DOCSLIB.ORG

Rockets and People: Vol. 3, Hot Days of the Cold War Boris Chertok

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rockets and People: Vol. 3, Hot Days of the Cold War Boris Chertok Naval War College Review Volume 70 Article 11 Number 2 Spring 2017 Rockets and People: Vol. 3, Hot Days of the Cold War Boris Chertok Andrew Erickson Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review Recommended Citation Chertok, Boris and Erickson, Andrew (2017) "Rockets and People: Vol. 3, Hot Days of the Cold War," Naval War College Review: Vol. 70 : No. 2 , Article 11. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol70/iss2/11 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Chertok and Erickson: Rockets and People: Vol. 3, Hot Days of the Cold War BOOK REVIEWS 151 open to abuse to be a defective theory; if where he lacks information, makes for anything, because of that potential it is an accessible, historically useful account� a realistic one� I highly recommend this From his perch in the Soviet missile work as a useful resource for practical bureaucracy, Chertok observed the Cold moral formation in just war theory� War as a scientific-technological- ALI GHAFFARI military competition� Manned space- flight was regarded as an indicator of national prestige—and socialist superiority: “There was an ongoing battle at the front line of the Cold War’s Rockets and People, by Boris Chertok, ed� Asif scientific-technical front� Rather than Siddiqi� Vol� 3, Hot Days of the Cold War. Wash- soldiers, it was scientists, engineers, the ington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space ‘generals’ of industry, and workers who Administration, History Office, 2010� 796 pages� determined the battle’s outcome� And $65� warriors of another sort came on the In this third volume of his memoirs, ably scene—cosmonauts” (p� 61)� Each side edited by acclaimed space historian Asif fed off the other in constant one- Siddiqi, Boris Yevseyevich Chertok, who upmanship, Chertok stresses: “American was the most senior surviving Soviet operations had a very strong effect on space engineer until his death at age our plans� American historians of aero- ninety-nine in 2011, offers a unique, nautics assert that our successes were the firsthand window into Cold War history primary reason why the United States as he lived it over his six-decade career� converted its space programs into a top- He spent most of it at the uppermost priority, nationwide challenge” (p� 246)� level of the OKB-1 design bureau (now Central to this competition, for some S� P� Korolev Rocket and Space Corpora- time, was a race to land a man on the tion Energia), where he participated moon� On August 3, 1964, Central in every major project though 1991� Committee and USSR Council of In this series, volume 1 details Chertok’s Ministers Resolution 655-268, “On rise from aviation factory electrician Work for Lunar and Space Research,” to official in charge of extracting recommitted Moscow to “land a man Nazi rocket expertise, volume 2 the on the moon and return him to Earth post-1946 emergence of the Soviet by 1967–68” (p� 397)� This goal was missile program� In volume 3, Chertok restated in a similar decree of October recounts and reflects on the golden 25, 1965 (p� 568)� This competition was age of Soviet cosmonautics, from Yury very real, and there was no substitute: Gagarin’s historic orbital flight in 1961 “[N]o matter how successful [other] to the death of key figures in the Soviet programs might be, they could not space program in and around 1967� compensate for our loss of superiority Volume 4, released in early 2012, covers if the Americans were to become the the U�S�-Soviet moon race� Chertok’s first to fly around the moon” (p� 523)� personable, technically informed, Then, despite suffering a major setback and somewhat politically detached in the Apollo 1 fire of 1967, the United perspective, as well as his frankness States started pulling ahead� The Soviet regarding credibility of sources and Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2017 1 NWC_Spring2017Review.indb 151 2/22/17 9:32 AM 152 NAVAL WAR COLLEGENaval REVIEW War College Review, Vol. 70 [2017], No. 2, Art. 11 program was held back by a year of reduce the gap� Spaceflights served time-consuming yet inadequate ground propaganda purposes, in part to testing and the tragic death of Vladimir cover up missile limitations� Risky space Komarov when Soyuz 1 crashed in 1967� spectaculars were attempted, including In