Soviet space program Soyuz. Interesting facts about the Soviet space program

From 1958 to 1963.

The first manned Vostok, which was launched on April 12, 1961, became at the same time the world's first spacecraft that made it possible to carry out human flight into outer space. This day (April 12) is celebrated in Russia and many other countries around the world as World Aviation and Cosmonautics Day.

Subsequently, five more ships in the series made flights, including two group ones (without docking), including with the world’s first female cosmonaut Tereshkova. The planned 4 more flights (including longer ones, with the creation of artificial gravity) were cancelled.

Sunrise

The ship actually repeated the ships of the Vostok series, but had an enlarged front instrument compartment, its descent module was reconfigured for flight and landing inside the spacecraft of two or three cosmonauts (for which ejection seats were excluded and, to save space, the cosmonauts were located without spacesuits), and the variant for spacewalks it had a hinged airlock chamber.

The flight of Voskhod-1 in 1964 was the world's first multi-seat, Voskhod-2 - with the world's first spacewalk. After two flights, several more planned flights (including low orbit, longer, group flights, with the first mixed female-male crew, the first spacewalk by a woman) were still ahead.

Union

The Soyuz spacecraft began to be designed in 1962 at OKB-1, first to fly around the Moon. A combination of a spacecraft and upper stages was supposed to go to the Moon 7K-9K-11K. Subsequently, this project was closed in favor of a flyby of the Moon on the L1 spacecraft launched on the Proton launch vehicle, and on the basis of 7K and the closed project of the near-Earth spacecraft "Sever" they began to make 7K-OK- a multi-purpose three-seat orbital vehicle (OS) with solar batteries, designed to practice maneuvering and docking operations in low-Earth orbit, to conduct various experiments, including the transfer of astronauts from ship to ship through outer space.

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

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

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

L1

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

L3

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

Star

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

TKS

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

Zarya

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

Diamond

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

Salyut-DOS

Long-term manned orbital stations TsKBEM, launched on the Proton launch vehicle under the names "Cosmos-557", "Salyut-1, -4, -6, -7", of which all except the first were operated by manned people. The last two had two docking ports and could simultaneously take on board two manned or automatic cargo and other ships, including heavy TKS.

World

Spiral

The only one of the five built, the first ship of the series made its only unmanned flight in 1988, after which the program was closed in 1993, due to the collapse of the USSR and the difficult economic situation.
In post-Soviet Russia, projects were developed for the reusable spacecraft MAKS (cancelled) and the partially reusable spacecraft Clipper (cancelled) and Rus (ongoing).

The history of space exploration has developed in a bipolar world from the very beginning. The space confrontation was a good incentive for both American and Soviet programs. The consequence of this confrontation was that all successes became a cause for international pride and were advertised on a planetary scale. But this happened only with successes, and failures remained sealed, both for rivals and for their own citizens. Now, decades later, some information has been made public. We found unknown facts about the Soviet space program that many have never heard of before.

At the start of World War II, there was no rocket technology in the USSR at all, while German scientists were developing several military missile programs at once. The scientific material given to the winners as a trophy formed the basis for Soviet developments. Captured German scientists adapted the famous V-2 for space needs, thanks to which the first launch of a satellite into Earth orbit took place in 1957.

2. The USSR space program arose by accident


Sergei Korolev, one of the leading scientists in the Soviet missile program, kept secret his developments, which were initially aimed at creating intercontinental ballistic missiles. Many at the top of the party did not take the prospect of launching satellites and rockets seriously. Only when Korolev outlined the propaganda prospects for space exploration did serious progress in this area begin.

Belka and Strelka are the first Soviet cosmonaut dogs to complete an orbital space flight and return to Earth unharmed. The flight took place on the Sputnik 5 spacecraft. The launch took place on August 19, 1960, the flight lasted more than 25 hours, during which time the ship made 17 complete orbits around the Earth. But few people know that several more animals were sent before Belka and Strelka and did not return. Many of the experimental subjects died during takeoff, from overloads and high temperatures. One of the experimental dogs, Laika, died a few hours after the launch due to a failure of the thermoregulation system.

4. Yuri Gagarin may not be the first man in space


On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, entering Earth orbit on the Vostok spacecraft. However, some historians believe that before the triumphant launch there could have been several unsuccessful attempts, during which Gagarin's predecessors died. But no data on this matter was made public, and it is quite possible that the documents were destroyed under a program of absolute secrecy.

