Space History for November 23: Tragedy and Triumph

[CalliArcale]

November 23, 1935: Vladislav Nikolayevich Volkov was born in the city of Moscow. Volkov became a cosmonaut in 1966 as the first group of engineer cosmonauts from Energia. It took some time for his group to be assigned to a mission, due to political wrangling between Mishin and Kaminin, but eventually Volkov flew. In 1969, he participated in the flight of Soyuz 7 -- part of an ambitious three-spacecraft plan where Soyuz 7 and 8 are to dock while Soyuz 6 observes and takes unprecedented footage. (Even today, this has not been done. A Soyuz did photograph the undocking of a Space Shuttle from Mir, but never a docking.) Unfortunately, the docking is unsuccessful and all three spacecraft return to Earth. Volkov had at least nominally been in the path for a lunar mission, but as lunar missions became progressively more unlikely, he ended up on track for the newly launched DOS station: Salyut 1. He was scheduled for the Soyuz 11 backup crew. When one of the prime crew developed symptoms of tuberculosis, the entire prime crew (led by the famous spacewalker Leonov) was replaced by the backup crew. As Soyuz 10 had failed to hard dock with Salyut 1, Volkov, aboard Soyuz 11, would become one of the first three men to live on board a space station. Unexpectedly, this saved Leonov's life, and he would later go on to command the Soviet half of the ASTP mission, the first international manned space mission. Volkov and the rest of the backup crew were not so lucky. The first ten days of life on Salyut 1 went very well. On day 11, there was a fire on board Salyut 1. The crew evacuated to Soyuz 11, but the fire went out and they were able to get the air tolerable again. On day 12, flight controllers became concerned about Volkov, as he appeared to have taken credit for most of what was done in the day 11 crisis. Meanwhile, the suits worn to simulate the effects of gravity were tiring to the cosmonauts but weren't really doing much good, the treadmill was abandoned bec <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[juliemac]

Thanks for posting this stuff. Its one of my high lights reading this forum!

 

[JonClarke]

R remember Lunakhod 1. What a fantastic mission. More somberly, I also remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard about Soyuz 11. What a tragedy, especially coming after such successful mission. I was too young for Apollo 1 and Soyuz 1 to have had an impact at the time. But i had been following Soyuz 11 since it had launched.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[shuttle_rtf]

For those of us still learning about the history elements of space flight, threads like this are much appreciated. Thanks Calli. Great read.

 

[CalliArcale]

I learn a lot writing them as well. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> My primary source is astronautix.com's wonderful "This Day In Space History." <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[shuttle_rtf]

Yeah, that's a great site. I didn't even know about it until this year. Huge database of everything space ships <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[silylene old]

I remember bitterly (I was 12-13 yrs old at the time)) that there was almost zero press coverage in the US of Lunakhod 1 other than it landed. I faithfully watched Walter Cronkite on CBS, and he had only the most minimal coverage. It was simply next-to-impossible to get any non-US information, back in the pre-internet, pre-CNN, Vietnam cold war days.<br /><br />As the cold war thawed, there was a fantastic touring Soviet space exhibit that stopped in 1990 for a few weeks at the Boston Science Museum. The exhibit had actual working unlaunched extras of many Soviet space vehicles, including a working Lunakhod, and a working Venera 8, and a working Vega...and even better, traveling with the exhibit were the engineers that actually built and operated Lunakhod, the Veneras and the Vega 1 & 2 mission. I spent a half a day there chatting with their engineers and had a great time.<br /><br />Anyways, here is a Lunakhod website:<br />http://selena.sai.msu.ru/Home/Spacecrafts/Lunokhod1/lunokhod1e.htm<br /><br />And a map of Lunakhod 1's travels on the moon: <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[ascan1984]

Great post calliare. Really enjoyed it. Please keep them comming. I cant wit for the next one.

 

[ace5]

<<As the cold war thawed, there was a fantastic touring Soviet space exhibit that stopped in 1990 for a few weeks at the Boston Science Museum. The exhibit had actual working unlaunched extras of many Soviet space vehicles, including a working Lunakhod, and a working Venera 8, and a working Vega...and even better, traveling with the exhibit were the engineers that actually built and operated Lunakhod, the Veneras and the Vega 1 & 2 mission. I spent a half a day there chatting with their engineers and had a great time. <br /><br /> />><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Silylene,<br /><br />I envy you!<br /><br />Even when I was a boy (1982) there was a lack of information in the open literature regarding Soviet spaceflight. In part it was due to the silly Soviet practicise of keep diagrams and information from being known to the west, but also because the interest in spaceflight in general had faded a lot in that days after Apollo moon landings. Space achievements were regarded as a mere technological curiosity... <br />Politics also contributed to this lack of info. The Soviet Union was seen as the Empire of Evil, and the efforts of their scientists were regarded almost always as military-related activities...<br />I remember how difficult was to me to see the real shape of Voskhod spacecraft (I always liked to know every detail of each spacecraft - since I am a space modeler), and the design of Proton Rocket... The N-1, wich was called Lenin Booster at these times, was a complete mystery.<br />The 90 came and I was able to know the British Interplanetary Society, and started to contact the Soviet Embassy in Brazil; Some very interesting information were given by these sources.<br />But the greatest advent was the internet itself... and astronautix.com. Comparable to it is with Chen Lan´s Go Taikonauts website, wich is a very nice information source about Chinese spacecrafts.<br />Today, there is plenty of detailed sites on Soviet/Russian space activities are known, but th

 