retrospect, there were larger reasons —on Khrushchev’s personal orders via for these results� The Soviet defense telephone to Korolyov—the 1964 cram- industry that Chertok depicts suffered ming of three cosmonauts without space from both direct involvement by party suits and with only limited life support organizations throughout the produc- into a Voskhod capsule whose “new tion process and limited government landing system had only been tested capacity, ruinous bureaucratic and once” (p� 237)� Soviet mission-control interpersonal struggles and finger- facilities were less advanced: “[T]he pointing, overly ambitious deadlines, mission control centers at Cape Canav- lack of systematic review of decisions, eral and Houston seemed like a fantasy and lack of politicians who understood to us” (p� 599)� The USSR fell behind the benefits of a comprehensive military- in integrated circuits, microchips, and civilian approach� So much depended computers, in part because of a lack of on a single individual� Chief Designer civilian applications� Quantity reflected Sergey Korolyov was a microcosm of lack of technological integration: Soviet society, having both suffered “[T]he first Soyuzes had so much varied significant repression and marshaled radio technology on board that they significant technical resources� His required twenty antennas” (p� 580)� untimely death in 1966, itself partly a Looking to the present and beyond, result of medical malpractice, devastated Chertok condemns the present Russian the Soviet space program� Korolyov’s government’s “crime” of dismantling successor Vasily Mishin would prove the nation’s great technological far less effective at cultivating the infrastructure (p� 331)� He makes Kremlin bureaucracy� Obsessive fascinating future projections: by 2015, secrecy reigned� The Central Committee “China (and perhaps India) will become maintained a categorical prohibition superpowers, surpassing Russia in terms on acknowledging space failures, even of military-strategic might�” Future when detected by foreigners� Inefficient conflict may center on resource access; use of limited resources imposed the United States, Europe, and China additional burdens: “For a long time may covet Russia’s unparalleled reserves during the post-Khrushchev period, of oil and gas, China its fresh water and we continued to develop and produce eastern territory as well� “Under those several parallel lines of strategic missiles, conditions, it appears that the strategic allowing unjustified redundancy” (p� significance of high-precision, nonnu- 155), their overproduction camouflaged clear weaponry together with intermedi- by creative budgeting (p� 146)� ate and even short-range tactical nuclear The United States led significantly in weapons might become a factor in missile numbers, accuracy, and nuclear deterring a large war just as ICBMs were weapons—a tremendous disparity dur- in the 20th century” (pp� 156–57)� Cher- ing the Cuban missile crisis, although tok judges further that “Chinese rocket subsequently the Soviets worked to and space technology will overtake the https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol70/iss2/11 2 NWC_Spring2017Review.indb 152 2/22/17 9:32 AM Chertok and Erickson: Rockets and People: Vol. 3, Hot Days of the Cold War BOOK REVIEWS 153 Russian space program in ten to twelve oil and the fact that most of the world’s years; and perhaps it will overtake the oil at the time came from this area, led American program as well” (p� 585)� then-president Jimmy Carter to declare As in previous volumes in the series, the security and stability of this region Chertok documents the toils of Soviet to be a vital national interest� Bacevich designers, who were remunerated believes the doctrine created a broad, poorly, subjected to difficult working open-ended commitment that expanded conditions, and hidden from foreign with time� Early in the book he describes sight and contact� Chertok learned of his the decision making, strategy and nation’s deployment of missiles to Cuba, policy development, and organizational for instance, from Kennedy’s speech (p� changes that positioned the United 95)! Driven in part by heartfelt ideals States as the guarantor of regional tempered by knowledge of the horrors of security� This was the context for the the Stalin era, these designers achieved formation of U�S� Central Command, so much, so quickly, under such which included in its geographic area of formidable constraints—truly amazing responsibility not only the Persian Gulf accomplishments� Theirs is not only a states but a total of nineteen countries, Soviet legacy, rooted now in a bygone including Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, era, but a part of a larger human legacy Kenya, and Pakistan� Bacevich argues that will inspire further exploration as that this new combatant command mankind moves farther into space� created both an expectation of and the pretext for future military intervention ANDREW S� ERICKSON in the
