April 11th, 2017 admin

From time immemorial, mankind has been striving to know the secret of the cosmos. a. The night sky, dotted with mysterious stars, aroused curiosity and inspiration at all times. And the most curious set out to find out the secret of the stars. Finding a way to travel to the stars was the main task.

Dreams of the stars

Despite the developing scientific and technical progress, flight to in the near future is unfeasible. The knowledge that humanity possesses at the moment is still not enough to " surf the universe". Even the invention of an automaton spacecraft and its launch will not provide the same delight that a personal flight of a person to the stars can provide.

And yet, are there ways for mankind to travel to the hidden worlds? Many scientists have thought about this topic and have come to the conclusion that theoretically there are several options for implementing this idea.

heavenly ark

The Sky Ark is a starship for travel in outer space. A flight on such a "ship of generations" can take tens or hundreds of years, since its speed is several times less than the speed of light. This means that the ship must be fully provided with resources and a crew adapted to a self-sufficient existence.

Perhaps it will act as a starship with a closed ecosystem inside. Entire cities will be created in the cavity for space pioneers to live. During the flight on such a planet there will be a change of several generations. And it is possible that the population of the ship will absolutely lose interest in the purpose of the journey. It is also possible that on the way to other stars, such a planet can easily get ahead of the ultra-fast ship of the future, developed using the latest technologies.

The tragedy of such projects lies in the fact that sending such an expedition dooms a significant number of people without their consent to indefinite imprisonment on a ship. As an exception, only the first generation of astronauts will perform, since they will go on a flight without a deadline voluntarily.

It is likely that the generation of the future will be able to build a spacecraft adapted to function for several thousand years. A theoretical plan has already been developed for the study of space with the help of a huge space station. This project was developed by a group of American scientists under the command of Gerard O'Neill.

Sleep of reason

The main reason why there are currently no spacecraft capable of withstanding flight over great distances is that it is very expensive to create the materials from which the shuttle structures are assembled. If we add the cost of maintaining and servicing the crew during the flight, then the costs will be enormous.

Significant savings in the resources required to maintain the existence of the crew during long-distance flights can be provided by such advanced technology as suspended animation.

Anabiosis is a state of the body in which vital functions are slowed down to such an extent that they are devoid of visible manifestations.

In the event of a successful attempt to slow down metabolism by introducing a state of suspended animation, the astronaut will fall asleep and wake up at the final destination.

The introduction of the team into suspended animation will reduce the amount of living space. Due to the fact that useful substances will be supplied to the astronaut through a dropper, there will not be much space required to store food supplies. The problem of leisure activities will also be solved. To remove a person from the state of suspended animation, it will be enough to create favorable temperature conditions.

In theory, the probability of a safe immersion of cosmonauts into suspended animation is much higher than the probability of building a "ship of generations". In nature, for example, there are many organisms that fall into suspended animation in order to survive under unfavorable living conditions.

According to unconfirmed reports, the Siberian salamander can hibernate for up to 100 years.

The main obstacle that stands in the way of introducing a person into suspended animation sleep is crystal formation. In any living cell of the human body, crystals begin to form when frozen. These crystals have spiky edges that damage the cell walls, causing the cells to die. However, there is a solution for this problem as well. In 1810, the scientist Humphry Davy discovered such a phenomenon as clathrate hydrates.

Clathrate hydrates is one of the states of water ice. When frozen, clathrate lattices do not become as hard as ice crystals. They are looser and their faces do not have pointed edges.

Experts believe that immersion in clathrate anabiosis can be carried out by inhaling a special substance by a person that will lower the temperature of the human body. Unfortunately, at the moment there are not enough conditions for the formation of such a substance and its experimentation on humans.

Even if we imagine that it will be possible to send “frozen” astronauts on a journey, it becomes clear that travelers will return to a completely unfamiliar world. We can say that it will be a one-way trip.

Transport beam

Perhaps the most incredible way to overcome outer space is teleportation. Basically, such an event as teleportation is often described in science fiction literature. Interest in this phenomenon also exists in the scientific community and among researchers of anomalous phenomena.

Teleportation, or as it is also commonly called null-transportation, is the instantaneous movement of a material object in space and time.

It should be noted that the facts of the instantaneous movement of an object in the "space-time continuum" are recorded and occur. Apparently, therefore, interest in this topic does not fade away.

It is assumed that during teleportation, the object of transportation is “broken” into tiny particles, and then “connected” at the final destination.

There are many versions of teleportation that explain how movement in space and time occurs. But all this is only in theory.

At present, the scientific association does not have enough information that can confirm any of the theories.

star personality

He also reflected on the topic of traveling in space in his book “ trajectory of life. Between yesterday and tomorrow» cosmonaut and professor Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov.

He believed that it was possible to find a way of space travel without the participation of a material body. It is possible to imagine a specially invented individual from whom it will be possible to disconnect the "personality" as a package of information. But in order to transmit this packet of information over a long distance, you must first design and install transmitting and receiving stations. To do this, it will be necessary to construct huge antennas and transmitters with gigantic power.

Delivery and installation of such stations can take tens and hundreds of millennia. However, this option is quite possible to implement.

Also, the scientist does not exclude the possibility of creating "artificial intelligence" - a person whose soul can leave material body and move from one star to another.

The most important obstacle to the realization of this opportunity is moral and ethical standards.. Indeed, when creating such a human-cyborg, it is necessary to form his individuality. A person's individuality is formed under the influence of society and the environment that surrounds him. There are no standards for human personality.

“Is it permissible to create such a creature? Do we have a right to this? What stimulus of life can we offer him? - Cosmonaut Feoktistov argued on this topic. Unfortunately, there are no answers to these questions yet.

One way or another, the main minds of the scientific community continue to reflect on the topic of human space colonization. And I would like to believe that at least our descendants will have the opportunity to find out the answer to the main question " Are there other civilizations in our Galaxy?»

