The history of the conquest of space in the USSR. Space exploration in the USSR

The USSR went down in history as a superpower, the first to launch a satellite, a living being and a person into space. Nevertheless, during the turbulent space race, the USSR sought - and succeeded - to push the United States into the background in space wherever possible. Although the Soviet Union was the first to earn many key achievements, it also experienced the first tragedy in space involving humans.

Launched on January 2, 1959, the Luna-1 spacecraft was the first to successfully reach the vicinity of the Moon. The 360-kilogram vehicle was carrying various metal emblems, including the Soviet coat of arms, and was supposed to crash into the moon, demonstrating the superiority of Soviet science. Nevertheless, the spacecraft missed the moon, flying 6,000 kilometers from the lunar surface. By releasing a trail of sodium gas, the probe temporarily became as visible as a sixth-magnitude star, allowing astronomers to track its progress.

Luna 1 was at least the fifth attempt by the USSR to crash a craft on the Moon, and previous failed attempts were so classified that even American intelligence did not know about many of them.

Compared to today's space probes, Luna 1 was extremely primitive, with no propulsion system of its own, batteries that provide limited electrical current, and no camera. Transmissions from the probe ceased three days after launch.

First flyby of another planet

Launched on February 12, 1961, the Soviet probe Venera 1 went on a mission to deliberately collide with Venus. As the second Soviet attempt to send a probe to Venus, Venera 1 also carried Soviet medallions in a descent capsule. Although the rest of the probe was supposed to burn up on re-entry into the atmosphere of Venus, the Soviets hoped that the descent capsule would fall on Venus and mark the first successful attempt to bring an object to the surface of another planet.

The launch and configuration of communication with the probe were successful, three sessions of communication with the probe indicated normal operation. But the fourth showed a malfunction in one of the probe's systems, and communication was delayed for five days. Contact was finally lost when the probe was 2 million kilometers from Earth. The spacecraft drifted through space, passing Venus at a distance of 100,000 kilometers, and was unable to obtain data for course correction.

The first spacecraft to photograph the dark side of the moon

Launched on October 4, 1959, the Luna-3 probe became the first spacecraft to successfully launch to the Moon. Unlike the previous two Luna probes, Luna 3 was equipped with a camera to take pictures of the far side of the Moon, a first for the time.

The chamber was primitive and complex. The spacecraft was able to take 40 photographs, which had to be made, corrected and dried on the spacecraft. The onboard cathode ray tube would then scan the images and send the data to the moon. The radio transmitter was so weak that the first attempts to transmit the pictures failed. Only when the probe came closer to the Earth, tracing a circle around the Moon, were 17 low-quality photographs taken, in which at least something could be made out.

In any case, scientists were delighted with what they found in the pictures. Unlike the side of the moon closest to us, which is flat, the far side had mountains and even several dark regions.

First successful landing on another planet

On August 17, 1970, Venera-7, one of the many copies of the Soviet devices, went to Venus. The probe was supposed to land a lander that would transmit data after touching the surface of Venus, thereby making the first successful landing on another planet. To survive in the Venusian atmosphere for as long as possible, the craft was cooled down to -8 degrees Celsius. The USSR also wanted to maximize the amount of time the apparatus would remain cold. Therefore, the module was designed to remain attached to the body of the spacecraft during re-entry into the atmosphere of Venus, until atmospheric turbulence forces separation.

Venera 7 entered the atmosphere as planned. However, the parachute designed to slow the craft ruptured and failed to deploy, causing the module to fall to the ground for 29 minutes. The module was thought to have failed prior to impact with the ground, but late analysis of the recorded radio signals indicated that the probe returned temperature readings from the surface within 23 minutes of landing. The engineers who built the spacecraft should be proud of it.

The first artificial objects on the surface of Mars

Mars 2 and Mars 3, twin spacecraft launched almost simultaneously in May 1971, were designed to orbit Mars and map the surface. Both spacecraft carried landers. The USSR hoped that these modules would be the first artificial objects on the surface of Mars.

Nevertheless, the Americans slightly bypassed the Soviet Union and were the first to reach the orbit of Mars. Mariner 9, which was also launched in May 1971, arrived two weeks ahead of the Soviet probes and became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. Upon arrival, the Soviet and American probes found that a dust storm had covered Mars, which prevented data collection.

While the Mars 2 lander crashed, Mars 3 successfully landed and began transmitting data. But the data transfer stopped after 20 seconds, and the only photo received could not make out the details and was with poor light. This was largely due to a massive dust storm on Mars, otherwise the USSR would have taken the first clear pictures of the Martian surface.