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Space Challenge and Soviet Science Fiction
    Corso di Laurea magistrale ( ordinamento ex D.M. 270/2004 ) in Relazioni Internazionali Comparate – International Relations Tesi di Laurea The space challenge and Soviet science fiction Relatore Ch.mo Prof. Duccio Basosi Correlatore Ch.ma Prof. Donatella Possamai Laureanda Serena Zanin Matricola 835564 Anno Accademico 2011 / 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………...1 INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………...…………..7 CHAPTER I The science fiction in the Soviet bloc: the case of Stanislaw Lem’s “Solaris”…………………….…………………………………....…………...…16 CHAPTER II The space race era from the Soviet bloc side …………..….........37 CHAPTER III The enthusiasm for the cosmos and Soviet propaganda ……………….. …………………………...……...………………………………..73 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS ……………...………………………………...101 APPENDIX ........……………………………………………………..……..…106 REFERENCES …..……………………………………………………………113 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………..118 ABSTRACT La studiosa Julia Richers sottolinea come le ricerche sulla storia dell’esplorazione spaziale sovietica abbiano tre principali direzioni. La prima riguarda la storia politica della Guerra Fredda che considera la conquista dello spazio e lo sviluppo di potenti missili come parte di una più grande competizione tra gli USA e l’URSS. La seconda esamina in particolar modo lo sviluppo scientifico e tecnologico a partire dagli anni Ottanta, ossia da quando l’abolizione della censura ha permesso l’apertura al pubblico di molti archivi storici e la rivelazione di importanti informazioni. La terza include la propaganda sovietica e la fantascienza come parte fondamentale della storia culturale e sociale sia dell’URSS che della Russia post-rivoluzione. Il presente lavoro analizza la storia dell’esplorazione spaziale sovietica e, partendo dalle sue origini (fine XIX° secolo), prende in considerazione i principali successi che portarono al lancio del primo satellite artificiale nel 1957 e il primo uomo sulla luna nel 1961.
    [Show full text]
  • European History Quarterly 47(3)
    Book Reviews 547 hearing to address the Council, providing one last sample of his oratorical skills (214). The last two chapters deal with the memory of Jerome, placing him on par with Wyclif and Hus and Martin Luther, occasionally finding his likeness with his famous beard in images from the early modern period. The book shows Jerome was an independent thinker who caused much disquiet and alarm in different European university settings. Jerome made waves across Europe and in all probability heightened university masters’ awareness of the connection between Wyclifism, already declared heresy, and the arising Hussitism. Slava Gerovitch, Soviet Space Mythologies: Public Images, Private Memories, and the Making of a Cultural Identity, University of Pittsburgh Press: Pittsburgh, PA, 2015; 256 pp., 7 b/w illus.; 9780822963639, $27.95 (pbk) Reviewed by: Andrei Rogatchevski, The Arctic University of Norway, Norway The myth about the Soviet space programme can be summarized as ‘a perfect hero conquering outer space with flawless technology’ (131). It could hardly have been otherwise in a censorship-ridden country that used space exploration, in particular, to prove the superiority of socialism over capitalism. A great deal of information about the programme was for decades routinely concealed not only from the gen- eral public but also from the Communist rulers, whose versions of space flight communication transcripts were doctored for fear of funding withdrawal. Even the cosmonauts and their ground control sometimes did not want to enlighten each other (until afterwards) about the full scale of in-flight problems. Thus, Gagarin, while in orbit, was misinformed about its height, because his engines turned themselves off too late and propelled his spacecraft to an apogee of 188 miles, instead of the expected 143 miles.
