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Soviet space program
Space exploration program conducted by the Soviet Union from the 1950s to 1991.

The Soviet space program, active from 1951 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, was divided among competing design bureaus rather than a single agency. Founded on earlier rocketry investigations, it was led by pioneers like Sergei Korolev and inspired by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. The program set major milestones in the Space Race, including launching the first satellite, Sputnik 1, sending the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into space, and achieving the first spacewalk. It led lunar exploration with robotic missions like the Lunokhod rover and sample-return Luna 16, and pioneered planetary probes to Venus and Mars. The Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan served as its main launch site, now leased by Russia.

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Origins

Early Russian-Soviet efforts

Further information: Soviet rocketry

The theory of space exploration had a solid basis in the Russian Empire before the First World War with the writings of the Russian and Soviet rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935), who published pioneering papers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on astronautic theory, including calculating the Rocket equation and in 1929 introduced the concept of the multistaged rocket.181920 Additional astronautic and spaceflight theory was also provided by the Ukrainian and Soviet engineer and mathematician Yuri Kondratyuk who developed the first known lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR), a key concept for landing and return spaceflight from Earth to the Moon.2122 The LOR was later used for the plotting of the first actual human spaceflight to the Moon. Many other aspects of spaceflight and space exploration are covered in his works.23 Both theoretical and practical aspects of spaceflight was also provided by the Latvian pioneer of rocketry and spaceflight Friedrich Zander,24 including suggesting in a 1925 paper that a spacecraft traveling between two planets could be accelerated at the beginning of its trajectory and decelerated at the end of its trajectory by using the gravity of the two planets' moons – a method known as gravity assist.25

Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL)

Main article: Gas Dynamics Laboratory

The first Soviet development of rockets was in 1921, when the Soviet military sanctioned the commencement of a small research laboratory to explore solid fuel rockets, led by Nikolai Tikhomirov, a chemical engineer, and supported by Vladimir Artemyev, a Soviet engineer.2627 Tikhomirov had commenced studying solid and Liquid-fueled rockets in 1894, and in 1915, he lodged a patent for "self-propelled aerial and water-surface mines."28 In 1928 the laboratory was renamed the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL).29 The First test-firing of a solid fuel rocket was carried out in March 1928, which flew for about 1,300 meters30 Further developments in the early 1930s were led by Georgy Langemak.31 and 1932 in-air test firings of RS-82 unguided rockets from an Tupolev I-4 aircraft armed with six launchers successfully took place.32

Sergey Korolev

Main article: Sergey Korolev

A key contributor to early soviet efforts came from a young Russian aircraft engineer Sergey Korolev, who would later become the de facto head of the Soviet space programme.33 In 1926, as an advanced student, Korolev was mentored by the famous Soviet aircraft designer Andrey Tupolev, who was a professor at his University.34 In 1930, while working as a lead engineer on the Tupolev TB-3 heavy bomber he became interested in the possibilities of liquid-fueled rocket engines to propel airplanes. This led to contact with Zander, and sparked his interest in space exploration and rocketry.35

Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD)

Main article: Group for the Study of Reactive Motion

Practical aspects built on early experiments carried out by members of the 'Group for the Study of Reactive Motion' (better known by its Russian acronym "GIRD") in the 1930s, where Zander, Korolev and other pioneers such as the Russian engineers Mikhail Tikhonravov, Leonid Dushkin, Vladimir Vetchinkin and Yuriy Pobedonostsev worked together.363738 On August 18, 1933, the Leningrad branch of GIRD, led by Tikhonravov,39 launched the first hybrid propellant rocket, the GIRD-09,40 and on November 25, 1933, the Soviet's first liquid-fueled rocket GIRD-X.41

Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII)

Main article: Reactive Scientific Research Institute

In 1933 GIRD was merged with GDL42 by the Soviet government to form the Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII),43 which brought together the best of the Soviet rocket talent, including Korolev, Langemak, Ivan Kleymyonov and former GDL engine designer Valentin Glushko.4445 Early success of RNII included the conception in 1936 and first flight in 1941 of the RP-318 the Soviets first rocket-powered aircraft and the RS-82 and RS-132 missiles entered service by 1937,46 which became the basis for development in 1938 and serial production from 1940 to 1941 of the Katyusha multiple rocket launcher, another advance in the reactive propulsion field.474849 RNII's research and development were very important for later achievements of the Soviet rocket and space programs.5051