First robotic sample return mission

NASA had Apollo astronauts who collected moon rocks and brought them back to Earth. The Soviet Union did not have cosmonauts on the surface of the moon who could do the same, so they tried to get around the Americans by being the first to send an automated probe to collect and return lunar soil. The first Soviet such probe, Luna 15, crashed on the Moon. The next five crashes occurred on Earth due to terrible problems with the launch vehicle. Yet Luna 16, the sixth Soviet probe in the series, was successfully launched after the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions.

After landing in the Sea of Plenty, the Soviet probe deployed a drill to collect lunar soil and place it in a take-off stage, which then launched and brought the soil back to Earth. Opening the sealed container, Soviet scientists found only 101 grams of lunar soil - far from the 22 kilograms brought with Apollo 11. In any case, the samples were extensively analyzed and shown to have the cohesive qualities of wet sand.

First spacecraft to carry three people

Launched on October 12, 1964, Voskhod 1 became the first spacecraft to carry more than one person into space. Although Voskhod was hailed by the Soviet Union as a new spacecraft, it was for the most part a slightly modified version of the same craft that had launched Yuri Gagarin into space. Nevertheless, it seemed cool to the Americans, since they did not put even two people into space at the same time at that time.

Soviet designers considered Voskhod unsafe. And they continued to insist against its use until the government bribed them with an offer to send one of the designers as an astronaut on a mission. Of course, this did not solve the safety issues of the device.

First, the astronauts could not carry out an emergency ejection in the event of a rocket failure, since it was not possible to build a hatch for each astronaut. Secondly, the astronauts fit so closely in the capsule that they could not put on their spacesuits. If the cabin were depressurized, it would mean certain death for everyone. The new landing system, consisting of two parachutes and a retro rocket, had only been tested once prior to the actual mission. Finally, astronauts had to go on a pre-mission diet to keep the combined weight of astronauts and capsule low enough to be carried by a single rocket.

Despite all these significant difficulties, the mission went remarkably flawlessly.

First docking with a dead space object

On February 11, 1985, the Soviet space station Salyut-7 fell silent. A cascade of electrical shorts swept through the station, knocking out its electrical systems and leaving Salyut 7 dead and frozen.

In an attempt to save the station, the Soviet Union sent two space veterans to repair Salyut-7. The automated docking system was not working, so the astronauts had to get close enough to perform a manual docking. Luckily, the station did not rotate and the astronauts were able to dock, demonstrating for the first time the ability to dock with any object in space, even dead and non-contact ones.

The crew reported that the inside of the station was musty, icicles had grown on the walls, and the internal temperature was -10 degrees Celsius. Work to restore the space station took place over several days, the crew had to check hundreds of cables to determine the source of the malfunction in the electrical circuit.

After the launch of the Soviet artificial satellite into orbit in 1957, the great task of conquering space began. Trial launches, when various living organisms, such as bacteria and fungi, were placed in satellites, made it possible to improve spacecraft. And the space flights of the famous Belka and Strelka led to the stabilization of the return descent. Everything went to the preparation of a significant event - sending a man into space.

Human flight into space

In 1961 (April 12), Vostok carried the first cosmonaut in history, Yuri Gagarin, into orbit. The pilot reported via communication channels after a few minutes of rotation that all processes were normal. The flight lasted 108 minutes, during which time Gagarin received messages from the Earth, kept a radio report and a logbook, controlled the readings of on-board systems, and carried out manual control (first trial attempts).

The device with the astronaut landed near Saratov, the reason for landing in an unplanned place was a malfunction in the process of separating the compartments and a failure of the brake system. The whole country, frozen in front of the TVs, followed this flight.

In August 1961, the Vostok-2 spacecraft was launched, commanded by German Titov. The device stayed in outer space for more than 25 hours, during the flight it made 17.5 revolutions around the planet. After a thorough study of the data obtained, two ships, Vostok-3 and Vostok-4, launched exactly one year later. Launched into orbit with a difference of a day, the vehicles controlled by Nikolaev and Popovich carried out the first group flight in history. "Vostok-3" made 64 revolutions in 95 hours, "Vostok-4" - 48 revolutions in 71 hours.