    [Show full text]
  • What the Dogs Did: Animal Agency in the Soviet Manned Space Flight
    BJHS: Themes 2:79–99, 2017. © British Society for the History of Science 2017. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. doi:10.1017/bjt.2017.9 What the dogs did: animal agency in the Soviet manned space flight programme AMY NELSON* Abstract. This paper examines the agency of the dogs used to develop the Soviet manned space flight programme by considering what the dogs did as experimental subjects, as dog technolo- gies, and as individual dogs in the context of the historically conditioned practices of Soviet science. Looking at how Soviet space researchers refined Pavlovian behaviourism and inte- grated it into a complex engineering project helps clarify the conditions under which the dogs worked and the assumptions that guided the human researchers. The paper uses theoret- ical perspectives that contextualize animal agency in terms of relationships and then looks at those relationships from an ethological perspective. This provides a sense of what the dogs did that distinguishes between how humans understand dogs and what we know about dogs’ cognitive and social capacities. The paper proposes a model of animal agency that looks seriously at the dogs’ relationships with human researchers and suggests that the dogs’ significance as historical subjects depends as much on what they did as dogs as it does on how their contributions to the space race were perceived. Among the legions of animals used in scientific research few have garnered the fame of the Soviet space dogs.
    [Show full text]
  • Dead Cosmonauts >> Misc
    James Oberg's Pioneering Space powered by Uncovering Soviet Disasters >> Aerospace Safety & Accidents James Oberg >> Astronomy >> Blogs Random house, New York, 1988 >> Chinese Space Program Notes labeled "JEO" added to electronic version in 1998 >> Flight to Mars >> Jim's FAQ's >> Military Space Chapter 10: Dead Cosmonauts >> Misc. Articles Page 156-176 >> National Space Policy >> Other Aerospace Research >> Reviews The family of Senior Lieutenant Bondarenko is to be provided with everything necessary, as befits the >> Russian Space Program family of a cosmonaut. --Special Order, signed by Soviet Defense Minister R. D. Malinovskiy, April 16, >> Space Attic NEW 1961, classified Top Secret. NOTE: Prior to 1986 no Soviet book or magazine had ever mentioned the >> Space Folklore existence of a cosmonaut named Valentin Bondarenko. >> Space History >> Space Operations In 1982, a year after the publication of my first book, Red Star in Orbit. I received a wonderful picture >> Space Shuttle Missions from a colleague [JEO: Arthur Clarke, in fact] who had just visited Moscow. The photo showed >> Space Station cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov, hero of the Soviet Union, holding a copy of my book-- and scowling. >> Space Tourism Technical Notes >> Leonov was frowning at a picture of what I called the "Sochi Six," the Russian equivalent of our "original >> Terraforming seven" Mercury astronauts. They were the top of the first class of twenty space pioneers, the best and the boldest of their nation, the ones destined to ride the first manned missions. The picture was taken at the Black Sea resort called Sochi in May 1961, a few weeks after Yuriy Gagarin's history-making flight.
    [Show full text]
  • By Boris Chertok • Extensive Memoirs: Four Books About the Soviet Space Program Called
    The Moon race from the other side of the Iron Curtain Astronomy and Space Science Max Voronkov | Senior Research Scien.st Co-learnium, Marsfield – 16 May 2019 “Rockets and People” by Boris Chertok • Extensive memoirs: Four books about the Soviet space program called “Rockets and People” • The 4th book is about the Moon Race • English translaon done by the NASA’s Борис Черток History Division Boris Chertok (1912-2011) PDF is available for free at the NASA website: hps://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/rockets_people_vol4_detail.html Let’s start with some names first Василий Мишин Валентин Глушко Сергей Королёв Vasiliy Mishin Valentin Glushko Sergei Korolev (1917 – 2001) (1908 – 1989) (1907(6) – 1966) Other spellings of the name exist: e.g. Korolyov Image credit: Горизонты техники / wikipedia, Boris Chertok Rockets & People Some problems of powerful rocket enGines • Gas dynamics, oscillaons & resonances • Igni.on sequence • Throling • Single start vs. ability to reuse Fuel & oxidizer pair maers! kerosene + liquid oxygen (LOX) is not the easiest pair Problems rapidly increase with engine power NK-15 engines in the Aviation and Space museum in Moscow Image credit: https://historicspacecraft.com Some Soviet Rockets @LEO: ~5-7 tons ~25 tons ~95 tons ~100 tons R-7, modern Soyuz UR-500K (In Russian: Р-7) (in Russian: УР-500К) N1 Energia Sputnik, Gagarin, Luna-9, etc modern Proton e.g., Zond/L1, E-8 I won’t talk about Ye-8 (Е-8 in Russian), etc N1-L3 (Н1-Л3 in Russian) Launcher + lunar spacecraU • Paper project in late 1950s • Just N1, no specific payload • Mass at launch 2200 tons • Spherical tanks • 75 tons at low Earth orbit (LEO) • Intermediate step - N11 rocket • Kuznetsov NK-15 engines (blocks A and B), NK-9 (block V) • Differen.al thrust control in 2 axes • 13th May 1961 poli.cal decision to build N1 by 1965 • Not a very self-consistent plan • Defence (kind of CDR) of the N1 project 16th May 1962.
