Design principles
Now it becomes clear why for many years the Soyuz spacecraft, the legendary Royal Seven, received an absolute monopoly on the delivery of astronauts to the ISS. It is difficult to find epithets for this ship. "Soyuz" is "space Kalashnikov", "orbital T-34".
The combination of such qualities as phenomenal simplicity (production, maintenance, operation), a huge range of functionality, reliability, safety, has created from the "Seven" the number 1 spacecraft in the history of world cosmonautics. Using the R-7 as an example, it would not hurt the American counterpart to learn how the initially laid down correct principles for designing this rocket were able to provide it with fantastic (not even by space standards) longevity. R-7 Soyuz has been making us happy with its flights for 57 years! And I see no limit to this "Aridian age".
In the following chapters, we will understand how the Angara rocket, as if its namesake river with its stormy waters, will swallow up most of the families of launch vehicles, both in the world and in Russia. This is especially true of those missiles that will try to "float in the turbulent waters of the market economy." Moreover, carriers of the ultralight, light, medium and heavy classes fall into the flooded zone.
However, the Angara will not come close to the Soyuz. "Seven" has occupied such a niche that only a ship that has descended from the pages of science fiction will be able to uproot it from there (in the distant future). What is the phenomenon of the creation of Sergei Pavlovich? Korolev, as a successor of the great Russian design school, invariably adhered to the main postulate of the creator-designer, from which all subsequent design principles flowed. This postulate is attributed to the father of the legendary "thirty-four" Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin. It sounds something like this: a fool can create a complex structure, while a brilliant scientist is obliged to create the most SIMPLE structure, which in the end will become the most EFFECTIVE.
Everything is elementary. A simple design makes it possible to simplify its production, that is, to introduce inexpensive, low-energy-consuming methods for the production of its component parts. Let's add to this the possibility of simultaneously attracting a large number of low-skilled labor, which does not need exorbitant salaries and the need to create educational institutions. This, in turn, leads to a sharp increase in units of output and, conversely, to a decrease in the time spent on its creation. And time, as you know, is money.
Thus, the produced unit of equipment is obtained with a large constructive and technological reserve. This reserve can be used in different ways, for example, to make a functional modification. On the example of the Yak-9 fighter, this is clearly visible. This fighter has undergone 15 modifications (and they were mass-produced).
Indeed, why is it necessary to create a short-range bomber, high-altitude interceptor, tank destroyer (with a 45-mm cannon), when it is possible to functionally modify an existing fighter with an available constructive reserve? As a result, the aircraft and components are produced in an even larger series and, of course, at an even lower price.
Theoretically, this process is endless, but in practice it looked something like this: a well-to-do collective farmer-beekeeper sells 70 kg of honey and runs to the factory to buy his son-pilot Yak-9, because the existing one, in his opinion, is “worn out”.
