Set of postcards "Pilot-Cosmonauts of the USSR"
Publishing house "Plakat". Moscow, 1982
A-08632-82 Ed. No. 10r-1132. 1223211. C. 5 kop.
T. 360,000 eq.

The hero of the USSR

GAGARIN YURI ALEKSEEVICH

Member of the CPSU since 1960. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 6th and 7th convocations. Honorary Member of the International Academy for Astronautics and Space Research. Born March 9, 1934 in the city of Gzhatsk, Smolensk region.
On April 12, 1961, he performed the world's first space flight on the Vostok satellite ship: circled the globe in 1 hour 48 minutes and returned safely to Earth.
On March 27, 1968, he died while performing a training flight on an airplane. Buried in Red Square in Moscow. Name Gagarin Yu.A. awarded the Red Banner Order of Kutuzov Air Force Academy in Monino. His homeland - the city of Gzhatsk, is now renamed the city of Gagarin.
In the name of Yu.A. Gagarin named a crater on the far side of the Moon and a research ship of the USSR Academy of Sciences.


The hero of the USSR

BELYAEV PAVEL IVANOVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, colonel.
Member of the CPSU since 1949.
Born on June 26, 1925 in the village of Chelishchevo, Vologda Oblast.
The flight into space was made on March 18-19, 1965, together with Leonov A.A. as commander of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. During the flight, for the first time in the history of cosmonautics, cosmonaut A. A. Leonov made an exit from the cockpit of a spacecraft into outer space.
For the first time, a spacecraft was descent from orbit using a manual control system. The flight program was completed in full.
Belyaev P.I. died January 10, 1970. In the name of Belyaev P.I. the research ship of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR is named.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

SHATALOV VLADIMIR ALEKSANDROVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, lieutenant general of aviation, candidate of technical sciences.
Member of the CPSU since 1953.
Born on December 8, 1927 in the city of Petropavlovsk, North Kazakhstan region. He made his first flight into space on January 14-17, 1969 as commander of the Soyuz-4 spacecraft.
In flight, for the first time, manual docking of the Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5 spacecraft was performed, and thus an experimental space station was created, astronauts Eliseev A.S. passed through open space. and Khrunova E.V. from the Soyuz-5 spacecraft to the Soyuz-4 spacecraft.
The second flight into space was made on October 13-18, 1969, together with Eliseev A.S. as commander of the Soyuz-8 spacecraft. It was a group flight of three Soviet spacecraft: Soyuz-6, Soyuz-7, Soyuz-8.
The third flight into space was made on April 23-25, 1971 as the commander of the Soyuz-10 spacecraft together with Eliseev A.S. and Rukavishnikov N.N.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

LEONOV ALEXEY ARKHIPOVICH

Member of the CPSU since 1957.
Born on May 30, 1934 in the village of Listvyanka, Kemerovo Region.
The first flight into space was made on March 18-19, 1965, together with Belyaev P.I. as co-pilot on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft.
For the first time in the world, Leonov A. A. stepped out of the cockpit of a spacecraft into outer space and performed a number of experiments outside the spacecraft. The second space flight was made on July 15-21, 1975, together with V.N. Kubasov. on the Soyuz-19 spacecraft. It was the world's first joint flight of the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft and the American Apollo.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

FILIPCHENKO ANATOLY VASILIEVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Major General of Aviation. Member of the CPSU since 1952.
Born on February 26, 1928 in the village of Davydovka, Voronezh Region.
He made the first flight into space with
Volkov V.N. and Gorbatko V.V. October 12-17, 1969 as commander of the Soyuz-7 spacecraft.
The second space flight was made on December 2-8, 1974, together with N.N. Rukavishnikov. as commander of the Soyuz-16 spacecraft. The flight was carried out in terms of preparation for a joint Soviet-American flight under the ASTP program. In flight, tests of the modified spacecraft systems were carried out and a conclusion was given on the possibility of their use in a joint Soviet-American flight.


The hero of the USSR

DOBROVOLSKII GEORGY TIMOFEEVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, lieutenant colonel. Member of the CPSU since 1954.
Born on June 1, 1928 in the city of Odessa. He made a space flight on June 6-30, 1971 as the commander of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft and the Salyut orbital station together with V.N. Volkov. and Patsaev V.I.
The Soyuz-11 spacecraft successfully docked with the Salyut orbital station.
The crew went through the internal transition system to the world's first orbital station, during the flight comprehensively checked the performance of its systems, and tested all the equipment of the station. The flight program was completed in full. During descent from orbit due to depressurization of the descent vehicle, the crew died. Dobrovolsky Georgy Timofeevich was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In the name of Dobrovolsky G.T. Named research ship of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.


The hero of the USSR

DEMIN LEV STEPANOVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, colonel-engineer, candidate of technical sciences. Member of the CPSU since 1956.
Born on January 1, 1926 in Moscow. He made a space flight on August 26-28, 1974, together with G.V. Sarafanov. as a flight engineer of the Soyuz-15 spacecraft.
During the two-day flight, the crew carried out scientific and technical experiments, practiced maneuvering and rendezvous with the Salyut-3 orbital station in various flight modes.



The hero of the USSR
KIZIM LEONID DENISOVICH
Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, colonel.
Member of the CPSU since 1966.
Born on August 5, 1941 in the city of Krasny Liman, Donetsk region.
He made a space flight on November 27 - December 10, 1980, together with Makarov O.G. and Strekalov G.M. as a crew commander on the Soyuz T-3 spacecraft and the Salyut-6 orbital station.
This was the first test flight of a Soyuz T spacecraft in a three-seat version.
During the flight, the onboard systems and structural elements of the improved Soyuz T-3 transport spacecraft were tested in various flight modes, a number of complex maintenance work was carried out, experiments in space materials science, and biomedical research were carried out.
The work carried out by the cosmonauts at the Salyut-6 station opens up new prospects for the development of manned long-term orbital complexes and for increasing the efficiency of their use in the interests of science and the national economy.


The hero of the USSR

SARAFANOV GENNADY VASILIEVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, colonel.
Member of the CPSU since 1963.
Born on January 1, 1942 in the village of Sinenky, Saratov Region.
He made a space flight on August 26-28, 1974, together with Demin L.S. as commander of the Soyuz-15 spacecraft. During the two-day flight, the crew carried out scientific and technical experiments, practiced maneuvering and rendezvous with the Salyut-3 orbital station in various flight modes.
When returning to Earth, for the first time methods and means of searching for and evacuating the crew of a spacecraft that landed at night were worked out.