    [Show full text]
  • Human-Machine Issues in the Soviet Space Program1
    CHAPTER 4 HUMAN-MACHINE ISSUES IN THE SOVIET SPACE PROGRAM1 Slava Gerovitch n December 1968, Lieutenant General Nikolai Kamanin, the Deputy Chief Iof the Air Force’s General Staff in charge of cosmonaut selection and training, wrote an article for the Red Star, the Soviet Armed Forces newspaper, about the forthcoming launch of Apollo 8. He entitled his article “Unjustified Risk” and said all the right things that Soviet propaganda norms prescribed in this case. But he also kept a private diary. In that diary, he confessed what he could not say in an open publication.“Why do the Americans attempt a circumlunar flight before we do?” he asked. Part of his private answer was that Soviet spacecraft designers “over-automated” their spacecraft and relegated the cosmonaut to the role of a monitor, if not a mere passenger. The attempts to create a fully automatic control system for the Soyuz spacecraft, he believed, critically delayed its development. “We have fallen behind the United States for two or three years,” he wrote in the diary.“We could have been first on the Moon.”2 Kamanin’scriticism wassharedbymanyinthe cosmonautcorps who describedthe Soviet approach to thedivisionoffunctionbetween humanand machineas“thedominationofautomata.”3 Yet among the spacecraft designers, 1. I wish to thank David Mindell, whose work on human-machine issues in the U.S. space program provided an important reference point for my own study of a parallel Soviet story. Many ideas for this paper emerged out of discussions with David in the course of our collaboration on a project on the history of the Apollo Guidance Computer between 2001 and 2003, and later during our work on a joint paper for the 2004 annual meeting of the Society for the History of Technology in Amsterdam.
    [Show full text]
  • ASIF A. SIDDIQI Professor, History Department Fordham University, 624 Dealy Hall, 441 E
    ASIF A. SIDDIQI Professor, History Department Fordham University, 624 Dealy Hall, 441 E. Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458 phone: 718.817.3939 / fax: 718.817.4680 e-mail: [email protected] ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS 2013- Professor, History Department, Fordham University 2010-13 Associate Professor, History Department, Fordham University 2005-10 Assistant Professor, History Department, Fordham University ADMINISTRATIVE APPOINTMENTS AT FORDHAM 2017- Director, O’Connell Initiative on the Global History of Capitalism Spring 2015 Associate Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies, History Department Fall 2014 Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies, History Department 2011-13 Associate Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies, History Department VISITING POSITIONS 2015-16 Eleanor Searle Visiting Professor of History, California Institute of Technology Long-Term Fellow, The Huntington Library 2013-14 Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History, National Air & Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution 2008-09 Visiting Scholar, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, MIT 2004-05 Visiting Scholar, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Cambridge, MA EDUCATION Ph.D., History, Carnegie Mellon University, 2004. Dissertation: “The Rockets’ Red Glare: Spaceflight and the Russian Imagination, 1857-1957.” M.B.A., University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 1998. M.S., Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University, 1992. Thesis: “Effects of Technological Change in Agriculture on Distributive Justice in Bangladesh.” B.S., Electrical Engineering, Texas
    [Show full text]
  • Returning People to the Moon After Apollo: Will It Be Another Fifty Years?
