Only three countries have manned spacecraft: Russia, the USA and China.
First generation spacecraft
"Mercury"
This was the name of the first US manned space program and a series of spacecraft used in this program (1959-1963). The general designer of the ship is Max Faget. For flights under the Mercury program, the first detachment of NASA astronauts was created. A total of 6 manned flights were performed under this program.
This is a single-seat manned orbital spacecraft, made according to the capsule scheme. The cabin is made of titanium-nickel alloy. Cabin volume - 1.7m 3 . The astronaut is located in the lodgement and is in the spacesuit all the time of the flight. The cockpit is equipped with information on the dashboard and controls. The ship's attitude control is located at right hand pilot. Visual review is provided by a porthole on the cockpit access hatch and a panoramic wide-angle periscope with variable magnification.
The ship is not designed for maneuver with changing orbital parameters, it is equipped with a jet control system for turning along three axes and a braking propulsion system. Orbital attitude control - automatic and manual. Entry into the atmosphere is carried out along a ballistic trajectory. The braking parachute is deployed at an altitude of 7 km, the main one - at an altitude of 3 km. Water splashing occurs with a vertical speed of about 9 m/s. After landing, the capsule maintains a vertical position.
A feature of the ship "Mercury" is the widespread use of backup manual control. The Mercury ship was launched into orbit by Redstone and Atlas rockets with a very small carrying capacity. Because of this, the mass and dimensions of the cabin of the manned capsule "Mercury" were extremely limited and significantly inferior in terms of technical perfection to the Soviet ships "Vostok.
The objectives of the flights of the spacecraft "Mercury" were different: testing the emergency rescue system, testing the ablative heat shield, its shooting, telemetry and communication along the entire flight path, human suborbital flight, human orbital flight.
As part of the Mercury program, the chimpanzees Ham and Enos flew to the United States.
"Gemini"
Spaceships the Gemini series (1964-1966) continued the Mercury series of ships, but surpassed them in terms of capabilities (2 crew members, longer autonomous flight time, the ability to change orbit parameters, etc.). In the course of the program, rendezvous and docking methods were worked out; for the first time in history, docking of spacecraft was carried out. Several spacewalks were made, records of the duration of the flight were set. A total of 12 flights were made under this program.
The Gemini spacecraft consists of two main parts - the descent vehicle, in which the crew is located, and an unpressurized instrument-assembly compartment, where the engines and other equipment are located. The shape of the descent vehicle is similar to the ships of the Mercury series. Despite some external similarities between the two ships, the Gemini is significantly superior to the Mercury in terms of capabilities. The length of the ship is 5.8 meters, the maximum outer diameter is 3 meters, and the mass is an average of 3810 kilograms. The ship was launched into orbit by a Titan II launch vehicle. At the time of the appearance of "Gemini" was the largest spacecraft.
The first launch of the ship took place on April 8, 1964, and the first manned launch on March 23, 1965.
Second generation spacecraft
"Apollo"
"Apollo"- a series of American 3-seat spacecraft that were used in the Apollo lunar missions, the Skylab orbital station and the Soviet-American ASTP docking. A total of 21 flights were made under this program. The main purpose is the delivery of astronauts to the moon, but the spacecraft of this series also performed other tasks. 12 astronauts have landed on the moon. The first landing on the moon was carried out on Apollo 11 (N. Armstrong and B. Aldrin in 1969)
Apollo is the only this moment the series of spacecraft in history that took humans out of low Earth orbit and overcame Earth's gravity, and the only one that allowed astronauts to successfully land on the Moon and return to Earth.
The Apollo spacecraft consists of a command and service compartment, a lunar module, and an emergency rescue system.
Command module is the flight control center. All crew members during the flight are in the command compartment, with the exception of the landing on the moon. It has the shape of a cone with a spherical base.
The command compartment has a pressurized cabin with a crew life support system, a control and navigation system, a radio communication system, an emergency rescue system and a heat shield. In the front non-pressurized part of the command compartment there is a docking mechanism and a parachute landing system, in the middle part there are 3 astronaut seats, a flight control panel and a life support system and radio equipment; in the space between the rear screen and the pressurized cabin, the equipment of the reactive control system (RCS) is located.
The docking mechanism and internally threaded part of the lunar module jointly provide a rigid docking of the command compartment with the lunar ship and form a tunnel for the crew to move from the command compartment to the lunar module and back.
The crew life support system maintains the temperature in the ship's cabin within the range of 21-27 °C, humidity from 40 to 70% and pressure of 0.35 kg/cm². The system is designed for a 4-day increase in flight duration beyond the estimated time required for an expedition to the Moon. Therefore, the possibility of adjustment and repair by the crew dressed in spacesuits is provided.
service compartment carries the main propulsion system and support systems for the Apollo spacecraft.
Emergency rescue system. If an emergency situation arises during the launch of the Apollo launch vehicle or it is necessary to stop the flight in the process of launching the Apollo spacecraft into Earth orbit, the crew is rescued by separating the command compartment from the launch vehicle and then landing it on Earth by parachutes.
Lunar module It has two stages: landing and takeoff. The landing stage, equipped with an independent propulsion system and landing gear, is used to lower the lunar spacecraft from the Moon's orbit and soft landing on the lunar surface, and also serves as a launch pad for the takeoff stage. The takeoff stage with a pressurized cabin for the crew and an independent propulsion system, after completion of research, starts from the surface of the Moon and docks with the command compartment in orbit. The separation of steps is carried out using pyrotechnic devices.