During the 1930s, Soviet rocket technology was comparable to Germany's,52 but Joseph Stalin's Great Purge severely damaged its progress. In November 1937, Kleymyonov and Langemak were arrested and later executed, Glushko and many other leading engineers were imprisoned in the Gulag.53 Korolev was arrested in June 1938 and sent to a forced labour camp in Kolyma in June 1939. However, due to intervention by Tupolev, he was relocated to a prison for scientists and engineers in September 1940.54

World War II

During World War II rocketry efforts were carried out by three Soviet design bureaus.55 RNII continued to develop and improve solid fuel rockets, including the RS-82 and RS-132 missiles and the Katyusha rocket launcher,56 where Pobedonostsev and Tikhonravov continued to work on rocket design.5758 In 1944, RNII was renamed Scientific Research Institute No 1 (NII-I) and combined with design bureau OKB-293, led by Soviet engineer Viktor Bolkhovitinov, which developed, with Aleksei Isaev, Boris Chertok, Leonid Voskresensky and Nikolay Pilyugin a short-range rocket powered interceptor called Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1.59

Special Design Bureau for Special Engines (OKB-SD) was led by Glushko and focused on developing auxiliary liquid-fueled rocket engines to assist takeoff and climbing of prop aircraft, including the RD-IKhZ, RD-2 and RD-3.60 In 1944, the RD-1 kHz auxiliary rocket motor was tested in a fast-climb Lavochkin La-7R for protection of the capital from high-altitude Luftwaffe attacks.61 In 1942 Korolev was transferred to OKB-SD, where he proposed development of the long range missiles D-1 and D-2.62

The third design bureau was Plant No 51 (OKB-51), led by Soviet Ukrainian Engineer Vladimir Chelomey, where he created the first Soviet pulsating air jet engine in 1942, independently of similar contemporary developments in Nazi Germany.6364

German influence

Main article: German influence on Soviet rocketry

During World War II, Nazi Germany developed rocket technology that was more advanced than the Allies and a race commenced between the Soviet Union and the United States to capture and exploit the technology. Soviet rocket specialist was sent to Germany in 1945 to obtain V-2 rockets and worked with German specialists in Germany and later in the Soviet Union to understand and replicate the rocket technology.656667 The involvement of German scientists and engineers was an essential catalyst to early Soviet efforts. In 1945 and 1946 the use of German expertise was invaluable in reducing the time needed to master the intricacies of the V-2 rocket, establishing production of the R-1 rocket and enable a base for further developments. On 22 October 1946, 302 German rocket scientists and engineers, including 198 from the Zentralwerke (a total of 495 persons including family members), were deported to the Soviet Union as part of Operation Osoaviakhim.686970 However, after 1947 the Soviets made very little use of German specialists and their influence on the future Soviet rocket program was marginal.71

Sputnik and Vostok

The Soviet space program was tied to the USSR's Five-Year Plans and from the start was reliant on support from the Soviet military. Although he was "single-mindedly driven by the dream of space travel", Korolev generally kept this a secret while working on military projects—especially, after the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb test in 1949, a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to the United States—as many mocked the idea of launching satellites and crewed spacecraft. Nonetheless, the first Soviet rocket with animals aboard launched in July 1951; the two dogs, Dezik and Tsygan, were recovered alive after reaching 101 km in altitude. Two months ahead of America's first such achievement, this and subsequent flights gave the Soviets valuable experience with space medicine.72: 84–88, 95–96, 118 

Because of its global range and large payload of approximately five tons, the reliable R-7 was not only effective as a strategic delivery system for nuclear warheads, but also as an excellent basis for a space vehicle. The United States' announcement in July 1955 of its plan to launch a satellite during the International Geophysical Year greatly benefited Korolev in persuading Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to support his plans. 73: 148–151  In a letter addressed to Khrushchev, Korolev stressed the necessity of launching a "simple satellite" in order to compete with the American space effort.74 Plans were approved for Earth-orbiting satellites (Sputnik) to gain knowledge of space, and four uncrewed military reconnaissance satellites, Zenit. Further planned developments called for a crewed Earth orbit flight by and an uncrewed lunar mission at an earlier date.75