The hero of the USSR

ZHOLOBOV VITALY MIKHAILOVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, colonel-engineer.
Member of the CPSU since 1966.
Born on June 18, 1937 in the village of Zburyevka, Kherson region. He made a space flight from July 6 to August 24, 1976, together with B. V. Volynov, as a flight engineer of the Soyuz-21 spacecraft and the Salyut-5 orbital station.
Extensive and valuable scientific information on the physical characteristics of the atmosphere was obtained during the space flight
Earth and Sun. On board the orbital station, studies were carried out that showed how various physical processes and
technological operations in zero gravity. Studies of the reaction of the human body to the action of factors of long-term space flight have been carried out.

Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

KLIMUK PETER ILYICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Major General of Aviation.
Member of the CPSU since 1963.
Born on July 10, 1942 in the village of Komarovka, Brest Region.
He made his first flight into space as a crew commander on the Soyuz-13 spacecraft together with V.V. Lebedev. December 18-26, 1973. In flight, valuable scientific observations were made with the help of the Orion-2 telescope system.
The second space flight was made from May 24 to July 26, 1975, together with Sevastyanov V.I. as commander of the Soyuz-18 spacecraft.
He performed the third space flight from June 27 to July 5, 1978 as the commander of the international crew together with cosmonaut-researcher citizen of the Polish People's Republic Miroslav Germashevsky on the Soyuz-30 spacecraft and the Salyut-6 orbital station.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

MAKAROV OLEG GRIGORIEVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, candidate of technical sciences. Member of the CPSU since 1961. Born on January 6, 1933 in the village of Udomlya, Kalinin Region.
He made his first flight into space on September 27-29, 1973, together with V. G. Lazarev, as a flight engineer on the Soyuz-12 spacecraft.
The second flight into space was made on January 10-16, 1978, together with Dzhanibekov V.A. as a flight engineer of the Soyuz-27 spacecraft.

The third space flight was performed from November 27 to December 10, 1980 as a flight engineer of the Soyuz T-3 spacecraft and the Salyut-6 station together with the crew commander Kizim L.D. and cosmonaut-researcher Strekalov G.M. This was the first flight of a Soyuz T spacecraft in a three-seat version.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

KUBASOV VALERY NIKOLAEVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, candidate of technical sciences.
Member of the CPSU since 1968.
Born on January 7, 1935 in the city of Vyazniki, Vladimir Region.
The first space flight was made on October 11-16, 1969, together with Shonin G.S. as a flight engineer of the Soyuz-6 spacecraft.
The flight took place simultaneously with the flight of the Soyuz-7 and Soyuz-8 spacecraft. The second space flight was made on July 15-21, 1975, together with A. A. Leonov as a flight engineer of the Soyuz-19 spacecraft.
It was the first international flight in the world, in which the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft and the American Apollo spacecraft took part.
He performed the third space flight as a commander of an international crew together with cosmonaut-researcher citizen of the Hungarian People's Republic Bertalan Farkas from May 26 to June 3, 1980 on the Soyuz-36 - Salyut-6 space complex.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

VOLYNOV BORIS VALENTINOVYCH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, colonel.
Member of the CPSU since 1958.
Born on December 18, 1934 in the city of Irkutsk. He made his first flight into space on January 15-18, 1969 as the commander of the Soyuz-5 spacecraft together with Eliseev A.S. and Khrunov E.V. Cosmonauts Eliseev A.S. and Khrunov E.V. for the first time in the world they crossed through outer space into the Soyuz-4 spacecraft, on which they landed.
The second space flight was made from July 6 to August 24, 1976, together with V.M. Zholobov. on the Soyuz-21 spacecraft and the Salyut-5 orbital station.
During the space flight, extensive and valuable scientific information on the physical characteristics of the Earth's atmosphere was obtained.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

KOMAROV VLADIMIR MIKHAILOVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, colonel-engineer. Member of the CPSU since 1952.
Born March 16, 1927 in Moscow. The first flight into space was made on October 12-13, 1964, together with Feoktistov K.P. and Egorov B. B. as commander of the multi-seat spacecraft “Voskhodo. The second flight into space was made on April 23-24, 1967 on the Soyuz-1 spacecraft. During the test flight, the program for testing the systems of the new ship was fully completed, and the planned scientific experiments were carried out.
When returning to Earth, due to the off-design operation of the parachute system, the ship was descending at a high speed, which led to the death of the astronaut.
Komarov Vladimir Mikhailovich was posthumously awarded the second title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In the name of Komarov V.M. Named research ship of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

NIKOLAEV ANDRIYAN GRIGORIEVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, major general of aviation, candidate of technical sciences.
Member of the CPSU since 1957.
Born on September 5, 1929 in the village of Shorshely, Chuvash ASSR.
He made his first flight into space on August 11-15, 1962 on the Vostok-3 spacecraft. It was the first multi-day group flight in the history of space exploration. It took place simultaneously with the flight of the Vostok-4 spacecraft, piloted by Popovich P.R.
During the flight, valuable information was obtained showing what effect the state of weightlessness has for a long time under the same experimental conditions on different organisms. He made his second flight into space on June 1-19, 1970 as the commander of the Soyuz-9 spacecraft together with Sevastyanov V.I.
It was the longest autonomous flight of a Soyuz-type manned spacecraft.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

POPOVICH PAVEL ROMANOVYCH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, major general of aviation, candidate of technical sciences.
Member of the CPSU since 1957.
Born on October 5, 1930 in the village of Uzin, Kyiv region.
He made his first flight into space on August 12-15, 1962 on the Vostok-4 spacecraft. The flight took place simultaneously with the flight of the Vostok-3 spacecraft.
It was the first multi-day group flight in the history of space exploration.
The second flight into space was made on July 3-19, 1974, together with Yu.P. Artyukhin. on the Soyuz-14 spacecraft and the Salyut-3 orbital station.
On board the orbital station, the crew carried out numerous experiments and observations of great importance for solving many problems of science, technology, and the national economy.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

BYKOVSKY VALERY FYODOROVYCH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, colonel, candidate of technical sciences. Member of the CPSU since 1963. Born on August 2, 1934 in the city of Pavlovsky Posad, Moscow Region. He made his first flight into space on June 14-19, 1963 on the Vostok-5 spacecraft. The flight took place simultaneously with the flight of the Vostok-6 spacecraft piloted by V.V. Tereshkova.
He made his second flight into space on September 15-23, 1976 as the commander of the Soyuz-22 spacecraft together with V.V. Aksenov.
The third space flight was performed from August 26 to September 3, 1978 as the commander of the international crew with the cosmonaut-researcher, a citizen of the German Democratic Republic Jan Sigmund on the Soyuz-31 spacecraft.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

