journey (also lasting about 60 hours) ended with a fiery passage through the earth's atmosphere, a smooth descent on parachutes and a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Preparatory flights.

The extreme difficulty of landing on the moon forced NASA to make a series of four preliminary flights before the first landing. In addition, NASA decided on two very risky activities that made the landing in 1969 possible. The first was the decision to conduct two test flights (November 9, 1967 and April 8, 1968) of the Saturn 5 rocket as a general acceptance test. Instead of conducting separate acceptance flights for each stage, NASA engineers tested three stages at once along with the converted Apollo spacecraft.

Another risky undertaking was the result of delays in the manufacture of the lunar cockpit. The first manned flight of the main unit of the Apollo spacecraft (Apollo 7, W. Shirra, D. Eisele and W. Cunningham, October 11-22, 1968), launched by the Saturn-1V rocket into a near-earth orbit, showed that the main unit ready to fly to the moon. Next, it was necessary to test the main unit with a lunar cabin in low-earth orbit. However, due to the delay in the manufacture of the lunar cabin and rumors that the Soviet Union might try to send a man on a flight around the moon and win the space race, NASA management decided that Apollo 8 (F. Borman, J. Lovell and W. Anders , December 21–27, 1968) will fly to the Moon in the main block, spend a day in a circumlunar orbit, and then return to Earth. The flight was successful; the crew was transmitting breathtaking video footage from lunar orbit to Earth on Christmas Eve.

During the Apollo 9 flight (J. McDivitt, D. Scott and R. Schweikart, March 3-13, 1969), the main unit and the lunar cabin were tested in near-earth orbit. The Apollo 10 flight (T. Stafford, J. Young and Y. Cernan, May 18-26, 1969) was almost complete, except for the landing of the lunar cabin.

Following the Vostok, Soviet scientists and engineers created the Soyuz, a spacecraft that occupies an intermediate position between Gemini and Apollo in terms of its complexity and capabilities. The descent compartment is located above the aggregate compartment, and above it is the utility compartment. During the launch or descent, there can be two or three cosmonauts in the descent compartment. The propulsion system, power supply and communication systems are located in the unit compartment. The Soyuz was launched into orbit with the A-2 launch vehicle, which was developed to replace the A-1 launch vehicle that was used to launch the Vostok spacecraft.

According to the original plan for a manned flight around the moon, the Soyuz-B unmanned upper stage was to be launched first, and then four Soyuz-A cargo ships to refuel it. After that, the descent compartment of the Soyuz-A with a crew of three docked with the upper stage and headed towards the moon. Instead of this rather complicated plan, it was ultimately decided to use the more powerful Proton rocket to launch a modified Soyuz, called the Probe, to the Moon. Two unmanned flights to the Moon took place (Zond 5 and 6, September 15-21 and November 10-17, 1968), which included the return of the vehicles to Earth, but the launch of the unscheduled Probe on January 8 was unsuccessful (the second stage of the launch vehicle exploded ).

The flight pattern to the Moon was approximately the same as in the Apollo program. The three-seater Soyuz spacecraft and the single-seater descent vehicle were to be brought into the flight path to the Moon by the N-1 carrier rocket, which had a slightly larger size and power than the Saturn-5. A special propulsion system was supposed to slow down the bundle for transfer to a circumlunar orbit and ensure the deceleration of the descent vehicle. The final landing stage of the descent vehicle was to be carried out independently. The weak point of this project was that the lunar module had one engine, which was used for both descent and takeoff (the fuel tanks for each stage were separate), so the position of the astronauts became hopeless in the event of engine failure on descent. After a short stay on the lunar surface, the cosmonauts returned to the lunar orbit and joined their comrade. The return to Earth in the Soyuz spacecraft proceeded in the same way as described above for the Apollo spacecraft.