Valentina Tereshkova - woman in space

In June 1963, Vostok-6 launched with the sixth Soviet cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova. At the same time, Vostok-5, controlled by Valery Bykovsky, was also in orbit. Tereshkova spent a total of about 3 days in orbit, during which time the ship made 48 revolutions. During the flight, Valentina carefully recorded all observations in the flight log, and with the help of her photographs of the horizon, scientists were able to detect aerosol layers in the atmosphere.

Alexei Leonov's spacewalk

On March 18, 1965, Voskhod-2 launched with a new crew on board, one of whose members was Alexei Leonov. The spacecraft was equipped with a camera to bring the astronaut into open space. A specially designed suit, reinforced with a multi-layer sealed shell, allowed Leonov to leave the airlock chamber for the entire length of the halyard (5.35 m). Pavel Belyaev, another member of the Voskhod-2 crew, monitored all operations with the help of a television camera. These significant events entered the history of the development of Soviet cosmonautics forever, being the crowning achievement of the development of science and technology of that time.

« Two things strike my fancy:
starry sky above
and the moral law 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 field of metaphysics; it is this quality that opens the possibility 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, as they provide an 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 were revealed to a particular person.

Be that as it may, but it was the starry sky and the cosmos that represented one of the greatest secrets that people have tried to learn from the very beginning of their existence.

Already the first civilizations known to us made attempts to explore space. But only with the invention of the telescope in 1608 by John Lippershey, mankind was able to more thoroughly engage in space exploration.

And the exponential development of engineering 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 flagship in this process.

In this article we will talk about the formation of astronautics in the USSR.

SPACE IN THE USSR

« What seemed unrealizable for centuries, which yesterday was only a daring dream, today becomes a real task, and tomorrow - an accomplishment.».
S.P. Korolev

Astronautics 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 story of the birth and development of the idea of space flight, which was initiated by fantasy, and only then did the first theoretical work and experiments appear. So, initially, in human dreams, flight into space was carried out with the help of fabulous means or forces of nature (tornadoes, hurricanes).

Closer to the 20th century, technical means were already present in the descriptions of science fiction writers for these purposes - balloons, super-powerful cannons 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 the description of space travel.

Everything stated by science fiction writers excited the minds of scientists. So, K.E. Tsiolkovsky said:

« First they inevitably come: thought, fantasy, fairy tale, and after them the exact calculation marches.».

Tsiolkovsky and the designer of the first Soviet liquid rocket GIRD-09 M.K. Tikhonravov

The publication at the beginning of the 20th century of the theoretical works of the pioneers of astronautics K.E. Tsiolkovsky, F.A. Tsander, Yu.V. Kondratyuk, R.Kh. Goddard, G. Ganswindt, R. Eno-Peltri, G. Oberth, W. Gohmann to some extent limited the flight of fantasy, but at the same time brought to life new directions in science - there were attempts to determine what astronautics can give to society and how it affects him.

It must be said that the idea to combine the cosmic and terrestrial areas of human activity belongs to the founder of theoretical astronautics K.E. Tsiolkovsky. When the scientist said:

« The planet is the cradle of the mind, but you can't live forever in the cradle»

He did not put forward an alternative - either the Earth or space. Tsiolkovsky never considered going into space a consequence of some kind of 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 said,

« change the surface of the Earth, its oceans, atmosphere, plants, and themselves. They will control the climate and will dispose within the solar system, as on the Earth itself, which will remain the dwelling of mankind 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 specialists from the RNII to develop a project for a manned high-altitude rocket vehicle (cabin with two cosmonauts) to study the upper 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-propellant rocket designed for vertical flight to a height of up to 200 km.

One of the launches within the "BP-190 Project"

This project (it was called VR-190) provided for the solution of the following tasks:

study of weightlessness conditions in a short-term free flight of a person in a pressurized cabin;

study of the movement of the center of mass of the cabin and its movement near the center of mass after separation from the launch vehicle;

obtaining data on the upper layers of the atmosphere;

checking the performance of systems (separation, descent, stabilization, landing, etc.) included in the design of the high-altitude cabin.

In the BP-190 project, the following solutions were proposed for the first time, which have found application in modern spacecraft:

parachute descent system, braking rocket engine for soft landing, separation system using pyrobolts;

electrocontact rod for predictive ignition of the soft landing engine, non-ejection pressurized cabin with a life support system;

cockpit stabilization system outside the dense layers of the atmosphere using low-thrust nozzles.

In general, the BP-190 project was a complex of new technical solutions and concepts, now confirmed by the course 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 and early 1950s, he shows the possibility of obtaining the first space velocity 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 the employees of the M.K. Tikhonravov were aimed at studying the problems of creating composite launch vehicles and artificial satellites.