BEREGOVOI GEORGE TIMOFEEVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, Lieutenant General of Aviation, Candidate of Psychological Sciences. Member of the CPSU since 1943.
Born on April 15, 1921 in the village of Fedorov, Poltava region.
He made a space flight on October 26-30, 1968 on the Soyuz-3 spacecraft. During the flight, the spacecraft was repeatedly maneuvered in orbit and rendezvoused with the Soyuz-2 unmanned spacecraft. A number of technical experiments were carried out to test the systems and equipment of the Soyuz spacecraft, as well as observations to study near-Earth outer space.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

DZHANIBEKOV VLADIMIR ALEKSANDROVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, colonel.
Member of the CPSU since 1970.
Born on May 13, 1942 in the village of Iskandar, Tashkent region.
The first space flight was made on January 10-16, 1978, together with O.G. Makarov. as the crew commander of the Soyuz-27 spacecraft.
For the first time in the history of cosmonautics, a manned research complex was created in near-Earth orbit, consisting of an orbital station and two spacecraft: Soyuz-26 and Soyuz-27.
The second space flight was made on March 22-30, 1981 as the commander of the international crew together with the cosmonaut-researcher citizen of the Mongolian People's Republic Zhugderdemidiyny Gurragchay on the Soyuz-39 spacecraft and the Salyut-6 orbital station.


The hero of the USSR

TITOV GERMAN STEPANOVICH

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, lieutenant general of aviation, candidate of military sciences.
Member of the CPSU since 1961.
Born on September 11, 1935 in the village of Upper Zhilino, Altai Territory.
In preparation for the world's first manned space flight, he was a stand-in for cosmonaut-1 - Yu.A. Gagarin. He made a space flight on August 6-7, 1961 on the Vostok-2 satellite ship.
It was the world's first multi-turn flight: in 25 hours and 11 minutes, Vostok-2 made over 17 turns around the Earth, flying a distance of 703,143 kilometers.
The flight made it possible to evaluate the influence of the weightlessness factor on the human body and its performance during a daily stay in outer space.


Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

Ryumin Valery Viktorovich

Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR. Member of the CPSU since 1972.
Born on August 16, 1939 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
He made a space flight on October 9-11, 1977, together with V.V. Kovalenko. as a flight engineer on the Soyuz-25 spacecraft.
The second space flight was made from February 25 to August 19, 1979, together with V.A. Lyakhov. as a flight engineer on the Soyuz-32 spacecraft and the Salyut-6 orbital station. During the flight, the crew performed a large amount of scientific, technical, biomedical experiments and research. At the final stage of the flight, the crew performed a spacewalk. He performed the third flight into space from April 9 to October 11, 1980 as a flight engineer of the Soyuz-35 - Salyut-6 space complex together with Popov L.I.
During the 185-day flight, a large amount of various studies, experiments, as well as repair and restoration work was carried out.

“Two things strike my fancy:
starry sky above
and the moral law within us"
I. Kant

The mysterious and unknown has always attracted and captivated the human mind and imagination. Apologists for science say that this property of the mind is just one of the instincts transmitted genetically. For a religious person, the reason for the craving for creativity and research lies in the field of metaphysics; it is this quality that opens the possibility for a person to become a co-creator of the Almighty. The third will say that creativity and research are the objective needs of people, as they provide an active transformation of the surrounding space in accordance with their needs and desires. We believe that all these points of view not only do not contradict each other, but also complement each other. They reflect those facets of truth that were revealed to a particular person.

Be that as it may, but it was the starry sky and the cosmos that represented one of the greatest secrets that people have tried to learn from the very beginning of their existence. Already the first civilizations known to us made attempts to explore space. But only with the invention of the telescope in 1608 by John Lippershey, mankind was able to more thoroughly engage in space exploration. And the exponential development of engineering and technology in the 20th century made it possible not only to contemplate the starry sky, but also to “touch it with your hand”. The Soviet Union became the flagship in this process.

In this article we will talk about the formation of astronautics in the USSR.

SPACE IN THE USSR

“What seemed unrealizable for centuries, which yesterday was only a daring dream, today becomes a real task, and tomorrow an accomplishment.”

S.P. Korolev

Astronautics as a science, and then as a practical branch, was formed in the middle of the 20th century. But this was preceded by a fascinating story of the birth and development of the idea of ​​space flight, which was initiated by fantasy, and only then did the first theoretical work and experiments appear. So, initially, in human dreams, flight into space was carried out with the help of fabulous means or forces of nature (tornadoes, hurricanes). Closer to the 20th century, technical means were already present in the descriptions of science fiction writers for these purposes - balloons, super-powerful cannons and, finally, rocket engines and rockets themselves. More than one generation of young romantics grew up on the works of J. Verne, G. Wells, A. Tolstoy, A. Kazantsev, the basis of which was the description of space travel.

Everything stated by science fiction writers excited the minds of scientists. So, K.E. Tsiolkovsky said:

“At first they inevitably come: thought, fantasy, fairy tale, and after them the exact calculation marches.”

Tsiolkovsky and the designer of the first Soviet liquid rocket GIRD-09 M.K.Tikhonravov

The publication at the beginning of the 20th century of the theoretical works of the pioneers of astronautics K.E. Tsiolkovsky, F.A. Tsander, Yu.V. Kondratyuk, R.Kh. Goddard, G. Ganswindt, R. Eno-Peltri, G. Oberth, W. Gohmann to some extent limited the flight of fantasy, but at the same time brought to life new directions in science - there were attempts to determine what astronautics can give to society and how it affects him.

It must be said that the idea to combine the cosmic and terrestrial areas of human activity belongs to the founder of theoretical astronautics K.E. Tsiolkovsky. When the scientist said:

"The planet is the cradle of the mind, but you can't live forever in the cradle"

He did not put forward an alternative - either the Earth or space. Tsiolkovsky never considered going into space a consequence of some kind of hopelessness of life on Earth. On the contrary, he spoke about the rational transformation of the nature of our planet by the power of reason. People, the scientist said,

“will change the surface of the Earth, its oceans, atmosphere, plants, and themselves. They will control the climate and will dispose within the solar system, as on the Earth itself, which will remain the dwelling of mankind for an indefinitely long time.

THE BEGINNING OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPACE PROGRAM IN THE USSR

In the USSR, the beginning of practical work on space programs is associated with the names of S.P. Koroleva and M.K. Tikhonravova. At the beginning of 1945, M.K. Tikhonravov organized a group of specialists from the RNII to develop a project for a manned high-altitude rocket vehicle (a cabin with two astronauts) to study the upper atmosphere. The group included N.G. Chernyshev, P.I. Ivanov, V.N. Galkovsky, G.M. Moskalenko and others. It was decided to create the project on the basis of a single-stage liquid-propellant rocket designed for vertical flight to a height of up to 200 km.