SPACE FLIGHTS, MANNED
Manned space flight is the movement of people in an aircraft outside the earth's atmosphere in orbit around the earth or along a trajectory between the earth and other celestial bodies for the purpose of exploring outer space or conducting experiments. In the US, space travelers are called astronauts; in Russia they are called cosmonauts. This article discusses the first American and Soviet manned flights, including the Moon landing programs and the Apollo-Soyuz experimental flight.
see also SPACESHIP "SHUTTLE"; SPACE STATION .
PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF DESIGN AND OPERATION
The design, launch and operation of manned spacecraft, called spacecraft, is much more complex than unmanned ones. In addition to the propulsion system, guidance systems, power supply and others available on automatic spacecraft, manned spacecraft need additional systems- life support, manual flight control, living quarters for the crew and special equipment - to ensure the possibility of the crew being in space and performing the necessary work. With the help of a life support system, conditions similar to those on Earth are created inside the ship: the atmosphere, fresh water for drinking, food, waste disposal, and a comfortable heat and humidity regime. Crew quarters require special layout and equipment, since the ship retains weightless conditions in which objects are not held in place by gravity, as they are in terrestrial conditions. All objects on a spacecraft are attracted to each other, so special fastening devices must be provided and carefully thought out rules for handling liquids, from food water to waste products. To ensure human safety, all QC systems must be highly reliable. Typically, each system is duplicated or implemented as two identical subsystems so that the failure of one of them does not threaten the life of the crew. The electronic equipment of the ship is made in the form of two or more sets or independent sets of electronic units (modular redundancy) to ensure the safe return of the crew in the event of the most unforeseen emergencies.
BASIC MANNED SPACE FLIGHT SYSTEMS
Three main systems are needed to carry out a long spacecraft flight outside the atmosphere and safely return to Earth: 1) a sufficiently powerful rocket to launch a spacecraft into orbit around the Earth or a flight path to other celestial bodies; 2) thermal protection of the ship from aerodynamic heating during the return to Earth; 3) a guidance and control system to ensure the desired trajectory of the ship. During the development of weapons during the Second World War, the necessary technologies were created, and the nuclear arms race in the 1950s contributed to their further improvement. The appearance of space launch vehicles was associated with the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with a sufficiently large throwable mass, which made it possible to launch vehicles weighing 1-2 tons into low Earth orbit. The creation of a thermal protection system became possible after the development of ablative materials that evaporate due to air friction when passing at high speed through the atmosphere. Finally, highly accurate and compact inertial guidance systems have been developed for mobile-launched ballistic missiles. The accuracy of these missiles hitting a target from a distance of several thousand kilometers is only a few hundred meters.
see also INERTIAL NAVIGATION ; WAR NUCLEAR.
FIRST FLIGHTS
"East". After the launch of the first satellite Soviet Union began to develop a program of manned space flights. The Soviet government gave meager information about the planned flights. Few in the West took these reports seriously until Yuri Gagarin's flight was announced on April 12, 1961, shortly after he had made one orbit around the globe and returned to earth. Gagarin made his flight on Vostok-1, a spherical capsule with a diameter of 2.3 m, which was installed on a three-stage A-1 rocket (created on the basis of the SS-6 ICBM), similar to the one that put Sputnik-1 into orbit. . Asbestos textolite was used as a heat-shielding material. Gagarin flew in an ejection seat, which was supposed to be fired in the event of a launch vehicle failure.

The ship "Vostok-2" (G. S. Titov, August 6-7, 1961) made 17 orbits around the Earth (25.3 hours); it was followed by two flights of twin ships. Vostok-3 (A.G. Nikolaev, August 11-15, 1962) and Vostok-4 (P.R. Popovich, August 12-15, 1962) flew 5.0 km apart in almost parallel orbits . Vostok-5 (V.F. Bykovsky, June 14-19, 1963) and Vostok-6 (V.V. Tereshkova, the first woman in space, June 16-19, 1963) repeated the previous flight.
"Mercury". In August 1958, President D. Eisenhower assigned responsibility for manned flight to the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which chose Project Mercury, a ballistic capsule, as the first manned flight program. Two 15-minute suborbital flights of cosmonauts were carried out in a capsule launched by a Redstone medium-range ballistic missile. A. Shepard and V. Grissom made these flights on May 5 and July 21 in Mercury-type capsules called Freedom-7 and Liberty Bell-7. Both flights were successful, although a malfunction caused the Liberty Bell 7's hatch cover to shoot off prematurely, nearly drowning Grissom. Following these two successful Mercury-Redstone suborbital missions, NASA conducted four Mercury orbital missions launched by the more powerful Atlas ICBM. The first two three-orbit flights (J. Glenn, Friendship-7, February 20, 1962; and M. Carpenter, Aurora-7, May 24, 1962) lasted about 4.9 hours. The third flight (W. Schirra, Sigma -7", October 3, 1962) lasted 6 turns (9.2 hours), and the fourth (Cooper, "Fate-7", May 15-16, 1963) - 34.3 hours (22.9 turns). During these flights, a large amount of valuable information was obtained, including the conclusion that crew members should be pilots, and not just passengers. Several small malfunctions that occurred during the flights, in the absence of a specialist on board, could cause an early termination of the flight or the failure of the ship.
THE DECISION TO FLY TO THE MOON
"Mercury" was just preparing for its first flight, and NASA management and specialists were planning future space programs. In 1960 they announced their plans for a three-seat Apollo spacecraft that could make manned flights of up to two weeks in Earth orbit, and in the 1970s fly around the Moon. However, for political reasons, the Apollo program had to be radically changed before the preliminary design phase was completed in 1961. Gagarin's flight made a huge impression around the world and gave the Soviet Union an edge in the space race. President John F. Kennedy instructed his advisers to identify areas of space activity in which the United States could surpass the Soviet Union. It was decided that only one project - landing a man on the moon - would be of greater significance than Gagarin's flight. This flight, obviously, was beyond the capabilities of both countries at that time, however, American experts and the military believed that the task could be solved if the entire industrial power of the country was directed to achieve such a goal. In addition, Kennedy's advisers convinced him that the US had some key technologies that could be used to make the flight. These technologies included the Polaris ballistic missile guidance system, cryogenic rocket technology and extensive experience in large-scale projects. For these reasons, despite the fact that the United States had at that time only 15 minutes of experience in manned space flights, Kennedy declared in Congress on May 25, 1961 that the United States had set the goal of a manned flight to the Moon within the next ten years. Because of the difference in political systems, the Soviet Union did not at first take Kennedy's statement seriously. Soviet Premier N. S. Khrushchev viewed the space program primarily as an important propaganda resource, although the qualifications and enthusiasm of Soviet engineers and scientists were no less than those of their American rivals. Only on August 3, 1964, the Central Committee of the CPSU approved the plan for a manned flight around the moon. A separate moon landing program was approved on December 25, 1964 - more than three years behind the United States.
PREPARATION FOR FLIGHT TO THE MOON
Encounter in lunar orbit. To achieve Kennedy's goal of manned flight to the moon and back, NASA management and experts needed to decide how to carry out such a flight. The preliminary design team considered two options - a direct flight from the surface of the Earth to the surface of the Moon and a flight with an intermediate docking in low Earth orbit. A direct flight would require the development of a huge rocket, tentatively named Nova, to put a lunar lander on a direct flight trajectory to the Moon. An intermediate docking in Earth orbit would require the launch of two smaller-scale rockets (Saturn 5) - one to launch the spacecraft into Earth orbit and the other to refuel it before deorbiting to the Moon. Both of these options provided for the landing of an 18-meter spacecraft immediately on the moon. Since NASA management and specialists considered this task too risky, they developed a third option in 1961-1962 - with a meeting in lunar orbit. With this approach, the Saturn-5 rocket launched two smaller spacecraft into orbit: the main unit, which was supposed to deliver three astronauts to circumlunar orbit and back, and a two-stage lunar cabin, which was supposed to deliver two of them from orbit to the surface of the Moon. and back for rendezvous and docking with the main block remaining in lunar orbit. This option was chosen at the end of 1962.
Gemini Project. NASA tested various methods of rendezvous and docking, which were supposed to be used in lunar orbit, during the implementation of the Gemini (Gemini) program, a series of flights of increasing complexity on two-seat spacecraft equipped for rendezvous with a target spacecraft (unmanned rocket upper stage " Agena") in Earth orbit. The Gemini spacecraft consisted of three structural blocks: the descent module (crew compartment), designed for two astronauts and resembling a Mercury capsule, a brake propulsion system, and an aggregate compartment, which housed power sources and fuel tanks. Since the Gemini was to be launched by a Titan 2 rocket, which used a less explosive propellant than the Atlas rocket, the ship did not have an emergency escape system that was available on the Mercury. In the event of an emergency, the rescue of the crew was provided by ejection seats.