"Shenzhou"
China Manned Space Flight Program. Work on the program began in 1992. The first manned flight of the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft made China in 2003 the third country in the world to independently send a man into space. The Shenzhou spacecraft in many respects repeats the Russian Soyuz spacecraft: it has exactly the same layout of modules as the Soyuz - an instrument-aggregate compartment, a descent vehicle and a utility compartment; approximately the same dimensions as the Soyuz. The entire structure of the ship and all its systems are roughly identical to the Soviet spacecraft of the Soyuz series, and the orbital module is built using technologies used in the Salyut series of Soviet space stations.
The Shenzhou program included three stages:
- launching unmanned and manned spacecraft into near-Earth orbit while ensuring the guaranteed return of descent vehicles to Earth;
- the exit of tykunauts into outer space, the creation of an autonomous space station for short stay expeditions;
- creation of large space stations for long-term stay of expeditions.
The mission is being successfully carried out (4 manned flights have been completed) and is currently open.
Reusable transport spacecraft
The Space Shuttle, or simply shuttle ("space shuttle"), is an American reusable transport spacecraft. The shuttles were used as part of state program"Space transport system". It was understood that the shuttles would "scurry like shuttles" between low Earth orbit and the Earth, delivering payloads in both directions. The program ran from 1981 to 2011. A total of five shuttles were built: "Colombia"(burnt down during landing in 2003), "Challenger"(exploded during launch in 1986), "Discovery", "Atlantis" and "Endeavour". In 1975 a prototype ship was built "Enterprise", but it has never been launched into space.
The shuttle was launched into space using two solid-propellant rocket boosters and three of its own propulsion engines, which received fuel from a huge external tank. In orbit, the shuttle carried out maneuvers due to the engines of the orbital maneuvering system and returned to Earth as a glider. During the development, it was envisaged that each of the shuttles had to launch into space up to 100 times. In practice, they were used much less, by the end of the program in July 2011, the most flights were made by the Discovery shuttle - 39.
"Colombia"
"Colombia"- the first copy of the Space Shuttle system, flying into space. The previously built Enterprise prototype flew, but only within the atmosphere to practice landing. The construction of Columbia began in 1975, and on March 25, 1979, Columbia was commissioned by NASA. The first manned flight of the Columbia STS-1 reusable transport spacecraft took place on April 12, 1981. The crew commander was a veteran of the American astronautics John Young, the pilot was Robert Crippen. The flight was (and remains) unique: the very first, in fact, test launch of a spacecraft was carried out with the crew on board.
Columbia was heavier than the shuttles built later, so it did not have a docking module. Columbia could not dock with either the Mir station or the ISS.
Columbia's last flight, STS-107, took place from January 16 to February 1, 2003. On the morning of February 1, the ship broke up while entering the dense layers of the atmosphere. All seven crew members were killed. The commission to investigate the causes of the disaster concluded that the cause was the destruction of the outer heat-shielding layer on the left plane of the shuttle wing. At the launch on January 16, this section of thermal protection was damaged by a piece of thermal insulation from the oxygen tank falling on it.
"Challenger"
"Challenger"- reusable transport spacecraft NASA. Initially, it was intended only for test purposes, but then it was converted and prepared for launches into space. The Challenger launched for the first time on April 4, 1983. In total, it completed 9 successful flights. Crashed on tenth launch on 28 January 1986, all 7 crew members died. The last launch of the shuttle was scheduled for the morning of January 28, 1986, millions of spectators around the world watched the launch of the Challenger. At the 73rd second of the flight, at an altitude of 14 km, the left solid-propellant booster detached from one of the two mounts. Turning around the second, the booster pierced the main fuel tank. Due to the violation of the symmetry of thrust and air resistance, the ship deviated from the axis and was destroyed by aerodynamic forces.
"Discovery"
NASA reusable transport spacecraft, the third shuttle. The first flight was made on August 30, 1984. The Discovery Shuttle delivered the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit and participated in two expeditions to service it.
Discovery launched the Ulysses probe and three relay satellites.
A Russian cosmonaut also flew on the Discovery shuttle Sergey Krikalev February 3, 1994 During eight days, the crew of the Discovery spacecraft performed many different scientific experiments in the field of materials science, biological experiments and observations of the Earth's surface. Krikalev performed a significant part of the work with a remote manipulator. After completing 130 orbits and flying 5,486,215 kilometers, on February 11, 1994, the shuttle landed at the Kennedy Space Center (Florida). Thus, Krikalev became the first Russian cosmonaut to fly on an American shuttle. In total, from 1994 to 2002, 18 orbital flights of space shuttles "Space Shuttle" were performed, the crews of which included 18 Russian cosmonauts.
On the shuttle Discovery (STS-95) on October 29, 1998, astronaut John Glenn, who at that time was 77 years old, set off on his second flight.
Space Shuttle Discovery ended its 27-year career with a final landing on March 9, 2011. It deorbited, glided to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and landed safely. The shuttle was donated to the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
"Atlantis"
"Atlantis"- NASA's reusable transport spacecraft, the fourth space shuttle. During the construction of the Atlantis, many improvements were made over its predecessors. It is 3.2 tons lighter than the Columbia shuttle and took half the time to build.
The first flight of Atlantis was made in October 1985, it was one of five flights for the US Department of Defense. Since 1995, Atlantis has made seven flights to the Russian space station Mir. An additional docking module for the Mir station was delivered and the crew change of the Mir station was carried out.
From November 1997 to July 1999, Atlantis was modified, about 165 improvements were made to it. From October 1985 to July 2011, the shuttle Atlantis made 33 space flights, its crew included 189 people. The last 33rd launch was carried out on July 8, 2011.
