Our countryman Yuri Gagarin accomplished first man space flight - the first
in the history of civilization on April 12th of 1961. The world witnessed
the greatest scientific and technology achievements of the 20th century.
Open to mankind were stupendous prospects of exploring the Universe and
making use of nature's now wealth and possibilities. That day is now marked
as World Aviation and Cosmonautics Day.
 Much has already
been said about how the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was trained for his
history-making flight. Actually man necessary equipment and technology
were prepared simultaneously. The journalist and writer Yaroslav
Golovanov in his book "Cosmonaut ¹l" wrote that the chief designer Sergey
Korolev sought to implement his technological credo in the project - absolute
reliability. There was a single objective behind all the intricate logic
of the spacecraft to make it easier as much as possible for man to enter
an alien world - and what is more, unknown to him. Here is how assistant
chief designer of the "Energia" rocket and space corporation Yuri Grigoriev
today assesses the building of the Vostok spaceship.
"That was a moral and technical breakthrough. So far only the first satellites
were flying, and psychologically sending man into the unknown was an emotional,
moral and psychological breakthrough, and of course a technological one.
Never before had man been in space. That was the first spaceship and therefore
it is difficult to say how intricate it was. All sorts of barriers, including
technical ones had to be overcome. For the first time as Earth craft, which
became a sky one assured entry and flight on the orbit and what's most
important man's return to Earth.
The Vostok ship consisted of a descent module and an instrument compartments.
The weight of the spaceship was about five tons. And the descent module,
shaped as a ball had a diameter of 2,3 meters. It had a seat for the cosmonaut,
control instruments and a life-supporting system. The seat was placed in
such a way as to leases as mush as possible the effect of gravitation force
on the cosmonaut on take off and landing.
 Air pressure
in the cabin was normal, the same as on Earth. And the same about the composition
of the air. During the flight the helmet of the spacesuit was open and
the cosmonaut breathed the air in the cabin.
A powerful three-stage carrier-rocket put the spaceship on a maximum altitude
of 320 kilometers above the surface of the Earth and a minimum one of 180
kilometers.
In order to land - braking engines were switched on, velocity dropped and
the ship began descending and preparing to land.
The road of the "Vostok" ship into space wasn't an easy one. The first
ship in the series was launched on May 15th of I960. It didn't yet have
theme-protection and a parachute system. It wasn't planned to have the
ship returned to Earth. The designers only wanted to test how all systems
work, including those ensuring the flight of the ship in space, and automatic
separation of the different sections of the space vehicle. During the flight
the system of orientation broke down and the ship moved on an orbit, which
wasn't planned. Communication with it was lost.
During the next take-off, two months' later - the carrier-rocket developed
a fault. But there came success in the middle of August - two living beings
- the dogs Belka and Strelka returned from a space flight. But at the very
beginning of December there was another mishap - something was wrong with
the braking unit.
But on March 9th of 1961 when at the space training center near Moscow,
the Gagarin family were celebrating Yuri's 27th birthday, the designer
Sergey Korolev made a really royal present to him - a new unmanned Vostok
spaceship started off from the Baikanur cosmodrome with a test dog Chernushka
and a dummy in the seat of the cosmonaut on board. Besides there were cages
with mice and rats and containers with microorganisms. American newspapers
called the Vostok – Noah’s Ark. The flight went on well and the craft landed
safely.
But the dress rehearsal of the future man's space flight took place on
the 25th of March in 1961. All the future cosmonauts were invited to see
the event.
And when observing the impressive picture of the take-off they felt that
it were no longer months that separated them from man’s first space flight
- but weeks and perhaps even days. The flight went on without any remarks
and after spinning the Earths the vehicle with the animals landed safely.
And a few rather interesting details. The American way of choosing candidates
for future space flight was more stringent than the Soviet one. Only well
trained test-pilots having a Master's degree were chosen and they also
had to have a flight record of no less than 1500 hours.
Incidentally Yuri Gagarin at the time he joined the team of cosmonauts
spent only about 230 hours flying. The age "ceiling" of the Americans was
moved to 40 years. And by April of 1959 only seven persons out of 508 were
chosen in the
 United States.
And another thing should be said about how impatient the Americans were
in taking revenge for "Russia's Moon" - that was how they called our first
artificial satellite of the Earth. American astronauts were picked even
before the first spaceship was built and the carrier rocket tested. On
the other hand, when candidates began to be selected in Soviet air force
units, the frames of future Vostok spaceships were already standing in
the experimental shops. As for the carrier rocket, it was successfully
operating for already two years.
After the flight of Yuri Gagarin, the Americans used to reproach us of
being excessively and unjustly hasty, and almost of technical adventurism.
So who is too hasty and who is an adventurer - that is a question the writer
Yaroslav Golovanov asks in his book "Cosmonaut ¹l".
Why was the first spaceship called "Vostok"? Today nobody remembers who
was the first to suggest the name. There was a contest there were arguments,
heated debates and various proposals. But everyone agreed on the name Vostok
which all seemed to like. "Vostok" in English means "East". And indeed
it is a beautiful name, beautiful in every respect. It is from Vostok -
the East - that the new day begins and the Sun begins shinning on the whole
planet.
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