It is well known that the Soviet Union was the first to launch a satellite, a living being and a person into space. During the space race, the USSR, as far as possible, sought to overtake and overtake America. There were victories, there were defeats, but the young generation that grew up after the collapse of the USSR already knows little about them, because space successes, according to the Internet, are the lot of "strong, superhero-like American astronauts." But do not forget what the Soviet cosmonautics did …
10. The first flyby around the Moon
Launched on January 2, 1959, the Luna 1 satellite was the first spacecraft to successfully reach the Moon. The 360-kilogram spacecraft, bearing the Soviet coat of arms, was supposed to reach the lunar surface and demonstrate the superiority of Soviet science. However, the satellite missed, passing 6,000 kilometers from the lunar surface. The probe released a cloud of sodium vapor, which for some time glowed so brightly that it allowed tracking the movement of the satellite.
Luna 1 was at least the fifth attempt by the Soviet Union to land on the moon, secret information about previous unsuccessful attempts is kept in the Top Secret files.
Compared to modern space probes, Luna 1 was extremely primitive. It did not have its own engine, and the power supply was limited to the use of primitive batteries. The probe also lacked cameras. The signals from the probe stopped arriving three days after launch.
9. The first flyby of another planet
Launched on February 12, 1961, the Soviet space probe Venera 1 was to make a hard landing on Venus. This was the second attempt by the USSR to launch a probe to Venus. The Venera-1 descent capsule was also supposed to deliver the Soviet coat of arms to the planet. Although most of the probe was expected to burn up upon entry into the atmosphere, the Soviet Union hoped the reentry capsule would reach the surface, automatically making the USSR the first country to reach the surface of another planet.
The launch and the first communication sessions with the probe were successful, the first three sessions indicated normal operation of the probe, but the fourth one took place with a five-day delay and showed a malfunction in one of the systems. Contact was eventually lost when the probe was about 2 million kilometers from Earth. The spacecraft was drifting in space at a distance of 100,000 kilometers from Venus and was unable to obtain data to correct course.
8. The first spacecraft to photograph the far side of the moon
Launched on October 4, 1959, Luna 3 was the third spacecraft successfully launched to the Moon. Unlike the two previous probes, Luna-3 was equipped with a camera for photographing. The task that was set before the scientists was to take a photograph of the far side of the moon, which at that time had never been photographed, with the help of a probe.
The camera was primitive and complex. The spacecraft could only take 40 photographs, which had to be captured, developed and dried on the spacecraft. Then the onboard cathode-ray tube had to scan the developed images and transmit the data to Earth. The radio transmitter was so weak that the first attempts to transmit images failed. When the probe, having made a revolution around the Moon, approached the Earth, 17 photographs of not very high quality were obtained.
However, the scientists were thrilled with what they found in the image. Unlike the visible side of the moon, which was flat, the far side had mountains and unknown dark areas.
7. First successful landing on another planet
On August 17, 1970, the Venera-7 spacecraft, one of two Soviet twin spacecraft, was launched. After a soft landing on the surface of Venus, the probe had to deploy a transmitter to transmit data to Earth, setting a record for the first successful landing on another planet and in order to survive in the atmosphere of Venus, the lander cooled down to -8 degrees Celsius. Soviet scientists also wanted the lander to remain calm for as long as possible. Therefore, it was decided that the capsule during the entry into the atmosphere of Venus will dock with the carrier until the atmospheric drag forces them to separate.
Venera-7 entered the atmosphere as planned, but 29 minutes before touching the surface, the braking parachute broke down and broke. Initially, it was believed that the lander could not withstand the impact, but later analysis of the recorded signals showed that the probe transmitted temperature readings from the planet's surface within 23 minutes after landing, as calculated by the engineers who designed the spacecraft.
6. The first man-made object on the surface of Mars
Mars 2 and Mars 3, twin spaceships, were launched one day apart in May 1971. Orbiting Mars, they had to map its surface. In addition, it was planned to launch the descent vehicles from these spaceships. Soviet scientists hoped that these landing capsules would be the first man-made objects on the surface of Mars.
Nevertheless, the Americans were ahead of the USSR, being the first to reach the orbit of Mars. Mariner 9, which also launched in May 1971, reached Mars two weeks earlier and became the first spacecraft to orbit Mars. Upon arrival, both American and Soviet probes discovered that Mars was covered in a planet-wide dust curtain, which prevented data collection.
Although the Mars 2 lander crashed, the Mars 3 lander successfully landed and began transmitting data. But after 20 seconds the transmission stopped, only photos with subtle details and low light were transmitted. Probably, the failure was due to a large sandstorm on Mars, which prevented the Soviet apparatus from taking the first clear pictures of the Martian surface.