"Endeavour"
"Endeavour" is NASA's reusable transport spacecraft, the fifth and final space shuttle. Endeavor made its first flight on May 7, 1992. In 1993, the first expedition to service the Hubble Space Telescope was made on Endeavor. In December 1998, Endeavor delivered the first American Unity module for the ISS into orbit.
From May 1992 to June 2011, the Endeavor shuttle made 25 space flights. June 1, 2011 The shuttle landed for the last time at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The Space Transportation System program was completed in 2011. All active shuttles were decommissioned after their last flight and sent to museums.
For 30 years of operation, five shuttles made 135 flights. On shuttles, 1.6 thousand tons of payloads were lifted into space. 355 astronauts and cosmonauts flew on shuttles into space.
A reusable spacecraft is a vehicle whose design allows for the reuse of the entire spacecraft or its major parts. The first experience in this area was the "space shuttle" Space Shuttle. Then the task of creating a similar apparatus was assigned to Soviet scientists, as a result of which the Buran appeared.
Other devices are also being designed in both countries. At the moment, the most notable example of this type of project is the partially reusable Falcon 9 from SpaceX with a returnable first stage.
Today we will talk about why such projects were developed, how they showed themselves in terms of efficiency and what are the prospects for this area of cosmonautics.
The history of space shuttles began in 1967, before the first manned flight under the Apollo program. On October 30, 1968, NASA approached American space companies with a proposal to develop a reusable space system in order to reduce the cost per launch and per kilogram of payload put into orbit.
The government was offered several projects, but each of them cost at least US$5 billion, so Richard Nixon rejected them. NASA's plans were extremely ambitious: the project involved the operation of an orbital station, to which, and from which, shuttles would constantly carry payloads. The shuttles were also supposed to launch and return satellites from orbit, maintain and repair satellites in orbit, and conduct manned missions.
The final requirements for the ship looked like this:
- Cargo compartment 4.5x18.2 meters
- Possibility of horizontal maneuver for 2000 km (aircraft maneuver in the horizontal plane)
- Payload capacity 30 tons to low Earth orbit, 18 tons to polar orbit
The solution was to create a shuttle, the investment in which was supposed to pay off thanks to the launch of satellites into orbit on a commercial basis. For the success of the project, it was important to minimize the cost of putting each kilogram of cargo into orbit. In 1969, the creator of the project spoke about reducing the cost to 40-100 US dollars per kilogram, while for Saturn-V this figure was 2000 dollars.
To launch into space, the shuttles used two solid rocket boosters and three of their own propulsion engines. Solid rocket boosters were separated at an altitude of 45 kilometers, then splashed into the ocean, repaired and reused. The main engines use liquid hydrogen and oxygen in an external fuel tank, which was thrown at an altitude of 113 kilometers, after which it partially burned up in the atmosphere.
The first prototype of the Space Shuttle was the Enterprise, named after the ship from the Star Trek TV series. The ship was checked for aerodynamics and tested for the ability to land in gliding. Columbia was the first to go into space on April 12, 1981. In fact, this was also a test launch, although there was a crew of two astronauts on board: commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen. Then everything went well. Unfortunately, it was this shuttle that crashed in 2003 with seven crew members on the 28th launch. The Challenger had the same fate - it withstood 9 launches, and on the tenth it crashed. 7 crew members were killed.
Although NASA planned 24 launches per year in 1985, in 30 years the shuttles have taken off and returned 135 times. Two of them are unsuccessful. The record for the number of launches was the Discovery shuttle - it survived 39 launches. Atlantis withstood 33 launches, Columbia - 28, Endeavor - 25 and Challenger - 10.
"Challenger", 1983
The Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor shuttles were used to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and the Mir station.
The cost of delivering cargo into orbit in the case of the Space Shuttle turned out to be the highest in the history of astronautics. Each launch cost from 500 million to 1.3 billion dollars, each kilogram - from 13 to 17 thousand dollars. For comparison, a disposable Soyuz launch vehicle is capable of launching cargo into space at a price of up to $25,000 per kilogram. The Space Shuttle program was planned as self-sustaining, but in the end it became one of the most unprofitable.
Shuttle Atlantis, ready for the STS-129 expedition to deliver equipment, materials and spare parts to the International Space Station. November 2009
The last flight under the Space Shuttle program took place in 2011. On July 21 of that year, Atlantis returned to Earth. The last landing of the Atlantis marked the end of an era. Read more about what was planned and what happened in the Space Shuttle program in this article.
In the USSR, they decided that the characteristics of the Space Shuttle made it possible to steal Soviet satellites or an entire space station from orbit: the shuttle could launch 29.5 tons of cargo into orbit, and lower 14.5 tons. Taking into account plans for 60 launches per year, this is 1770 tons annually, although at that time the United States did not send 150 tons per year into space. It was supposed to lower 820 tons per year, although usually nothing descended from orbit. The drawings and photos of the shuttle suggested that an American ship could attack the USSR using nuclear weapons from anywhere in near-Earth space, being out of the radio visibility zone.
For protection against possible attack at the Salyut and Almaz stations, a modernized automatic 23-mm NR-23 cannon was installed. And in order to keep up with the American brothers in militarized space, the Union began developing a reusable orbital rocket plane space system"Buran".