However, problems - both with the Soyuz spacecraft and with the N-1 launch vehicle - did not allow the Soviet Union to carry out the program of landing a man on the moon. The first flight of the Soyuz spacecraft (VM Komarov, April 23-24, 1967) ended with the death of the cosmonaut. During the flight of Soyuz-1, there were problems with solar panels and the attitude control system, so it was decided to interrupt the flight. After the initially normal descent, the capsule began to somersault and got entangled in the braking parachute lines, the descent vehicle crashed into the ground at high speed, and Komarov died.

After an 18-month break, launches under the Soyuz program were resumed with flights of the Soyuz-2 (unmanned, October 25-28, 1968) and Soyuz-3 spacecraft (G.T.Beregovoy, October 26-30, 1968). Beregovoy carried out maneuvers and approached the Soyuz-2 spacecraft up to a distance of 200 m. On the flights of Soyuz-4 (VA Shatalov, January 14-17, 1969) and Soyuz-5 (BV Volynov, EV Khrunov and AS Eliseev, January 15-18, 1969) further progress was made; Khrunov and Eliseev went to Soyuz-4 through open space after docking. (The docking mechanism of Soviet ships did not allow transferring from ship to ship directly.)

In addition, there was a sharp rivalry between various design bureaus, which did not allow many talented scientists and engineers not only to work on the lunar program, but even to use the necessary equipment. As a result, 30 engines (24 along the perimeter and 6 in the center) of average power were installed on the first stage of the N-1 rocket, and not five large engines, as on the first stage of the Saturn-5 rocket (there were such engines in the country), and stages did not pass fire tests before flight. The first N-1 rocket, launched on February 20, 1969, caught fire at the 55th second after launch and fell 50 km from the launch site. The second N-1 rocket exploded on the launch pad on July 3, 1969.

Expeditions to the Moon.

The success of the preparatory flights under the Apollo program (Apollo 7-10) allowed the Apollo 11 spacecraft (N. Armstrong, E. Aldrin and M. Collins, July 16-24, 1969) to make the historic first manned flight on the Moon ... The flight was extremely successful, almost minute by minute according to the program.

However, three significant events during the descent of Armstrong and Aldrin in the Eagle (Eagle) lunar cabin on July 20 confirmed the important role of the human presence and the demand made by the first American astronauts to be able to control the spacecraft. At a height of approx. At 12,000 m, the Eagle computer began to sound an alarm (as it later turned out, as a result of the landing radar). Aldrin thought it was the result of a computer overload, and the crew ignored the alarm. Then, in the final minutes of the descent, after the Eagle had turned upright, Armstrong and Aldrin saw the cockpit landing right into a pile of boulders — small anomalies in the Moon's gravity deflected them off course. Armstrong took control of the cockpit and flew a little further to a more level ground. At the same time, the gurgling of fuel in the tanks showed that there was little fuel left. The flight control center informed the crew that they had time, but Armstrong made a soft landing on four landing gear legs approximately 6.4 km from the target point, with only 20 more seconds of fuel remaining.

Several hours later, Armstrong exited the cockpit and descended to the lunar surface. In accordance with the flight plan, which provided for the utmost care, he and Aldrin spent only 2 hours 31 minutes outside the cockpit on the lunar surface. The next day, after 21 h 36 min stay on the Moon, they took off from its surface and joined Collins, who was in the main block "Columbia", in which they returned to Earth.

The next flights under the Apollo program significantly expanded human knowledge about the Moon. During the flight of the Apollo 12 spacecraft (C. Conrad, A. Bean and R. Gordon, November 14-24, 1969), Gordon and Bean landed their Intrepid (Brave) lunar cabin 180 m from the automatic space probe Surveyor-3 "and took his nodes to return to Earth during one of their two exits to the surface, each of which lasted about four hours.