The launch vehicles for the Vostok spacecraft, which launched the satellites and Gagarin into orbit, were initially developed in parallel with the spy satellite program.

Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov entered orbit on the Voskhod spacecraft on March 18, 1965, a mission during which Leonov made history by making the first spacewalk. Despite the historic achievement, the mission was fraught with danger: Leonov was at risk of heatstroke and decompression sickness as a result of errors in the design of his spacesuit. Nevertheless, everything went well, but after landing 180 kilometers north of the city of Perm, the astronauts had a hard time. The TASS report called this a landing in a “reserve area,” which was actually the remote Perm taiga. After landing, the huge canopy of the parachute, stuck on two tall spruce trees, fluttered in the wind. The wild forest was infested with bears and wolves, and Leonov and Belyaev had to wait about 12 hours before the rescue mission arrived.

Although the US was the first to land a man on the moon, the Soviets were the first to launch a rover onto the lunar surface. "Lunokhod-1" (Apparatus 8EL No. 203) is the world's first planetary rover to successfully operate on the surface of another celestial body - the Moon. Belonged to the series of Soviet remote-controlled self-propelled vehicles “Lunokhod” for lunar exploration (Project E-8), worked on the Moon for eleven lunar days (10.5 Earth months).

8. The USSR created the safest descent capsules in history


Despite safety setbacks in the early days of space exploration, the Soyuz capsule became the most reliable system for returning astronauts to Earth, and is still in use today.

The Soviet manned lunar programs, in contrast to their unmanned missions, were largely underperforming, largely due to the limited capabilities of the N1 rocket. In general, historians of Russian cosmonautics believe that the collapse of the Soviet lunar program with the participation of the N-1 rocket was largely due not only to the economic difficulties of those years and the split among the chief designers, but also to the attitude of the country's leadership on this project. The government did not clearly calculate its financial side, and therefore, when it came to allocating the necessary funds for it, the country's leaders demanded that the designers observe an economy regime.

Buzz Aldrin said that when they were flying away from the surface of the Moon, they saw an object that was approaching the surface. The American conspiracy theory says that it was the Soviet probe Luna 15, which crashed during landing on the surface of the satellite.

« 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 it was only with the invention of the telescope in 1608 by John Lippershey that 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 for these purposes in the descriptions of science fiction writers - 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. Ganswindt, R. Hainault-Peltry, G. Aubert, V. Homan to some extent limited the flight of fancy, but at the same time gave birth 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 achieving 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 - only 12 years after the end of the devastating Great Patriotic War - a launch vehicle called Sputnik was launched from a space 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 zero gravity conditions 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, and to clarify 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 limitations 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 and 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.

VKontakte Facebook Odnoklassniki

On Thursday, the Russian Soyuz-ST-B launch vehicle was supposed to launch with two spacecraft for the European Galileo navigation satellite system. However, due to malfunctions, it was postponed, and today Soyuz-ST-B launched from the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana.

In this regard, we decided to recall the main space successes of the USSR and present you with our rating.

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-propellant 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 device 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 (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 luck (first experiment with living plants and creatures). On September 15, 1968, the first return of the spacecraft (Zond-5) to Earth after orbiting 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 into 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.

Despite the fact that the USSR continued to actively explore space in the 1970s (the first artificial satellite of Venus in 1975, etc.), starting in 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.

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

1. Interplanetary station “Luna-1”

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

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

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

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

4. First successful landing on another planet

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

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

5. The first artificial object on the surface of Mars

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

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

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

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

7. The first three-seat spacecraft

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

8. The first astronaut of African descent

9. First docking with an uninhabited object

On February 11, 1985, after six months of absence of people on the Salyut-7 space station, communication with it was suddenly interrupted. The short circuit caused all electrical systems of Salyut 7 to turn off, and the temperature at the station dropped to -10 °C.

In an attempt to save the station, an expedition was sent to it on the Soyuz T-13 spacecraft converted for these purposes, piloted by the most experienced Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov. The automated docking system did not work, so manual docking had to be carried out. The docking was successful, and work to restore the space station took place over several days.

10. The first human victim in space

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

According to the investigation, the tragedy occurred immediately after the separation of the descent module from the orbital module. Depressurization occurred in the ship's cabin, after which the astronauts suffocated.

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