Results 1 to 11 of 11
-
24th Apr 2007, 10:48 AM #1
Soyuz 1: Russia's own space tragedy
Today marks the fortieth anniversary of the tragic culmination of Soviet recklessness in spaceflight, as Vladimir Komarov becomes the first human to die in spaceflight, barely three months after NASA lost the Apollo 1 crew in a fire on the launch pad.
The Russian space program had seemed far ahead of NASA by 1965. They had launched the first satellite, the first animal in orbit, the first man in space. They had acheived flight duration records. They had launched the first three-man crew and performed the first spacewalk before NASA had even launched the first two-man Gemini spacecraft. But for two years, while NASA forged ahead with Gemini, shattering endurance records and running up their own tally of space firsts including rendezvous and docking, the USSR had remained oddly earthbound. Then, on April 23nd 1967, as NASA struggled with the death of the first Apollo crew, Soyuz 1 took to the skies. The following day, April 24th, the mission was unexpectedly cut short, and shortly afterwards the announcement was made that the pilot had died following re-entry.
What went wrong? It was not until many years later that the world became aware of just how much the Russian space program was geared towards making spectacular records rather than steady development. While they had amazed the world with their three-man Voskhod flight, it later emerged that Voskhod was simply a hastily redesigned Vostok capsule, with three couches crammed in place of a single ejector seat and no room for the crew to wear spacesuits. Soyuz, which would have been their three-man spacecraft, was at least a year from flight, so they took an apalling risk to launch three men in a modified Vostok. One of those men was Vladimir Komarov.
By 1967 they were well behind. Gemini had given NASA endurance records, EVA practice, rendezvous and docking, and many other benefits besides. If the Russians were to stay in the race they had to get off the ground again, and quickly. Soyuz 1 was rushed to be made ready for flight.
But it wasnt ready. Before launch over 200 flaws and problems were identified, any one of which could be disastrous. Vladimir Komarov, anecdotal evidence suggests, was sure he would not survive the flight, but took it on because he knew that Yuri Gagarin would be the next in rotation. He was unwilling to risk the life of a Hero of the Soviet Union by shirking his duties, as he saw them. He was launched into space, and almost immediately things went wrong. One solar panel refused to deploy, and the other was not enough on its own to supply power for the spacecraft. Powering down all non-essential systems, the Soyuz developed problems with the attitude control system and began to tumble in space. The planned Soyuz 2 launch, which would have carried three cosmonauts to a rendezvous and docking, with two of them crossing by EVA to Suyuz 1 for re-entry, was scrubbed and attention diverted to bringing Komarov down. It is reported that before re-entry his wife was brought to the space centre to speak to him, and, though his motion sickness, he bade her farewell. Then he performed the required procedures to slow the tumble, separate the re-entry module and return to Earth.
The capsule survived re-entry, but the relief was short-lived. A badly designed parachute compartment caused the main parachute to foul. It never deployed, the manually deployed reserve parachute tangled, and the capsule slammed into the ground so hard that, when they found the wreckage, it and its pilot were virtually unrecognisable. Vladimir Komarov, the first cosmonaut to fly in space a second time, was dead.
In a tragic mirror of Apollo 1, the resulting investigation and redesign resulted in a much improved Soyuz program. An inspection of the Soyuz 2 spacecraft showed the same problem with the parachute compartment. Had Soyuz 2 launched as well four cosmonauts could have been killed. The Soyuz spacecraft was redesigned and reworkd, and although it never made it to lunar flight, as had been intended, it became the workhorse of the Russian space program, and is still in use today.
-
25th Apr 2007, 7:43 AM #2
Again, another really interesting post, Jason. I know next to nothing about the various milestones and setbacks of the space race, and probably even less about what we've been doing post-moon landings, but I always find your posts on the subject very... well, for want of a better word, very educational. Thanks for posting that, even if it does reveal some unpleasant facts.
-
25th Apr 2007, 10:22 AM #3
Read this a while ago - just wanted to say that it was very interesting. Thanks for putting it up, Jason
Pity. I have no understanding of the word. It is not registered in my vocabulary bank. EXTERMINATE!
-
25th Apr 2007, 11:26 AM #4
I'm glad you both enjoyed it. What would you say to me making these space anniversary threads a regular thing? I like sharing the information, but I don't want to fill the board with things no-one is interested in.
-
25th Apr 2007, 12:15 PM #5
Perhaps it would sit better on The Vervoid, though most of the stuff on there is tele-visual/audio entertainment related.
I reckons keep them coming, but stick them on the same thread.Pity. I have no understanding of the word. It is not registered in my vocabulary bank. EXTERMINATE!
-
25th Apr 2007, 12:22 PM #6WhiteCrow Guest
Whats really interesting about this is that this first step into space stations had a tragic end, and yet the Russians became the experts in it.
-
25th Apr 2007, 5:58 PM #7
Keep them coming, Jason. I'm interested in this sort of thing myself, whether it be spaceflight-related or more generally astronomy-related. I just don't have time to trawl loads of websites myself at the moment, so it's a treat to find posts like these here on PS.
-
26th Apr 2007, 4:50 PM #8
OK, when the next one rolls around I shall start a new thread and then all subsequent ones will be put in that thread. It'll mainly be for significant things like firsts or accidents. If I put a post for every space-related anniversary there'd probably be one every day!
-
26th Apr 2007, 8:39 PM #9WhiteCrow Guest
-
26th Apr 2007, 9:33 PM #10
Also general thoughts on past space success stories and failures - anything from the Apollo lunar missions to the space shuttle and beyond, even the simple questions with almost uncomprehensible answers such as 'how big is the universe', current (and future) space missions, the Hubble space telescope etc....and that's just for starters! There's plenty worth talking about. Are there enough people interested in this stuff though to make such a thing viable?
-
26th Apr 2007, 9:53 PM #11WhiteCrow Guest
Similar Threads
-
For those interested in Romanov Imperial Russia
By Leah Betts in forum General ForumReplies: 0Last Post: 1st Feb 2014, 3:15 PM -
Meteorite damage in Russia!
By Jason Thompson in forum News and SportReplies: 25Last Post: 17th Feb 2013, 5:34 PM -
CC 2.1: Mother Russia
By Rob McCow in forum Big Finish and BBC AudiosReplies: 6Last Post: 26th Oct 2012, 1:22 AM -
Is Cancelling TV Programmes In The Wake Of Real Life Tragedy An Over-Reaction?
By Si Hunt in forum Film and TelevisionReplies: 57Last Post: 8th Jun 2010, 6:07 PM -
Russia Invades Georgia
By Milky Tears in forum General ForumReplies: 18Last Post: 15th Aug 2008, 10:03 PM
PSAudios 6.1. Bless You Doctor Who
[/URL] (Click for large version) Doctor Who A thrilling two-part adventure starring Brendan Jones & Paul Monk & Paul Monk Bless You,...
23rd Nov 2020, 3:02 PM