Photo from open sources
Photo: Soyuz-1 crew
The Soviet government was silent about the feat of these people
In April, 52 years have passed since the first man’s flight in space. The whole world knows the name of Yuri Gagarin, what he did is undoubtedly a feat. Already if only because he was, in fact, a suicide bomber, and not only because he took a step into the unknown, but due to the banal imperfection of space rockets of that time. AND scientists and authorities knew about it, but were silent. Why? It’s simple politics, the question of the primacy of the superpower that first conquered space.
This first successful launch of artificial satellite 4 October 1957 was preceded by six unsuccessful attempts. The queen Seven combat missiles adapted for this purpose were allocated. After the sixth unsuccessful launch, it was decided to stop the attempt, a decision on this at the top was already signed. Korolev disobeyed order and made the last desperate attempt. It was that the famous first satellite in the world to launch Soviet propaganda trumpeted the whole world as an unprecedented success Soviet Union, proving this “superiority of socialist systems over rotten capitalism. “And only thanks to what has been achieved propaganda effect the issue of stopping satellite launches dropped automatically.
N.S. Khrushchev was especially proud of the weight of the Soviet satellites, about which Soviet propaganda relentlessly trumpeted. Mocking the Americans Khrushchev said that they only learned how to throw balls hinting at the small size of the American satellites. Wherein, Naturally, the fact that, using small dimensions, was hushed up instruments, the United States put on their satellites much more scientific devices than the USSR, and due to their high characteristics received more information. Seeking, first of all, propaganda success, the Soviet Union paid little attention to staging scientific tasks and the development of scientific equipment.
Thanks to almost unlimited funds that were released the Queen, a frantic race for the primacy in mastering began space: the first manned flight, the first female astronaut, the first human spacewalk, the first photo of the reverse side of the moon, etc. Any space program was evaluated either with propaganda point of view (be sure to be the first!), or with military. The true scientific goals of the Soviet leadership are not interested in. Missile technology of those years, especially instrumentation the equipment was rude and unreliable. Therefore, the flight of Gagarin It didn’t go as smoothly as the people were informed. Behind a few hours before the start, system malfunctions were detected sealing rockets, which the engineers hastily eliminated. When the ship rose, communication with him was lost. Communication restored and everyone breathed a sigh of relief only when the ship had already entered orbit. But the problems did not end there.
Upon landing, the ship began to spin rapidly, as in time brake motors did not separate. Fortunately the situation stabilized and the capsule separated. Then, upon entering the capsule into atmosphere and its braking, began to melt and drain overboard ship metal plating. In addition, the ship was not adapted to landing on Earth, so the astronaut had to eject at an altitude of 7 thousand m. Catapult worked fine, but one of parachutes did not open. Due to such inconsistencies, the first astronaut sat down in an unplanned place. And the local air defense forces, seeing on the screen Gagarin’s radar capsule nearly fired. And when the astronaut landed, he was arrested and taken to interrogate, because were not notified of the astronaut’s landing on the territory entrusted to them. And only after receiving the corresponding order of his steel Congratulations on your first flight!
Thus, for Gagarin, the flight ended safely, which you can’t say about cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. In 1967, he crashed into the result of the accident on the Soyuz-1 spaceship, which should was fly to the moon. It was crazy to send a man on ship because all previous launches of the Unions ended a failure. But the lunar race with America forced the Soviet the government still decide to fly.
Komarov knew about this, but could not refuse. As a result, on the ship the orientation system failed, and he went on an emergency landing, and then crashed. They write that US intelligence intercepted the connection with Komarov and heard his last words: it was a mat and curses to those who put him on this ship, which is absolutely not obeys control.
There were other incidents with the astronauts. For example, when Alexei Leonov left the hatch of the ship in outer space, then the vacuum made his suit swell so that it became impossible. He could not fit in the hatch, his hands came out gloves, and legs from boots. In such a critical situation, he accepted independent decision: without reporting to Earth, breaking everything instructions, switched to a pressure in the spacesuit of 0.27 atmospheres, which in In principle, fatal to the human body. His pulse reached 190 beats per minute! But he climbed into the hatch, where he inadvertently hurt boost switch, as a result of which pressure began to increase in the cabin oxygen (reached 460 mm). In this state, the astronauts spent seven hours and fell asleep from impotence and stress. But nonetheless, the crew returned safely to Earth, and the astronauts became heroes USSR. Living heroes …
Unfortunately, there are more dead heroes-cosmonauts than I would like … And even more unfortunately, the names of their humanity unknown. Why? Because most of them were before Gagarin. The Soviet government was silent about the feat of these people – in order to be the first in the safe departure of the astronaut into orbit. Now, when archives open and independent researchers do their noble cause in returning top names we can quietly learn the truth. Here are a few stories related to dead but unknown astronauts (total dead – for different data – there are about forty people).