Work began on preparations for the launch of the first satellite PS-1. The first Council of Chief Designers 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 became the center of space science and industry in the USSR since the early 1950s.

Cosmonautics is unique in that much of what was predicted first by science fiction writers and then by scientists has come true with cosmic speed.

Already on October 4, 1957 - only 12 years after the end of the most destructive Great Patriotic War - from a comic airfield located in the city of Baikonur, a launch vehicle called Sputnik was launched, 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 satellite of the Earth.

At the same time, the unique feature of this satellite was that the first living being brought outside the Earth was placed in it. A dog named Laika was placed on board the satellite.

The triumph of cosmonautics was the launch on April 12, 1961 of the first man into space - Yu.A. Gagarin (http://inance.ru/2015/04/den-cosmonavtiki/).

Then - a group flight, manned spacewalks, the creation of orbital stations "Salyut", "Mir" ... 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, designed primarily to solve 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 ones).

Yuri Gagarin dressed as an astronaut

Other important achievements of cosmonautics in the USSR

But besides such world-famous achievements, what else did Soviet space science achieve in the 20th century?

Let's start with the fact that powerful liquid-propellant rocket engines were developed to communicate cosmic speeds to launch vehicles. In this area, the merit of V.P. Glushko.

The creation of such engines became possible due to the implementation of new scientific ideas and schemes, which practically exclude 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 equipment, 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. Rauschenbakh and others developed mathematical laws and navigational and ballistic support for space flights.

The tasks 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 perfect 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 - the dynamics of space flight.

Design bureaus headed by N.A. Pilyugin and V.I. Kuznetsov, created unique control systems for rocket and space technology with high reliability.

At the same time, V.P. Glushko, A.M. Isaev created the world's foremost school of practical rocket engine building. And the theoretical foundations of this school were laid back in the 1930s, at the dawn of Russian rocket science.

Rocket UR-200

Thanks to the intense creative work of the design bureaus under the leadership of V.M. Myasishcheva, V.N. Chelomeya, D.A. Polukhin, work was carried out to create large-sized especially strong shells.

This became the basis for the creation of powerful intercontinental missiles UR-200, UR-500, UR-700, and then the manned stations "Salyut", "Almaz", "Mir", modules of the twenty-ton class "Quantum", "Crystal", "Priroda" , Spektr, modern modules for the International Space Station (ISS) Zarya and Zvezda, launch vehicles of the Proton family.

A lot of 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 was unparalleled in world cosmonautics at that time. In the same design bureau under the leadership of V.F. Utkin created a medium-class launch vehicle "Zenith" - a representative of the second generation of launch vehicles.

During the four decades of the development of cosmonautics in the USSR, the capabilities of control systems for launch vehicles and spacecraft have increased significantly.

If in 1957 - 1958. when launching 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 the spacecraft launched to the moon to land on its surface with a deviation of only 5 km from the intended point.

Control systems designed by N.A. Pilyugin were among the best in the world.

The 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.

Scientific and Production Association of Applied Mechanics, headed by M.F. Reshetnev, was originally created as a branch of the OKB S.P. Queen; today this NGO is one of the world leaders in the development of spacecraft for such purposes.

Qualitative changes have also taken place in the field of manned flights. The ability to work successfully outside a spacecraft was first proven by Soviet cosmonauts in the 1960s and 1970s, and in the 1980s and 1990s. demonstrated the ability of a person to live and work in zero gravity for a year. 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 Kosmos-186 and Kosmos-188, the largest scientific and technical problem of rendezvous and docking of spacecraft in space was solved, which made it possible in a relatively short time to create the first orbital station (USSR) and choose the most rational scheme for the flight of spacecraft to the Moon with the landing of earthlings on its surface.

In general, the solution of various problems of space exploration - from launches of artificial Earth satellites to launches of interplanetary spacecraft and manned ships and stations - provided a lot of invaluable scientific information about the Universe and the planets of the solar system and significantly contributed to the technological progress of mankind.

Earth satellites, together with sounding rockets, made it possible to obtain detailed data on near-Earth outer space. Thus, with the help of the first artificial satellites, radiation belts were discovered; in the course of their study, the interaction of the Earth with charged particles emitted by the Sun was studied in more depth.

Interplanetary space flights have helped us to better understand the nature of many planetary phenomena - the solar wind, solar storms, meteor showers, etc.