Development of the reusable space system began in April 1973. The idea itself had many supporters and opponents. The head of the Institute of the Ministry of Defense for military space made sure and made two reports at once - in favor and against the program, and both of these reports ended up on the table of D. F. Ustinov, Minister of Defense of the USSR. He contacted Valentin Glushko, who is responsible for the program, but he sent his employee at Energomash, Valery Burdakov, to the meeting instead of himself. After talking about the military capabilities of the Space Shuttle and the Soviet counterpart, Ustinov prepared a decision that gave the development of a reusable spacecraft the highest priority. The NPO Molniya, created for this purpose, took over the creation of the ship.
The tasks of "Buran" according to the plan of the USSR Ministry of Defense were: countering the measures of a potential enemy to expand the use of outer space for military purposes, solving problems in the interests of defense, National economy and sciences, conducting military-applied research and experiments using weapons based on known and new physical principles, as well as launching into orbit, maintenance and return to earth of spacecraft, astronauts and cargo.
Unlike NASA, which risked the crew during the first manned flight of the shuttle, Buran made its first flight in automatic mode using an on-board computer based on the IBM System / 370. On November 15, 1988, the launch took place, the Energia launch vehicle brought the spacecraft into low-Earth orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The ship made two orbits around the Earth and landed at the Yubileiny airfield.
During landing, an incident occurred that showed how smart it turned out automatic system. At an altitude of 11 kilometers, the ship made a sharp maneuver and described a loop with a 180-degree turn - that is, sat down, coming from the other end of the runway. The automation made this decision after receiving data on the storm wind in order to enter along the most favorable trajectory.
The automatic mode was one of the main differences from the shuttle. In addition, the shuttles landed with an idle engine and could not land several times. To save the crew, Buran provided a catapult for the first two pilots. In fact, the designers from the USSR copied the configuration of the shuttles, which they did not deny, but made a number of extremely useful innovations from the point of view of the apparatus control and crew safety.
Unfortunately, the first flight of Buran was the last. In 1990, work was suspended, and in 1993 it was completely closed.
As sometimes happens with the pride of the nation, version 2.01 of Baikal, which they wanted to send into space, rotted long years on the pier of the Khimki reservoir.
You could touch history in 2011. Moreover, then people could even tear off pieces of the skin and heat-shielding coating from this story. In that year, the ship was delivered from Khimki to Zhukovsky to be restored and presented at MAKS in a couple of years.
"Buran" from the inside
Buran delivery from Khimki to Zhukovsky
"Buran" at MAKS, 2011, a month after the start of restoration
Despite the economic inexpediency shown by the Space Shuttle program, the United States decided not to abandon projects to create reusable spacecraft. In 1999, NASA, along with Boeing, began developing the X-37 drone. There are versions according to which the device is designed to test the technologies of future space interceptors capable of incapacitating other devices. Experts in the United States are inclined to this opinion.
The device made three flights with a maximum duration of 674 days. It is currently on its fourth flight, with a launch date of May 20, 2015.
The Boeing X-37 orbital flying laboratory carries a payload mass of up to 900 kilograms. Compared to the Space Shuttle and Buran, which can carry up to 30 tons at takeoff, Boeing is a baby. But he also has other goals. The Austrian physicist Eigen Senger laid the foundation for minishuttles when he began to develop a long-range rocket bomber in 1934. The project was closed, remembering it in 1944, towards the end of World War II, but it was too late to save Germany from defeat with the help of such a bomber. In October 1957, the Americans continued the idea by launching the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.
The X-20 orbital aircraft was capable, after reaching a suborbital trajectory, to dive into the atmosphere to a height of 40-60 kilometers in order to take a photo or drop a bomb, and then return to space on lift from the wings.
The project was canceled in 1963 in favor of the civilian Gemini program and the military project of the MOL orbital station.
Titan boosters to launch the X-20 into orbit
Layout X-20
In the USSR in 1969 they began to build "BOR" - an unmanned orbital rocket plane. The first launch was carried out without thermal protection, because of which the device burned out. The second rocket plane crashed due to unopened parachutes after successfully braking against the atmosphere. In the next five launches, only once did the BOR fail to enter orbit. Despite the loss of devices, each new launch brought important data for further development. With the help of BOR-4 in the 1980s, they tested thermal protection for the future Buran.
As part of the Spiral program, for which the BOR was built, it was supposed to develop an accelerator aircraft that would rise to a height of 30 kilometers at speeds up to 6 speeds of sound in order to put the orbiter into orbit. This part of the program did not take place. The Ministry of Defense demanded an analogue of the American shuttle, so the forces were sent to the Buran.
BOR-4
BOR-4
If the Soviet Buran was partially copied from the American Space Shuttle, then in the case of the Dream Chaser, everything happened exactly the opposite: the abandoned BOR project, namely the BOR-4 version of the rocket plane, became the basis for creating reusable spacecraft from SpaceDev. Rather, the "Space Chaser" is based on a copied orbital plane HL-20.
Work on the Dream Runner began in 2004, and in 2007 SpaceDev agreed with United Launch Alliance to use Atlas-5 rockets to launch. The first successful wind tunnel tests took place in 2012. The first flight prototype was dropped from a helicopter from a height of 3.8 kilometers on October 26, 2013.
According to the plans of the designers, the cargo version of the ship will be able to deliver up to 5.5 tons to the International Space Station, and return up to 1.75 tons.
The Germans began to develop their own version of the reusable system in 1985 - the project was called "Senger". In 1995, after the development of the engine, the project was closed, as it would only give a 10-30% benefit compared to the European Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
Aircraft HL-20
"Dream Chaser"
In 2000, Russia began to develop the multi-purpose spacecraft Clipper to replace the disposable Soyuz. The system became an intermediate link between the winged shuttles and the Soyuz ballistic capsule. In 2005, in order to cooperate with the European Space Agency, a new version- winged Clipper.