One of the launches within the "BP-190 Project"

This project (it was called VR-190) provided for the solution of the following tasks:

• study of weightlessness conditions in a short-term free flight of a person in a pressurized cabin;
• study of the movement of the center of mass of the cabin and its movement near the center of mass after separation from the launch vehicle;
• obtaining data on the upper layers of the atmosphere;
• checking the performance of systems (separation, descent, stabilization, landing, etc.) included in the design of the high-altitude cabin.

In the BP-190 project, the following solutions were proposed for the first time, which have found application in modern spacecraft:

• parachute descent system, braking rocket engine for soft landing, separation system using pyrobolts;
• electrocontact rod for predictive ignition of the soft landing engine, non-ejection pressurized cabin with a life support system;
• cockpit stabilization system outside the dense layers of the atmosphere using low-thrust nozzles.

In general, the BP-190 project was a set of new technical solutions and concepts, now confirmed by the development of domestic and foreign rocket and space technology. In 1946, the materials of the BP-190 project were reported to M.K. Tikhonravov I.V. Stalin. Since 1947, Tikhonravov and his group have been working on the idea of ​​a rocket package, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he shows the possibility of obtaining the first space velocity and launching an artificial Earth satellite (AES) using the rocket base being developed at that time in the country. In 1950 - 1953, the efforts of the employees of the M.K. Tikhonravov were aimed at studying the problems of creating composite launch vehicles and artificial satellites.

Work began on preparations for the launch of the first satellite PS-1. The first Council of Chief Designers headed by S.P. Korolev, who later led the space program of the USSR, which became the world leader in space exploration. Created under the leadership of S.P. Korolev OKB-1-TsKBEM-NPO Energia became the center of space science and industry in the USSR since the early 1950s.

Cosmonautics is unique in that much of what was predicted first by science fiction writers and then by scientists has come true with cosmic speed. Already on October 4, 1957 - only 12 years after the end of the most destructive Great Patriotic War - from a comic airfield located in the city of Baikonur, a launch vehicle called Sputnik was launched, subsequently launched into low Earth orbit - it was the very first satellite created by human hands and launched from Earth. The launch of this rocket marked a new era in the development of space research. A month later, the USSR launched the second artificial satellite of the Earth. At the same time, the unique feature of this satellite was that the first living being brought outside the Earth was placed in it. A dog named Laika was placed on board the satellite.

The triumph of cosmonautics was the launch on April 12, 1961 of the first man into space - Yu.A. Gagarin (http://inance.ru/2015/04/den-cosmonavtiki/). Then - group flight, human spacewalk, the creation of orbital stations "Salyut", "Mir" ... The USSR for a long time became the leading country in the world in manned programs. tasks, to the creation of large-scale space systems in the interests of solving a wide range of problems (including socio-economic and scientific ones).

Yuri Gagarin dressed as an astronaut

Other important achievements of cosmonautics in the USSR

But besides such world-famous achievements, what else did Soviet space science achieve in the 20th century?

Let's start with the fact that powerful liquid-propellant rocket engines were developed to communicate cosmic speeds to launch vehicles. In this area, the merit of V.P. Glushko. The creation of such engines became possible due to the implementation of new scientific ideas and schemes, which practically exclude losses in the drive of turbopump units. The development of launch vehicles and liquid rocket engines contributed to the development of thermo-, hydro- and gas dynamics, the theory of heat transfer and strength, metallurgy of high-strength and heat-resistant materials, fuel chemistry, measuring equipment, vacuum and plasma technology. Solid propellant and other types of rocket engines were further developed.

In the early 1950s Soviet scientists M.V. Keldysh, V.A. Kotelnikov, A.Yu. Ishlinsky, L.I. Sedov, B.V. Rauschenbakh and others developed mathematical laws and navigational and ballistic support for space flights.

The tasks that arose during the preparation and implementation of space flights served as an impetus for the intensive development of such general scientific disciplines as celestial and theoretical mechanics. The widespread use of new mathematical methods and the creation of perfect computers made it possible to solve the most complex problems of designing spacecraft orbits and controlling them during flight, and as a result, a new scientific discipline arose - the dynamics of space flight.

Design bureaus headed by N.A. Pilyugin and V.I. Kuznetsov, created unique control systems for rocket and space technology with high reliability.

At the same time, V.P. Glushko, A.M. Isaev created the world's foremost school of practical rocket engine building. And the theoretical foundations of this school were laid back in the 1930s, at the dawn of Russian rocket science.

Rocket UR-200

Thanks to the intense creative work of the design bureaus under the leadership of V.M. Myasishcheva, V.N. Chelomeya, D.A. Polukhin, work was carried out to create large-sized especially strong shells. This became the basis for the creation of powerful intercontinental missiles UR-200, UR-500, UR-700, and then the manned stations "Salyut", "Almaz", "Mir", modules of the twenty-ton class "Quantum", "Crystal", "Priroda" , Spektr, modern modules for the International Space Station (ISS) Zarya and Zvezda, launch vehicles of the Proton family.

A lot of work on the creation of launch vehicles based on ballistic missiles was carried out at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, headed by M.K. Yangel. The reliability of these light-class launch vehicles was unparalleled in world cosmonautics at that time. In the same design bureau under the leadership of V.F. Utkin created a medium-class launch vehicle "Zenith" - a representative of the second generation of launch vehicles.

During the four decades of the development of cosmonautics in the USSR, the capabilities of control systems for carrier rockets and spacecraft have increased significantly. If in 1957 - 1958. when launching artificial satellites into orbit around the Earth, an error of several tens of kilometers was allowed, then by the mid-1960s. the accuracy of the control systems was already so high that it allowed the spacecraft launched to the moon to land on its surface with a deviation of only 5 km from the intended point. Control systems designed by N.A. Pilyugin were among the best in the world.

The great achievements of astronautics in the field of space communications, television broadcasting, relaying and navigation, the transition to high-speed lines made it possible already in 1965 to transmit photographs of the planet Mars to Earth from a distance exceeding 200 million km, and in 1980 an image of Saturn was transmitted to Earth from a distance of about 1.5 billion km. Scientific and Production Association of Applied Mechanics, headed by M.F. Reshetnev, was originally created as a branch of the OKB S.P. Queen; today this NGO is one of the world leaders in the development of spacecraft for such purposes.