Spacecraft launched to the Moon transmitted pictures of its surface, photographed, including its invisible side from the Earth, with a resolution that significantly exceeds the capabilities of earthly 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 made it possible to obtain additional information about the shape and gravitational field of the Earth, to clarify the fine details of the shape of the Earth and its magnetic field. Artificial satellites have helped to obtain more accurate data on the mass, shape and orbit of the moon.

The masses of Venus and Mars have also been refined using observations of spacecraft flight paths.

A great contribution to the development of advanced technology was made by the design, manufacture and operation of very complex space systems. Automatic spacecraft sent to the planets are, in fact, robots controlled from the Earth by 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 cosmonautics necessitated the design of complex automatic devices under severe restrictions caused by the carrying capacity of launch vehicles and the conditions of outer space, which was an additional incentive for the rapid improvement of automation and microelectronics.

The undoubted success of 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 whose undoubted success was the manufacture, launch and assembly in orbit of the International Space Station.

Of particular importance is international cooperation in the field of space services, where the leading place belongs to the GKNPTs them. M.V. Khrunichev.

REASONS FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE USSR IN THE SPACE INDUSTRY

What were the main reasons why the USSR became the flagship in the exploration and exploration of near space? What features of the Soviet approach to the development of cosmonautics provided such a breakthrough?

Undoubtedly, a number of factors influenced the formation and development of cosmonautics in the USSR.

These are the historical traditions of the development of science and technology, the theoretical heritage of earlier periods, the innovative activities of individual outstanding personalities - the founders of the RCT, their ability to take scientific risks; a combination of the necessary level of development of the theoretical base and the economic possibilities of their practical implementation; sufficient baggage of fundamental scientific research - but all these factors could not have worked so effectively without the participation of the mechanism of the party and economic management of the country, which is commonly called the administrative-command system.

At the same time, this dependence is also reversed, the “system” can set a task, mobilize resources, tighten the political regime, that is, help or hinder, but not generate scientific and design ideas.

Improving the education system and providing access to it to all segments of the population, the authorities have only opened up an 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 launch of the Russian Soyuz-ST-B carrier rocket with two spacecraft for the European navigation satellite system Galileo was to take place. However, due to malfunctions, it was postponed, and today Soyuz-ST-B was 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 our rating.

Having won a decisive victory in World War II, the Soviet Union did a lot for the study and exploration of space. Moreover, he became the first among all: in this matter, the USSR was even ahead of the US superpower. The official start of practical space exploration was laid on October 4, 1957, when the USSR successfully launched the first artificial Earth satellite into near-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 choice of dozens of the most important achievements over this period.

1st Luck (First ICBM). 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, Nazi Germany was the first of the countries to begin work on the creation of intercontinental ballistic missiles back in the 1940s. Ironically, the ICBM was designed to hit the East Coast of the United States. But man has his plans, and history has its own. These rockets failed to fall on the United States, but they managed to take human progress forever into real outer space.

2nd luck (first artificial earth satellite). On October 4, 1957, the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik-1, was launched. The second country to own 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 rocket carriers). The third country to independently launch the first satellite was France on 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, the USA and China.

3rd Luck (First Astronaut Animal). On November 3, 1957, the second artificial satellite of the Earth, Sputnik-2, was launched, which for the first time launched into space a living creature, the dog Laika. Sputnik-2 was a conical capsule 4 meters high, with a base diameter of 2 meters, it contained several compartments for scientific equipment, a radio transmitter, a telemetry system, a software module, a regeneration and cabin temperature control system. The dog was housed 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 luck (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 the heliocentric orbit. It became the world's first artificial satellite of the Sun. The carrier rocket "Vostok-L" brought the device "Luna-1" to the flight path to the Moon. It was a rendezvous trajectory, without the use of orbital launch. This launch, in fact, successfully completed an experiment to create an artificial comet, and for the first time using an onboard magnetometer, the outer radiation belt of the Earth was registered.

5th luck (first lander on the moon). September 14, 1959 - the station "Luna-2" for the first time in the world reached the surface of the Moon in the region of the Sea of Clarity near the craters Aristides, Archimedes and Autolycus, delivering a pennant with the coat of arms of the USSR. This unit did not have its own propulsion system. Of the scientific equipment, scintillation counters, Geiger counters, magnetometers, and micrometeorite detectors were installed on it. One of the main scientific achievements of the mission was the direct measurement of the solar wind.