The launch and transition to the flight trajectory to the Moon of the Apollo 13 spacecraft (April 11-17, 1970) proceeded normally. However, approximately 56 hours after the start, the flight control center asked the crew (J. Lovell, F. Heise Jr. and J. Schweigert Jr.) to turn on all the stirrers and tank heaters, followed by a loud bang, a complete loss of oxygen from one tank and leaking from the other. (As it was later revealed by the NASA Emergency Commission, the explosion of the tank was the result of manufacturing defects and damage received in the pre-launch tests.) Within minutes, the crew and the flight control center realized that the main Odyssey unit would soon lose all oxygen and be left without electricity and that the lunar cabin "Aquarius" ("Aquarius") will have to be used as a lifeboat when flying around the spacecraft around the Moon and on the way back to Earth. For almost five and a half days, the crew was forced to stay at temperatures close to zero, making do with a limited supply of water and turning off almost all of the ship's service systems to save electricity. The cosmonauts turned on the Aquarius engines three times to correct the trajectory. Before entering the Earth's atmosphere, the crew turned on the systems of the Odysseus, using chemical sources of current intended for landing, and separated from the Aquarius. After a normal descent in the atmosphere, the Odysseus safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

In the aftermath of this accident, NASA specialists installed additional emergency chemical batteries and an oxygen tank in a separate compartment of the main unit and redesigned the oxygen tanks. Manned lunar expeditions resumed with the flight of the Apollo 14 spacecraft (A. Shepard, E. Mitchell and S. Ruza, January 31 - February 9, 1971). Shepard and Mitchell stayed on the lunar surface for 33 hours and made two exits to the surface. The last three expeditions of the spacecraft "Apollo" 15 (D. Scott, J. Irwin and A. Warden, July 26 - August 7, 1971), 16 (J. Young, C. Duke Jr. and C. Mattingly II, 16–27 April 1972) and 17 (Y. Cernan, G. Schmitt and R. Evans, December 1-19, 1972) were the most fruitful since scientific point vision. Each lunar cabin included a lunar rover (lunar rover) powered by electric batteries, which allowed astronauts to move up to 8 km from the cabin in each of three exits to the surface; in addition, each main unit had television cameras and other measuring instruments in one of the equipment bays.

Samples delivered by the Apollo expeditions for scientific research amounted to more than 379.5 kg of stones and soil, which changed and expanded man's understanding of the origin of the solar system.

After the success of the first Apollo flights, the Soviet Union made only a few launches of the Soyuz spacecraft, the Zond spacecraft and the N-1 launch vehicle as part of the manned missions to the Moon and landing on the Moon. Since 1971, the Soyuz spacecraft has been used as a transport vehicle within the flight program of the Salyut and Mir space stations.

EXPERIMENTAL FLIGHT "APOLLO" - "SOYUZ"

What began as a rivalry ended with a joint Apollo-Soyuz experimental flight program (ASTP). This flight was attended by D. Slayton, T. Stafford and W. Brandt in the main unit of the Apollo spacecraft (July 15-24, 1975) and A.A. Leonov and V.N. Kubasov on the Soyuz-19 spacecraft (15 –21 July 1975). The program arose from the desire of the two states to develop joint rescue procedures and technical means in case any space crew were in orbit in a stalemate. Because the atmosphere of the ships was completely different, NASA created a special docking bay that was used as a decompression chamber. Several rendezvous and docking maneuvers were successfully completed, after which the ships split and flew autonomously until they returned to Earth.

Literature:

Glushko V.P. Cosmonautics: an encyclopedia... M., 1985
Gatland K. et al. Space Engineering: The Essential Guide to Space... M., 1986
Kelly K. et al. Our home is Earth... M., 1988



began long before a man was there. Many people remember the times when seeing the planet Earth or going to the moon was something from the world of fantasy. Today, every student knows the date April 12, 1961 - flight of the first man into space. This event, watched by the whole world, is connected with the name of the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, his flight lasted 108 minutes.

It was a colossal success of Soviet scientists, the beginning of the history of the development of the territory of zero gravity, the whole country was waiting for Gagarin's triumphant return home. After all, no matter how well prepared the astronaut was, no one knew what exactly was happening outside our planet. The year of the first flight into space knows the whole world, and April 12 has been an official holiday ever since.