5. The first automated system to return to deliver samples
NASA had rocks from the lunar surface brought by astronauts from Apollo. The Soviet Union, failing to be the first to land people on the moon, was determined to overtake the Americans with the help of an automated space probe to collect lunar soil and deliver it to Earth. The first Soviet probe, Luna-15, crashed on landing. The next five attempts failed near Earth due to problems with the launch vehicle. Nevertheless, the sixth Soviet probe, Luna-16, was successfully launched.
After landing near the Sea of Plenty, the Soviet station took samples of the lunar soil and placed them in the reentry vehicle, which took off and returned with samples to Earth. When the sealed container was opened, Soviet scientists received only 101 grams of lunar soil, versus 22 kilograms delivered to Apollo 11. Soviet samples were carefully examined, it was found that the structure of the soil in its qualities is close to wet sand, but this was the first successful return of an automatic descent vehicle.
4. The first spacecraft for three people
Launched on October 12, 1964, Voskhod 1 was the first spacecraft capable of carrying more than one person into space. Although Voskhod was declared a new spacecraft by the Soviet Union, in fact, it was an upgraded version of the same spacecraft that Yuri Gagarin brought into space. Nevertheless, for the Americans, who at the time did not even have vehicles for two-man crews, this sounded impressive.
The Soviet designers considered Voskhod to be unsafe. They continued to object to its use until the government bribed them with a proposal to send one of the designers into orbit as an astronaut. Nevertheless, in terms of safety, the design of the spacecraft had a number of serious complaints.
Firstly, emergency ejection of cosmonauts in the event of an unsuccessful launch was impossible, since it was not possible to design a hatch for each cosmonaut.
Secondly, the astronauts were so cramped in the capsule that they could not wear spacesuits. As a result, in case of depressurization, they would die.
Third, the new landing system, consisting of two parachutes and a braking engine, was tested only once before flight.
Finally, the astronauts had to follow a diet before the flight so that the total weight of the astronauts and the capsule was small enough to launch the rocket.
Taking into account all these serious difficulties, it was simply amazing that the flight went flawlessly.
3. The first person of African descent in space
On September 18, 1980 Soyuz-38 flew to the Salyut-6 orbital space station. On board were Soviet cosmonaut and Cuban pilot Arnaldo Tamayo Mendes, who became the first human of African descent to go into space. His flight was part of the Soviet Intercosmos program, which allowed other countries to participate in Soviet space flights.
Mendes only stayed aboard Salyut 6 for a week, but he conducted over 24 experiments in chemistry and biology. We studied its metabolism, the structure of the electrical activity of the brain, and the change in the shape of the leg bones in zero gravity. Upon his return to Earth, Mendes was awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union" - the highest award of the USSR.
Since Mendes was not an American, America did not consider this an achievement, so for the United States, the first African American in space in 1983 was Guyon Stuart Bluford, a member of the Challenger shuttle crew.
2. The first docking with a dead space object
On February 11, 1985, the Soviet space station Salyut-7 fell silent. A cascade of short circuits occurred at the station, which turned off all its electrical systems and plunged Salyut-7 into a dead frozen state.
In an attempt to save the Salyut-7, the USSR sent two veteran cosmonauts to repair the station. The automated docking system did not work, so the astronauts had to get close enough to try manual docking. Fortunately, the station was stationary and the astronauts were able to dock, demonstrating for the first time that it was possible to dock with any object in space, even if it was dead and uncontrollable.
The crew reported that the inside of the station was covered with mold, the walls were overgrown with icicles, and the temperature was -10 degrees Celsius. The restoration of the space station took several days, the crew had to check hundreds of cables to determine the source of the malfunction in the electrical circuit, but they succeeded.
1. The first human victims in space
On June 30, 1971, the Soviet Union looked forward to the return of the world's first three cosmonauts, who spent more than 23 days in orbit. But when the capsule landed, there was no signal from the crew inside. Opening the hatch, ground personnel found three dead astronauts with dark blue spots on their faces and blood streaks from their nose and ears. What happened?
According to the investigation, the tragedy occurred immediately after the separation of the descent vehicle from the orbital module. The valve in the descent vehicle remained open and in less than two minutes all the air was released from the capsule. When the pressure dropped, the astronauts quickly suffocated, unable to find and close the valve before they passed out and died.
There were other deaths, but they occurred during launch and transit through the atmosphere. The crash of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft occurred at an altitude of 168 kilometers, when the cosmonauts were still in space, which makes them the first, and so far the only ones, to die in space.
So remember the story. She knows both victories and failures, and do not let anyone doubt that you live in a great country.