6th lucky (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, made notes with a pencil. "Putting" the pencil next to him, he found that it instantly began to float upwards. Before his flight, it was not yet known how the human psyche would behave in space, so special protection was provided so that the first astronaut in a panic would not try to control the flight of the ship. To enable manual control, he needed to open a sealed envelope, inside of which was a sheet with a code that could be unlocked by typing on the control panel. At the moment of landing after ejection and disconnection of the air duct of the descent vehicle, the valve in Gagarin's airtight spacesuit did not immediately open, through which outside air should flow, so that the first cosmonaut almost suffocated. The second danger for Gagarin could be falling on a parachute into the icy water of the Volga (it was April). But Yuri was helped by excellent pre-flight preparation - controlling the lines, he landed 2 km from the coast. This successful experiment immortalized Gagarin's name forever.

7th Luck (First man in outer space). On March 18, 1965, the first human spacewalk was made in history. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made a spacewalk from the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. The Berkut suit used for the first spacewalk was of a ventilation type and consumed approximately 30 liters of oxygen per minute with a total supply of 1666 liters, designed for 30 minutes of the astronaut's stay in outer space. Due to the pressure difference, the spacesuit swelled and greatly interfered with the movements of the astronaut, which made it very difficult for Leonov to return to Voskhod-2. The total time of the first exit was 23 minutes 41 seconds, and outside the ship - 12 minutes 9 seconds. Based on the results of the first exit, a conclusion was made about the possibility of a person to perform various work in outer space.

8th luck (first "bridge" between two planets). March 1, 1966 960 kg station "Venera-3" for the first time reached the surface of Venus, delivering a pennant to the USSR. It was the world's first flight of a spacecraft from Earth to another planet. Venera-3 flew in tandem with Venera-2. They failed to transmit data on the planet itself, but scientific data were obtained on outer and near-planet space in the year of the quiet Sun. A large volume of trajectory measurements was of great value for studying the problems of ultra-long distance communication and interplanetary flights. Magnetic fields, cosmic rays, low-energy charged particle flows, 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). September 15, 1968 the first return of the spacecraft (“Zond-5”) to the Earth after a flyby of the Moon. On board were living creatures: turtles, fruit flies, worms, plants, seeds, bacteria. "Probes 1-8" - a series of spacecraft launched in the USSR from 1964 to 1970. The manned flight program was curtailed due to the US losing the so-called "moon race". The Zond devices (as well as a number of others called Kosmos) under the Soviet program of flying around the moon during the "moon race" worked out the technique of flying to the moon with a return to Earth after a ballistic flyby of a natural satellite of the Earth. The most recent vehicle in this series has successfully circled the Moon, photographed the Moon and the Earth, and also worked out a landing option from the northern hemisphere.

10th Luck (First on Mars). On November 27, 1971, the Mars-2 station reached the surface of Mars for the first time. The launch to the flight path to Mars was made from the intermediate orbit of an artificial earth satellite by the last stage of the launch vehicle. The mass of the apparatus "Mars-2" was 4650 kilograms. The spacecraft's orbital compartment 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 slow down at the stage of aerodynamic descent. The device, having passed through the atmosphere of the planet, crashed on the surface of Mars in the Nanedi Valley in Xanth Earth (4 ° N; 47 ° W), reaching the surface of Mars for the first time in history. A pennant of the Soviet Union was fixed on board Mars-2.

Starting from 1969-71, the United States 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 from 1981 and, alas, to this day, the leadership in astronautics has been held by the United States. And yet, history does not seem to stand still - since the 2000s, China, India and Japan have actively entered the space race. And, perhaps, soon, due to powerful economic growth, the leadership in astronautics will pass into the hands of post-communist China.

The history of the development of domestic cosmonautics

Cosmonautics has become a matter of life for several generations of our compatriots. Russian researchers were pioneers in this area.

A huge contribution to the development of cosmonautics was made by a Russian scientist, a simple teacher of the district school of the Kaluga province, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky. Reflecting on life in outer space, Tsiolkovsky began to write a scientific work called "Free Space". The scientist did not yet know how to go into space. In 1902, he sent a work to the Novaya Obozrenie magazine, accompanied by an entry: “I developed some aspects of the issue of raising into space with the help of a jet device similar to a rocket. Mathematical conclusions, based on scientific data and verified many times, indicate the possibility of using such devices to rise into heavenly space and, perhaps, to substantiate settlements outside the earth's atmosphere.

In 1903, this work - "Research of world spaces by reactive devices" - was published. In it, the scientist developed the theoretical foundations for the possibility of space flights. This work and subsequent works written by Konstantin Eduardovich give reason to our compatriots to consider him the father of Russian cosmonautics.