February 4, 1961 died during an unsuccessful orbital flight cosmonaut Alexey Grachev. This became known in March 1965, when the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published sensational results of radio interceptions made by the group hams from the town of Torre Bert. According to them, in the early 60s years several unsuccessful manned space missions took place in the USSR flights leading to human casualties. Grachev’s flight from their numbers.
That day, the automatic launch failed interplanetary station towards Venus. Bring station to the interplanetary trajectory failed, and it was officially announced launch of the “Heavy satellite”, which in its overall weight the parameters were a bit like satellite ships that had already committed to at that time space flights. In October 1959, the Soviet magazine “Twinkle” placed a photo of Grachev in a helmet as one of equipment testers. And although no reference was made to them connection with the preparation for manned space flight, correspondent American agency “Associated Press” concluded that all The people mentioned in the article were part of the detachment of Soviet cosmonauts.
In 1959, three test launches were carried out. intercontinental cruise missile “The Tempest” – March 29, April 19 and 2 October. At launch, test pilot Maria Gromova died. IN December 1959 Italian news agency “Continentale” with reference to a certain senior functionary of the Communist Party Czechoslovakia spread the information that several astronauts died in the USSR during the commission of suborbital space flights. The same message said that with rocket engine test kills Soviet pilot Maria Gromova.
In September 1960, during a rocket explosion on the launch pad astronaut Peter Dolgov perished. This launch was carried out from the landfill. in Kapustin Yar. R-2 geophysical rocket was launched with biological objects on board, including the dogs Palm and Malek. According to another version, Dolgov died on October 11, 1960 during the first unsuccessful flight to Mars. The name of Peter Dolgov was widely known because he was a famous test parachutist. Hide it for a long time disappearance was impossible, and then the authorities went deep cynical step: it was announced that Dolgov died on November 1, 1962 during time of jump from the stratosphere from the Volga stratosphere balloon at testing individual equipment, subsequently used to create spacesuits for astronauts.
May 15, 1960 cosmonaut Vladimir Zavadovsky could not return from orbit and became a “captive” of space – after the launch of the “First Soviet satellite ship “, which could not return due to failure of the orientation system – instead of switching to a trajectory the descent ship moved into a higher orbit. About this launch It was known from the Soviet press, it was not reported only that the satellite was manned. But the correspondent for Reuters 23 February 1962 announced a performance in Fort Worth (Texas, USA) Colonel of the US Air Force Barney Oldfield, demonstrated the remains of the cockpit of the First Soviet Ship- satellite “and associated flight with the death of an unknown astronaut.
May 25, 1957 during a suborbital space flight on R-5A rocket killed astronaut Alexei Ledovsky. That day with a geophysical rocket was launched at the Kapustin Yar test site in the cabin of which were the dogs Red and Joyna. because of depressurization of the cabin of the dog died. However, in a message from 1959 the Italian news agency “Continentale” said that Ledovsky was with the dogs.
As a rule, information about the dead (before and after Gagarin, as well as in preparation for a flight on Earth) astronauts anyway seeped into the western press. There were rumors among the people, sometimes empty, but most often had bases. These rumors confirmed either by indirect data, or by reports of Western MEDIA. These reports regarding the existence of secret graves unknown astronauts who died on secret missions flashed in Western press long before April 1961, when it was officially announced the first manned flight into space. Moscow energetically denied the existence of such graves and rumors related to them, but it had no effect. Lots of dead lists astronauts have been circulating in the Western press for many years. IN THE USSR �denounced publishers of this kind of material as “enemies of the people. ”
As for indirect data, they are very different. Begin with the fact that, starting with the launch of the first unmanned artificial satellite in 1957, launch was never reported in advance – as the Americans did later. Soviet people recognized about everything after the fact. Like, “launched,” “unmanned the satellite was put into orbit “,” the astronaut landed “, etc. They began to notify about the launch of spaceships in advance somewhere in 80s. When flight safety became significantly higher. Yes and these launches are already fed up, they ceased to worry the public. Now we don’t even remember which account the astronaut is in orbit and whether at all.
Other indirect data are special orders, signed by officials. For example, this is: “Senior Family Lieutenant V. Bondarenko must be provided with everything necessary, as befits the astronaut’s family. “The Minister signed the order. Defense P.D. Malinovsky April 16, 1961. The order has the stamp “Secret.” Please note: until 1986, not a single Soviet book or the magazine never mentioned the existence of an astronaut named Valentin Bondarenko.