After the first Sputnik proved to be successful, Korolev—then known publicly only as the anonymous "Chief Designer of Rocket-Space Systems"76: 168–169 —was charged to accelerate the crewed program, the design of which was combined with the Zenit program to produce the Vostok spacecraft. After Sputnik, Soviet scientists and program leaders envisioned establishing a crewed station to study the effects of zero-gravity and the long term effects on lifeforms in a space environment.77 Still influenced by Tsiolkovsky—who had chosen Mars as the most important goal for space travel—in the early 1960s, the Soviet program under Korolev created substantial plans for crewed trips to Mars as early as 1968 to 1970. With closed-loop life support systems and electrical rocket engines, and launched from large orbiting space stations, these plans were much more ambitious than America's goal of landing on the Moon.78: 333–337 

In late 1963 and early 1964 the Polyot 1 and Polyot 2 satellites were launched, these were the first satellites capable of adjusting both orbital inclination and Apsis. This marked a significant step in the potential use of spacecraft in Anti-satellite warfare, as it demonstrated the potential to eventually for unmanned satellites to intercept and destroy other satellites. This would have highlighted the potential use of the space program in a conflict with the US.798081

Funding and support

The Soviet space program was secondary in military funding to the Strategic Rocket Forces' ICBMs. While the West believed that Khrushchev personally ordered each new space mission for propaganda purposes, and the Soviet leader did have an unusually close relationship with Korolev and other chief designers, Khrushchev emphasized missiles rather than space exploration and was not very interested in competing with Apollo.82: 351, 408, 426–427 

While the government and the Communist Party used the program's successes as propaganda tools after they occurred, systematic plans for missions based on political reasons were rare, one exception being Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, on Vostok 6 in 1963.83: 351  Missions were planned based on rocket availability or ad hoc reasons, rather than scientific purposes. For example, the government in February 1962 abruptly ordered an ambitious mission involving two Vostoks simultaneously in orbit launched "in ten days time" to eclipse John Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 that month; the program could not do so until August, with Vostok 3 and Vostok 4.84: 354–361 

Internal competition

Unlike the American space program, which had NASA as a single coordinating structure directed by its administrator, James Webb through most of the 1960s, the USSR's program was split between several competing design groups. Despite the successes of the Sputnik Program between 1957 and 1961 and Vostok Program between 1961 and 1964, after 1958 Korolev's OKB-1 design bureau faced increasing competition from his rival chief designers, Mikhail Yangel, Valentin Glushko, and Vladimir Chelomei. Korolev planned to move forward with the Soyuz craft and N-1 heavy booster that would be the basis of a permanent crewed space station and crewed exploration of the Moon. However, Dmitry Ustinov directed him to focus on near-Earth missions using the Voskhod spacecraft, a modified Vostok, as well as on uncrewed missions to nearby planets Venus and Mars.

Yangel had been Korolev's assistant but with the support of the military, he was given his own design bureau in 1954 to work primarily on the military space program. This had the stronger rocket engine design team including the use of hypergolic fuels but following the Nedelin catastrophe in 1960 Yangel was directed to concentrate on ICBM development. He also continued to develop his own heavy booster designs similar to Korolev's N-1 both for military applications and for cargo flights into space to build future space stations.

Glushko was the chief rocket engine designer but he had a personal friction with Korolev and refused to develop the large single chamber cryogenic engines that Korolev needed to build heavy boosters.

Chelomey benefited from the patronage of Khrushchev85: 418  and in 1960 was given the plum job of developing a rocket to send a crewed vehicle around the Moon and a crewed military space station. With limited space experience, his development was slow.