"GEMINI-10" in Earth orbit (July 1966).

Ship "Sunrise". However, even before the start of the Gemini flights, the Soviet Union carried out two rather risky flights. Not wanting to concede to the United States the priority of launching the first multi-seat spacecraft, Khrushchev ordered that the Voskhod-1 three-seat spacecraft be urgently prepared for flight. Fulfilling the order of Khrushchev, Soviet designers modified Vostok to carry three cosmonauts. Engineers abandoned ejection seats, which saved the crew in the event of an unsuccessful launch, and placed the center seat slightly ahead of the other two. The ship "Voskhod-1" with a crew of V.M. flight on the ship "Voskhod-2" (March 18-19, 1965), in which the left seat was removed to make room for an inflatable airlock. While P.I. Belyaev remained inside the ship, A.A. Leonov left the ship through this lock for 20 minutes and became the first person to exit into outer space.
Flights under the program "Gemini". The Gemini project can be divided into three main phases: flight design testing, long flight, and rendezvous and docking with the target ship. The first stage began with the unmanned flights Gemini 1 and 2 (April 8, 1964 and January 19, 1965) and the three-orbit flight of W. Grissom and J. Young aboard Gemini 3 (March 23, 1965). On Gemini flights 4 (J. McDivitt and E. White Jr., June 3-7, 1965), 5 (L. Cooper and C. Konrad Jr., August 21-29, 1965) and 7 (F. Borman and J. Lovell, Jr., December 4-18, 1965) investigated the possibility of a long stay of a man in space by gradually increasing the duration of the flight to two weeks - the maximum duration of the flight to the Moon under the Apollo program. Gemini flights 6 (W. Schirra and T. Stafford, December 15-16, 1965), 8 (N. Armstrong and D. Scott, March 16, 1966), 9 (T. Stafford and Y. Cernan, June 3-6 1966), 10 (J. Young and M. Collins, July 18-21, 1966), 11 (C. Conrad and R. Gordon Jr., September 12-15, 1966) and 12 (J. Lovell and E. Aldrin- Jr., November 11-15, 1966) were originally planned for docking with the target ship Agena. A private setback forced NASA to carry out one of the most dramatic orbital experiments of the 1960s. When the Agena missile, the target ship for the Gemini 6 spacecraft, exploded at launch on October 25, 1965, it was left without a target. Then the leadership of NASA decided instead to carry out a rendezvous in space of two Gemini spacecraft. According to this plan, it was necessary to first launch Gemini 7 (on its two-week flight), and then, after quickly repairing the launch pad, launch Gemini 6. During the joint flight, a colorful film was shot showing the approach of the ships up to touch and joint maneuvering. Gemini 8 docked with target ship Agena. It was the first successful docking of two ships in orbit, but the flight was aborted less than a day later when one of the engines of the attitude control system did not turn off, as a result of which the ship received such a rapid rotation that the crew almost lost control of the situation. However, using a brake engine, N. Armstrong and D. Scott regained control and carried out an emergency splashdown in pacific ocean. When its Agena target failed to enter orbit, Gemini 9 attempted to dock with a retrofitted target docking assembly (an Agena docking target mounted on a small satellite launched by an Atlas rocket). However, since the launch fairing was not deployed, it could not be ejected, making docking impossible. In the last three flights, the Gemini spacecraft successfully docked with their targets. During the Gemini 4 flight, E. White became the first American to perform a spacewalk. The following spacewalks (Y. Cernan, M. Collins, R. Gordon, and E. Aldrin, Gemini 9-12) showed that astronauts must carefully consider and control their movements. Due to weightlessness, there is no friction force, which gives a fulcrum; even just standing becomes a difficult task. The Gemini program also tested new equipment (for example, fuel cells for generating electricity from chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen), which later played an important role in the implementation of the Apollo program.
"Daina-Sor" and MOL. While NASA was pursuing the Mercury and Gemini projects, the US Air Force was pursuing the X-20 Daina-Sor aerospace aircraft and the MOL manned orbital laboratory as part of a larger manned spacecraft program. These projects were eventually canceled (not for technical reasons, but because of changing requirements for spaceflight).
FLIGHT TO THE MOON
The main block of spacecraft "Apollo". Like the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft, the Apollo crew compartment is shaped like a cone with a heat shield made of ablative material. Parachutes and landing equipment are located in the nose of the cone. The three astronauts sit next to each other in special chairs attached to the base of the capsule. In front of them is the control panel. At the top of the cone there is a small tunnel to the exit hatch. On the opposite side, there is a docking pin that fits into the lunar cabin's docking port and pulls them together tightly so that the grips can seal the two ships together. At the very top of the ship, an emergency rescue system (more powerful than on the Redstone rocket) is installed, with the help of which the crew compartment can be taken to a safe distance in the event of an accident at the start. On January 27, 1967, during a simulated countdown before the first manned flight, a fire broke out in which three astronauts (V. Grissom, E. White and R. Chaffee) died. The main changes in the design of the crew compartment after the fire were as follows: 1) restrictions on the use of combustible materials were introduced; 2) the composition of the atmosphere inside the compartment was changed before launch to a mixture of 60% oxygen and 40% nitrogen (in air under normal conditions 20% oxygen and 80% nitrogen), after launch, the cabin was purged, and the atmosphere in it was replaced by pure oxygen at reduced pressure ( the crew at the same time, being in spacesuits, used pure oxygen all the time); 3) a quick-opening escape hatch was added, which allowed the crew to leave the ship in less than 30 seconds. The crew compartment is connected to the cylindrical engine compartment, which contains the main propulsion system (DU), orientation system engines (OS) and power supply system (PSS). DU consists of a sustainer rocket engine, two pairs of fuel and oxidizer tanks. This engine should be used to decelerate the ship during the transition to a lunar orbit and accelerate to return to Earth; it is also enabled for intermediate flight path corrections. CO allows you to control the position of the ship and maneuver during docking. The PDS provides the ship with electricity and water (which is produced by a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen in fuel cells).
Lunar cabin. While the main unit of the spacecraft is designed for atmospheric reentry, the lunar cabin is only designed for airless flight. Since there is no atmosphere on the Moon and the acceleration of gravity on its surface is six times less than on Earth, landing and taking off on the Moon require much less energy than on Earth. The landing stage of the lunar cabin has the shape of an octahedron, inside which are four tanks of fuel and a variable thrust engine. The four telescoping legs of the landing gear end in cupholders to keep the cockpit from sinking into moon dust. To cushion the impact during lunar landing, the landing gear legs are filled with collapsible aluminum honeycomb core. Experimental equipment is placed in special compartments between racks. The takeoff stage is equipped with a small engine and two fuel tanks. Due to the fact that the overloads experienced by astronauts are relatively small (one lunar g during engine operation and about five g during landing), and due to the fact that human legs absorb moderate shock loads well, the designers of the lunar cabin did not install chairs for astronauts. Standing in the cockpit, the cosmonauts are close to the portholes and have a good view; therefore, there was no need for large and heavy portholes. The windows of the lunar cabin are slightly larger than the size of a human face.
Launch vehicle "Saturn-5". The Apollo spacecraft was launched by the Saturn V rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever successfully tested in flight. It was built on the basis of a project developed by the W. von Braun group at the US Army Ballistic Missile Directorate in Huntsville, Alabama. Three modifications of the rocket were built and flew - "Saturn-1", "Saturn-1V" and "Saturn-5". The first two rockets were built to test the combined operation of several engines in space and for experimental launches of the Apollo spacecraft (one unmanned and one manned) into low Earth orbit.