This name was first mentioned in a series of articles by Yaroslav Golovanov, a famous “space” journalist published in the newspaper Izvestia. In them, Golovanov wrote that the tragic the incident with the astronaut Bondarenko took place, but was stored in a secret. In his article, the date of the death of the astronaut was even given – 23 March 1961, Golovanov wrote: “Valentine was the youngest of the first cosmonaut squad “(he was only 24 years old). Article accompanied by a small, grainy photograph from the document. On the The photograph was depicted of a very young man trying look strict and important. The photo was taken in just a few days before his death. By the way, subsequently from all official photos of the astronauts removed his image. (So acted with all the dead astronauts – their faces were retouched, smeared, sometimes instead of their faces you can see bouquets or background.)
Bondarenko was training in a pressure chamber, which was part ten day test in complete isolation. Already at the very end of his stay in the pressure chamber, he admitted fatal for him a mistake. “After medical tests,” Golovanov writes, “ Bondarenko, removing the sensors attached to the body and wiping the skin moistened with alcohol in cotton wool, threw it away, accidentally falling on a spiral heater. “In an oxygenated atmosphere, the flame quickly covered the entire small space of the pressure chamber.
In the presence of a high concentration of oxygen, even usually non-flammable substances can burn at high speed. Cosmonaut’s training suit caught fire. Unaccustomed to strong fires in a high oxygen atmosphere, Bondarenko, making attempts to extinguish the fire, only contributed to the rapid flame spread. When the doctor on duty through the porthole noticed a fire, he rushed to the hatch, which he could not immediately open because the internal pressure of the chamber held him pressed down. Relieving pressure through the valve takes at least A couple of minutes. And all this time Bondarenko was embraced flame.
When Valentine was taken out of the pressure chamber, continues Golovanov, he still conscious and kept repeating: “It was mine mistake, no one else is to blame. “He died eight hours later, was buried in Kharkov, where he grew up and where his parents still lived. After him, a young widow and five-year-old son Alexander remained. Widow Anna stayed to work in the cosmonaut training center. When Alexander grew up, he became an air force officer.
Sincere article by Golovanov, in which he revealed death Bondarenko may have surprised his compatriots and called major headlines in the western press, but it hardly became news for informed “space detectives” in the West. They already walked along following this incident, and the Soviet censors knew this. Cause the emergence of such a large-scale (but not full-scale) Corrections to the official history is very simple. A lot of facts about Bondarenko’s tragedies have already leaked to the West through the “iron curtain “. In 1982, a Jew who emigrated shortly before the USSR by the name of S. Tiktin discussed Soviet space secrets in Russian-language monthly magazine published by emigrant society in West Germany. He mentioned the existence of such an incident. “Soon after Gagarin’s flight spread rumors about the death of an astronaut from a fire in a pressure chamber “, – he wrote in his article.
Golovanov’s article gave new confirmation to many others facts that Soviet people knew or suspected. To that of time it was already known that out of twenty people selected for space flight and began training in March 1960, was later a group of six people was selected for the first flight. But Golovanov cited unknown details. One of the first six, man by named after Anatoly Kartashov, was written off due to the appearance of bleeding on skin after a centrifuge workout. Another of the Six, Valentine Varlamov was decommissioned after injuring his cervical vertebra (he died after few years). Those who replaced them were among the first people in space; a quarter century later even glasnost is still not allowed Golovanov to publish their photos.
Another of the twenty cosmonauts, Mars Rafikov, left the squad later (since he was the only non-Slavic ever selected astronaut, this caused various speculations). Last loser of the first set, Dmitry Zaikin, was expelled in 1968 by medical reasons after working in a backup crew.
None of these incidents became known at the time, in early 60s. Instead, in the complete absence of information with Soviet side, Western observers supplemented it with their own explorations.
For example, researcher Michael Cassutt, who collected material for a book about astronauts, requested by the CIA – in accordance with the Act on freedom of information – about “what happened to the astronauts incidents between 1960 and 1975, “and got a very interesting answer. His request for such documents was rejected, but in as compensation he was provided with a list of documents that Satisfied his request. There was one message dated April 6, 1965 g. (shortly after the flight “Voskhod-2”), three during the crash Soyuz-1 in April 1967, two more in the same year, and three more in the period between 1973-1975 (possibly regarding flight preparation “Apollo” – “Union”). The existence of such documents implies the possibility of some other incidents, but further assumptions useless until the documents are fully declassified.