Deep studies of the possibility of human spaceflight are associated with the names of other Russian scientists - an engineer and self-taught. Each of them contributed to the development of astronautics. Friedrich Arturovich devoted many works to the problem of creating conditions for human life in space. Yuri Vasilyevich developed a multi-stage version of the rocket, proposed the optimal trajectory for launching the rocket into orbit. These ideas of our compatriots are currently used by all space powers and are of global importance.

The purposeful development of the theoretical foundations of cosmonautics as a science and the work on the creation of jet vehicles in our country is associated with the activities in the 20–30s of the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) and the Jet Propulsion Study Groups (GIRD), and later the Jet Research Institute ( RNII), formed on the basis of the GDL and the Moscow GIRD. Others actively worked in these organizations, as well as the future Chief Designer of Rocket and Space Systems, who made the main contribution to the creation of the first launch vehicles (LV), artificial Earth satellites, manned spacecraft (SC). Through the efforts of specialists in these organizations, the first jet vehicles with solid and liquid fuel engines were developed, and their fire and flight tests were carried out. It was the beginning of domestic jet technology.

Work and research on rocket technology in almost all possible areas of its application before the Great Patriotic War and even during the Second World War were carried out in our country quite widely. In addition to rockets with engines running on various types of fuel, the RP-318-1 rocket plane was developed and tested based on the SK-9 airframe (development) and the RDA-1-150 engine (development), which showed the fundamental possibility of creating and promising jet aviation. Various types of cruise missiles (ground-to-ground, air-to-air, and others) were also developed, including those with an automatic control system. Naturally, only work on the creation of unguided rockets received wide development in the prewar period. The developed simple technology for their mass production allowed the guards mortar units and formations to make a significant contribution to the victory over fascism.

On May 13, 1946, the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a fundamental decree providing for the creation of the entire infrastructure of the rocket industry. Considerable emphasis was placed, based on the military-political situation that had developed by that time, on the creation of long-range liquid-propellant ballistic missiles (LRBR) with the prospect of achieving an intercontinental firing range and equipping them with nuclear warheads, as well as on creating an effective air defense system based on anti-aircraft guided missiles. missiles and jet fighter-interceptors.

Historically, the creation of the rocket and space industry was associated with the need to develop combat missiles in the interests of the country's defense. Thus, the specified resolution actually created all the necessary conditions for the rapid development of domestic cosmonautics. Hard work began on the formation of the rocket and space industry and technology.

The history of mankind included two significant events related to the development of domestic cosmonautics and opened the era of practical space exploration: the launch into orbit of the world's first artificial Earth satellite (AES) (October 4, 1957) and the first manned flight in a spacecraft in an AES orbit ( April 12, 1961). The role of the parent organization in these works was assigned to the State Research Institute of Reactive Weapons No. 88 (NII-88), which actually became the "alma mater" for all leading specialists in the rocket and space industry. In its bowels, theoretical, design and experimental work was carried out on advanced rocket and space technology. Here, the design of the BRDD with a liquid rocket engine (LRE) was carried out by a team headed by Chief Designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev; in 1956 it became an independent organization - OKB-1 (today it is the world-famous Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK) Energia named after them.).

Fulfilling the tasks of the government on the creation of the BRDD, he aimed the team at the simultaneous development and implementation of programs for the study and exploration of space, starting with scientific research of the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere. Therefore, the flight of the first domestic ballistic missile R-1 (October 10, 1948) was followed by flights of geophysical missiles R-1A, R-1B, R-1V and others.

In the summer of 1957, an important government announcement was published about the successful testing of a multi-stage rocket in the Soviet Union. "The flight of the rocket," the message said, "was carried out at a very high, hitherto unattainable altitude." This report marked the creation of a formidable weapon of the intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 - the famous "seven".

It was the appearance of the "seven" that provided an opportunity to launch artificial Earth satellites into space. But for this it was necessary to do a lot: to develop, build and test engines with a total capacity of millions of horsepower, to equip the rocket with the most complex control system, and finally, to build a cosmodrome from where the rocket was to launch. This most difficult task was solved by our specialists, our people, our country. Decided first in the world.

All work on the creation of the first artificial Earth satellite was headed by the Royal OKB-1. The satellite design was reviewed several times, until, finally, they settled on a version of the apparatus, the launch of which could be carried out using the created R-7 rocket and in a short time. The fact of launching a satellite into orbit was to be recorded by all countries of the world, for which purpose radio equipment was mounted on the satellite.