    Returning People to the Moon After Apollo: Will It Be Another Fifty Years? Springer Praxis Books, 2019 by Pat Norris (Author) ISBN 978-3-030-14914-7 ISBN 978-3-030-14915-4 (eBook) The first part of the book recounts the often published events of the first Moon landing, beginning with Kennedy’s bold declaration “this nation to commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.”. This statement contains the specifications for the program in three words: ”Man, Moon, Decade”. Due to the background of the author Pat Norris a distinguishing factor to other Apollo books is his technical background. This book emphasizes the more technical aspects of the program, for example a picture of the recovered injector plate (“shower head”) of the first Apollo stage is presented and its complex design explained; another example is the layout and description of functions of the Apollo Command Module dashboard and more. After the successful first moon landing (“Mission Accomplished” – President R. Nixon) the author describes the following six Apollo missions and their achievements, he assesses the gained American know-how and the legacy of the Apollo program with respect to political, social, technical/managerial and scientific impacts. Chapter 8 (“The other Competitor in the Race”) switches back to describe in detail the activities taking place in Russia during the same time: Sergei Korolev orchestrated the catalog of Soviet space spectaculars starting with Sputnik-1 in October 1957. The most important of these “firsts” was Gagarin’s orbital flight on April 12, 1961 triggering a “space-race” to demonstrate technological superiority of the systems.
    [Show full text]
  • Journal of Space Safety Engineering – Vol
    VOL. 2 NO. 2 - DECEMBER 2015 Editors: Michael T. Kezirian, Ph.D. Joseph Pelton, Ph.D. Tommaso Sgobba Journal of Space Safety Engineering – Vol. 2 No. 2 - December 2015 JOURNAL of SPACE SAFETY ENGINEERING Volume 2 No. 2 – December 2015 EDITORS Michael T. Kezirian, Ph.D. Tommaso Sgobba Joseph Pelton, Ph.D. The Boeing Company European Space Agency (ret.) George Washington University (ret.) University of Southern California Managing Editor Assistant Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief EDITORIAL BOARD George W. S. Abbey Joe H. Engle Isabelle Rongier National Aeronautics and Space Administration (ret.) Maj Gen. USAF (ret.) Airbus Safran Launchers Sayavur Bakhtiyarov, Ph.D. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Kai-Uwe Schrogl, Ph.D. University of New Mexico Herve Gilibert European Space Agency Kenneth Cameron Airbus Space & Defense Zhumabek Zhantayev Science Applications International Corporation Jeffrey A. Hoffman, Ph.D. National Center of Space Researches and Luigi De Luca, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Technologies (NCSRT)- Kazakhstan Politecnico di Milano Ernst Messerschmid, Ph.D. University of Stuttgart (ret.) FIELD EDITORS William Ailor, Ph.D. Gary Johnson Erwin Mooij, Ph.D. The Aerospace Corporation Science Application International Corporation Delft University of Technology Christophe Bonnal Barbara Kanki John D. Olivas, PhD, PE Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales National Aeronautics and Space Administration (ret.) University of Texas El Paso Jonathan B. Clark, M.D., M.P.H Bruno Lazare Nobuo Takeuchi Baylor College of Medicine Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Victor Chang Carine Leveau Brian Weeden Canadian Space Agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales Secure World Foundation Paul J.