The device can put into orbit 6 people and up to 700 kilograms of cargo, that is, it surpasses the Soyuz in these parameters twice. At the moment, there is no information that the project is ongoing. Instead, they write in the news about a new reusable ship - the Federation.
Multi-purpose spacecraft "Clipper"
The manned transport ship "Federation" should replace the manned "Soyuz" and trucks "Progress". It is planned to be used, among other things, for a flight to the moon. The first launch is scheduled for 2019. In an autonomous flight, the device will have to be able to stay up to 40 days, and when docked from the orbital station, it will be able to work up to 1 year. At the moment, the development of conceptual and technical designs has been completed, and the development of working documentation for the creation of the ship of the first stage is underway.
The system consists of two main modules: the reentry vehicle and the engine compartment. The work will apply the ideas that were previously used for Clipper. The ship will be able to deliver up to 6 people into orbit and up to 4 people to the moon.
Parameters of the device "Federation"
One of the most notable reusable projects in the media at the moment is the development of SpaceX - the Dragon V2 transport ship and the Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
Falcon 9 is a partially re-entry vehicle. The launch vehicle consists of two stages, the first of which has a system for return and vertical landing on the landing site. The last launch was not successful - on September 1, 2016, an accident occurred.
The Dragon V2 reusable manned spacecraft is now being prepared for safety testing for astronauts. In 2017, they plan to carry out an unmanned launch of the device on the Falcon 9 rocket.
Reusable manned spacecraft Dragon V2
As part of preparations for the flight of the expedition to Mars, the United States developed the reusable Orion spacecraft. The assembly of the ship was completed in 2014. The first unmanned flight of the device took place on December 5, 2014 and was successful. Now NASA is preparing for further launches, including those with a crew.
Aviation, as a rule, implies the reusable use of aircraft. In the future, spacecraft will have to have the same property, but for this a number of problems, including economic ones, will have to be solved. Each launch of a reusable ship should come out cheaper than building a disposable one. It is necessary to use such materials and technologies that will allow the devices to be restarted after minimal repair, and ideally without repair at all. It is possible that spaceships in the future will have both the characteristics of a rocket and an aircraft.
New Russian ships: Soyuz TMA-MS, Progress MS, PPTS and PTK NP Rus.
New US ships: Signus, Dragon, CST-100, Orion.
Existing Russian ships: Progress M, Soyuz TMA-M.
Existing US ships: no.
Photo of Signus with Soyuz TMA-M
Soyuz TMA-MS is a Russian multi-seat spacecraft for flights in near-Earth orbit.
A new upgraded version of the Soyuz TMA-M spacecraft. The update will affect almost every system of the manned ship. The first launch is planned no earlier than 2016.
The main points of the spacecraft modernization program:
- the energy efficiency of solar panels will be increased through the use of more efficient photovoltaic converters;
- reliability of rendezvous and docking of the spacecraft with the space station by changing the installation of the approaching and orientation engines. The new layout of these engines will make it possible to perform rendezvous and docking even in the event of a failure of one of the engines and to ensure the descent of a manned spacecraft in the event of any two engine failures;
- a new communication and direction finding system, which will allow, in addition to improving the quality of radio communications, to facilitate the search for a descent vehicle that has landed at any point on the globe;
- new rendezvous and docking system Kurs-NA;
- digital television radio link;
- additional meteorite protection.
The upgraded Soyuz TMA-MS will be equipped with GLONASS sensors. At the stage of parachuting and after landing of the descent vehicle, its coordinates obtained from GLONASS/GPS data will be transmitted via the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system to the MCC.
Soyuz TMA-MS will be the last modification of the Soyuz. The ship will be used for manned flights until it is replaced by a new generation ship.
Prospective Manned Transport System (PPTS) Rus is a multi-purpose manned reusable spacecraft.
PPTS, as a key element of the Russian space infrastructure, is being created for the following tasks:
- ensuring national security;
- technological independence;
- unimpeded access of Russia to space;
- flight to the polar and equatorial orbit of the Moon, landing.
For PPTS, a modular construction of the base ship is adopted in the form of functionally complete elements - the return vehicle and the engine compartment. The ship will be wingless, with a reusable truncated-conical return part and a disposable cylindrical engine compartment. The maximum crew of the new ship will be 6 people (for flights to the Moon - up to 4 people), the mass of cargo delivered to orbit is 500 kg, the mass of cargo returned to Earth is 500 kg or more, with a smaller crew. The length of the spacecraft is 6.1 m, the maximum hull diameter is 4.4 m, the mass during near-Earth orbital flights is 12 tons (during flights into lunar orbit - 16.5 tons), the mass of the return part is 4.23 tons (including soft landing - 7.77 tons), the volume of the sealed compartment - 18 m³. The duration of the autonomous flight of the ship is up to a month. New structural materials based on aluminum alloys with improved strength characteristics and carbon fiber will reduce the mass of the spacecraft structure by 20-30% and will extend its service life. Household compartments will simply be docked, depending on the task that the PPTS will face.
NASA is dependent on its partners in the ISS program. In this regard, NASA leadership decided to start work on the COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation) program. The essence of the program is the creation by private companies of low-cost means of delivering cargo into orbit.
Signus "Cygnus" - a private transport automatic cargo supply spacecraft.
Dragon SpaceX Dragon is a private transport spacecraft designed to deliver payloads and, in the future, people to the International Space Station.
CST-100 (Crew Space Transportation) is a manned transport spacecraft developed by Boeing.