On October 4, 1957, the world's first satellite was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome into near-Earth orbit by the R-7 launch vehicle. An accurate measurement of the satellite orbit parameters was carried out by ground-based radio engineering and optical stations. The launch and flight of the first satellite made it possible to obtain data on the duration of its existence in orbit near the Earth, the passage of radio waves through the ionosphere, and the effect of space flight conditions on onboard equipment.

The development of rocket and space systems proceeded at a rapid pace. Flights of the first artificial satellites of the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, Venus, Mars, reaching the surface of the Moon, Venus, Mars for the first time and soft landing on these celestial bodies, photographing the far side of the Moon and transmitting images of the lunar surface to Earth, the first flight around the Moon and returning to Earth by an automatic ship with animals, delivery of samples of lunar rock to Earth by a robot, exploration of the surface of the Moon by an automatic lunar rover, transmission to Earth of the panorama of Venus, flyby near the nucleus of Halley's comet, flights of the first cosmonauts - men and women, single and group flights in single and multi-seat spaceships-satellites , the first exit of a male astronaut, and then a woman, from a ship into outer space, the creation of the first manned orbital station, an automatic cargo supply ship, flights of international crews, the first flights of astronauts between orbital stations, the creation of the Energiya-Buran system with a fully automatic return many times of the first spacecraft to Earth, the long-term operation of the first multi-link manned orbital complex and many other priority achievements of Russia in space exploration cause us a legitimate sense of pride.

First flight to space

April 12, 1961 - this day entered the history of mankind forever: in the morning, from the Boykonur cosmodrome, a powerful launch vehicle launched the first ever spacecraft Vostok into orbit with the first cosmonaut of the Earth - a citizen of Soviet Gagarin on board.

For 1 hour 48 minutes it circled the globe and landed safely in the vicinity of the village of Smelovka, Ternovsky district, Saratov region, for which he was awarded the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

By decision of the International Aeronautical Federation (FAI), April 12 is World Aviation and Astronautics Day. The holiday was established by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 9, 1962.

After the flight, Yuri Gagarin continuously improved his skills as a pilot-cosmonaut, and also took a direct part in the education and training of cosmonaut crews, in directing the flights of spacecraft Vostok, Voskhod, Soyuz.

The first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin graduated from the Air Force Engineering Academy named after (1961-1968), did a lot of social and political work, being a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 6th and 7th convocations, a member of the Komsomol Central Committee (elected at the 14th and 15th m Congresses of the Komsomol), President of the Society of Soviet-Cuban Friendship.

With the mission of peace and friendship, Yuri Alekseevich visited many countries, he was awarded the gold medal to them. USSR Academy of Sciences, de Lavo medal (FAI), gold medals and honorary diplomas of the International Association (LIUS) "Man in Space" and the Italian Cosmonautics Association, gold medal "For Outstanding Distinction" and an honorary diploma of the Royal Aero Club of Sweden, Large Gold Medal and FAI diploma , Gold Medal of the British Society for Interplanetary Communications, Galaber Prize for Astronautics.

Since 1966 he was an honorary member of the International Academy of Astronautics. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and medals of the USSR, as well as orders from many countries of the world. Yuri Gagarin was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor of Czechoslovakia, Hero of the People's Republic of Belarus, Hero of Labor of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Yuri Gagarin tragically died in a plane crash near the village of Novoselove, Kirzhachsky District, Vladimir Region, while performing a training flight on an airplane (together with pilot Seregin).

In order to perpetuate the memory of Gagarin, the city of Gzhatsk and the Gzhatsky district of the Smolensk region were renamed the city of Gagarin and the Gagarinsky district, respectively. assigned to the Air Force Academy in Monino, a scholarship was established to them. for cadets of military aviation schools. The International Aviation Federation (FAI) established a medal named after. Yu. A. Gagarin. In Moscow, Gagarin, Star City, Sofia - monuments to the astronaut were erected; there is a memorial house-museum in Gagarin, a crater on the Moon is named after him.

Yuri Gagarin was elected an honorary citizen of the cities of Kaluga, Novocherkassk, Sumgait, Smolensk, Vinnitsa, Sevastopol, Saratov (USSR), Sofia, Pernik (NRB), Athens (Greece), Famagusta, Limassol (Cyprus), Saint-Denis (France), Trencianske Teplice (Czechoslovakia).