    [Show full text]
  • AAS Explorer Issue #2
    LOOKING BACK: BUILDING THE VAB 15 American Astronautical SocietY EXPLORER NEWSLETTER OF THE AAS HISTORY COMMITTEE WHAT YOU’LL FIND ¢ FROM THE CHAIRMAN’S DESK elcome to the second issue of Explorer — the occasional INSIDE newsletter of AAS History DECEMBER 2006 | ISSUE 2 Committee (HistComm). Since quite a few folks Whave asked to be added to our distribution . Emme Award 2 list since our premiere issue, let me reiterate the purpose of this newsletter. This newslet- Societal Impact ter is primarily intended to provide of Spaceflight HistComm members with an opportunity for . communicating with one another, as well as Conference 3 with the wider audience of folks interested in space history, whether as private citizens, professional or amateur historians, or practicing members of the aero- History Committee space profession (academia, commercial, federal, civilian or military). We contin- Annual Meeting . 4 ue to strive to provide information that is unique, interesting and informational. I hope we have succeeded in your eyes. News Briefs . 5 We have added several new features to this issue: a Q&A “Spotlight” on one of our members (which we plan to include as a regular feature), news briefs of an Upcoming Meetings assortment of space-related items that have come across our virtual desks, and a and Events . 7 “cyberSPACE” section for members to share some of their favorite space-related Web sites. AAS History The past year has seen renewed interest in the heritage of Apollo as NASA’s Constellation Program prepares to take us back to the moon, to Mars ... to infini- Series . 9 ty and beyond.
    [Show full text]
  • Incorporation of RD-180 Failure Response 2011
    Incorporation of RD-180 Failure Response Features in the Atlas V Booster Emergency Detection System Felix Y. Chelkis NPO Energomash Khimki, Moscow Region, Russia Thaddeus D. Chwiedor United Launch Alliance, Denver, Colorado, USA Paul T. Connolly and John P. Hansen Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Jupiter, Florida, USA Abstract Approximately 70% of the parts on the RD-180 engine as used on Atlas V launch vehicles are common with the RD-170 engine. The RD-170 engine was developed by NPO Energomash and certified in 1985 to power the Energia Buran rocket launch system, which was rated for human spaceflight as defined by the Russian standards. With over 45,000 seconds of operational time, the RD-180 has an extensive history of demonstrated performance, robustness, and reliability as does the Atlas vehicle that it powers. This paper describes why the RD-180/Atlas combination provides an optimal solution for human space flight directly applicable to the near-term commercial crew transportation program. The paper will examine how the RD-180/Atlas booster combination could meet Commercial Crew space flight requirements. An overview of the past NASA human space flight requirements to the Russian approach for manned flight will also be made. The paper will discuss the work that has been done to understand not only the potential failure modes to which the RD-180 propulsion system could be subjected to but also how these failure modes could be quickly identified, mitigated or managed such that a safe crew abort sequence could be initiated. The RD-180/Atlas Emergency Detection System (EDS) will be described and shown to be a viable approach to meeting Commercial Crew space flight requirements.
    [Show full text]
  • Energiya BURAN the Soviet Space Shuttle.Pdf
    Energiya±Buran The Soviet Space Shuttle Bart Hendrickx and Bert Vis Energiya±Buran The Soviet Space Shuttle Published in association with Praxis Publishing Chichester, UK Mr Bart Hendrickx Mr Bert Vis Russian Space Historian Space¯ight Historian Mortsel Den Haag Belgium The Netherlands SPRINGER±PRAXIS BOOKS IN SPACE EXPLORATION SUBJECT ADVISORY EDITOR: John Mason, M.Sc., B.Sc., Ph.D. ISBN978-0-387-69848-9 Springer Berlin Heidelberg NewYork Springer is part of Springer-Science + Business Media (springer.com) Library of Congress Control Number: 2007929116 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. # Praxis Publishing Ltd, Chichester, UK, 2007 Printed in Germany The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a speci®c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: Jim Wilkie Project management: Originator Publishing Services Ltd, Gt Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK Printed on acid-free paper Contents Ooedhpjmbhe ........................................ xiii Foreword (translation of Ooedhpjmbhe)........................ xv Authors' preface ....................................... xvii Acknowledgments ...................................... xix List of ®gures ........................................ xxi 1 The roots of Buran .................................
    [Show full text]