Vozhod 1
| Mission dates | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission: | Vozhod 1 | ||||||
| COSPAR-ID : | 1964-065A | ||||||
| Spacecraft: | Vozhod 3KW | ||||||
| Dimensions: | 5320 kg | ||||||
| Call sign: | Рубин (" ruby ") | ||||||
| Crew: | 3 | ||||||
| Begin: | October 12, 1964, 07:30 UT | ||||||
| Starting place: | Baikonur 1/5 | ||||||
| Landing: | October 13, 1964, 07:47 UT | ||||||
| Landing place: | 312 km NE of Qostanai 54 ° 2 ′ N , 68 ° 8 ′ E |
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| Flight duration: | 1d 0h 17min | ||||||
| Earth orbits: | 16 | ||||||
| Rotation time : | 90.04 min | ||||||
| Orbit inclination : | 64.9 ° | ||||||
| Apogee : | 377 km | ||||||
| Perigee : | 177 km | ||||||
| Covered track: | 669,800 km | ||||||
| ◄ Before / After ► | |||||||
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Woschod 1 [ vasˈxɔt ] (alternative spelling Woßchod , Russian Восход "sunrise") was a Soviet manned space flight. For the first time in the world a multi-seat spaceship was put into orbit and for the first time there were scientific astronauts among the space travelers.
preparation
After a successful group flight with Vostok 5 and Vostok 6 was carried out in June 1963 , which on the one hand set a new permanent record and on the other hand set the first woman in space, the Soviet manned space flight was in crisis. The capabilities of the Vostok spaceships were exhausted. No more spectacular first performances were to be expected.
The Americans prepared the Gemini program , whose steerable two-man spaceships were also intended for docking. The first unmanned test flight took place in April 1964 , the first manned take-off was scheduled for early 1965 .
During this phase, the Soviet leadership decided not to carry out any more Vostok flights and instead put several space travelers into orbit with converted Vostok spaceships. This new type of spaceship was named Woschod .
An unmanned Vozhod spacecraft was launched under the code name Kosmos 47 on October 6, 1964 and returned to Earth after 24 hours. This one test was enough to make a manned launch with three cosmonauts on board just a few days later.
crew
The selection of the crew was complex, because now not only trained pilots as cosmonauts came into question, but also other professional groups. In addition, not only did training play a role, but lobbying as well.
In March 1964 it was decided that Woschod 1 should be staffed with one cosmonaut each as commander, one doctor and one engineer.
The cosmonauts who were supposed to pilot the spaceship were those cosmonauts from the first selection group who had previously distinguished themselves in their training but had not yet completed a space flight, namely Boris Wolynov , Evgeny Chrunov , Pavel Belyayev , Alexei Leonov and Vladimir Komarov . Another candidate was Georgi Beregowoi , who later joined the cosmonaut group under political pressure. This selection was reduced in May 1964 to Wolynow, Komarow, Leonow and Chrunow.
Four doctors were considered for a further place on board Vozhod 1: Boris Jegorow , Boris Polyakov , Vasily Lasarew and Alexei Sorokin .
Third place on board should be taken by a scientist or engineer. At first Georgi Katys was the only candidate, but later Sergei Korolev , the head of the design office, presented other potential cosmonauts, including Konstantin Feoktistov , Vladislav Volkov , Georgi Grechko , Valeri Kubasov , Oleg Makarov and Nikolai Rukavishnikov .
In July 1964 there were only seven candidates left for the three Vozhod places: Komarov and Wolynov as commanders, Feoktistov and Katys as scientists, and Yegorov, Sorokin and Lazarev as doctors.
Nikolai Kamanin , head of cosmonaut training, elected Volynov, Katys and Egorov as the main crew on July 6th. The replacement team was formed from Komarow, Feoktistow and Sorokin.
Korolev tried through various channels to force his engineer Feoktistov into the main team. Although it was undisputed that Feoktistow, as a designer, had excellent knowledge of the spaceship, there were doubts about his health. His eyesight in particular was severely impaired.