Orion, MPCV is a multi-purpose reusable manned spacecraft.
The purpose of this program was to return Americans to the moon, and the Orion spacecraft was intended to deliver people and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and for flights to the Moon, as well as to Mars in the future.
At the moment (2013) in space from the new ships Signus and Dragon, and so after 2020, real competition in space should begin and I hope the beginning of the dawn of the space age of mankind.
Dragon Dragon SpaceX - judging by the data and that it has already begun to fly, a very successful development and a serious competitor.
Interesting video about the international space station / ISS
A spacecraft is an aircraft designed to fly people or transport goods in outer space.
About ships for the transportation of goods in near-Earth orbit was described in the article "Artificial Earth Satellite". This article will focus on vehicles designed for the flight of people into space, as well as vehicles for flights beyond the earth's orbit to other planets in the solar system.
On January 2, 1959, the Soviet automatic interplanetary station "Luna? 1" was launched to the Moon. For the first time, an artificial body created on Earth was given a second cosmic velocity equal to 11.2 km/s. This speed was reached by the last stage of a multi-stage rocket, which, according to a given program, entered the trajectory of movement towards the Moon. The last stage of the rocket weighed 1472 kg without fuel and was equipped with a container with scientific equipment with a total weight of 361.3 kg. The AMS housed radio equipment, a telemetric system, instruments for the study of interplanetary space. At the last stage of the rocket, equipment was installed for the formation of an artificial comet.
Calculations of the elements of the trajectory of movement were carried out on electronic computers according to the measurement data automatically received by the coordination and computer center. The rocket passed at a distance of 5 thousand km from the Moon and became the satellite of the Sun - the first artificial planet solar system. Its maximum distance from the Sun, aphelion, was 197.2 million km, the minimum, perihelion, 146.4 million km.
The measurements carried out during the flight provided new information about the Earth's radiation belt and outer space. In the world press "Moon? 1" was called "Dream".
Two months later, on March 3, the United States, after a series of attempts with the help of the Juno? 2 rocket system, launched the Pioneer? 4 space rocket, which passed at a distance of almost 60 thousand km from the Moon.
On March 11, 1960, another solar satellite, Pioneer 5, with a useful weight of 42 kg, was launched in the United States using a 3-stage rocket of the Thor Able type.
On September 12, 1959, the automatic interplanetary station "Luna? 2" was launched in the USSR, which for the first time reached the surface of the moon. The task was set - the study of outer space during the flight to the moon. The last stage of the rocket, moving towards the Moon, exceeded the second space velocity. The last stage of the rocket was a 1511 kg guided missile (without propellant) that carried a container with scientific equipment. On September 14, 1959, at 00:20:24 Moscow time, Luna?2, together with the last stage of the launch vehicle, reached the surface of the Moon east of the Sea of Clarity near the craters Aristides, Archimedes, and Autolycus.
Such a flight required the creation of a highly advanced multi-stage rocket, powerful rocket engines operating on high-calorie fuel, a high-precision rocket flight control system, an automatic measuring complex on Earth to track the rocket flight, etc.
Research carried out during the flight showed, for example, that the Moon does not have any noticeable magnetic field.
On October 4, 1959, a Soviet space rocket was launched, which put the Luna-3 automatic interplanetary station into orbit. Her weight reached 278.5 kg. On board the AMS were radio engineering and telemetry systems, a photo-television system with automatic film processing on board, a complex of scientific equipment, orientation systems relative to the Sun and the Moon, solar batteries, and a thermal control system.
The last stage of the carrier rocket brought the Luna? 3 AMS into a circumlunar orbit. Going around the Moon, the station passed at a distance of 6200 km from its surface. On October 7, 1959, the reverse surface of the Moon was photographed from its board. After processing the film on board, the resulting images were transmitted by a television system to Earth.
After flying around the moon, "Luna? 3" passed into the orbit of an artificial satellite of the Earth and, having completed 11 revolutions around the Earth, ceased to exist, having burned out in the dense layers of the atmosphere.
On February 12, 1961, a heavy artificial Earth satellite was launched into orbit by an improved multi-stage rocket, and on the same day a guided space rocket was launched from it, which brought the automatic interplanetary station "Venera-1" to the trajectory of Venus. AMS weight was 643.5 kg. On board was scientific equipment for conducting research on cosmic radiation, magnetic fields, interplanetary matter and recording collisions with micrometeorites. The flight speed of the AMS at the beginning of its introduction to the trajectory to Venus exceeded the value of the second cosmic velocity.
On May 19-20, 1961, Venera-1 passed at a distance of about 100,000 km from Venus and entered the orbit of the Sun's satellite.
In parallel with the flights of automatic interplanetary stations, preparations were underway for the flight into human space. Back in 1951, the dogs Dezik and Gypsy took off in a high-altitude flight in a hermetic container placed in the head of the B-1A geophysical rocket, created at the Korolev Design Bureau. They returned safely to Earth. After that, fruit flies, mice, rats, and guinea pigs were launched. These flights made it possible to analyze the state of a living organism under rocket flight conditions.
During these experiments, various methods were tested for returning animals to earth: together with a sealed container, as well as in a high-altitude spacesuit with a transparent pressure helmet on a parachute separately from the container.
On the second artificial satellite of the Earth, the dog Laika went into orbit. During the flight, the condition of the animal was monitored.
On January 11, 1960, a decision was made to create a cosmonaut corps. Later it became known as the Cosmonaut Training Center. The first part of the detachment included Yuri Gagarin, German Titov, Pavel Popovich and other pilots who later became cosmonauts. The first class of cosmonauts took place on March 14, 1960 in Moscow.
