From Almaz to Salyut
Special Design Bureau 1, OKB-1,1 is situated some 25 km northeast of the centre of Moscow in Podlipok, Kaliningrad renamed Korolev in 1997 , and it played a key role in the Soviet manned space programme it designed the first satellites, the first lunar and interplanetary probes, and the Vostok spacecraft that carried the first man into orbit. In the years that followed those early achievements, it defined the major strands of the manned space programme. The leader of OKB-1, and the main driving...
It Is Intolerably Painful
As Kamanin, Yeliseyev, Shatalov, Mishin, Feoktistov, Afanasyev, Kerimov, Karas, Vorobyev, Severin and others travelled to the landing site, their route took them to Aktyubinsk, the hometown of Patsayev. On arriving at Dzhezkazgan's airport, they were told that General Goreglyad had already organised the transport of the bodies to Moscow. From Dzhezkazgan the group flew in two helicopters to the landing site on the steppe, arriving at 4.00 p.m., whereupon the members of the recovery team...
The Universe Was Alive
At the start of his autobiography Stepping into the Sky, Vladislav Nikolayevich Volkov,7 known as Vadim to his friends, wrote ''To be honest, I was not preparing to be a cosmonaut. In fact, I never dreamt or fantasised about space. As a boy, I had no idea about Tsiolkovskiy.'' Although the book was not published until 1972, he saw the page proofs several days before he set off on the Soyuz 11 mission. Standing 179 cm tall, broad shouldered and a real sportsman, Vadim was the most sympathetic of...
Nikolay Nikolayevich Rukavishnikov
After the mission of Soyuz 10 Rukavishnikov was nominated as the flight engineer on Leonov's Soyuz 12 crew, which was to make the second visit to the Salyut space station, but this crew was stood down when it became necessary to revise the design of the spacecraft after the deaths of the Soyuz 11 crew. He made two further space flights. The first occasion was on Soyuz 16, which was a six-day test in December 1974 in preparation for the joint mission with the Americans the following summer. The...
Soyuz life support
Risk assessment - Having decided that decompression was impossible, the designers of the spacecraft did not provide an efficient means of protecting against it. The TsKBEM neglected to conduct a full risk assessment of all the factors which could lead to the loss of the crew as a result of not wearing pressure suits. This was done only after the Soyuz 11 tragedy. Automation - As on all previous Soviet spacecraft, Soyuz was designed to have the maximum of automation. For example, all landing...
Pyotr Ivanovich Kolodin
Fate was not very kind to Kolodin. Seven years after losing his chance to fly to the first Salyut in 1971 with Leonov and Kubasov he was named as flight engineer for Soyuz 27. It would be commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Vladimir Dzhanibekov, who, like Kolodin, had not yet been in space. The objective of the mission, planned for launch on 28 January 1978, was to dock with Salyut 6 in order to exchange the ferry for the station's main crew. It would be a historic mission for the Soviet space...
NOTES FROM THE STATION Day Sunday June
Salyut entered the communication zone at 0.34 a.m., during its 93rd orbit with the crew on board, but during the next seven orbits its path crossed only a subset of the tracking stations. With the cosmonauts on phased shifts, operations were continuing around the clock. Volkov, for example, had started his working day at 9.30 p.m. the previous evening, Dobrovolskiy joined him at 1.50 a.m., and Patsayev took over from Volkov at 6 a.m. Dobrovolskiy in Salyut's main working compartment....
Journalists And The New Crew
The final meeting of the State Commission started at 6.00 p.m. on 4 June. In the past these sessions had been fairly ceremonial in nature because all the details had already been resolved and the purpose was to confirm readiness for the launch. The most interesting part of the session was always the presentation of the cosmonauts. However, this occasion set a precedent. Dobrovolskiy, Volkov, Patsayev, Leonov, Kubasov and Kolodin were seated in a line behind a long table. The men who had been...
Memories
For more than 36 years the ashes of cosmonauts Georgiy Dobrovolskiy, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev have rested in niches in the Kremlin's wall. In addition to their families, they were mourned by hundreds of engineers, technicians, officers, cosmonauts and politicians. Despite the tragedy, there was a determination that the DOS programme must continue. The programme would never have come about if it were not for the support of Dmitriy Ustinov and Sergey Afanasyev, the so-called 'Space...
Reminiscence And Legacies
But the real heroes of this outstanding epoch in the Soviet space programme are Georgiy Dobrovolskiy, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev. In the towns of their births, Odessa, Moscow and Aktyubinsk, there are monuments to them at which colleagues, friends, relatives and ordinary people with a passion for space leave flowers. Every year, on the anniversary of their tragic deaths, members of the current cosmonaut corps pay their respects at the niches in the Kremlin's wall where the ashes of...
The First Crews
Soon after decree No. 105-41 was issued in February 1970 directing that work start on the DOS project, Kamanin asked Mishin to immediately assign crews for the first space station, and Mishin directed his subordinates who dealt with the selection and training of cosmonaut-engineers to do so. One of the first to be nominated was Aleksey Yeliseyev, who had flown two Soyuz missions in 1969 ''Deputy Chief Designer Yakov Tregub called and said that he would like to include Nikolay Rukavishnikov and...
Bibliography
1. Boxkob Bx., fflaraeM b He o. - M. Monoflam raapflHH, 1971 Volkov Vl., We Pace into the Sky, Molodaya Gvardiya, Moscow, 1971 2. KOXTOBOH E. H., K0H0Bax0B B. n., MOCT B KOCMOC. - M. H3Becma, 1971 Koltovoy B.I., Konovalov B.P., The Bridge in Space, Izvestiya, Moscow, 1973 3. BacnxeB M. n., pefl. kox., CaxroT Ha op HTe. - M. MamHHocTpoeHHe, 1973 Vasilev M.P. a pseudonym of Vasiliy P. Mishin , ed, Salyut on Orbit, Mashinostroenie, Moscow, 1973 4. EopnceHKo H. r., Ha kocmhtockhx cTapTax h HHimax,...
Glossary
Anna-Ill Gamma-ray telescope Salyut AN-SSSR USSR Academy of Sciences CK-KPSS Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party DMP Solid-propellant braking rocket Soyuz DOS Long-duration orbital station programme Era Equipment for detection of high-energy ionospheric electrons Salyut FEK-7 Photo-emulsion camera Salyut GOGU Chief Operative and Control Group IBMP Institute for Biomedical Problems Igla Automatic rendezvous system ISS International Space Station KIK Command-measurement complex KPSS...
The Almaz Drama
The loss of DOS-2 was a blow to the Kremlin, which wished to have another Soviet station in orbit before the Americans launched their Skylab in May 1973. But there was still hope, because there was another project - the military Almaz OPS . Could this be prepared in time If so, then by naming it Salyut 2 the impression could be given that this was an improved form of the DOS design, and thus hide its military role. Vladimir Chelomey objected to having his station bear the name of Salyut, but...
Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov
Great designer and famous cosmonaut Feoktistov played one of the most important roles in starting the DOS programme. In June 1974, soon after Mishin's dismissal, Glushko named Feoktistov as one of his deputies - a post he held until May 1990. In the summer of 1975 he worked as flight director for the second crew of Salyut 4, although only briefly. His principal task was the design of the 'Soyuz T' crew ferry and the automated 'Progress' cargo ship, but he also contributed to improved forms of...