The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team Their Lives, Legacy, and Historical Impact Colin Burgess and Rex Hall The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team Their Lives, Legacy, and Historical Impact Published in association with Praxis Publishing Chichester, UK Mr Colin Burgess Space¯ight Historian Bonnet Bay New South Wales Australia Mr Rex Hall M.B.E. Education Consultant Council Member of the BIS London UK SPRINGER±PRAXIS BOOKS IN SPACE EXPLORATION SUBJECT ADVISORY EDITOR: John Mason, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. ISBN 978-0-387-84823-5 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York Springer is part of Springer-Science + Business Media (springer.com) Library of Congress Control Number: 2008935694 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, 2009 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, Gt Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK Printed on acid-free paper Contents Foreword by Alexei Leonov ................................ xiii Authors' preface ....................................... xvii About the authors ...................................... xxv Acknowledgements...................................... xxix List of ®gures ........................................ xxxi List of abbreviations and acronyms ...........................xxxvii 1 Sparking the Space Age ............................... 1 The Sputnik surprise ................................. 1 Losing the high-ground advantage .................... 1 ``One small ball in the air'' ......................... 5 A spectacular failure . .......................... 8 References ........................................ 11 2 A few good Soviet men ................................ 13 An idea grows and expands . .......................... 13 Developing the launch vehicle ....................... 15 ``We need many more''. .......................... 16 Seeking out the ®nest . .......................... 17 Cosmonaut candidates ................................ 18 A mystery interview .............................. 18 Only the best would go through...................... 20 An ever-shrinking list . .......................... 21 Some would make it, some not ...................... 22 vi Contents Yevgeny Karpov ................................ 23 Beginning an incredible journey ...................... 23 References ........................................ 25 3 Russia's future spacemen ............................... 27 Creating a training facility ............................. 27 Finding a suitable site ............................ 29 Ivan Anikeyev ................................. 30 Pavel Belyayev ................................. 33 Valentin Bondarenko ............................. 35 Valery Bykovsky ................................ 37 Valentin Filatyev ................................ 40 Yuri Gagarin .................................. 41 Viktor Gorbatko ................................ 45 Anatoli Kartashov ............................... 48 Yevgeny Khrunov ............................... 49 Vladimir Komarov............................... 52 Alexei Leonov ................................. 54 Grigori Nelyubov ............................... 56 Andrian Nikolayev .............................. 59 Pavel Popovich ................................. 61 Mars Ra®kov .................................. 63 Georgi Shonin ................................. 65 Gherman Titov ................................. 67 Valentin Varlamov............................... 70 Boris Volynov.................................. 71 Dmitri Zaikin .................................. 74 References ........................................ 76 4 Training days ...................................... 77 Settling in ........................................ 77 Wife of a cosmonaut ............................. 78 Later arrivals .................................. 79 Apartments at last ............................... 84 Weightless training............................... 96 A life-changing injury ................................ 98 End of a dream ................................ 98 The doctors decide .............................. 101 The training programme............................... 102 A simple accident ............................... 102 ``Pulled by the stars'' ............................. 107 A near disaster ................................. 108 At long lastÐVostok ............................. 109 References ........................................ 111 Contents vii 5 Selecting the ®rst cosmonaut ............................ 113 The Vanguard Six ................................... 113 Topping the list ................................ 114 Six becomes three ............................... 115 Korabl-Sputnik 4 ................................... 117 Chernushka ................................... 117 ``Ivan Ivanovich'' ............................... 117 Mounting a precursory ¯ight ........................ 118 Death of a cosmonaut ................................ 119 Mystery patient................................. 119 The Chamber of Silence . .......................... 120 Learning to cope ................................ 124 A tragic accident.................................... 126 One fatal lapse in concentration ...................... 126 The unknown ``cosmonaut''......................... 127 No corrections or additions ......................... 128 Loss of a friend and colleague ....................... 129 Saving the Apollo 1 crew?.......................... 131 A well-liked young man . .......................... 133 The ¯ight is imminent ................................ 134 Korabl-Sputnik 5, and Ivan ¯ies again ................. 134 A small street dog ............................... 135 Dress rehearsal ................................. 135 Zvezdochka in orbit.............................. 136 Paving the way into space.......................... 138 First to ¯y........................................ 139 A vital assessment ............................... 140 An historicdecision .............................. 141 References ........................................ 144 6``Poyekhali!'': A man in space ........................... 145 The chosen one .................................... 145 Why Gagarin? ................................. 145 The last days .................................. 147 Final preparations ............................... 150 A day of history .................................... 151 A restless night for all . .......................... 151 Beginning of a new era. .......................... 153 The hatch is closed .............................. 156 The ®nal countdown . .......................... 157 The world's ®rst spaceman . .......................... 158 Riding the rocket ............................... 158 When things go wrong . .......................... 160 Touchdown ................................... 162 viii Contents A hero returns ................................. 164 The view from space ............................. 167 An uneasy fame .................................... 168 ``I've made a lot of mistakes'' ....................... 168 References ........................................ 169 7 Vostok ¯ights continue ................................ 171 The impact of Gagarin's mission ......................... 171 Second cosmonaut ............................... 171 Spending time in space ............................ 174 Seventeen orbits and touchdown...................... 176 Cosmonauts behaving badly ............................ 179 Vodka, women and song .......................... 180 TheForonincident.............................. 182 A cavalier attitude ............................... 183 Instant dismissal ................................ 183 Titov on tour ...................................... 186 Astronaut meets cosmonaut......................... 186 Some bad press................................. 187 Fatal accident .................................. 189 An of®cial dressing-down .......................... 190 Spiral, and some redemption ........................ 190 Tandem orbits ..................................... 192 Nikolayev and Popovich ¯y......................... 192 The non-Russian cosmonauts........................ 195 Volovich to the rescue ............................ 196 End of a mission................................ 198 Celebrations in Moscow ........................... 199 Describing the tandem ¯ight ........................ 201 References ........................................ 202 8 The ``missing'' cosmonauts: Rumour and reality ................ 203 The dismissal ...................................... 203 When arrogance and anger meet ..................... 204 The axe falls .................................. 206 Life without a dream ............................. 207 A sad and lonely death ........................... 209