ROCKET AND SPACE SYSTEM "Saturn-5" - "Apollo" (left: rocket "Saturn-5", height 111 m) and a link between the lunar cabin and the main unit (above).

The most powerful of them - the Saturn-5 launch vehicle - has three stages S-IC, S-II and S-IVB and an instrument compartment to which the Apollo spacecraft is attached. The S-IC first stage has five F-1 engines powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene. Each engine during the launch develops a thrust of 6.67 MN. The S-II second stage has five J-2 oxygen-hydrogen engines with a thrust of 1 MN each; the S-IVB third stage has one such engine. The instrument compartment contains equipment for the guidance system that provides navigation and flight control up to the separation of the Apollo spacecraft.
General flight plan. Spacecraft "Apollo" was launched from the cosmodrome. Kennedy, located on about. Merritt, Florida. In this case, the lunar cabin was located inside a special casing above the third stage of the Saturn-5 rocket, and the main block was attached to the upper part of the casing. Three stages of the Saturn rocket took the spacecraft into low Earth orbit, where the crew tested all systems for three orbits before restarting the third stage engines to put the spacecraft on a flight path to the Moon. Shortly after turning off the engines of the third stage, the crew undocked the main unit, turned it around and docked it to the lunar cabin. After that, the bundle of the main block and the lunar cabin was separated from the third stage, and the spacecraft flew to the Moon for the next 60 hours. Near the Moon, the main unit - the lunar cabin described a trajectory resembling a figure-eight. While above the far side of the Moon, the cosmonauts turned on the propulsion engine of the main unit to decelerate and transfer the spacecraft to a circumlunar orbit. The next day, the two astronauts moved into the lunar cabin and began a gentle descent to the lunar surface. First, the device flies with landing legs forward, and the landing stage engine slows down its movement. When approaching the landing site, the cabin turns vertically (landing legs down) so that the astronauts can see the surface of the Moon and exercise manual control over the landing process. To explore the moon, the cosmonauts, while in spacesuits, had to depressurize the cabin, open the hatch and descend to the surface using a ladder located on the front leg of the landing gear. Their space suits ensured autonomous life and communication on the surface for up to 8 hours. After completing the research, the cosmonauts ascended to the take-off stage and, starting from the landing stage, returned to the circumlunar orbit. Then they were to rendezvous and dock with the main unit, leave the takeoff stage and join the third cosmonaut, who was waiting for them in the crew compartment. During the last orbit, from the far side of the Moon, they turned on the sustainer engine to complete the figure-eight and return to Earth. The return trip (also lasting about 60 hours) ended with a fiery passage through earth's atmosphere, smooth parachute descent and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Preparatory flights. The extreme difficulty of landing on the moon forced NASA to make a series of four preliminary flights before the first landing. In addition, NASA decided on two very risky measures that made the landing possible in 1969. The first of these was the decision to conduct two test flights (November 9, 1967 and April 8, 1968) of the Saturn V rocket as general acceptance tests. Instead of conducting separate acceptance flights for each stage, NASA engineers tested three stages at once, along with the converted Apollo spacecraft. Another risky venture resulted from delays in the manufacture of the lunar cabin. The first manned flight of the main unit of the Apollo spacecraft (Apollo 7, W. Schirra, D. Eisele and W. Cunningham, October 11-22, 1968), launched by the Saturn-1V rocket into low Earth orbit, showed that the main unit ready to fly to the moon. Next, it was necessary to test the main unit with a lunar cabin in near-Earth orbit. However, due to the delay in the manufacture of the lunar cabin and rumors that the Soviet Union might try to send a man flying around the moon and win the space race, NASA management decided that Apollo 8 (F. Borman, J. Lovell and W. Anders , December 21-27, 1968) will fly to the Moon in the main block, spend a day in lunar orbit and then return to Earth. The flight was successful; the crew was transmitting spectacular video footage back to Earth from lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. On the Apollo 9 flight (J. McDivitt, D. Scott, and R. Schweikart, March 3-13, 1969), the main unit and the lunar cabin were tested in near-Earth orbit. The Apollo 10 flight (T. Stafford, J. Young, and Y. Cernan, May 18-26, 1969) was almost complete except for the landing of the lunar cabin. Soviet program of manned flights to the moon. Following the Vostok, Soviet scientists and engineers created the Soyuz, a spacecraft that occupies an intermediate position between Gemini and Apollo in its complexity and capabilities. The descent compartment is located above the aggregate compartment, and above it is the household compartment. During launch or descent, two or three cosmonauts can be in the descent compartment. The propulsion system, power supply and communications systems are located in the aggregate compartment. The Soyuz was launched into orbit by the A-2 launch vehicle, which was developed to replace the A-1 launch vehicle used to launch the Vostok spacecraft. According to the original plan for a manned flight around the Moon, the Soyuz-B unmanned upper stage was to be launched first, and then four cargo ship"Soyuz-A" for refueling it with fuel. After that, the Soyuz-A descent compartment with a crew of three docked with the upper stage and headed for the Moon. Instead of this rather complicated plan, it was finally decided to use a more powerful Proton rocket to launch a modified Soyuz, called Zond, to the Moon. There were two unmanned flights to the Moon ("Zond" on September 5 and 6, September 15-21 and November 10-17, 1968), which included the return of vehicles to Earth, but the launch of the unscheduled "Zond" on January 8 was unsuccessful (the second stage of the launch vehicle exploded ). The scheme of flight to the Moon was approximately the same as in the Apollo program. The three-seat Soyuz spacecraft and the single-seat descent vehicle were to be launched onto a flight path to the Moon by the N-1 launch vehicle, which had several big sizes and power than the Saturn-5. A special propulsion system was supposed to slow down the bunch for the transition to a circumlunar orbit and ensure the deceleration of the descent vehicle. The descent vehicle had to carry out the final stage of landing on its own. Weak point This project was that the lunar module had one engine, which was used for both descent and takeoff (fuel tanks for each stage were separate), so the position of the astronauts became hopeless in the event of an engine failure on the descent. After a short stay on the surface of the Moon, the astronauts returned to the circumlunar orbit and joined their comrade. The return to Earth in the Soyuz took place similarly to that described above for the Apollo spacecraft. However, problems - both with the Soyuz spacecraft and with the N-1 carrier - did not allow the Soviet Union to carry out the program of landing a man on the moon. The first flight of the Soyuz spacecraft (VM Komarov, April 23-24, 1967) ended in the death of the cosmonaut. During the Soyuz-1 flight, problems arose with solar panels and the orientation system, so it was decided to interrupt the flight. After an initially normal descent, the capsule began to tumble and became entangled in the brake parachute lines, the descent vehicle crashed into the ground at high speed, and Komarov died. After an 18-month break, launches under the Soyuz program resumed with Soyuz-2 (unmanned, October 25-28, 1968) and Soyuz-3 (G.T. Beregovoy, October 26-30, 1968) spacecraft. Beregovoy carried out maneuvers and approached the Soyuz-2 spacecraft up to a distance of 200 m. In the flights of Soyuz-4 (V.A. Shatalov, January 14-17, 1969) and Soyuz-5 (B.V. Volynov, E.V. Khrunov and A.S. Eliseev, January 15-18, 1969) further progress was made; Khrunov and Eliseev crossed into Soyuz-4 through open space after the ships docked. (The docking mechanism of Soviet ships did not allow direct transfer from ship to ship.) In addition, there was a fierce rivalry between various design bureaus, which prevented many talented scientists and engineers not only from working on the lunar program, but even from using the necessary equipment. As a result, 30 engines (24 along the perimeter and 6 in the center) of medium power were installed on the first stage of the N-1 rocket, and not five large engines, as on the first stage of the Saturn-5 rocket (there were such engines in the country), and the stages did not pass fire tests before the flight. The first N-1 rocket, launched on February 20, 1969, caught fire at the 55th second after launch and fell 50 km from the launch site. The second N-1 rocket exploded on the launch pad on July 3, 1969.
Expeditions to the Moon. The success of the preparatory flights under the Apollo program (Apollo 7-10) allowed the Apollo 11 spacecraft (N. Armstrong, E. Aldrin and M. Collins, July 16-24, 1969) to make the historic first flight with a manned landing on the Moon . The flight was extremely successful in almost every minute in accordance with the program.