[silylene old]

I especially remember chatting with two engineers who lead the design of the Vegas. The 1985 Vega 1 and Vega 2 had a dual missions: 1) Drop a huge probe hanging from a balloon into the atmosphere of Venus, where it would drift for a couple of weeks in the winds studying Venusian atmospheric and weather science; 2) with the gravitational boost from Venus, rendezvous with Halley's comet and photograph the nucleus. The Vega missions were highly successful and achieved all of their goals.<br /><br />One engineer was responsible for the design of the big 'ball' that hung under the balloons. We talked a lot about the materials choices (I am a chemist) that went into the laminate consrtuction of the ball. As I recall, the ball's shell was about 6 inches thick, and it had a titanium exterior, and honeycomb fiberglass-like center, and a titanium interior. We talked a lot about heat management.<br /><br />The other engineer for Vega designed the comet-tracking cameras, and programmed the computer that ran the cameras. The Vegas passed very quickly near the comet nucleus, and to prevent blurring they had to actively acquire and move and track the nucleus to acquire photos. Since Halley was so far from Earth, lightspeed communication delays meant all of the target acquisition of the nucleus and the tracking algorithms had to be done autonomously. In 1985, this was a very advanced computer control algorithm. The computer they used was Russian designed and built, about equivalent to less than an Apple II in power and memory. It used a homemade operating system. Because of my interest, he started up the computer, and went and inserted a tracking simulation program into the computer (an intertesting prcess in itself!). We then watched on a very tiny monitor plugged into the Vega as (simulated) data streamed past, the telescope camera located and locked onto the simulated comet, and began tracking it as the (simulated) apparent angles changed due to the craft's and Halley's <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

"A cosmonaut at the exhibit" sounds like he was in a glass case, stuffed, with a suitable label. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br /><br />A few years ago we had an eibition of space artefacts on show here, many of which were on loan from the Lavochkin institute. I had the tremdous opportunity to meet some of the engineers who had worked on Mars, Venera, Luna, and Phobos Probes. They had full scale mock ups of Mars 3, a late model Venera lander, and the one of the actual Luna sample return capsules (I touched that when nobody was looking)<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[silylene old]

<font color="yellow">"A cosmonaut at the exhibit" sounds like he was in a glass case, stuffed, with a suitable label. </font><br /><br />I suspect he had been hitting the vodka pretty hard. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

the vegas were amazing missions, the perhaps the most ambitious and successful planetary missions the USSR flew. Two carriers, two landers, two balloons, four encounters. Pity they are so little remembered.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[tohaki]

I have read that atleast Lunakhod 2 carried a television camera (presumably SECAM). Are any videoclips available online?

 

[ace5]

"...They had full scale mock ups of Mars 3, a late model Venera lander, and the one of the actual Luna sample return capsules (I touched that when nobody was looking) <br /><br />Jon "<br /><br />Jon, I envy you as well... To touch the Luna capsule... wow!<br /><br />and photon,<br /><<"I can not believe that you, in Brazil, have also been infected the same crappy information viruses as americans... " />><br />In fact, at that time I used to say to myself, "hey, if they are so interested in making us to see the USSR as the Evil Empire, -- and knowing the historical involvement of CIA with supporting dictatorships in Latin America -- I concluded: Hey, there MUST be something good with the Russians... I dont know exactly what... But they must have something good to offer humankind, too".... <br /><br />So, I always was sympatetic to Russia as a country and its people as well.<br />

 

[ace5]

silylene,<br /><br />It is amazing to stay in contact with enginers at these international encounters!<br /><br />I have only one correction, see:<br />"One engineer was responsible for the design of the big 'ball' that hung under the balloons. We talked a lot about the materials choices (I am a chemist) that went into the laminate consrtuction of the ball. As I recall, the ball's shell was about 6 inches thick, and it had a titanium exterior, and honeycomb fiberglass-like center, and a titanium interior. We talked a lot about heat management. "<br /><br />The "ball" was the lander itself, that in fact descended in the surface, only breaked by small parachutes and making the touchdown with only the annular airbag cushion assembly (like Venera 9 and 10);<br /><br />The baloon that you refer to carried only a box-like device topped with the characteristic soviet type conical omnidirecional antenna (like the one at the front of Lunokhod). See: http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/dreams/102/vesmir/sondy3/Vega1b00.htm<br /><br />I agree, it was an amazing feat! I remember that I followed the vega missions with great interest...<br />

 

[JonClarke]

as I recall they both carried TV as they were driven in real time by people on the ground. Video clips would be awesome, I recall seeing some on a TV program once, but I don't know if these are widely available.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

Just checked - it was probably the BBC series "The planets". It interviewed one of the operators, showed the training ground used on earth, and had quite a bit of footage of various development models undergoing trials. Unfortunately there is only about a couple of second's footage from the moon, seen on an operator' screen.<br /><br />It's a pity, as the Lunakhods travelled further with a larger payload than any rover since. Even by today's standards they are very impressive and capable machines.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[tohaki]

They must have recorded some of it?! I belive it was a colour signal aswell.

 

[silylene old]

have only one correction, see: <br /><br />The "ball" was the lander itself, that in fact descended in the surface, only breaked by small parachutes and making the touchdown with only the annular airbag cushion assembly (like Venera 9 and 10); <br /><br />I never knew that! I thought the ball dangled from the parachute - that was the impression I had. Thanks for the correction, I had it confused (which goes to show you the lack of information in the media in those days). Now I will have to go read up on Vega online. <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>