The history of the study of outer space is the most striking example of the jubilation of the human mind over once rebellious matter. The first object that could fly into Earth's orbit was created in 50 years by the standards historical chronicle, this is quite a bit. Before made the first flight into space Yuri Gagarin, the textbook Belka and Strelka have already been there, and no one expected their return. But it took place, and the shaggy ones returned home.

The flight took place in August 1960 on the fifth satellite, during the day the animals managed to fly around the planet 17 times. It was no coincidence that white dogs were chosen - the image on the screens was black and white, so contrast was required to observe the behavior of Belka and Strelka. We developed a special system for training dogs, they had to get used to wearing a vest and calmly respond to observation sensors. Most of all, scientists were worried about how the state of weightlessness would affect the body, and it was impossible to answer this question while on Earth. It was this honorable task that the shaggy astronauts faced.

8 months later, first manned flight into space... Directly in front of Gagarin, in March, a dog named Zvezdochka flew there. Future cosmonauts were also at the start of the spacecraft to make sure that the object was completely ready for a safe human flight. Senior Lieutenant Gagarin also studied the technique. After it took place first manned space flight year over the year, more and more discoveries were made.

I must say that Belka with Strelka and Yuri Gagarin are far from the first living creatures to conquer the territory of zero gravity. Before that, the dog Laika had been there, whose flight had been preparing for 10 years and ended sadly - she died. Flying into space and turtles, mice, monkeys. The brightest flights, and there were only three of them, were made by a dog named Zhulka. She was launched twice on high-altitude rockets, the third on a ship that turned out to be not so perfect and gave technical failures. The vessel could not reach orbit and a decision was considered to destroy it.

But again, malfunctions occur in the system, and the ship returns home ahead of time by falling. The satellite was discovered in Siberia. No one hoped for a successful search, let alone a dog. But having survived a terrible accident, hunger and thirst, Zhulka escaped and lived for another 14 years after the fall.

Gagarin in space. How it was

Day 12 April 1961 - Began first flights into space man, he became a borderline and divided the history of the development of weightless space into two periods - when a person only dreamed of stars and the time of conquering the "dark" territory. Gagarin started as a senior lieutenant and landed in the new rank of major. Baikonur cosmodrome, launch pad No. 1, at exactly 9:07 am Moscow time, the Vostok-1 spacecraft departed with the first person on board. It took 90 minutes to fly around the planet Earth and cover 41 thousand km.

The first flight into space of Yuri Gagarin took place, he landed near Saratov and since then he has become one of the most revered and famous people Planets. I must say that the cosmonaut had to experience a lot during the flight, he was well prepared, but even the closest possible conditions at home during training cannot be compared with what actually happened. The ship tumbled several times, had to endure a lot of overloads, there were failures in the system, but everything ended well. Thus, the Soviet Union won the space race with the United States.

The first manned flight into space: the most interesting

A simple Soviet guy Yuri Gagarin did a real feat, it was he who made first space flight year this one brought real success to the young man, now he will remain forever in the hearts of people with his famous "Let's go!" and a wide, kind smile. Do we all know about this flight? There are many facts that were carefully hidden from the Soviet public until recently.

• Valentin Bondarenko could have become the first cosmonaut, but literally two weeks before the launch of the spacecraft, he died in a fire in a pressure chamber.
• Before entering the Earth's atmosphere, there was a failure in the automation responsible for separating the compartments, so the ship tumbled for 10 minutes.
• Landing in the Saratov region was not planned, Gagarin missed 2800 km. The first person to meet the cosmonaut was the wife and daughter of a local forester.
• When selecting dogs for space flight, preference was given exclusively to females, since they did not raise their legs when dealing with a small need
• Gagarin's first flight into space could end tragically, so he wrote to his wife Farewell letter, in case he doesn't come back. Therefore, it was given not in 1961, but in 1968 after the plane crash in which the cosmonaut died.