TO THE MOON AND BACK. Scheme of the flight spacecraft "Apollo 11"

However, three significant events during the descent of Armstrong and Aldrin in the lunar cabin "Eagle" ("Eagle") on July 20 confirmed the important role of the presence of man and the requirement put forward by the first American astronauts that they be able to control the ship. At a height of approx. At 12,000 m, the Eagle computer began to emit an audible alarm (as it turned out later, as a result of the operation of the landing radar). Aldrin thought it was the result of a computer overload, and the crew ignored the alarm. Then, in the final minutes of the descent, after the Eagle turned to a vertical position, Armstrong and Aldrin saw the cockpit land directly into a heap of boulders - minor anomalies gravitational field The moons veered them off course. Armstrong took control of the cockpit and flew a little further to a more level area. At the same time, the gurgling of fuel in the tanks showed that there was little fuel left. Mission control informed the crew that they had time to spare, but Armstrong made a soft landing on four legs of the landing gear approximately 6.4 km from the intended point, with only 20 seconds of fuel remaining. A few hours later, Armstrong exited the cabin and descended to the lunar surface. In accordance with the flight plan, which called for the utmost care, they, along with Aldrin, spent only 2 hours and 31 minutes outside the cabin on the surface of the moon. The next day, after 21 hours and 36 minutes of their stay on the Moon, they started from its surface and joined Collins, who was in the Columbia main block, in which they returned to Earth. Subsequent flights under the Apollo program greatly expanded man's knowledge of the Moon. During the Apollo 12 spacecraft flight (Ch. Konrad, A. Bean and R. Gordon, November 14-24, 1969), Gordon and Bean landed their Intrepid (Brave) lunar cabin 180 m from the automatic space probe Surveyor 3 and retrieved its components for return to Earth during one of its two surface walks, each lasting about four hours. The launch and transition to the flight path to the Moon of Apollo 13 (April 11-17, 1970) went well. However, approximately 56 hours after launch, the mission control center asked the crew (J. Lovell, F. Heise Jr. and J. Schweigert Jr.) to turn on all the agitators and tank heaters, followed by a loud bang, complete loss of oxygen from one tank and a leak from another. (As later determined by NASA's emergency team, the tank explosion was the result of manufacturing defects and damage sustained in pre-launch tests.) Within minutes, the crew and mission control realized that the Odyssey main unit would soon lose all oxygen and be left without power and that the lunar cabin "Aquarius" ("Aquarius") will have to be used as a lifeboat during the flight of the spacecraft around the Moon and on the way back to Earth. For almost five and a half days, the crew had to stay at temperatures close to zero, making do with a limited supply of water and turning off almost all the ship's service systems to save electricity. The astronauts turned on the Aquarius engines three times to correct the trajectory. Before entering the Earth's atmosphere, the crew turned on the systems of the Odyssey spacecraft, using the landing chemical sources current, and separated from the Aquarius. After a normal atmospheric descent, the Odyssey splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean. After this accident, NASA specialists installed additional emergency chemical batteries and an oxygen tank in a separate compartment of the main unit and redesigned the oxygen tanks. Manned lunar expeditions were resumed with the flight of Apollo 14 (A. Shepard, E. Mitchell and S. Ruza, January 31 - February 9, 1971). Shepard and Mitchell spent 33 hours on the surface of the Moon and made two exits to the surface. The last three expeditions of the Apollo spacecraft 15 (D. Scott, J. Irwin and A. Worden, July 26 - August 7, 1971), 16 (J. Young, C. Duke Jr. and C. Mattingly II, 16-27 April 1972) and 17 (J. Cernan, G. Schmitt and R. Evans, December 1-19, 1972) were the most fruitful from a scientific point of view. Each lunar cabin included a lunar all-terrain vehicle (lunokhod) on electric batteries, which allowed the astronauts to move up to 8 km from the cabin in each of the three exits to the surface; in addition, each main unit had television cameras and other measuring instruments in one of the equipment compartments.