The progress of the Apollo program alarmed the chief designers, who each advocated for his own program as the response. Multiple, overlapping designs received approval, and new proposals threatened already approved projects. Due to Korolev's "singular persistence", in August 1964—more than three years after the United States declared its intentions—the Soviet Union finally decided to compete for the Moon. It set the goal of a lunar landing in 1967—the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution—or 1968.86: 406–408, 420  At one stage in the early 1960s the Soviet space program was actively developing multiple launchers and spacecraft. With the fall of Krushchev in 1964, Korolev was given complete control of the crewed program.8788

In 1961, Valentin Bondarenko, a cosmonaut training for a crewed Vostok mission, was killed in an endurance experiment after the chamber he was in caught on fire. The Soviet Union chose to cover up his death and continue on with the space program.89

After Korolev

Korolev died in January 1966 from complications of heart disease and severe hemorrhaging following a routine operation that uncovered colon cancer. Kerim Kerimov,90 who had previously served as the head of the Strategic Rocket Forces and had participated in the State Commission for Vostok as part of his duties,91 was appointed Chairman of the State Commission on Piloted Flights and headed it for the next 25 years (1966–1991). He supervised every stage of development and operation of both crewed space complexes as well as uncrewed interplanetary stations for the former Soviet Union. One of Kerimov's greatest achievements was the launch of Mir in 1986.

The leadership of the OKB-1 design bureau was given to Vasily Mishin, who had the task of sending a human around the Moon in 1967 and landing a human on it in 1968. Mishin lacked Korolev's political authority and still faced competition from other chief designers. Under pressure, Mishin approved the launch of the Soyuz 1 flight in 1967, even though the craft had never been successfully tested on an uncrewed flight. The mission launched with known design problems and ended with the vehicle crashing to the ground, killing Vladimir Komarov. This was the first in-flight fatality of any space program.92

The Soviets were beaten in sending the first crewed flight around the Moon in 1968 by Apollo 8, but Mishin pressed ahead with development of the flawed super heavy N1, in the hope that the Americans would have a setback, leaving enough time to make the N1 workable and land a man on the Moon first. There was a success with the joint flight of Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 in January 1969 that tested the rendezvous, docking, and crew transfer techniques that would be used for the landing, and the LK lander was tested successfully in earth orbit. But after four uncrewed test launches of the N1 ended in failure, the program was suspended for two years and then cancelled, removing any chance of the Soviets landing men on the Moon before the United States.93

Besides the crewed landings, the abandoned Soviet Moon program included the multipurpose moon base Zvezda, first detailed with developed mockups of expedition vehicles94 and surface modules.95

Following this setback, Chelomey convinced Ustinov to approve a program in 1970 to advance his Almaz military space station as a means of beating the US's announced Skylab. Mishin remained in control of the project that became Salyut but the decision backed by Mishin to fly a three-man crew without pressure suits rather than a two-man crew with suits to Salyut 1 in 1971 proved fatal when the re-entry capsule depressurized killing the crew on their return to Earth. Mishin was removed from many projects, with Chelomey regaining control of Salyut. After working with NASA on the Apollo–Soyuz, the Soviet leadership decided a new management approach was needed, and in 1974 the N1 was canceled and Mishin was out of office. The design bureau was renamed NPO Energia with Glushko as chief designer.96

In contrast with the difficulty faced in its early crewed lunar programs, the USSR found significant success with its remote moon operations, achieving two historical firsts with the automatic Lunokhod and the Luna sample return missions. The Mars probe program was also continued with some success, while the explorations of Venus and then of the Halley comet by the Venera and Vega probe programs were more effective.97

Lunar missions

The "Luna" programme, achieved the first flyby of the moon by Luna 1 in 1959 (also marking the first time a probe reached the far side of the moon),98 the first impact of the moon by Luna 2,99 and the first photos of the far side of the moon by Luna 3.