German Titov was physically prepared for the flight much better, but the competitor's charisma played a key role here. Despite the fact that the Americans did their best to assign the title of discoverer to themselves and disputed year of the first manned space flight arguing that they were there before, all their judgments are unfounded.

Man has always been captivated by the stars. That is why the history of the cognition of space is almost as many centuries old as the history of mankind itself.
Known are the most ancient astronomical observatories, star charts, astronomical observations, which inquisitive mankind has diligently accumulated for many years for practical use.
There are three versions of the primacy of the invention of the optical telescope. Johann Lippershey and Zachary Jansen, who shared the honor of inventing the telescope, built their instruments in 1608, and Galileo Galilei built his telescope in 1609. It was Galileo who made the first significant cosmic discoveries with the help of his device. The history of the development of "large" telescopic construction begins in 1880 in Nice, where one of the largest optical telescopes was installed.
In 1931, radio engineer Karl Jansky builds a polarized unidirectional antenna for studying the atmosphere and, after several years of experiments with it, proposes a parabolic antenna (radio telescope) design, but does not receive support. In 1937, Grout Reber, using Jansky's idea, builds an antenna with a parabolic reflector, and already in 1939 he publishes the first results of the radio telescope. In 1944, Reber compiled the first radio maps obtained with his already improved radio telescope.
The first orbiting (space) telescope was launched by Great Britain in 1962 to study the Sun, in 1966 and 1968, the United States launched two space observatories that operated until 1972. In 1970, NASA begins a large space telescope, which was named Hubble (Hubble), and was launched into orbit on April 25, 1990. It is believed that the Hubble (Hubble) in its current state will serve until 2014.

The physical exploration of space by man began in 1944 during the tests of the German V-2 rocket, which entered outer space, having risen to an altitude of 188 km.
1957 - The USSR launches the first orbiting Earth satellite "Sputnik-1" (October 4) and sends the first living creature into space, the dog Laika (November 3). In 1958, the United States sent the first primate, the monkey Gordo, on a space flight (December 13).
May 28, 1959 - Chimpanzees Baker and Able make a short suborbital flight.
1960 - Strelka and Belka, two dogs made an orbital flight from 19 to 20 August on the prototype of the Vostok spacecraft and returned safely to Earth.
On April 12, 1961, the first man is sent into space - Yuri Gagarin on the Vostok spacecraft. The flight time was 1 hour 48 minutes. He laid the foundation for manned space flights. In the same year, the USA made two suborbital flights of 15 minutes each on the Mercury spacecraft, and the cosmonaut German Titov on the Vostok-2 spacecraft made the first daily flight (1 day 1 hour 11 minutes). Also, space was "visited" by two American chimpanzees - Ham (January 31) and Enos (November 29).
In 1962, the spacecraft Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 made their first group flight.
June 16, 1963 - Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman-cosmonaut, is sent into space on the Vostok-6 spacecraft.
1964 - the first multi-seat spacecraft "Voskhod" (USSR) with three cosmonauts on board.
1965 - Alexei Leonov made the first manned spacewalk (March 18). On June 3, an American astronaut enters outer space, and on December 15, 4 American astronauts are sent on a flight for the first time.
1966 - An American astronaut makes the first docking in space with an unmanned object.
1967 - the Soviet spacecraft of the new model - "Soyuz-1" went into space. And on April 24, for the first time during the flight, a cosmonaut, Vladimir Komarov, dies.
1968 - Apollo 8 makes its first manned flight to the moon. Walter Schirra became the first astronaut to visit space three times.
1969 - the first docking of two manned spacecraft, Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5, was carried out. During the same flight, for the first time, a transition was made from one ship to another through open space. Two American astronauts landed on the moon on July 21. Neil Armstrong is the first person to walk on the moon.
1970 - The Soyuz-9 spacecraft completed a two-week space flight.
1971 - For the first time, the entire crew of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft, consisting of three people, is killed on June 30 when returning to Earth.
1973 - the first flight, which lasted more than a month. And also for the first time, Soviet and American astronauts went into space at the same time.
1974 - First New Year's Eve celebration in orbit.
1980 - the flight duration reached six months. On July 23, the first Asian cosmonaut, Pham Tuan, went into space and on September 18, the first cosmonaut from Latin America- Arnaldo Tamayo Mendes.
1981 - Space shuttle Columbia STS-1 is sent into space for the first time.
1982 - for the first time a woman-cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya is a member of the crew.
1984 - Svetlana Savitskaya, a woman astronaut, goes out into outer space for the first time on July 25.
1986 - Shuttle Challenger crash and seven astronauts die on January 28th. For the first time on May 4, an interorbital flight was made from one station to another - "Mir" - "Salyut-7" - "Soyuz T-17".
1988 - the flight was completed, which lasted one year - from December 21, 1987 to December 21, 1988. Launch of the reusable transport vehicle "Buran" using a carrier rocket - November 15.