In the same year, testing of the parachute system of the Vostok spacecraft began in Kazakhstan.
In May 1960, the first launch of the Vostok spacecraft with an orientation system and a brake propulsion system took place. As a result of the failure of the infrared installation, instead of braking, the ship began to accelerate and moved to a higher orbit.
On August 19, 1960, the second spacecraft-satellite entered orbit, carrying the dogs Belka and Strelka, as well as rats, mice, and fruit flies. The next day, the ship landed in a given area.
On December 1, 1960, the third ship was launched, on which were the dogs Pchelka and Mushka. The descent ship, in which they were, fell into an off-design trajectory and died.
At the same time, at Cape Canaveral in Florida, the Americans launched the Mercury capsules. In the summer of 1960, the rocket exploded 65 seconds after launch. In November 1960, the capsule did not separate from the rocket and fell into the ocean with it. Two weeks later there was a rocket fire at the start.
On January 31, 1961, a capsule was launched containing the chimpanzee Ham. He was trained to press buttons and levers, reacting to light signals, in case of failure, receiving electric shocks. During the flight, an emergency acceleration of the carrier occurred, which led to 18-fold overloads. Automation failed, and Ham constantly received electric shocks. The capsule splashed down 130 miles from the set point.
On March 9, 1961, the 4th satellite was launched. In his pilot's seat sat a mannequin - an average stuffed human. They called him "Ivan Ivanovich". The dog Chernushka flew with him. After 88 minutes of flight, the ship landed safely.
The last rehearsal of the flight was the launch on March 25 of the 5th satellite with the next "Ivan Ivanovich" and the dog Zvezdochka.
After that, it was decided to start a man.
On April 5, the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center N.P. Kamanin and 6 candidates flew to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Korolev met them at the gangway and informed them that the flight would take place on April 10–12.
At the meeting of the State Commission, two candidates were considered - Gagarin and Titov. Gagarin was approved. On April 11, he arrived at the launch site to meet with the staff of the space complex. Together with Titov and Kamanin, Gagarin tried space food in tubes. Then he was called for a briefing.
April 12, 1961 Gagarin arrived at the cosmodrome and, after a report to the chairman of the State Commission, took a seat in the cockpit of the Vostok. At 9:07 a.m. Vostok, with the world's first cosmonaut on board, took off into space. The spacecraft entered orbit with a maximum distance from the Earth of 327 km. The period of its revolution around the Earth was 89.1 minutes, the highest flight speed reached 28,000 km / h. The total power of the launch vehicle engines was 20 million liters. with. After the flight the globe at 10:25 a.m., the braking propulsion system was turned on, and the spacecraft began to descend from orbit to land. At 10:55 a.m., the ship landed in the Saratov region.
The Vostok spacecraft consisted of two main compartments: a spherical descent vehicle and an instrument compartment.
The descent vehicle with the cosmonaut's cabin was made in the form of a ball with a diameter of 2.3 m and a mass of 2.4 tons.
In the body of the astronaut's cabin there were 3 windows with heat-resistant glass. The life support system maintained normal pressure in the cockpit, chemical composition atmosphere, temperature and humidity. The supply of water, food and regenerative substances was designed for 10 days. For additional insurance in flight, a special spacesuit was used.
The astronaut's seat ensured the safety of a person in flight and under the influence of overloads. In its hull, a spacesuit ventilation system, ejection and pyrotechnic devices, parachute systems, an emergency supply, including food and water, rescue and signaling devices that could be used after landing, were mounted.
The ship also had equipment for monitoring the operation of systems and controlling the ship, radio equipment for communicating with the Earth, automatic recording of data on the operation of instruments, a radio telemetry system, equipment for monitoring the astronaut's condition, an orientation system, a radio system for measuring orbit parameters, a landing system, an optical device "Vzor » for manual orientation, television equipment, braking propulsion system.
To control the ship in the cockpit there was a remote control with a dashboard and a handle with a control unit. The astronaut could determine the projection of his position on the Earth's surface using a miniature Earth globe located on the dashboard.
For the ship's deorbit and landing, a braking propulsion and parachute systems were used. The first was used to deorbit the ship, the second - for braking at the final stage of descent and landing.
This was the beginning of the era of manned space flight.
On May 5, 1961, American astronaut A. Sheppard made a suborbital flight along a ballistic trajectory at an altitude of 195 km with a duration of 15 minutes. He landed 500 km from the start. On July 21, 1961, V. Grissom made the same flight.
On August 6, 1961, the Vostok? 2 spacecraft was launched into space in the Soviet Union, piloted by G. S. Titov. This flight lasted 25 hours 18 minutes. The spacecraft flew over 700 thousand km, making more than 17 revolutions around the Earth. The flight of G. S. Titov proved the possibility of a long stay of a person in outer space.
On August 11 and 12, 1962, the Vostok? 3 spacecraft (cosmonaut A. G. Nikolaev) and Vostok? 4 (cosmonaut P. R. Popovich) were launched into orbit. They made the first group flight, during which the minimum distance between the ships was about 5 km. Radio contact was made between them. For the first time, there was a live television broadcast from space.
On June 16, 1963, the Vostok? 6 spacecraft was launched into space, piloted by the first woman, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. She stayed in space for 3 days and landed on June 19.
On the same day, June 19, the Soviet automatic interplanetary station "Mars? 1", launched on November 1, 1962, flew near Mars.
