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Soviet space program

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Soviet space program
Космическая программа СССР
Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR【公式】【公式】エミナルクリニックメンズ 『Be Yourselft』6秒エミナルクリニックメンズ 『Be Yourselft』6秒
Launch of the first successful artificial satellite, Sputnik-1, from R-7 platform in 1957
Formed1951
DissolvedNovember 14, 1991[1]
Manager
Key peopleDesign Bureaus
Primary spaceport
First flightSputnik 1
(October 4, 1957)
First crewed flightVostok 1
(April 12, 1961)
Last crewed flightSoyuz TM-13
(October 2, 1991)
SuccessesSee accomplishments
FailuresSee failures below
Partial failuresSee partial or cancelled projects
Soviet lunar program
Part of a series of articles on the
Soviet space program
Human spaceflight programs
Space probes
Expendable launch vehicles
Notable figures
Cosmonauts
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin—the first person in outer space

The Soviet space program[2] (Russian: Космическая программа СССР, romanized: Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR) was the state space program of the Soviet Union, active from 1951 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.[3][4][5] Contrary to its American, European, and Chinese competitors, which had their programs run under single coordinating agencies, the Soviet space program was divided between several internally competing design bureaus led by Korolev, Kerimov, Keldysh, Yangel, Glushko, Chelomey, Makeyev, Chertok and Reshetnev.[6] Several of these bureaus were subordinated to the Ministry of General Machine-Building. The Soviet space program served as an important marker of claims by the Soviet Union to its superpower status.[7]: 1 

Soviet investigations into rocketry began with the formation of the Gas Dynamics Laboratory in 1921, and these endeavors expanded during the 1930s and 1940s.[8][9] In the years following World War II, both the Soviet and United States space programs utilised German technology in their early efforts at space programs. In the 1950s, the Soviet program was formalized under the management of Sergei Korolev, who led the program based on unique concepts derived from Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, sometimes known as the father of theoretical astronautics.[10]

Competing in the Space Race with the United States and later with the European Union and with China, the Soviet space program was notable in setting many records in space exploration, including the first intercontinental missile (R-7 Semyorka) that launched the first satellite (Sputnik 1) and sent the first animal (Laika) into Earth orbit in 1957, and placed the first human in space in 1961, Yuri Gagarin. In addition, the Soviet program also saw the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963 and the first spacewalk in 1965. Other milestones included computerized robotic missions exploring the Moon starting in 1959: being the first to reach the surface of the Moon, recording the first image of the far side of the Moon, and achieving the first soft landing on the Moon. The Soviet program also achieved the first space rover deployment with the Lunokhod programme in 1966, and sent the first robotic probe that automatically extracted a sample of lunar soil and brought it to Earth in 1970, Luna 16.[11][12] The Soviet program was also responsible for leading the first interplanetary probes to Venus and Mars and made successful soft landings on these planets in the 1960s and 1970s.[13] It put the first space station, Salyut 1, into low Earth orbit in 1971, and the first modular space station, Mir, in 1986.[14] Its Interkosmos program was also notable for sending the first citizen of a country other than the United States or Soviet Union into space.[15][16]

The primary spaceport, Baikonur Cosmodrome, is now in Kazakhstan, which leases the facility to Russia.[17][18]

Origins

Early Russian-Soviet efforts

Members of the Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD). 1931. Left to right: standing I.P. Fortikov, Yu A Pobedonostsev, Zabotin; sitting: A. Levitsky, Nadezhda Sumarokova, Sergei Korolev, Boris Cheranovsky, Friedrich Zander
Further information: Soviet rocketry

The theory of space exploration had a solid basis in the Russian Empire before the First World War with the writings of the Russian and Soviet rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935), who published pioneering papers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on astronautic theory, including calculating the Rocket equation and in 1929 introduced the concept of the multistaged rocket.[19][20][21] Additional astronautic and spaceflight theory was also provided by the Ukrainian and Soviet engineer and mathematician Yuri Kondratyuk who developed the first known lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR), a key concept for landing and return spaceflight from Earth to the Moon.[22][23] The LOR was later used for the plotting of the first actual human spaceflight to the Moon. Many other aspects of spaceflight and space exploration are covered in his works.[24] Both theoretical and practical aspects of spaceflight was also provided by the Latvian pioneer of rocketry and spaceflight Friedrich Zander,[25] including suggesting in a 1925 paper that a spacecraft traveling between two planets could be accelerated at the beginning of its trajectory and decelerated at the end of its trajectory by using the gravity of the two planets' moons – a method known as gravity assist.[26]

Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL)

Main article: Gas Dynamics Laboratory

The first Soviet development of rockets was in 1921, when the Soviet military sanctioned the commencement of a small research laboratory to explore solid fuel rockets, led by Nikolai Tikhomirov, a chemical engineer, and supported by Vladimir Artemyev, a Soviet engineer.[27][28] Tikhomirov had commenced studying solid and Liquid-fueled rockets in 1894, and in 1915, he lodged a patent for "self-propelled aerial and water-surface mines."[29] In 1928 the laboratory was renamed the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL).[30] The First test-firing of a solid fuel rocket was carried out in March 1928, which flew for about 1,300 meters[29] Further developments in the early 1930s were led by Georgy Langemak.[31] and 1932 in-air test firings of RS-82 unguided rockets from an Tupolev I-4 aircraft armed with six launchers successfully took place.[32]

Sergey Korolev

Main article: Sergey Korolev

A key contributor to early soviet efforts came from a young Russian aircraft engineer Sergey Korolev, who would later become the de facto head of the Soviet space programme.[33] In 1926, as an advanced student, Korolev was mentored by the famous Soviet aircraft designer Andrey Tupolev, who was a professor at his University.[34] In 1930, while working as a lead engineer on the Tupolev TB-3 heavy bomber he became interested in the possibilities of liquid-fueled rocket engines to propel airplanes. This led to contact with Zander, and sparked his interest in space exploration and rocketry.[33]

Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD)

Rocket 09 (left) and 10 (GIRD-09 and GIRD-X). Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology; St. Petersburg.
Main article: Group for the Study of Reactive Motion

Practical aspects built on early experiments carried out by members of the 'Group for the Study of Reactive Motion' (better known by its Russian acronym "GIRD") in the 1930s, where Zander, Korolev and other pioneers such as the Russian engineers Mikhail Tikhonravov, Leonid Dushkin, Vladimir Vetchinkin and Yuriy Pobedonostsev worked together.[35][36][37] On August 18, 1933, the Leningrad branch of GIRD, led by Tikhonravov,[36] launched the first hybrid propellant rocket, the GIRD-09,[38] and on November 25, 1933, the Soviet's first liquid-fueled rocket GIRD-X.[39]

Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII)

Main article: Reactive Scientific Research Institute

In 1933 GIRD was merged with GDL[29] by the Soviet government to form the Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII),[36] which brought together the best of the Soviet rocket talent, including Korolev, Langemak, Ivan Kleymyonov and former GDL engine designer Valentin Glushko.[40][41] Early success of RNII included the conception in 1936 and first flight in 1941 of the RP-318 the Soviets first rocket-powered aircraft and the RS-82 and RS-132 missiles entered service by 1937,[42] which became the basis for development in 1938 and serial production from 1940 to 1941 of the Katyusha multiple rocket launcher, another advance in the reactive propulsion field.[43][44][45] RNII's research and development were very important for later achievements of the Soviet rocket and space programs.[45][28]

During the 1930s, Soviet rocket technology was comparable to Germany's,[46] but Joseph Stalin's Great Purge severely damaged its progress. In November 1937, Kleymyonov and Langemak were arrested and later executed, Glushko and many other leading engineers were imprisoned in the Gulag.[47] Korolev was arrested in June 1938 and sent to a forced labour camp in Kolyma in June 1939. However, due to intervention by Tupolev, he was relocated to a prison for scientists and engineers in September 1940.[48]

World War II

During World War II rocketry efforts were carried out by three Soviet design bureaus.[49] RNII continued to develop and improve solid fuel rockets, including the RS-82 and RS-132 missiles and the Katyusha rocket launcher,[31] where Pobedonostsev and Tikhonravov continued to work on rocket