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 near-earth space and marked the beginning of the space era, opened the golden age of astronautics. How it was, how space exploration took place, what were the first satellites, animals and people in space - this article will tell about all this.

Chronology of events

First, let's give short description chronology of events, one way or another connected with the beginning of the space age.

Dreamers from the distant past

As long as mankind exists, so many stars have attracted him. Let's look for the origins of the birth of astronautics and the beginning of the space age in ancient folios and give just a few examples. amazing facts and sagacious predictions. In the ancient Indian epic Bhagavad Gita (about the 15th century BC), an entire chapter is devoted to instructions for flying to the moon. On the clay tablets of the library of the Assyrian ruler Assurbanipal (3200 BC), King Ethan is told, flying 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 of the prophet Elijah on a chariot of fire. 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 out of kites. Which was supposed to take off when setting fire to 4 powder rockets. Since the 17th century, Europe has raved 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, alone Peter and Paul Fortress, awaiting execution for the attempt on the life of Tsar Alexander II, N. I. Kibalchich (1853-1881) draws a rocket space platform. The idea behind his project is the creation of jet thrust using combustible substances. His project was found in the archives of the tsarist secret police only in 1917. At the same time, the German scientist G. Hansweed is creating his own spacecraft, where the thrust is provided by ejected 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 scheme of a liquid-propellant rocket. It is Tsiolkovsky who is considered to be the father of Russian cosmonautics, whose works already in the 20s of the last century were widely recognized by the world community.

Just a satellite

The artificial satellite, which marked the beginning of the space era, 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 of 228 kilometers and an apogee of 947 kilometers. They called it simply "Sputnik-1". Such a simple device was a tribute to “ cold war»With the USA, which developed similar programs. America with their satellite Explorer-1 (launched on 02/01/1958) lagged behind us by almost six months. The Soviets who launched the artificial satellite first won the race. The victory, which has not been conceded, because the time has come for the first cosmonauts.

Dogs, cats and monkeys

The beginning of the space era in the USSR began with the first orbital flights of rootless tailed cosmonauts. The Soviets chose dogs as astronauts. America is a monkey, and France is a cat. 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 foreseen. 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 Felicetta into space (October 18, 1963), and the United States, after the rhesus monkey (September 1961), sent the chimpanzee Ham (January 31, 1961) to explore space, who became a national hero.

The conquest of space by man

And here the Soviet Union was the first. On April 12, 1961, the R-7 carrier rocket with the Vostok-1 spacecraft took off into the sky near the village of Tyuratam (Baikonur cosmodrome). Major of the Air Force Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin went on the first space flight in it. At an altitude of perigee of 181 km and apogee of 327 km, it flew around the Earth and, at 108 minutes of flight, landed in the vicinity of the village of Smelovka (Saratov region). The world was blown up by this event - agrarian and bast shoes Russia overtook the high-tech States, and Gagarin's "Let's go!" became an anthem for space fans. It was an event of a planetary scale and incredible significance for all mankind. 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 into orbit brought the American cosmonaut Captain 3rd Rank of the Air Force Alan Shepard.