Qualitative changes have also taken place in the field of manned flights. The ability to work successfully outside a spacecraft was first proven by Soviet cosmonauts in the 1960s and 1970s, and in the 1980s and 1990s. demonstrated the ability of a person to live and work in zero gravity for a year. During the flights, a large number of experiments were also carried out - technical, geophysical and astronomical.

In 1967, during the automatic docking of two unmanned artificial Earth satellites Kosmos-186 and Kosmos-188, the largest scientific and technical problem of rendezvous and docking of spacecraft in space was solved, which made it possible in a relatively short time to create the first orbital station (USSR) and choose the most rational scheme for the flight of spacecraft to the Moon with the landing of earthlings on its surface.

In general, the solution of various problems of space exploration - from launches of artificial Earth satellites to launches of interplanetary spacecraft and manned ships and stations - provided a lot of invaluable scientific information about the Universe and the planets of the solar system and significantly contributed to the technological progress of mankind. Earth satellites, together with sounding rockets, made it possible to obtain detailed data on near-Earth outer space. Thus, with the help of the first artificial satellites, radiation belts were discovered; in the course of their study, the interaction of the Earth with charged particles emitted by the Sun was studied in more depth. Interplanetary space flights have helped us to better understand the nature of many planetary phenomena - the solar wind, solar storms, meteor showers, etc.

Spacecraft launched to the Moon transmitted pictures of its surface, photographed, including its invisible side from the Earth, with a resolution that significantly exceeds the capabilities of terrestrial means. Samples of lunar soil were taken, and automatic self-propelled vehicles Lunokhod-1 and Lunokhod-2 were delivered to the lunar surface.

Lunokhod-1

Automatic spacecraft made it possible to obtain additional information about the shape and gravitational field of the Earth, to clarify the fine details of the shape of the Earth and its magnetic field. Artificial satellites have helped to obtain more accurate data on the mass, shape and orbit of the moon. The masses of Venus and Mars have also been refined using observations of spacecraft flight paths.

A great contribution to the development of advanced technology was made by the design, manufacture and operation of very complex space systems. Automatic spacecraft sent to the planets are, in fact, robots controlled from the Earth by radio commands. The need to develop reliable systems for solving problems of this kind has led to a better understanding of the problem of analysis and synthesis of various complex technical systems. Such systems today find application both in space research and in many other areas of human activity. The requirements of cosmonautics necessitated the design of complex automatic devices under severe restrictions caused by the carrying capacity of launch vehicles and the conditions of outer space, which was an additional incentive for the rapid improvement of automation and microelectronics.

The undoubted success of world cosmonautics was the implementation of the ASTP program, the final stage of which - the launch and docking in orbit of the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft - was carried out in July 1975.

Soyuz-Apollo docking

This flight marked the beginning of international programs that successfully developed in the last quarter of the 20th century and whose undoubted success was the manufacture, launch and assembly in orbit of the International Space Station. Of particular importance is international cooperation in the field of space services, where the leading place belongs to the GKNPTs them. M.V. Khrunichev.

REASONS FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE USSR IN THE SPACE INDUSTRY

What were the main reasons why the USSR became the flagship in the exploration and exploration of near space? What features of the Soviet approach to the development of cosmonautics provided such a breakthrough?

Undoubtedly, a number of factors influenced the formation and development of cosmonautics in the USSR. These are the historical traditions of the development of science and technology, the theoretical legacy of earlier periods, the innovative activities of individual outstanding personalities - the founders of the RCT, their ability to take scientific risks; a combination of the necessary level of development of the theoretical base and the economic possibilities of their practical implementation; sufficient baggage of fundamental scientific research - but all these factors could not have worked so effectively without the participation of the mechanism of the party and economic management of the country, which is commonly called the administrative-command system. At the same time, this dependence is also reversed, the “system” can set a task, mobilize resources, tighten the political regime, that is, help or hinder, but not generate scientific and design ideas. Improving the education system and providing access to it to all segments of the population, the authorities have only opened up an opportunity for the development of cognitive and creative potential. The main task fell on the shoulders of Soviet workers. And for the time being they coped with this task with dignity. That is, success in the conquest of space was determined mainly not by the system, but by the genius of people.

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A powerful impetus to the development of the space industry was given by the Second World War, as a result of which two superpowers appeared in the world - the USSR and the USA. Moreover, at the end of the war, America had a monopoly on atomic weapons, demonstrating its capabilities by dropping bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Soviet Union had to eliminate its backlog in the military industry as soon as possible. An arms race has begun.

RDS-1 - the first Soviet implosion-type atomic bomb with plutonium. Bomb power - 22 kilotons, length 3.7 m, diameter 1.5 m, weight 4.6 tons

Within five years of the war, the USSR created its own atomic bomb, while working on the means of delivering nuclear projectiles - missiles. The fact is that in the NATO countries, missiles of relatively small weight were on alert, which would be enough in a matter of minutes to carry a deadly load to our territory. And the Soviet Union did not have military bases off the coast of the United States. Our country, like air, needed heavy intercontinental ballistic missiles with a warhead weight of 5.5 tons.

Such a rocket was commissioned to build engineer Sergei Korolev. This was known only to a limited circle of specialists associated with the rocket industry. Only after his death, millions of people learned the name of the chief designer, who actually headed all Soviet space research for ten years - from 1957 to 1966.

"Sergei Korolev, more than anyone else, is credited with making the space age a reality."

Swedish astrophysicist Hannes Alven - Nobel laureate

From an early age, the young designer had the idea to build a rocket plane - a rocket-powered spacecraft. Korolev's dreams quickly began to come true thanks to his acquaintance with a prominent enthusiast of interplanetary flights, Friedrich Arturovich Zander. Together with him, Korolev created the Jet Propulsion Study Group (GIDR) at Osoaviakhim, which soon turned into the Jet Research Institute (RNII). The Queen was appointed Deputy Director for Science.

However, the era of the Great Terror intervened in the decisive step of Soviet space science. 1937 dealt a devastating blow to the nascent industry. Almost all employees of the RNII were arrested, experiments and research were curtailed. On June 27, 1938, they came for Korolev. From imminent death, he was saved by work in the so-called sharashka, prison design bureaus under the NKVD (these institutions are described in detail by Alexander Solzhenitsyn in the novel "In the First Circle").

In 1940, Sergei Korolev was returned to Moscow and included in the group of Andrei Tupolev, which was engaged in the creation of a new generation of heavy bombers. Two years later, Korolev developed projects for a jet-powered interceptor aircraft, and in 1943 he built a rocket booster for combat fighters. In September 1945, together with other Soviet specialists, he was sent to study captured equipment, in particular V-2 rockets, in Germany, and a few months later a new industry, the rocket industry, was created in the USSR. On its basis, space programs began to be developed in the future. Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was appointed chief designer of long-range missiles. A youthful dream began to take shape.