  1. ^ Полвека без Королёва, zavtra.ru. Archived 28 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ Reichl, Eugen (2019). The Soviet Space Program: The Lunar Mission Years: 1959–1976. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, Limited. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-7643-5675-9. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  3. ^ "Space Race Timeline".
  4. ^ "2 апреля 1955 года «Об образовании общесоюзного Министерства общего машиностроения СССР»". Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  5. ^ Вертикальная структура: как реорганизуется космическая отрасль России, АиФ. Archived 30 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ^ "Postal Stationery Russia Airmail Envelope with Depiction of the Earth Being Orbited and Four Gold Stars". groundzerobooksltd.com. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  7. ^ Andrews, James T.; Siddiqi, Asif A. (2011). Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 978-0-8229-7746-9. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  8. ^ Chertok 2005, pp. 9–10, 164–165 Vol 1.
  9. ^ Siddiqi 2000, pp. 6–14.
  10. ^ "Home | AIAA". Archived from the original on January 4, 2012.
  11. ^ "Famous firsts in space". CNN. Cable News Network. April 9, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  12. ^ Article title
  13. ^ "Behind the Iron Curtain: The Soviet Venera program". August 26, 2020.
  14. ^ Brian Dunbar (April 19, 2021). "50 Years Ago: Launch of Salyut, the World's First Space Station". NASA.gov. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  15. ^ Sheehan, Michael (2007). The international politics of space. London: Routledge. pp. 59–61. ISBN 978-0-415-39917-3.
  16. ^ Burgess, Colin; Hall, Rex (2008). The first Soviet cosmonaut team: their lives, legacy, and historical impact. Berlin: Springer. p. 331. ISBN 978-0-387-84823-5.
  17. ^ http://www.roscosmos.ru/index.asp?Lang=ENG Archived October 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ "Russian Right Stuff DVD Set Space Program Secret History 2 Discs". mediaoutlet.com. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  19. ^ Siddiqi 2000, pp. 1–2.
  20. ^ Baker & Zak 2013, p. 3.
  21. ^ "Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Brochures" (PDF). Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
  22. ^ Wilford, John (1969). We Reach the Moon; the New York Times Story of Man's Greatest Adventure. New York: Bantam Paperbacks. p. 167. ISBN 0-373-06369-0.
  23. ^ Harvey, Brian (2007). Russian Planetary Exploration: History, Development, Legacy and Prospects. Springer.
  24. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 2.
  25. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 3.
  26. ^ Zander's 1925 paper, “Problems of flight by jet propulsion: interplanetary flights,” was translated by NASA. See NASA Technical Translation F-147 (1964); specifically, Section 7: Flight Around a Planet's Satellite for Accelerating or Decelerating Spaceship, pp. 290–292.
  27. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 6.
  28. ^ a b Chertok 2005, p. 164 Vol 1.
  29. ^ a b c Zak, Anatoly. "Gas Dynamics Laboratory". Russian Space Web. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  30. ^ "Russian Rocket Projectiles – WWII". Weapons and Warfare. November 18, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  31. ^ a b Siddiqi 2000, p. 17.
  32. ^ Chertok 2005, p. 165 Vol 1.
  33. ^ a b Siddiqi 2000, p. 4.
  34. ^ "Late great engineers: Sergei Korolev – designated designer". The Engineer. June 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  35. ^ Siddiqi 2000, pp. 4–5.
  36. ^ a b c Baker & Zak 2013, p. 6.
  37. ^ Chertok 2005, p. 166 Vol 1.
  38. ^ Okninski, Adam (December 2021). "Hybrid rocket propulsion technology for space transportation revisited – propellant solutions and challenges". FirePhysChem. 1 (4): 260–271. Bibcode:2021FPhCh...1..260O. doi:10.1016/j.fpc.2021.11.015. S2CID 244899773.
  39. ^ "GIRD (Gruppa Isutcheniya Reaktivnovo Dvisheniya)". WEEBAU. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  40. ^ Siddiqi 2000, pp. 7–8.
  41. ^ Baker & Zak 2013, p. 9.
  42. ^ Chertok 2005, p. 167 vol 1.
  43. ^ Pobedonostsev, Yuri A. (1977). "On the History of the Development of Solid-Propellant Rockets in the Soviet Union". NASA Conference Publication. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Scientific and Technical Information Office: 59–63.
  44. ^ "Greatest World War II Weapons : The Fearsome Katyusha Rocket Launcher". Defencyclopidea. February 20, 2016. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  45. ^ a b Siddiqi 2000, p. 9.
  46. ^ Chertok 2005, pp. 167–168 Vol 1.
  47. ^ Siddiqi 2000, pp. 10–11.
  48. ^ Siddiqi 2000, pp. 11–14.
  49. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 22.
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