As well as garnering scientific information on the moon, Luna 1 was able to detect a strong flow of ionized plasma emanating from the Sun, streaming through interplanetary space. Luna 2 impacted the moon east of Mare Imbrium.100 Photography transmitted by Luna 3 showed two dark regions which were named Mare Moscoviense (Sea of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea of Dreams), the latter was found to be composed of the smaller Mare Ingenii and other dark craters.101 Luna 2 marked the first time a man-made object has contacted a celestial body. Luna 1 discovered the Moon had no magnetic field.102

In 1963, the Soviet Union's "2nd Generation" Luna programme was less successful, Luna 4, Luna 5, Luna 6, Luna 7, and Luna 8 were all met with mission failures. However, in 1966 Luna 9 achieved the first soft-landing on the Moon, and successfully transmitted photography from the surface.103 Luna 10 marked the first man-made object to establish an orbit around the Moon,104 followed by Luna 11, Luna 12, and Luna 14 which also successfully established orbits. Luna 12 was able to transmit detailed photography of the surface from orbit.105 Luna 10, 12, and Luna 14 conducted Gamma ray spectrometry of the Moon, among other tests.

The Zond programme was orchestrated alongside the Luna programme with Zond 1 and Zond 2 launching in 1964, intended as flyby missions, however both failed.106107 Zond 3 however was successful, and transmitted high quality photography from the far side of the moon.108109

In late 1966, Luna 13 became the third spacecraft to make a soft-landing on the Moon, with the American Surveyor 1 having now taken second.110

Zond 4, launched in 1968 was intended as a means to test the possibility of a manned mission to the moon, including methods of a stable re-entry to earth from a Lunar trajectory using a heat shield.111 It did not flyby the moon, but established an elliptical orbit at Lunar distance. Due to issues with the crafts orientation, it was unable to make a soft-landing in the Soviet union and instead was self destructed. Later in the year Zond 5, carrying two Russian tortoises became the first man-made object to flyby the moon and return to Earth (as well as the first animal to flyby the moon), splashing down in the Indian Ocean.112 Zond 6, Zond 7, and Zond 8 had similar mission profiles, Zond 6 failed to return to earth safely, Zond 7 did however and returned high quality color photography of the earth and the moon from varying distances,113 Zond 8 successfully returned to earth after a Lunar flyby.114

In 1969, Luna 15 was an intended lunar sample return mission, however resulted in a crash landing.115 In 1970 however Luna 16 became the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return a surface sample, having drilled 35 cm into the surface,116 to Earth and represented the first lunar sample return mission by the Soviet Union and the third overall, having followed the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 crewed missions.

Luna 17, Luna 21 and Luna 24 delivered rovers onto the surface of the moon.117 Luna 20 was another successful sample return mission.118 Luna 18 and Luna 23 resulted in crash landings.

In total there were 24 missions in the Luna Programme, 15 were considered to be successful, including 4 hard landings and 3 soft landings, 6 orbits, and 2 flybys. The programme was continued after the collapse of the Soviet union, when the Russian federation space agency launched Luna 25 in 2023.119

Venusian missions

The Venera programme marked many firsts in space exploration and explorations of Venus. Venera 1 and Venera 2 resulted in failure due to losses of contact, Venera 3, which also lost contact, marked the first time a man-made object made contact with another planet after it impacted Venus on March 1, 1966. Venera 4, Venera 5, and Venera 6 performed successful atmospheric entry. In 1970 Venera 7 marked the first time a spacecraft was able to return data after landing on another planet.120

Venera 7 held a resistant thermometer and an aneroid barometer to measure the temperature and atmospheric pressure on the surface, the transmitted data showed 475 C at the surface, and a pressure of 92 bar. A wind of 2.5 meters/sec was extrapolated from other measurements. The landing point of Venera 7 was 5°S 9°W / 5°S 9°W / -5; -9.121122 Venera 7 impacted the surface at a somewhat high speed of 17 metres per second, later analysis of the recorded radio signals revealed that the probe had survived the impact and continued transmitting a weak signal for another 23 minutes. It is believed that the spacecraft may have bounced upon impact and come to rest on its side, so the antenna was not pointed towards Earth.123124

In 1972, Venera 8 landed on Venus and measured the light level as being suitable for surface photography, finding it to be similar to the amount of light on Earth on an overcast day with roughly 1 km visibility.125

In 1975, Venera 9 established an orbit around Venus and successfully returned the first photography of the surface of Venus.126127 Venera 10 landed on Venus and followed with further photography shortly after.128

In 1978, Venera 11 and Venera 12 successfully landed, however ran into issues performing photography and soil analysis. Venera 11's light sensor detected lightning strikes.129130131