In a very short time, Korolev's design bureau developed and launched the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile R-1, designed the R-2 and R-3, and then the world's first strategic intercontinental missiles R-5 and R-7. "Seven" - a masterpiece of royal thought - had a record launch weight of 280 tons and a length of 34.2 meters.

The rocket industry, created for military needs, was engaged in peaceful science only indirectly. But Sergei Korolev, who never left thoughts about space, thought about sending a scientific laboratory into space. Although this idea had to be abandoned, limiting itself to an artificial earth satellite (AES). The fact is that the Soviet leadership had to by all means overtake the United States, which was also preparing its satellite for dispatch.

On October 6, 1957, Soviet newspapers stated: "An artificial Earth satellite was launched in the USSR." And all the newspapers of the world were full of screaming headlines.

In the United States, the advent of satellite only added fuel to the Cold War. The Americans went to great lengths to decipher the satellite signals, believing they were signs for missile strikes or tracking. In fact, the satellite was a metal ball with a radio transmitter inside. Nevertheless, the launch of an artificial Earth satellite proved the superiority of the USSR in rocket science.

Khrushchev told Korolyov: "Now start something new by November 7th." Thus, the designer was given only five weeks to prepare a new launch of the spacecraft. With a passenger on board. In November 1957, on the second satellite, a dog named Laika went into space, becoming the "first living astronaut" of the Earth.

For the USSR, the launch of both a near-Earth satellite and a satellite with a living being on board was a huge propaganda victory and at the same time a resounding slap in the face to America.

On December 6, 1957, in a festive atmosphere with a large gathering of people at Cape Canaveral, the launch of the first American satellite was to take place. Millions of Americans clung to the TV screens, the launch of the rocket was supposed to be shown live. The rocket was able to rise only 1.2 m, after which it tilted and exploded.

The next stage of the competition was sending a man into orbit. Moreover, increasing the reliability of aircraft made this task feasible. Until the last days before the flight, it was not known who would be the first: Yuri Gagarin or German Titov. On April 9, the State Commission finally made a decision: Gagarin was flying, Titov remained an understudy.

At this time, American engineers were strenuously trying to catch up with the USSR and do everything possible so that the first person to go into space was an American. Astronaut Alan Shepard's flight was scheduled for March 6, 1961. The score in the confrontation went on for days. But Shepard's expedition was delayed until May 5 due to cloud cover and heavy winds.

Yuri Gagarin - first cosmonaut

At 9:00 7 minutes on April 12, 1961, Gagarin's famous "Let's go!" sounded. The first man went into space. It took Gagarin 1 hour 48 minutes to circumnavigate the planet. At 10:55 a.m., the capsule of his descent module landed safely near the village of Smelovka, Saratov Region. The news about “108 minutes that shook the world” instantly circled the globe, and the smile of the first cosmonaut became a symbol and a synonym for sincerity, being called “Gagarin’s”.

Alan Shepard became the second man in space after just four weeks. But his fifteen-minute suborbital flight was a disappointment amid Yuri Gagarin's triumph.

The space race was only gaining momentum. To wipe the nose of the Russians, the Americans decided to bet on the exploration of the moon. The United States is beginning to invest heavily in the lunar program.

On August 6, 1961, German Titov became the first man in space to spend more than a day in orbit, making 17 orbits around the Earth.
June 14, 1963 Valery Bykovsky is in Earth orbit for almost five days - the longest solo flight.

Just two days later, on June 16, Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, went into orbit.

In 1964, a new Voskhod spacecraft was created, designed for a multi-seat crew.
On March 18, 1965, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made his first spacewalk.
His report to the state commission was brief: "You can live and work in outer space."

On January 14, 1966, Sergei Korolev dies during a many-hour heart operation. The funeral with state honors took place on Red Square in Moscow.

But the battle for space continued. Over time, spacecraft became more and more perfect, new launch vehicles appeared. The transition from experimental flights to permanent long-term work in space was associated with the Soyuz program. A new type of spacecraft has been successfully used in near-Earth orbits since the late 60s. On the vehicles of this series, dockings were carried out in space, numerous technological experiments were carried out, scientific research of the globe was carried out, and records were set for the duration of flights. There were no tragedies.

Alexei Leonov is the first man in outer space.

On April 23, 1967, Vladimir Komarov was preparing for the launch. The launch was successful, but then trouble began, multiple problems were discovered. When returning to Earth, the ship's parachute system failed. "Soyuz" flew to the ground at a speed of 1120 kilometers per hour. There was no chance of survival.

In the summer of 1971 another tragedy occurred. After a three-week stay in orbit, the Soyuz-11 crew, consisting of Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev, began their descent to Earth. However, after landing, the astronauts showed no signs of life. A special commission investigating the death of the astronauts came to the conclusion that the cause of the disaster was the depressurization of the cabin in a vacuum. New flights into space after that were postponed for two years - to work on improving the reliability of the ships.

The American lunar program, meanwhile, was gaining momentum. While the USSR was building test facilities to simulate one-sixth of the Earth's gravity felt on the Moon's surface, they were working on a descent module that would take one of the astronauts to its surface. NASA assembled the huge Saturn V, the most powerful rocket ever built at the time.

The Russians were also working on a behemoth - the N-1 rocket. With 30 separate engines, it was 16 times more powerful than the R-1. And the hopes of the entire Soviet space program were pinned on it.

On July 3, 1969, the N-1 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, but after a 23-second "flight" it almost fell flat on the launch pad and exploded, destroying the launch facility No. 1, destroying the rotary maintenance tower, damaging the underground facilities of the complex. The wreckage of the carrier was scattered within a radius of 1 km ...

The Americans seized the initiative in the exploration of the moon. 1969 was the year of the landing of the first people on the lunar surface. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on a night satellite of the Earth. Neil Armstrong's famous phrase: "It's one small step for a man, but a giant leap for the whole of mankind", spread around the whole world.

NASA on the surface of the moon.

American astronauts have landed on the moon six times. In the 1970s, the Soviet Lunokhod-1 and Lunokhod-2 spacecraft were delivered to the lunar soil. The USSR, on the contrary, quickly forgot about the Moon and found a new goal that could revive their space program - colonization. A way not only to fly into space, but to live and work there. Ability to conduct long-term experiments in orbit.

For the remainder of the 1970s, the Soviet Union continued to send crews and a series of Salyut space stations on ever longer missions. By the mid-1980s, while the Americans were still focused on short-term flights in their space shuttles, the Russians were ready to take the next step - to make the first permanent orbital space station "Mir", designed to provide conditions for the work and rest of the crew, to conduct scientific and applied research and experiments. On February 20, 1986, the Mir orbital complex was launched into orbit and operated until March 23, 2001.