On October 12, 1964, the Voskhod spacecraft delivered three cosmonauts into orbit at once - V. M. Komarov, K. P. Feoktistov and B. B. Egorov. They were in the ship without spacesuits, in ordinary clothes.
The Voskhod multi-seat ship weighed 5.32 tons and consisted of a cabin, an instrument compartment and could be equipped with an airlock. The brake installations and the landing system were duplicated. The control of the ship and landing could be carried out automatically and manually.
On March 18, 1965, during the Voskhod? 2 flight, A. A. Leonov made the first spacewalk, which lasted 20 minutes.
1967 opened the account for the dead astronauts. On January 27, during a fire on the launch pad in the Apollo spacecraft, V. Grissom, E. White and R. Chaffee burned down. The culprit was a cotton wool soaked in alcohol, which fell on the open coil of the heater. The pure oxygen atmosphere used on American ships contributed to the rapid spread of fire.
On April 24, while testing the new Soyuz? 1 spacecraft during landing, V. M. Komarov died due to malfunctions in the parachute system.
In the late 1960s, manned flights to the Moon began. On December 24, 1968, the American Apollo No. 8 entered the lunar orbit. On July 20, 1969, the first landing on the moon was carried out by Apollo 11 with N. Armstrong and E. Aldrin.
On November 17, 1970, the Lunokhod? 1 was delivered to the Moon, controlled by a radio signal from the Earth. For 11 lunar days, he traveled 10.5 km in the area of the Sea of Rains.
In 1971, the first Salyut orbital station was put into orbit. 4 days after the launch, the station docked with the Soyuz-10 spacecraft.
"Salute" consisted of 3 compartments: transitional, working and aggregate.
The transition compartment was one of the residential compartments of the station. It was intended for scientific experiments. It included a docking station for connection with the transport spacecraft, the transition of astronauts and the transfer of cargo. Inside the compartment were a thermal control and life support system, scientific equipment, and control panels. Solar panels, antennas, compressed air tanks, a stellar telescope and other instruments were installed outside.
The working compartment was the largest at the station. It was located in its middle part and served for work and rest of astronauts. It contained the main instruments and units of the station control system, life support systems, radio communication equipment, water and food supplies, and scientific equipment.
In it, the astronauts operated the station, conducted research, and rested. In front of this compartment, there was a central station control post with pilot consoles, an on-board computer control panel and other control systems.
In the working compartment there were other posts for observing the Earth's surface, for conducting biomedical experiments and working with navigation equipment. In total, there were 15 windows in the working compartment for orientation, photographing and visual observations.
Normal atmospheric pressure, humidity and temperature were maintained in the working compartment. On its outer part there was a part of scientific equipment, antennas and sensors of the orientation system, panels of radiators of the thermal control system, communication and teleradiometry antennas.
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The first rocket in space was a significant breakthrough in the study and development of astronautics. Sputnik was launched on October 4, 1957. He was engaged in the design and development of the first satellite, and it was he who became the main observer and researcher of the first step towards conquering extraterrestrial peaks. The next was the Vostok apparatus, which sent the Luna-1 station into lunar orbit. It was launched into space on January 2, 1959, but control problems did not allow the carrier to land on the surface of a celestial body.
First launches: animals and people in the conquest of space
The study of outer space and the capabilities of aircraft took place with the help of animals. First dogs in space Belka and Strelka. It was they who visited orbit and returned safe and sound. Further launches were made with monkeys, dogs, rats. The main task of such flights was to study biological changes after spending a certain time in space and the possibilities of adaptation to weightlessness. Such training was able to ensure the successful first human space flight in the world.
Vostok-1
The flight of the first cosmonaut into space took place on April 12, 1961. And the first ship in space that could be piloted by an astronaut, respectively, was Vostok-1. The device was originally equipped automatic control, but if necessary, the pilot can switch to manual coordination mode. The first flight around the earth ended after 1 hour and 48 minutes. And the news of the flight of the first man into space instantly spread throughout the globe.
Development of the field: a person outside the apparatus
The first manned flight into space was the main impetus for the active development and improvement of technology. A new stage was the desire to get out of the ship of the pilot himself. Another 4 years were spent on research and development. As a result, 1965 was marked by important event in the world of astronautics.
The first man to go into space, Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov, left the ship on March 18. He stayed outside aircraft 12 minutes and 9 seconds. This allowed researchers to draw new conclusions and begin to improve projects and improve spacesuits. And the first photo in space adorned the pages of both Soviet and foreign newspapers.
The subsequent development of astronautics
Svetlana Savitskaya
Research in the area continued for many more years, and on July 25, 1984, the first spacewalk was carried out by a woman. Svetlana Savitskaya went into space at the Salyut-7 station, but after that she did not take part in such flights. Together with Valentina Tereshkova (who flew in 1963), they became the first women in space.
After lengthy research, more frequent flights and long stays in extraterrestrial space became possible. The first cosmonaut to go into space, who became the record holder for the time spent outside the ship, is Anatoly Solovyov. For the entire period of work in the field of astronautics, he carried out 16 spacewalks, and their total duration of stay was 82 hours and 21 minutes.
Despite further progress in the conquest of extraterrestrial expanses, the date of the first flight into space became a holiday in the USSR. In addition, April 12 became the international day of the first flight. The descent vehicle from the Vostok-1 spacecraft is stored in the Energia Corporation Museum named after S.P. Queen. Also preserved are the newspapers of that time, and even stuffed Belka and Strelka. The memory of achievements is kept and studied by new generations. Therefore, the answer to the question: "Who was the first to fly into space?" every adult and every student knows.