In 1981, Venera 13 performed a successful soft-landing on Venus and marked the first probe to drill into the surface of another planet and take a sample.132133 Venera 13 also took an audio sample of the Venusian environment, marking another first.134

Venera 13 returned the first color images of the surface of Venus, revealing an orange-brown flat bedrock surface covered with loose regolith and small flat thin angular rocks. The composition of the sample determined by the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer put it in the class of weakly differentiated melanocratic alkaline gabbroids, similar to terrestrial leucitic basalt with a high potassium content. The acoustic detector returned the sounds of the spacecraft operations and the background wind, estimated to be a speed of around 0.5 m/sec wind.135

Venera 14, an identical spacecraft to Venera 13, launched 5 days apart. The mission profiles were very similar, except 14 ran into issues using it's spectrometer to analyze the soil.136

In total 10 Venera probes achieved a soft landing on the surface of Venus.

In 1984, the Vega programme began and ended with the launch of two crafts launched 6 days apart, Vega 1 and Vega 2. Both crafts deployed a balloon in addition to a lander, marking a first in spaceflight.137138139

Martian missions

The first Soviet mission to explore Mars, Mars 1, was launched in 1962. Although it was intended to fly by the planet and transmit scientific data, the spacecraft lost contact before reaching Mars, marking a setback for the program. In 1971, the Soviet Union launched Mars 2 and Mars 3. Mars 2 became the first spacecraft to reach the surface of mars, however this was a hard landing and was destroyed on impact.140141 However, Mars 3 achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first successful soft landing on Mars. Mars 3 used parachutes and rockets as part of its landing system, however contacted the surface at a somewhat high speed of 20 metres per second. Unfortunately, its lander transmitted data for only up to 20 seconds before it went silent.142

Following the initial successes and setbacks, the Mars 4, Mars 5, Mars 6, and Mars 7 missions were launched between 1969 and 1973. Mars 4 and Mars 5 performed successful flybys, performing analysis which detected the presence of a weak Ozone layer and magnetic field corroborating analysis done by the American Mariner 4 and Mariner 9.143 Mars 6 and Mars 7 failed to successfully land.144

Salyut space station

The Salyut programme was a series of missions which established the first earth orbit Space station.145 "Salyut" meaning "Salute" translated.

Initially, the Salyut stations served as research laboratories in orbit. Salyut 1, the first in the series, launched in 1971, was primarily a civilian scientific mission. The crew set a then record-setting 24-day mission though its tragic end due to the death of the Soyuz-11 crew after a docking accident underscored the high risks of human spaceflight.146 Following this, the Soviet Union also developed Salyut 2 and Salyut 3, which featured reconnaissance capabilities and carried a large gun,147148 both ran into significant issues during their missions.149150 This dual use design of both scientific and military research applications demonstrated the Soviet Union's strategy of blending scientific achievement with defense applications.

As the Salyut program progressed, later missions like Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 improved upon earlier designs by allowing long-duration crewed missions and more complex experiments. These stations, with their expanded crew capacity and amenities for long term stay, carrying electric stoves, a refrigerator, and constant hot water.151 The Salyut series effectively paved the way for future Soviet and later Russian space stations, including the Mir space station, which would become a significant part in the history of long-term space exploration.

The longest stay, aboard Salyut 7, was 237 days.152

Program secrecy

The Soviet space program had withheld information on its projects predating the success of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. In fact, when the Sputnik project was first approved, one of the most immediate courses of action the Politburo took was to consider what to announce to the world regarding their event.153

The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) established precedents for all official announcements on the Soviet space program.154 The information eventually released did not offer details on who built and launched the satellite or why it was launched. The public release revealed, "there is an abundance of arcane scientific and technical data... as if to overwhelm the reader with mathematics in the absence of even a picture of the object".155 What remains of the release is the pride for Soviet cosmonautics and the vague hinting of future possibilities then available after Sputnik's success.156

