Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov

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Konstantin Feoktistov
Konstantin Feoktistov
Feoktistov on a Soviet postage stamp (1964)
Country: Soviet UnionSoviet Union Soviet Union
Organization: OKB-1
selected on May 18, 1964
Calls: 1 space flight
Begin: October 12, 1964
Landing: October 13, 1964
Time in space: 1d 0h 17min
retired on October 1987
Space flights

Konstantin Petrowitsch Feoktistow ( Russian Константин Петрович Феоктистов ; born February 7, 1926 in Voronezh , Russian SFSR ; †  November 21, 2009 in Moscow ) was a Soviet spaceman .

Life

Work as a construction engineer

Feoktistow first attended a high school. In 1942, as the front approached his hometown Voronezh, he volunteered for the Red Army at the age of 16 and served as a reconnaissance officer. He was captured by German soldiers. He should be executed immediately. The shot aimed at him was not fatal, however, and Feoktistov was able to flee back to the Soviet side at night.

Only after the end of the war Feoktistow was able to continue his school education. In 1949 he graduated as a mechanical engineer from the Bauman Technical University in Moscow. Feoktistow worked in the following years at various research institutes and in 1955 became a candidate for technical sciences (Dr.-Ing.).

Feoktistov entered the OKB-1 design office , headed by the Soviet missile designer Sergei Korolev . In Mikhail Tikhonrawov's department , he worked on the construction of the first Soviet Sputnik satellite , which was launched in October 1957. From 1956 he also worked on designs for manned spacecraft, which eventually led to the development of the spacecraft Vostok . Other designs from this period were a Mars spaceship with ion propulsion and a spaceship for orbiting the moon. Feoktistow was one of the leading designers of the Vostok spaceship. Before each of the flights from 1961 to 1963, he introduced the cosmonauts to the operation of the systems and any emergency measures.

The Vostok spaceship was converted from a single-seater to a multi-seater for further space flights. For this, the seat direction was rotated and additional solid fuel rockets were attached so that the crew could stay on board for landing. This guy was named Vozhod .

Work as a cosmonaut

Koroljow campaigned for not only military pilots to be used as cosmonauts, but also civil engineers in his design department. He nominated 14 candidates, of which six were shortlisted in May 1964, including Feoktistow. Korolev wanted Feoktistov in the crew for the first manned Vozhod flight because he knew the spaceship from the ground up. However, Nikolai Kamanin , the head of cosmonaut training, had doubts about Feoktistov's health suitability. In particular, his eyesight was severely impaired, so that he was only assigned to the substitute team. Korolev was finally able to prevail, not least because Feoktistov's competitor, Georgi Katys , was no longer an option for political reasons.

On October 12, 1964, Feoktistov started together with the commandant Vladimir Komarov and the doctor Boris Yegorov in Vozhod 1 . This was the first multi-person flight in space travel. Feoktistow and Jegorow were also the first civilians in space, Feoktistow the first spaceship designer who flew his own development.

The three cosmonauts carried out some experiments in space and landed again after 24 hours. This was the first landing on the mainland where the crew stayed on board.

After the space flight

In contrast to Egorov, Feoktistov stayed in the cosmonaut corps and tried to get another space flight. In the process, he became a controversial figure. On the one hand he was supported by Korolev and later by his successor Mishin , on the other hand he encountered strong resistance from Kamanin and the cosmonauts due to his poor health. Although Kamanin also had reservations about other OKB-1 engineers, after appropriate training they received assignments to space flights from 1969, but not Feoktistow. Feoktistov later made further attempts to get to another space flight. In 1971 he was under discussion as a crew for the second DOS space station , but was not shortlisted. From May to October 1980 he trained together with Leonid Kisim and Oleg Makarow for the Soyuz T-3 flight , but was then removed from the team for health reasons and replaced by Gennady Strekalow .

On October 28, 1987 Feoktistow resigned from the cosmonaut corps for good, 23 years after his only space flight. He continued to work in the design office, which has since been renamed RKK Engerija. In 1990 he moved to the Bauman State Technical University in Moscow as a professor , until he retired in 2005.

He died on November 21, 2009 in Moscow at the age of 83. At the time, he was the oldest surviving Soviet cosmonaut. His grave is in the Troyekurovo cemetery in Moscow.

Others

In 1969, space travelers visited each other between the USSR and the USA. Feoktistow was one of the cosmonauts who looked after NASA astronaut Frank Borman and his wife during their visit to the Soviet Union in July 1969 . In return, he was able to travel to the USA for a return visit at the end of 1969 with Beregovoi .

He was a corresponding member of the International Academy of Astronautics .

In contrast to his superior Mishin, Feoktistow was a strong advocate of the DOS space station, which was to be developed in OKB-1 (then: ZKBEM). Past Mishin he turned in October 1969 against his instructions directly to the then Defense Minister Ustinow , which ultimately led to DOS being developed. The space station launched in April 1971 as Salyut 1 . Later he was involved in the development of a reusable spacecraft Sarja (not the later ISS module of the same name, cf. Sarja ) for up to 6 cosmonauts with a takeoff weight of 15 tons.

Feoktistow published more than 150 scientific papers and held over 20 patents. He was also the author of four books and co-author of two others.

Honors

Feoktistow received the following honors, among others:

See also

Web links

Commons : Konstantin Feoktistov  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ The only non-party cosmonaut in the Soviet Union died . RIA Novosti. November 23, 2009. Retrieved November 23, 2009.
  2. ^ Lost Contact. International Academy of Astronautics, accessed December 3, 2009 .
  3. ↑ Многоразовый космический корабль "Заря". buran.ru, June 14, 2006, accessed December 3, 2009 (Russian).
personal data
SURNAME Feoktistow, Konstantin Petrovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Феоктистов, Константин Петрович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION soviet cosmonaut
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Voronezh , Russian SFSR
DATE OF DEATH November 21, 2009
Place of death Moscow