APOLLO 17 returns from the Moon.

Samples delivered by the Apollo expeditions for scientific research amounted to more than 379.5 kg of stones and soil, which changed and expanded the idea of ​​a person about the origin solar system. The last flights of the Soviet program of manned flights to the Moon. After the success of the first flights under the Apollo program, the Soviet Union made only a few launches of the Soyuz spacecraft, the Zond spacecraft and the N-1 launch vehicle as part of the program of manned flights to the moon and landing on the moon. Spaceship"Soyuz" since 1971 was used as a transport ship as part of the flight program space stations"Salute" and "Mir".
EXPERIMENTAL FLIGHT "APOLLO" - "SOYUZ"
What started as a rivalry ended with a joint Apollo-Soyuz Experimental Flight (ASTP) program. This flight was attended by D. Slayton, T. Stafford and W. Brandt in the main block of the Apollo spacecraft (July 15-24, 1975) and A. A. Leonov and V. N. Kubasov on the Soyuz-19 spacecraft (15 -21 July 1975). The program arose from the desire of the two states to develop joint rescue procedures and technical means in case any space crew was in orbit in a stalemate. Since the atmosphere of the ships was completely different, NASA created a special docking compartment, which was used as a decompression chamber. Several rendezvous maneuvers and docking operations were successfully completed, after which the ships separated and flew autonomously until returning to Earth.
LITERATURE
Glushko V.P. Cosmonautics: encyclopedia. M., 1985 Getland K. et al. Space technology: illustrated encyclopedia. M., 1986 Kelly K. et al. Our home is Earth. M., 1988

Collier Encyclopedia. - Open Society. 2000 .

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

The physical exploration of space by man began in 1944 during the testing of the German V-2 rocket, which entered outer space, rising to a height of 188 km.
1957 - The USSR launches the first orbiting satellite of the Earth, Sputnik-1 (October 4) and sends the first living creature, the dog Laika, into space (November 3). In 1958, the United States sent the first primate, the Gordo monkey, on a space flight (December 13).
May 28, 1959 - Baker and Able make a brief suborbital flight.
1960 - Strelka and Belka, two dogs, made an orbital flight from August 19 to 20 on the prototype of the Vostok spacecraft and returned safely to Earth.
On April 12, 1961, the first man, Yuri Gagarin, was sent into space on the Vostok spacecraft. The flight time was 1 hour 48 minutes. He laid the foundation for manned space flights. In the same year, the United States made two suborbital flights lasting 15 minutes each on the Mercury spacecraft, and cosmonaut German Titov on the Vostok-2 spacecraft made the first daily flight (1 day 1 hour 11 minutes). Also, two American chimpanzees “visited” space - Ham (January 31) and Enos (November 29).
In 1962, the Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 spacecraft made their first group flight.
June 16, 1963 - Valentina Tereshkova, the first female cosmonaut, goes into space on the Vostok-6 apparatus.
1964 - the first multi-seat spacecraft "Voskhod" (USSR) with three cosmonauts on board.
1965 - Alexei Leonov made the first manned spacewalk (March 18). On June 3, an American astronaut goes into outer space, and on December 15, 4 American astronauts go on a flight for the first time.
1966 - An American astronaut conducts the first docking in space with an unmanned object.
1967 - Soyuz-1, a new Soviet spacecraft, went into space. And on April 24, for the first time during a flight, an astronaut, Vladimir Komarov, dies.
1968 - Apollo 8 made the first manned flight to the moon. Walter Schirra became the first astronaut to travel to space three times.
1969 - the first docking of two manned spacecraft - "Soyuz-4" and "Soyuz-5" was carried out. During the same flight, the transition from one ship to another through outer space was made for the first time. Two American astronauts landed on the moon on July 21st. Neil Armstrong is the first man to walk on the moon.
1970 - a two-week flight into space was made on the Soyuz-9 spacecraft.
1971 - the entire crew of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft dies for the first time - consisting of three people on June 30 when returning to Earth.
1973 - the first flight, which lasted more than a month. And also for the first time, Soviet and American astronauts went into space at the same time.
1974 - First New Year celebration in orbit.
1980 - the duration of the flight reached six months. On July 23, the first Asian astronaut, Pham Tuan, went into space, and on September 18, the first astronaut from Latin America, Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez.
1981 - Space Shuttle Columbia STS-1 is launched for the first time.
1982 - for the first time the crew includes a female cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya.
1984 - female astronaut Svetlana Savitskaya on July 25 makes her first spacewalk.
1986 - the Challenger shuttle crash and the death of seven astronauts on January 28. For the first time on May 4, an interorbital flight was made from one station to another - Mir - Salyut-7 - Soyuz T-17.
1988 - a flight was made that lasted one year - from December 21, 1987 to December 21, 1988. Launch of the Buran reusable transport ship using a launch vehicle - November 15.

Space exploration is the dream that has occupied the minds of many people for hundreds of years. Even in those distant, distant times, when a person could see the stars and planets, relying only on his eyesight, he dreamed of finding out what the bottomless black abysses of the dark sky above were hiding. Dreams began to come true relatively recently.

Almost all the leading space powers immediately began a kind of "arms race" here too: scientists tried to get ahead of their colleagues, bringing them out earlier and testing various devices for space exploration. However, there was still a gap: the Apollo-Soyuz program was supposed to show the friendship of the USSR and the USA, as well as their desire to jointly pave the way for mankind to the stars.

General information

The abbreviated name of this program is ASTP. The flight is also known as "Handshake in Space". All in all, the Apollo-Soyuz was a bold experimental flight of the Soyuz-19 spacecraft and the American Apollo. The expedition members had to overcome many difficulties, the most significant of which was the completely different design of the docking stations. But docking was on the “agenda”!