The Soviet space program's use of secrecy served as both a tool to prevent the leaking of classified information between countries and also to create a mysterious barrier between the space program and the Soviet populace. The program's nature embodied ambiguous messages concerning its goals, successes, and values. Launchings were not announced until they took place. Cosmonaut names were not released until they flew. Mission details were sparse. Outside observers did not know the size or shape of their rockets or cabins or most of their spaceships, except for the first Sputniks, lunar probes and Venus probe.157

However, the military influence over the Soviet space program may be the best explanation for this secrecy. The OKB-1 was subordinated under the Ministry of General Machine-Building,158 tasked with the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, and continued to give its assets random identifiers into the 1960s: "For example, the Vostok spacecraft was referred to as 'object IIF63' while its launch rocket was 'object 8K72K'".159 Soviet defense factories had been assigned numbers rather than names since 1927. Even these internal codes were obfuscated: in public, employees used a separate code, a set of special post-office numbers, to refer to the factories, institutes, and departments.

The program's public pronouncements were uniformly positive: as far as the people knew, the Soviet space program had never experienced failure. According to historian James Andrews, "With almost no exceptions, coverage of Soviet space exploits, especially in the case of human space missions, omitted reports of failure or trouble".160

According to Dominic Phelan in the book Cold War Space Sleuths, "The USSR was famously described by Winston Churchill as 'a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma' and nothing signified this more than the search for the truth behind its space program during the Cold War. Although the Space Race was literally played out above our heads, it was often obscured by a figurative 'space curtain' that took much effort to see through."161162

Projects and accomplishments

Completed projects

The Soviet space program's projects include:

Notable firsts

Two days after the United States announced its intention to launch an artificial satellite, on July 31, 1955, the Soviet Union announced its intention to do the same. Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957, beating the United States and stunning people all over the world.163

The Soviet space program pioneered many aspects of space exploration:

Incidents, failures, and setbacks

Accidents and cover-ups

Main article: List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents

The Soviet space program experienced a number of fatal incidents and failures.166

The first official cosmonaut fatality during training occurred on March 23, 1961, when Valentin Bondarenko died in a fire within a low pressure, high oxygen atmosphere.

On April 23, 1967, Soyuz 1 crashed into the ground at 90 mph (140 km/h) due to a parachute failure, killing Vladimir Komarov. Komarov's death was the first in-flight fatality in the history of spaceflight.167168

The Soviets continued striving for the first lunar mission with the N-1 rocket, which exploded on each of four uncrewed tests shortly after launch. The Americans won the race to land men on the Moon with Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969.

In 1971, the Soyuz 11 mission to stay at the Salyut 1 space station resulted in the deaths of three cosmonauts when the reentry capsule depressurized during preparations for reentry. This accident resulted in the only human casualties to occur in space (beyond 100 km (62 mi), as opposed to the high atmosphere). The crew members aboard Soyuz 11 were Vladislav Volkov, Georgy Dobrovolsky, and Viktor Patsayev.

On April 5, 1975, Soyuz 7K-T No.39, the second stage of a Soyuz rocket carrying two cosmonauts to the Salyut 4 space station malfunctioned, resulting in the first crewed launch abort. The cosmonauts were carried several thousand miles downrange and became worried that they would land in China, which the Soviet Union was having difficult relations with at the time. The capsule hit a mountain, sliding down a slope and almost slid off a cliff; however, the parachute lines snagged on trees and kept this from happening. As it was, the two suffered severe injuries and the commander, Lazarev, never flew again.

On March 18, 1980, a Vostok rocket exploded on its launch pad during a fueling operation, killing 48 people.169

In August 1981, Kosmos 434, which had been launched in 1971, was about to re-enter. To allay fears that the spacecraft carried nuclear materials, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR assured the Australian government on 26 August 1981, that the satellite was "an experimental lunar cabin". This was one of the first admissions by the Soviet Union that it had ever engaged in a crewed lunar spaceflight program.170: 736 

In September 1983, a Soyuz rocket being launched to carry cosmonauts to the Salyut 7 space station exploded on the pad, causing the Soyuz capsule's abort system to engage, saving the two cosmonauts on board.171