During space flight On March 18, 1965, the second pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Leonov (the first pilot was Colonel Pavel Belyaev) went into open 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 cosmonaut Edward White spent just a minute longer in outer space and proved the possibility of maneuvering in outer space with a hand-held compressed-gas pistol based on the principle of a jet. The beginning of the space age of man in outer space has come true.

The first human casualties

Space has given us many discoveries and heroes. However, the beginning of the space age was marked by sacrifices. The first to die were the Americans Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee on January 27, 1967. The Apollo 1 spacecraft burned down in 15 seconds due to a fire inside. The first Soviet cosmonaut to die was Vladimir Komarov. On October 23, 1967, he successfully left orbit 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.

Lunar program "Apollo"

On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin felt the surface of the moon under their feet. So the flight of the Apollo 11 spacecraft with the Eagle lunar module on board ended. America did seize 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.

Orbital stations "Salyut"

The Soviets were also the first to launch orbital stations - spacecraft for long-term stay of cosmonauts. 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 Almaz military program and the civilian - Long-term orbital station. Including the station "Mir" ("Salyut-8"), which was in orbit from 1986 to 2001 (flooded at the cemetery of spaceships in the Pacific Ocean on 23.03.2001).

First International Space Station

The ISS has a complex history of creation. Started as the American project Freedom (1984), in 1992 it became a joint Mir-Shuttle project and today is an international project with 14 participating countries. The first ISS module launched the Proton-K launch vehicle into orbit on November 20, 1998. Subsequently, the participating countries removed 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 V.I. L. Johnson (Houston, USA), European Space Agency Command Center (Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany) and Aerospace Research Agency (Tsukuba, Japan). A crew of 6 cosmonauts is at the station. The station's 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 and have a capacity of up to 90 kilowatts. The station houses laboratories, greenhouses and living quarters (five bedrooms), a gymnasium and bathrooms.

A few facts about the ISS

The International Space Station is the most expensive project in the world. More than 157 billion dollars have already been spent on it. The station's orbital speed is 27.7 thousand km / h, with a weight of more than 41 tons. Astronauts observe sunrise and sunset at the station every 45 minutes. The “Disc of Immortality”, a device containing the digitized DNA of prominent representatives of humanity, was delivered on board the station in 2008. The purpose of this collection is to preserve human DNA in the event of a global catastrophe. In laboratories space station quails are born and flowers bloom. Viable bacterial spores were found on its skin, which makes one think about the possible expansion of space.

Space commercialization

Humanity cannot imagine itself without space. In addition to all the advantages of practical space exploration, the commercial component is also developing. Since 2005, private spaceports have been under construction in the United States (Mojava), the United Arab Emirates (Ras Alm Khaimah) and Singapore. Virgin Galactic Corporation (USA) plans space cruises for seven thousand tourists at an affordable price of $ 200 thousand. And the famous space merchant Robert Bigelow, owner of the Budget Suites of America hotel chain, announced the project of the first orbital Skywalker hotel. For 35 billion dollars, Space Adventures (a partner of the Roscosmos corporation) will send you to space trip for up to 10 days. Paying another 3 billion, you can go into outer space. The company has already organized tours for seven tourists, one of them is the head of the circus du Soleil Guy Laliberté. The same company is preparing a new travel product for 2018 - a trip to the moon.

Dreams and fantasies have come true. Having overcome gravity once, humanity is no longer able to stop in its pursuit of the stars, galaxies and universes. I would like to believe that we will not play too much, and we will continue to be surprised and delighted by the myriad of stars in the night sky. All the same mysterious, alluring and fantastic, as in the first days of creation.