The development of a new generation of manned spacecraft continued until the mid-80s. The result of many years of work was the delivery into space in 1988 by the Energia rocket of the Buran reusable spacecraft, an analogue of the American shuttle. But the political realities of that time - the crisis in the USSR and the subsequent reduction in the country's military budget - put an end to this program. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the program was curtailed, and the Buran was moved to the amusement park at the TsPKiO im. Gorky in Moscow.

Now the era of the International Space Station (ISS) has begun. The ISS is a joint international project, in which, apart from Russia, there are 13 countries: Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, the USA, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan.

Our country was the only one with experience in servicing an orbital space station. Only in the Soviet Union did they know what happens to a person when he is in space for a long time. Therefore, today Russia is actively participating in the ISS program, passing on its knowledge. The International Space Station is the greatest testament to the achievements of the mighty USSR program in space exploration. Its very existence depended on the technology and expertise that we had gained over 50 years of space exploration. The most important life support systems of the station are based on those developed on Salyut and Mir. Space suits are Russian-made. Until 2011, the only way to get to the station was by a Soyuz capsule mounted on top of an R-7 rocket, an improved version of the one designed by Sergei Korolev more than half a century ago.

It is well known that the Soviet Union was the first to launch a satellite, a living being and a man into space. During the space race, the USSR, to the extent possible, sought to overtake and overtake America.

Having won a decisive victory in World War II, the Soviet Union did a lot for the study and exploration of space. Moreover, he became the first among all: in this matter, the USSR was ahead of even the US superpower. The official start of practical space exploration was laid on October 4, 1957, when the USSR successfully launched the first artificial Earth satellite into near-Earth orbit, and three and a half years after its launch, on April 12, 1961, the USSR launched the first living person into space. Historically, it turned out that the Soviet Union held the lead in space exploration for exactly 13 years - from 1957 to 1969. KM.RU offers its choice of dozens of the most important achievements over this period.

1st luck (first intercontinental ballistic missile).

In 1955 (long before the flight tests of the R-7 rocket), Korolev, Keldysh and Tikhonravov approached the USSR government with a proposal to launch an artificial Earth satellite into space using a rocket. The government supported this initiative, after which in 1957, under the leadership of Korolev, the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 was created, which in the same year was used to launch the world's first artificial Earth satellite. And although Korolev tried to launch his first liquid-propellant rockets into space back in the 30s, Nazi Germany was the first of the countries to begin work on the creation of intercontinental ballistic missiles back in the 1940s. Ironically, the ICBM was designed to hit the East Coast of the United States. But man has his own plans, and history has its own. These rockets failed to fall on the United States, but they managed to take human progress forever into real outer space.

2nd luck (the first artificial satellite of the Earth).

On October 4, 1957, the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik-1, was launched. The second country to own an artificial satellite was the United States - this happened on February 1, 1958 (Explorer 1). The following countries - Great Britain, Canada and Italy launched their first satellites in 1962-1964 (though on American rocket carriers). The third country to independently launch the first satellite was France on November 26, 1965 (“Asterix”). Later, Japan (1970), China (1970) and Israel (1988) launched the first satellites on their launch vehicles. The first artificial Earth satellites of many countries were developed and purchased in the USSR, the USA and China.

3rd luck (first astronaut animal).

On November 3, 1957, the second artificial satellite of the Earth, Sputnik-2, was launched, which for the first time launched into space a living creature, the dog Laika. Sputnik-2 was a conical capsule 4 meters high, with a base diameter of 2 meters, it contained several compartments for scientific equipment, a radio transmitter, a telemetry system, a software module, a regeneration and cabin temperature control system. The dog was housed in a separate sealed compartment. It so happened that the experiment with Laika turned out to be very short: due to the large area, the container quickly overheated, and the dog died already on the first orbits around the Earth.

4th luck (the first artificial satellite of the Sun).

January 4, 1959 - the Luna-1 station passed at a distance of 6 thousand kilometers from the surface of the Moon and entered the heliocentric orbit. It became the world's first artificial satellite of the Sun. The carrier rocket "Vostok-L" brought the device "Luna-1" to the flight path to the Moon. It was a rendezvous trajectory, without the use of orbital launch. This launch, in fact, successfully completed an experiment to create an artificial comet, and for the first time using an onboard magnetometer, the outer radiation belt of the Earth was registered.

5th luck (first apparatus on the moon).

September 14, 1959 - the station "Luna-2" for the first time in the world reached the surface of the Moon in the region of the Sea of ​​Clarity near the craters Aristides, Archimedes and Autolycus, delivering a pennant with the coat of arms of the USSR. This unit did not have its own propulsion system. Of the scientific equipment, scintillation counters, Geiger counters, magnetometers, and micrometeorite detectors were installed on it. One of the main scientific achievements of the mission was the direct measurement of the solar wind.

6th lucky (first man in space).

On April 12, 1961, the first manned flight into space was made on the Vostok-1 spacecraft. In orbit, Yuri Gagarin was able to conduct the simplest experiments: he drank, ate, made notes with a pencil. "Putting" the pencil next to him, he found that it instantly began to float upwards. Before his flight, it was not yet known how the human psyche would behave in space, so special protection was provided so that the first astronaut in a panic would not try to control the flight of the ship. To enable manual control, he needed to open a sealed envelope, inside of which was a sheet with a code, by typing which on the control panel it would be possible to unlock it. At the moment of landing after ejection and disconnection of the air duct of the descent vehicle, the valve in Gagarin's airtight spacesuit did not immediately open, through which outside air should flow, so that the first cosmonaut almost suffocated. The second danger for Gagarin could be falling on a parachute into the icy water of the Volga (it was April). But Yuri was helped by excellent pre-flight preparation - controlling the lines, he landed 2 km from the coast. This successful experiment immortalized Gagarin's name forever.

7th luck (first man in outer space).

On March 18, 1965, the first human spacewalk was made in history. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made a spacewalk from the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. The Berkut suit used for the first spacewalk was of a ventilation type and consumed approximately 30 liters of oxygen per minute with a total supply of 1666 liters, designed for 30 minutes of an astronaut's stay in outer space. Due to the pressure difference, the spacesuit swelled and greatly interfered with the movements of the astronaut, which made it very difficult for Leonov to return to Voskhod-2. The total time of the first exit was 23 minutes 41 seconds, and outside the ship - 12 minutes 9 seconds. Based on the results of the first exit, a conclusion was made about the possibility of a person to perform various work in outer space.