Buran

The Soviet Buran program attempted to produce a class of spaceplanes launched from the Energia rocket, in response to the US Space Shuttle. It was intended to operate in support of large space-based military platforms as a response to the Strategic Defense Initiative. Buran only had orbital maneuvering engines, unlike the Space Shuttle, Buran did not fire engines during launch, instead relying entirely on Energia to lift it out of the atmosphere. It copied the airframe and thermal protection system design of the US Space Shuttle Orbiter, with a maximum payload of 30 metric tons (slightly higher than that of the Space Shuttle), and weighed less.172 It also had the capability to land autonomously. Due to this, some retroactively consider it to be the more capable launch vehicle.173 By the time the system was ready to fly in orbit in 1988, strategic arms reduction treaties made Buran redundant. On November 15, 1988, Buran and its Energia rocket were launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and after two orbits in three hours, glided to a landing a few miles from its launch pad.174 While the craft survived that re-entry, the heat shield was not reusable. This failure resulted from United States counter intelligence efforts.175 After this test flight, the Soviet Ministry of Defense would defund the program, considering it relatively pointless compared to its price.176

Polyus satellite

The Polyus satellite was a prototype orbital weapons platform designed to destroy Strategic Defense Initiative satellites with a megawatt carbon-dioxide laser.177 Launched mounted upside-down on its Energia rocket, its single flight test was a failure when the inertial guidance system failed to rotate it 180° and instead rotated a complete 360°.178

Canceled projects

Energia rocket

The Energia was a successfully developed super heavy-lift launch vehicle which burned liquid hydrogen fuel. But without the Buran or Polyus payloads to launch, it was also canceled due to lack of funding on dissolution of the USSR.

Interplanetary projects

Mars missions

  • Heavy rover Mars 4NM was going to be launched by the abandoned N1 launcher between 1974 and 1975.
  • Mars sample return mission Mars 5NM was going to be launched by a single N1 launcher in 1975.
  • Mars sample return mission Mars 5M or (Mars-79) was to be double launched in parts by Proton launchers, and then joined in orbit for flight to Mars in 1979.

Vesta

The Vesta mission would have consisted of two identical double-purposed interplanetary probes to be launched in 1991. It was intended to fly-by Mars (instead of an early plan to Venus) and then study four asteroids belonging to different classes. At 4 Vesta a penetrator would be released.

Tsiolkovsky

The Tsiolkovsky mission was planned as a double-purposed deep interplanetary probe to be launched in the 1990s to make a "sling shot" flyby of Jupiter and then pass within five or seven radii of the Sun. A derivative of this spacecraft would possibly be launched toward Saturn and beyond.179

See also

  • Spaceflight portal
  • Soviet Union portal

Bibliography

  • Andrews, James T.: Red Cosmos: K. E. Tsiolkovskii, Grandfather of Soviet Rocketry. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2009)
  • Brzezinski, Matthew: Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age. (Holt Paperbacks, 2008)
  • Burgess, Colin; French, Francis: Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965. (University of Nebraska Press, 2007)
  • Burgess, Colin; French, Francis: In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965–1969. (University of Nebraska Press, 2007)
  • Harford, James: Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon. (John Wiley & Sons, 1997)
  • Siddiqi, Asif A.: Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945–1974. (Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2000)
  • Siddiqi, Asif A.: The Red Rockets' Glare: Spaceflight and the Soviet Imagination, 1857–1957. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
  • Siddiqi, Asif A.; Andrews, James T. (eds.): Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture. (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011)
  • Baker, David; Zak, Anatoly (2013). Race for Space 1: Dawn of the Space Age. RHK. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  • Chertok, Boris (January 31, 2005). Rockets and People (Volumes 1–4 ed.). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  • Rödel, Eberhard (2018). The Soviet space program: first steps: 1941–1953. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0764355394.
  • Reichl, Eugen (2019). The Soviet Space Program: The Lunar Mission Years: 1959–1976 (1st ed.). Schiffer Military History. ISBN 978-0-7643-5675-9.
  • Reichl, Eugen (2019). The Soviet space program: the N1, the Soviet Moon rocket. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 978-0764358555.
  • Burgess, Colin; Hall, Rex (2009). The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team: Their Lives, Legacy, and Historical Impact. Praxis. ISBN 978-0-387-84824-2.

References

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