In fact, quite normal contacts between scientists of the USSR and the USA began at the time of the launch. The agreement on general, peaceful exploration of outer space was signed in 1962. At the same time, researchers got the opportunity to share the results of programs and some developments in the space industry.

First meeting of researchers

On the part of the USSR and the USA, the initiators of joint work were: the president of the Academy of Sciences (AN), the famous M.V. Keldysh, as well as the director of the National Aerospace Agency (known in the world as NASA), Dr. Payne.

The first meeting of delegations from the USA and the USSR took place in the late autumn of 1970. The American mission was led by Dr. R. Gilruth, director of the Johnson Space Flight Center. From the Soviet side, the chairman of the Council for the International Study of Outer Space (Interkosmos program), Academician B. N. Petrov, was in charge. Immediately, joint working groups were formed, the main task of which was to discuss the possibility of compatibility of structural units of Soviet and American spacecraft.

The following year, already in Houston, was organized new meeting, which was led by B.N. Petrov and R. Gilruth, already known to us. The teams considered the main requirements for the design features of manned vehicles, and also fully agreed on a number of issues regarding the standardization of life support systems. It was then that the possibility of a joint flight with subsequent docking by the crews began to be discussed.

As you can see, the Soyuz-Apollo program, the year of which became a triumph of world cosmonautics, required a revision of a huge number of technical and political rules and regulations.

Conclusions on the feasibility of joint manned flights

In 1972, the Soviet and American sides again arranged a meeting at which all the work done over the past period was summarized and systematized. The final decision on the expediency of a joint manned flight was positive, ships already familiar to us were chosen for the implementation of the program. And so the Apollo-Soyuz project was born.

Start of the program

It was May 1972. A historic agreement was signed between our country and America, providing for the joint peaceful exploration of outer space. In addition, the parties have finally decided on the technical side of the issue of the Apollo-Soyuz flight. This time the delegations were headed by Academician K. D. Bushuev from the Soviet side, and Dr. G. Lanny represented the Americans.

During the meeting, they decided on the goals, the achievement of which will be devoted to all further work:

• Testing the compatibility of control systems in the implementation of the rendezvous of ships in space.
• Checking in the "field" conditions of automatic and manual docking systems.
• Testing and adjustment of equipment designed to carry out the transition of astronauts from ship to ship.
• Finally, the accumulation of invaluable experience in the field of joint manned space flights. When the Soyuz-19 docked with the Apollo spacecraft, the specialists received so much valuable information that they were actively used throughout the American lunar program.

Other areas of work

The specialists, among other things, wanted to test the possibility of orientation in space of already docked ships, as well as to test the stability of communication systems on different machines. Finally, it was extremely important to perform compatibility testing of the Soviet and American systems flight control.

Here is how the main events unfolded at that time:

• At the end of May 1975, a final meeting was held to discuss some issues of an organizational nature. The final document was signed on full readiness for the flight. It was signed by Academician V. A. Kotelnikov from the Soviet side, and J. Low endorsed the document for the Americans. The launch date was set for July 15, 1975.
• Exactly at 15:20, the Soviet Soyuz-19 successfully launches.
• With the help of the carrier rocket "Saturn-1B" "Apollo" starts. Time - 22 hours 50 minutes. Launch site - Cape Canaveral.
• Two days later, after the completion of all preparatory work, at 19:12 Soyuz-19 docked. Opened in 1975 new era space exploration.
• Exactly two orbits of the Soyuz, a new Soyuz-Apollo docking was made, after which they flew in this position for another two orbits. After some time, the devices finally dispersed, completely completing the research program.

In general, the flight time was:

• The Soviet Soyuz 19 spent 5 days, 22 hours and 31 minutes in orbit.
• Apollo spent 9 days, 1 hour and 28 minutes in flight.
• In the docked position, the ships spent exactly 46 hours and 36 minutes.

Crew composition

And now it is time to remember by name the crew members of the American and Soviet ships, who, having overcome a huge number of difficulties, were able to fully implement all the stages of such an important space program.

The American crew was represented by:

• Thomas Stafford. American Crew Leader. Experienced cosmonaut, fourth flight.
• Vance Brand. Piloted command module, first flight.
• Donald Slayton. It was he who was responsible for the responsible docking operation, it was also his first flight.

The Soviet crew included the following cosmonauts:

• was the commander.
• Valery Kubasov was an onboard engineer.

Both Soviet cosmonauts have already been in orbit once, so the Soyuz-Apollo flight was their second.

What experiments were carried out during the joint flight?

• An experiment was carried out to study solar eclipse: "Apollo" closed the light, while the "Soyuz" studied and described the resulting effects.
• Ultraviolet absorption was studied, during which the crews measured the content of atomic oxygen and nitrogen in the orbit of the planet.
• In addition, several experiments were carried out, during which the researchers tested how weightlessness, the absence magnetic field and other space conditions affect the flow of biological rhythms.
• For microbiologists, the program of studying the mutual exchange and transfer of microorganisms under weightless conditions between two ships (through the docking station) is also of great interest.
• Finally, the Soyuz-Apollo flight made it possible to study the processes occurring in metallic and semiconductor materials under such specific conditions. It should be noted that the “father” of this kind of study was K. P. Gurov, well-known among metallurgists, who proposed to carry out these works.

Some technical details

It should be noted that pure oxygen was used as a breathing mixture on the American ship, while on the domestic ship there was an atmosphere identical in composition to that on Earth. Thus, a direct transition from ship to ship was impossible. Especially to solve this problem, a special transitional compartment was launched along with the American ship.

It should be noted that the Americans subsequently took advantage of this development when creating their own lunar module. During the transition, the pressure in the Apollo was slightly raised, and in the Soyuz, on the contrary, it was reduced, while simultaneously raising the oxygen content in the respiratory mixture to 40%. As a result, people got the opportunity to stay in the transition module (before entering a foreign ship) not for eight hours, but only 30 minutes.

By the way, if you are interested in this story, visit the Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow. There is a huge stand devoted to this topic.

General history of manned space flights

It is no coincidence that our article touches on the topic of the history of manned space flights. The entire program described above would be impossible in principle if it were not for the preliminary developments in this area, experience in which has been accumulated over decades. Who “paved the way”, thanks to whom manned space flights became possible?

As you know, on April 12, 1961, an event took place that was of truly world significance. On that day, Yuri Gagarin carried out the first manned flight in the history of the world on the Vostok spacecraft.

The second country to do this was the United States. Their Mercury-Redstone 3 spacecraft, piloted by Alan Shepard, was launched into orbit just a month later, on May 5, 1961. In February, Mercury-Atlas-6 already started with John Glenn on board.