The fact that the USSR was silent about the deaths of its astronauts was not only cynicism and the desire to splurge, it was also a crime against others – foreign – astronauts. So, for example, if the Americans knew how and why the same Bondarenko, there would be no tragedy on Cape Kennedy in January 1967, when three American astronauts died in a fire in oxygenated atmosphere. Having no information about the Soviet disaster, NASA engineers have been negligent in using pure oxygen atmosphere. As in the Soviet pressure chamber, on Apollo 1 used materials that, as it turned out, become very flammable in an atmosphere enriched with oxygen. As in the Soviet pressure chamber, the Apollo 1 did not have a hatch for emergency leaving the cab; there was no effective fire fighting equipment. Information that in enriched oxygen atmosphere due to fire killed the Soviet astronaut, could prevent the recurrence of this tragedy in America and thereby save the lives of Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee.
Khrushchev later wrote about the Soyuz-11 tragedy: “I believe the reason disasters must be declared for two reasons: first, to somehow to console people who do not know what and how happened, and secondly, so that scientists can take precautions to prevent a recurrence of the same disaster. In general, I suppose that the United States should be informed by us regarding all that went wrong. After all, in the end Americans are also doing space exploration. “But when he had the opportunity to implement this strategy, he didn’t undertook. Moreover, it was on his orders in space ships designed for two people, was delivered the third armchair. As a result, the astronauts were so crowded that they practically could not work and conduct scientific experiments. Moreover, at first the astronauts flew without suits, and any leak air led to their death. This, by the way, was the reason tragedy with Soyuz-11.
As for this case, it was simply not possible to keep silent about it. The tragedy happened on June 30, 1971, when after 23 days of flight the cabin of the Soyuz-11 ship lost its tightness during descent from orbit and astronauts G.T. Dobrovolsky, V.N. Volkov and V.I. Patsaev suffocated. The Soviet media were forced to report about their death, because all 23 days they trumpeted about the success of the flight. This flight was mentioned in Soviet literature, but, as a rule, were silent about what he is over.
Khrushchev’s successors, including Gorbachev, continued their strategy non-disclosure harmful to all space explorers. When in 1965 on the ship “Voskhod-2” cosmonaut Leonov, who made the exit to deep space, nearly died due to difficulties with returning to the ship, the USSR did not inform its American colleagues. Instead, in numerous official publications talked about how easy and simple it was to implement this is the way out (only after decades the astronauts are recognized as western reporters that these messages were false). Consequently, NASA engineers and astronauts could not correctly assess the complexity that could arise during such work, and in mid-1966, an American astronaut nearly died when he unexpectedly faced the same difficulties. Even in 1985 when cosmonaut Vasyutin fell seriously ill in orbit, Soviet the party refused the opportunity to consult on this issue with American space doctors. For the safety of future space flights require more “space publicity”.
Some space tragedies in the USSR were nevertheless reported. open. But events were known only in general, certain specific details were not available. For example, in the case of death Komarov, the full story of the disaster was never reported. Of this required fear of losing Soviet leadership in the “space” race. ”
A few years later, Viktor Yevsikov, a Soviet engineer, participated in the development of protective refractory coating of ships “Union,” emigrated to America. Here he recorded his memories of that period. He wrote: “Some launches were carried out almost exclusively for propaganda purposes. For example, the launch of Vladimir Komarov on the ship “Soyuz-1″ was dedicated to the celebration of the Day international solidarity of workers. In the design office knew that the ship had not yet been fully tested, and what was required certain time for its final development before the start operation. But the Communist Party ordered a launch, despite the fact that the four previous test launches showed flaws in orientation systems, thermoregulation and in the parachute system. None of the tests were complete. successful. During the first test flight during the descent the refractory screen burned out. The lander was completely destroyed. Three other failures had different reasons. Failures in these test flights occurred due to breakdowns in the system temperature control, malfunctioning automatic system orientation, and parachute slings light up (due to operation pyrotechnic system). In these cases, the refractory screen worked fine”.
It is clear that these failures have never been declassified. No one of the Kremlin rulers did not recognize responsibility for the decision to conduct a flight of Komarov. Evsikov wrote: “There were rumors that Vasily Mishin, who headed the OKB after the death of the Queen in 1966, objected against launch. The flight took place, despite Mishin’s refusal to sign flight mission, as he considered unprepared the returnee apparatus. “It was an example of political pressure that NASA could to use when the question arose of launching the Challenger 28 January 1986
The Soviet Union, and after it Russia is proud of its primacy in space exploration. But what is this superiority compared to those victims that were made? The article was prepared according to books of the Soviet emigrant J. Oberg “Secret Soviet catastrophes” and “Red star in orbit”, A.Zheleznyakova “Encyclopedia “Cosmonautics” “.
O. BULANOVA
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