Cosmic Culture: “We were the first everywhere – except on the moon” Markus Kaiser Alexander Glushko, an historian of military affairs and importance in the USSR and discussed with them whet- discourse of fantasy), and on the other hand the mystic, space travel, notes that “we were the first everywhere her, in their opinion, a reinterpretation took place after occult tradition of the cult of the cosmos (archaic, pas- – except on the moon.” Contemporary observers and the dissolution of the Soviet Union and whether there toral, spiritual, philosophical). Enthusiasm for space in people working in professions related to space travel in was a change in the value attached to it. the 1920s made a decisive contribution to the forging the former USSR and associated countries have emp- of a national community in the USSR. hasised the importance of space travel for the identity How did the exploration of space from the late 1950s of the Soviet Un19:50ion and its citizens. The first man- find its way into daily life and everyday culture in the Tsiolkovsky had saint-like status in the Soviet Union. He made satellite to go into space orbiting the earth, the USSR and its associated countries? At the centre of this was the perfect figure, who combined the two currents beeping sphere called Sputnik; the first human in space, was the utopia of a better society through progress, of thought and published many inspirational works on one Yuri Gagarin; the first space walk by Alexei Leonov – which was manifested most clearly in space travel and the philosophy of space travel and on rocket techno- all of these were magnificent triumphs for the USSR, as space research. This dream reinforced the myth of the logy. Many monuments were erected to him, including it then was, in the midst of the Cold War. Until 1957 the cosmos and its heroic stories. This everyday culture in- one in the park of the Cosmonaut Museum in Moscow. West was absolutely convinced that the USA was supe- cluded the popularisation of knowledge about space, Educational and research institutions were named after rior to the USSR in every field. The Sputnik shock led to the incorporation of the cosmos into daily life in the him, and his former residence in Kaluga is a museum comprehensive reforms in the West in technology, arm- form of everyday items, the fine arts, culture, literatu- today. Under the German Democratic Republic, the 6th aments and education, and to a race in space and to the re and architecture, and the internationalism that was Polytechnic High School in the Berlin district of Mar- moon. The USSR was surprised by such a violent reac- shared by all in the utopia of socialism and was gradu- zahn bore his name, but was renamed in 1990. The Ga- tion from the West, and gave significantly higher priority ally put into practice in space programmes. garin of the GDR, Sigmund Jähn, also experienced the to space travel and to the rocket technology associated end of the communist regime as a break in the social with it. The rivalry between the systems had gained a status of cosmonauts. Cosmic Utopia further, increasingly vital field of conflict. The first space vehicle built by man that landed on the moon was the Humankind’s dream of setting off into space derives Germany, the USA and the USSR pressed ahead with Soviet space probe Lunik 2 in 1959. In 1966, Luna 9 was in the Eastern hemisphere from Konstantin Tsiolkovs- the development of rocket technology more or less the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the moon. ky, the founder of modern cosmonautics. He dreamed in parallel, guided by military interests, of course, du- But the first humans on the moon, on 21 July 1969, and wrote about journeys to other planets and distant ring the Second World War. At the end of the war, all were the Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, as stars, devoted himself to rocket research, and develo- of the Allies sent their experts to Germany to find out part of the Apollo 11 mission. The planned Soviet moon ped ideas and models for multi-stage rockets, as well the state of development of the V2, to recruit German landing with humans was not ultimately carried out. as entire airships made only from metal. Sketches and experts and to acquire technical documentation, pro- models of these are on display today in, among other duction facilities and missile parts. The greatest coup by Space travel found a place in everyday Soviet life, pro- places, the State Museum of the History of Cosmonau- far was secured early by the USA, before 31 May 1945: duced heroes of the Soviet Union and later of the Rus- tics in Kaluga in Russia, which opened in 1967 and is “The best of the war bounty – the chief engineers from sian Federation, was and remains a factor for creating named after him. Siddiqi (2008 a, b) emphasises that the German missile team along with the surviving V2s – identity across national borders, and today still plays a enthusiasm for the cosmos in the early Bolshevik peri- was acquired by Operation Paperclip” (Kojevnikov 2011, greater role than is usually thought. We spoke to peop- od sprang from two sources: on the one hand techno- p. 20). The materials were carried away and taken to le in professions associated with space travel about its logical utopianism (urban, modern, materialistic and a the White Sands test site in hundreds of rail trucks and 75 only a few months later, on 14 March 1946, the first work in design offices scattered across the entire coun- does not mean that the work of these people should in V2 was launched in the USA (Hoffmann 1998). Having try and that they had “no knowledge of the whole”. The any way be judged differently. Space flights are still just taken possession of less material, the Soviet armed for- results of partial tasks in the branches were brought as unique as they used to be. And first of all you have ces mainly relied on their own engineers, who first of together in the four or five central development and to get to the point of making such a flight. It took me all studied the missile technology and documents that design offices into which the Soviet rocket programme thirteen years to get there myself – thirteen years of remained in Germany, and moved to a secret research was divided. The central Design Office for Experimen- nothing but testing work.” centre in Kaliningrad in 1946 (see Kojevnikov 2011, p. tal Mechanical Engineering, which was formed from the 20). As early as 1950 the development programmes legendary OKB-1, Experimental Design Office 1, is the In the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin as state were mainly carried out by Soviet experts, and the Ger- largest aerospace technology company in the Russian president, new life was breathed into the myth that you man scientists were withdrawn from the rocket projects Federation today, since 2007 owned by Roscosmos, the can do anything if you really want. “Putin only has to (for a detailed account, see Hoffmann 1998). Russian space agency. Many former cosmonauts work give the order […] and we can achieve anything,” a go- in these organisations. At least in Russia, people with vernment adviser on the consequences of innovations Publications on the subject distinguish two phases in professions related to space travel find still employ- said about the attitude to technology of contemporary the development of the space programme and chan- ment, while institutions and networks ensure continui- Moscow elites. The “we can do it” cult for strengthening ging ideological and social contexts in the USSR: the ty. This applies to a lesser extent or not at all for institu- national pride is back again. Stalin era (1928–1953) and the Khrushchev period tions in the peripheral Commonwealth of Independent (1953–1964) (Andrews 2013). The conquest of the States. Continuity exists there in astrophysics institutes, The myth of the cosmos is undoubtedly also based on cosmos was connected for the community of socialist but at a low financial level typical of scientific work. the fact that in the eastern hemisphere more emphasis states with belief in the superiority of socialism and the was placed on the history of persons, in contrast to the establishment of a new, better society. It seemed that The development engineers at the centre enjoyed history of technology in the West. According to Gestwa scientific and technical progress in the field of space enormous freedom and many privileges in the USSR. (2009) there existed parallels between the astronaut travel turned utopias into reality. A great deal of suc- They were revered, alongside the cosmonauts, as her- cults in the Soviet Union and USA, which were the sub- cess in unmanned exploration of the moon and Venus oes of the Soviet Union. Their busts stand in parks ject of mutual observation and mutual influence. It is no was already achieved in the 1960s. As the programmes and museums next to those of the cosmonauts. The coincidence that, after the break-up of the USSR, the were kept secret, many details of them did not, howe- myth of the cosmos in the USSR was associated with historical institutes of NASA and the Air Force were the ver, become known until the late 1980s and after the its principal persons: cosmonauts and developers. They first to examine the background to the epistemic cul- dissolution of the USSR. were glorified, and every Soviet citizen knew them. The ture of space travel, in large-scale studies over many cosmonauts Alexander Laveikin and Sergey Ryazansky years and employing considerable financial resources Under the rule of General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, stressed that they chose their calling for idealistic rea- (e.g.