In October, Komarow, Feoktistow and Jegorow were chosen at a higher level.
According to some sources, Katys lost his place in the main crew because his father was executed as an enemy of the state and he had siblings who lived in France. This is countered by the fact that Katys 'father was rehabilitated in 1957 and Katys' half-siblings had left Russia in 1910. Katys was until the final determination of the crew 2-3 days before takeoff as a candidate for Woschod 1 and in 1965 was nominated for the main crew of Woschod 3 for a long time , but this flight was repeatedly postponed and ultimately did not take place.
Main team
- Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov (1st flight), commander
- Boris Borissowitsch Jegorow (1st flight), doctor
- Konstantin Feoktistow (1st flight), engineer
Substitute team
- Boris Walentinowitsch Wolynow, commandant
- Georgi Petrovich Katys, science cosmonaut
- Alexei Wassiljewitsch Sorokin, doctor
Flight history
Woschod 1 took off on October 12, 1964 at 7:30 a.m. UT from launch complex 1 in Baikonur and reached the forecast orbit after just under nine minutes. During the second orbit, the crew sent a message of greeting to the Olympic Games in Tokyo , later television images were transmitted from the command capsule. The head of state and party leader Nikita Khrushchev spoke to the team from Moscow .
The duration of this space flight was relatively short at 24 hours and the landing of Woschod 1 took place on the following day at 0747 UT . The landing site was about 54 ° 2 'north, 68 ° 8' east, about 300 km northwest of Kustanai . In contrast to the Vostok spacecraft, the cosmonauts were not catapulted out with the ejector seat, but landed with the landing capsule. For this purpose, the capsule was braked with special missiles shortly before landing. The three cosmonauts got out of the landed capsule independently and waited for the rescue teams.
The team was taken to the nearest major city, Kustanai, but the usual phone call from Khrushchev failed to materialize. The following day, October 14, the cosmonauts returned to Baikonur, where it gradually became clear that extraordinary events were taking place in Moscow. The reception in Red Square , originally planned by Khrushchev , was postponed, the cosmonauts flew to Moscow on October 19, 1964, where they were received by thousands of Muscovites and the new party leader Leonid Brezhnev .
meaning
Like the Vostok flights, Vozhod 1 also attracted worldwide attention. Even before the US launched a two-seater spaceship, the Soviet Union had put a three-seater into orbit. The fact that only one of the three cosmonauts was a trained pilot and that no spacesuits were used suggested a high reliability of the Vozhod.
While the development of the Soyuz spaceship was further delayed, the Soviets planned more Vozhod flights. For spring 1965 a two-man flight was planned with Woschod 2 , during which a cosmonaut would leave a spaceship for the first time. Long-term flights and flights with female crew were also planned.
Trivia
As symbolic cargo, the Soviet spaceship carried not only images of Marx and Lenin but also the remnants of a flag of the Paris Commune with it into space.
Web links and sources
- Sven Grahn: The flight of Voskhod-1, what a surprise! (English)
- spacefacts.de: Woßchod 1
- Voskhod 1 ( Memento from January 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) on space.kursknet.ru (English / Russian)
- Woschod 1 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog (English)
- Первые пилотируемые космические корабли "Восток" и "Восход" (Russian)
Individual evidence
- ^ Asif Siddiqi: Challenge To Apollo: The Soviet Union and The Space Race, 1945–1974, pp. 416/417
- ↑ Nikolai Kamanin, Diaries, entries from September 2 and 24, 1964 in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English), accessed on February 12, 2018
- ↑ Katys biography at www.astronaut.ru (Russian), accessed February 12, 2018
- ↑ Landing of Voskhod. Russian Space Web, August 26, 2017, accessed September 25, 2017 .
- ↑ Rat at noon . In: Der Spiegel from April 15, 1968, last accessed on September 26, 2015.