8th luck (the first "bridge" between two planets).

March 1, 1966 960 kg station "Venera-3" for the first time reached the surface of Venus, delivering a pennant to the USSR. It was the world's first flight of a spacecraft from Earth to another planet. Venera-3 flew in tandem with Venera-2. They failed to transmit data on the planet itself, but scientific data were obtained on outer and near-planet space in the year of the quiet Sun. A large volume of trajectory measurements was of great value for studying the problems of ultra-long distance communication and interplanetary flights. Magnetic fields, cosmic rays, low-energy charged particle flows, solar plasma flows and their energy spectra, as well as cosmic radio emissions and micrometeors were studied. The Venera-3 station became the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.

9th luck (first experiment with living plants and creatures).

September 15, 1968 the first return of the spacecraft (“Zond-5”) to the Earth after a flyby of the Moon. On board were living creatures: turtles, fruit flies, worms, plants, seeds, bacteria. "Probes 1-8" - a series of spacecraft launched in the USSR from 1964 to 1970. The manned flight program was curtailed due to the US losing the so-called "moon race". The Zond devices (as well as a number of others called Kosmos) under the Soviet program of flying around the moon during the "moon race" worked out the technique of flying to the moon with a return to Earth after a ballistic flyby of a natural satellite of the Earth. The most recent vehicle in this series has successfully circled the Moon, photographed the Moon and the Earth, and also worked out a landing option from the northern hemisphere.

10th luck (first on Mars). On November 27, 1971, the Mars-2 station reached the surface of Mars for the first time.

The launch to the flight path to Mars was made from the intermediate orbit of an artificial earth satellite by the last stage of the launch vehicle. The mass of the apparatus "Mars-2" was 4650 kilograms. The spacecraft's orbital compartment contained scientific equipment intended for measurements in interplanetary space, as well as for studying the environs of Mars and the planet itself from the orbit of an artificial satellite. The Mars-2 descent vehicle entered the Martian atmosphere too abruptly, which is why it did not have time to slow down at the stage of aerodynamic descent. The device, having passed through the atmosphere of the planet, crashed on the surface of Mars in the Nanedi Valley in Xanth Earth (4 ° N; 47 ° W), reaching the surface of Mars for the first time in history. A pennant of the Soviet Union was fixed on board Mars-2.

Starting from 1969-71, the United States zealously picked up the baton of human space exploration and made a number of important, but still not so epoch-making steps for the history of astronautics.
The first serious action of the main competitors of the USSR is the first landing of a man on the moon as part of the lunar expedition of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, which delivered the first samples of lunar soil to Earth, but is this really the case, read on our front-project "The Americans never flew to the moon!
Despite the fact that the USSR continued to actively explore space in the 1970s (the first artificial satellite of Venus in 1975, etc.), starting from 1981 and, alas, to this day, the leadership in astronautics has been held by the United States. And yet, history does not seem to stand still - since the 2000s, China, India and Japan have actively entered the space race. And, perhaps, soon, due to the powerful economic growth, the leadership in astronautics will pass into the hands of post-communist China.

• 1957 - the year of the beginning of the space age, the launch of the first artificial satellite of the Earth.
• 1961 - the year of the first manned space flight in history, the beginning of manned astronautics.
• 1959 - the first artificial satellite of the Sun (Luna-1 station, which carried out the flight of the Moon at a distance of 6000 km); the first reaching the surface of the Moon, with the delivery of pennants (station Luna-2); the first pictures of the invisible side of the Moon (Luna-3 station).
• 1960 - the world's first living creatures - the dogs Belka and Strelka, having been in space, returned to Earth.
• 1961 - the first picture of the Earth from space by the second cosmonaut of the planet - German Titov. This year also saw the first launch of an automatic interplanetary station (AMS) towards Venus.
• 1962 - the first launch of AMS "Mars-1" towards Mars. In 1963 the station "Mars-1" for the first time carried out a flyby of Mars. In the same year, the first group flight of astronauts on two ships was made.
• 1963 - the first flight of a woman astronaut.
• 1964 - the first flight of a multi-seat spacecraft, the first flight without space suits.
• 1965 - the first exit of man into open space and his free flight in outer space.
• 1965 - The UR-500 launch vehicle, later named "Proton", launched the Soviet heavy satellites "Proton-1" and "Proton-2" into the Earth's orbit to study cosmic rays and interact with superhigh-energy matter.
• 1966 - the first flight of a spacecraft from earth to another planet: AMS "Venera-3" reached the surface of Venus, delivering a pennant to the USSR. In the same year, the Luna-9 automatic station was the first to make a soft landing on the lunar surface, after which it transmitted a panoramic image of the lunar surface. And the station "Luna-10" became the first satellite of the Moon.
• 1967 - the first automatic docking of unmanned spacecraft.
• 1968 - the year of the first flyby of the Moon by the Zond-5 spacecraft with living creatures (turtles) on board, with a safe return to Earth. This year and next year, flights of the Zond-6 and Zond-7 spacecraft were also successfully completed.
• 1969 - the creation of the first experimental orbital station: for the first time, astronauts were transferred from one ship to another.
• 1970 - the year of the flight to the Moon of the Luna-16 and Luna-17 AMS, with the delivery of Lunar soil samples to Earth and research carried out by the Lunokhod-1 self-propelled vehicle.
• 1971-2001 - work in orbit of long-term orbital stations, from the world's first manned orbital station Salyut (launch of the Proton launch vehicle with the Salyut station in April 1971), to the multifunctional orbital complex - the legendary station Mir.
• 1978 - flight of the Progress transport spacecraft, the first in the history of cosmonautics, with cargo delivery.
• 1984 - the first spacewalk of a female cosmonaut.
• 1986 - for the first time an interorbital flight of cosmonauts from one orbital station to another and back was performed ("Mir" - "Salyut-7" - "Mir").
• 1987 - the first test launch of the Energia launch vehicle was successfully carried out. In view of the high technical characteristics of the machine, some leading specialists in space technology even compared this flight in significance with the launch of the First Artificial Earth Satellite.
• 1988 - Energia launch vehicle launched the Soviet MTKK Buran into orbit. The reusable spacecraft "Buran" for the first time in the world carried out an automatic landing on Earth. The Energia-Buran rocket and space system was many years ahead of its time, and in a number of characteristics it significantly surpassed the available foreign space equipment.
• 1995 - completion of the record-breaking cosmonaut flight - 438 days.
• 1996 - for the first time the 10-year milestone of permanent operation of the Mir station in continuous manned mode was overcome. The station operated in orbit until 2001.