First records and achievements

Two years after Gagarin, the first woman flew into space. It was Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova. She flew out alone on the Vostok-6 ship. The launch was made on June 16, 1963. In America, the first representative of the weaker sex, who visited orbit, was Sally Ride. She was a member of a mixed crew that took off in 1983.

Already on March 18, 1965, another record was broken: Alexei Leonov went into space. The first woman to go into outer space was in 1984. Note that at present, women are included in all ISS crews without exception, since all necessary information on the physiology of the female body in space conditions, and therefore nothing threatens the health of astronauts.

Longest flights

Up to this day, the longest single space flight is considered to be the 437-day stay in orbit by an astronaut. He stayed on board Mir from January 1994 to March 1995. The record for the total number of days spent in orbit, again, belongs to the Russian cosmonaut - Sergey Krikalev.

If we talk about a group flight, then cosmonauts and astronauts flew about 364 days from September 1989 to August 1999. So it was proved that a person, theoretically, can withstand a flight to Mars. Now researchers are more concerned about the problem of the psychological compatibility of the crew.

Information on the history of reusable space flights

To date, the only country that has a more or less successful experience in operating the reusable space shuttles of the Space Shuttle series is the United States. The first flight of the spacecraft of this series, Columbia, took place exactly two decades after Gagarin's flight, on April 12, 1981. The USSR launched the Buran for the first and only time in 1988. That flight is also unique in that it took place in a fully automatic mode, although manual piloting was also possible.

The exposition, which shows the entire history of the "Soviet shuttle", is demonstrated by the Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow. We advise you to visit it, as there are a lot of interesting things there!

The highest orbit, in highest point the passage, which reached the mark of 1374 kilometers, was reached by the American crew on the Gemini-11 spacecraft. It happened way back in 1966. In addition, the "shuttles" were often used to repair and maintain the Hubble telescope, when they performed quite complex manned flights at an altitude of about 600 kilometers. Most often, the orbit of a spacecraft takes place at an altitude of about 200-300 kilometers.

Note that immediately after the end of the operation of the shuttles, the ISS orbit was gradually raised to an altitude of 400 kilometers. This is due to the fact that the shuttles could perform effective maneuvering at an altitude of only 300 kilometers, but for the station itself, those heights were not very suitable due to the high density of the surrounding space (by space standards, of course).

Have there been flights beyond the Earth's orbit?

Only the Americans flew outside the earth's orbit when they performed the tasks of the Apollo program. The spacecraft circled the moon in 1968. Note that from July 16, 1969, the Americans carried out their lunar program, during which the "lunar landing" was performed. At the end of 1972, the program was curtailed, which caused indignation not only of American, but also of Soviet scientists, who empathized with their colleagues.

Note that in the USSR there were many similar programs. Despite the almost complete completion of many of them, the "go-ahead" for their implementation has not been received.

Other "space" countries

China has become the third space power. It happened on October 15, 2003, when the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft entered the expanses of space. Generally space program China dates back to the 70s of the last century, but all the planned flights then were never made.

In the late 1990s, the Europeans and the Japanese made their steps in this direction. But their projects to create reusable manned spacecraft were curtailed after several years of development, since the Soviet-Russian Soyuz spacecraft turned out to be simpler, more reliable and cheaper, which made the work economically inexpedient.

Space tourism and "private space"

Since 1978, astronauts from dozens of countries around the world have flown on spacecraft and stations in the USSR/Russian Federation and the United States. Besides, in recent times the so-called "space tourism" is gaining momentum, when an ordinary (unusual in terms of financial capabilities) person can visit the ISS. In the recent past, China has also announced the start of developing similar programs.

But the real excitement was caused by the Ansari X-Prize program, which started in 1996. Its terms required that a private company (without state support) until the end of 2004 was able to raise (twice) to a height of 100 kilometers a ship with a crew of three people. The prize was more than solid - 10 million dollars. More than two dozen companies and even individuals immediately began to develop their projects.

This is how it started new story astronautics, in which any person could theoretically become the "discoverer" of space.

The first successes of "private traders"

Since the devices they developed did not need to go into real outer space, the costs were hundreds of times less. The first private SpaceShipOne spacecraft launched in early summer 2004. Created by Scaled Composites.

Five minutes of "conspiracy theory"

It should be noted that many projects (almost all, in general) were based not on some development of private "nuggets", but on work on the V-2 and the Soviet "Buran", all the documentation for which after the 90s " suddenly” suddenly became available to the foreign public. Some bold theorists claim that the USSR conducted (unsuccessfully) the first manned launches as early as 1957-1959.

There are also unconfirmed reports that the Nazis were developing projects for intercontinental missiles in the 40s to attack America. Rumor has it that some pilots were still able to reach an altitude of 100 kilometers during the tests, which makes them (if they were at all) the first astronauts.

"World" era

Until now, the history of cosmonautics keeps information about the Soviet-Russian Mir station, which was really unique object. Its construction was fully completed only on April 26, 1996. Then the fifth and last module was attached to the station, which made it possible to carry out the most complex studies of the seas, oceans and forests of the Earth.

Mir was in orbit for 14.5 years, which exceeded the planned service life by several times. During all this time, more than 11 tons of scientific equipment alone were delivered to it, scientists conducted tens of thousands of unique experiments, some of which predetermined the development of world science for all subsequent decades. In addition, cosmonauts and astronauts from the station made 75 spacewalks, total duration which is 15 days.

History of the ISS

16 countries participated in the construction. The greatest contribution to its creation was made by Russian, European (Germany and France), as well as American specialists. This facility is designed for 15 years of operation with the possibility of extending this period.

The first long-term expedition to the ISS started at the end of October 2000. Participants of 42 long-term missions have already been on board. It should be noted that the world's first Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes arrived at the station as part of the 13th expedition. He successfully completed all the work intended for him, after which he returned to Earth as part of the 12th mission.

This is how the history of space flights was made. There were many discoveries and victories, some gave their lives so that humanity could someday still be able to call space their home. We can only hope that our civilization will continue research in this area, and someday we will wait for the colonization of the nearest planets.

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

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

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

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

8 months later it happened first manned flight into space. Directly before Gagarin, in March, a dog named Zvezdochka flew there. There were also future cosmonauts at the launch of the ship to make sure that the object was completely ready for a successful human flight. Senior Lieutenant Gagarin also studied the technique. After it took place first manned flight into space new discoveries were made every year.

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

But again there are malfunctions in the system, and the ship returns home ahead of schedule by falling. The satellite was discovered in Siberia. No one hoped for a successful outcome of the search, not to mention the dog. But having survived a terrible accident, hunger and thirst, Zhulka escaped and lived another 14 years after the fall.

Gagarin in space. How it was

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

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

The first manned flight into space: the most interesting

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

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

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