Soviet military space stations. USSR space

04.10.1957. The Sputnik launch vehicle was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which placed the world's first artificial Earth satellite into low-Earth orbit. This launch opened the space age in human history.

On November 3, 1957, the Second Soviet satellite was launched - the world's first artificial Earth satellite with a living creature. On board was the dog Laika. The third Soviet satellite (05/15/1958) was the world's first satellite for scientific research.

01/02/1959. The Vostok launch vehicle launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which launched the Soviet automatic interplanetary station Luna-1 onto the flight path to the Moon. 01/04/1959 Luna-1 passed at a distance of 6000 kilometers from surface of the moon and entered a heliocentric orbit. It became the world's first artificial satellite of the Sun. On September 12, 1959, the Luna-2 spacecraft launched towards the Moon. The next day, Luna 2 reached the lunar surface for the first time in the world, delivering to the Moon a pennant depicting the coat of arms of the USSR. On 10/07/1959, the Luna-3 satellite transmitted the first images of the far (invisible) side of the Moon to Earth.

On 05/15/1960 the Vostok launch vehicle launched the First satellite into orbit, and on 08/19/1960 the Second Vostok-type satellite was launched, with dogs Belka and Strelka on board. 08/20/1960 Belka and Strelka returned safely to Earth. For the first time in the world, living beings, having been in Space, returned to Earth.

04/12/1961. This day became the day of triumph of the human mind. For the first time in the world, a spaceship with a person on board burst into the vastness of the Universe. The Vostok launch vehicle launched the Soviet spacecraft Vostok into low-Earth orbit with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

08/06/1961 the flight of the Soviet spaceship"Vostok-2" with G. Titov. It lasted 1 day 1 hour 18 minutes. During this flight, the first filming of the Earth from Space was made.

10/12/1964 The Voskhod launch vehicle launched the Soviet spacecraft Voskhod into orbit. The world's first flight of a multi-seat spacecraft. Cosmonauts V. Komarov, K. Feoktistov, B. Egorov were the first in the world to fly without spacesuits. On March 18, 1965, cosmonaut A. Leonov (“Voskhod-2”) went into outer space for the first time.

02/12/1961. The Molniya launch vehicle was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which for the first time in history put the Soviet automatic interplanetary station Venera-1 on the flight path to Venus. During this flight, for the first time in the world, two-way communication was carried out with a station located 1,400,000 km away.

01.11.1962. The first successful launch towards Mars took place. The Mars-1 probe conducted research into interplanetary space, tested long-distance space communications (10,000,000 km), and on July 19, 1963, it made the world's first flyby of Mars.

11/12/1965. The Molniya launch vehicle placed the Venera-2 station on its flight path to Venus. It flew at a distance of 24,000 km from Venus. And on 03/01/1966 the Venera-3 station first reached surface of Venus, delivering the USSR pennant. This was the world's first flight of a spacecraft from Earth to another planet.

02/03/1966. The Soviet automatic station "Luna-9" was the first in the world to make soft landing on the lunar surface, after which it transmitted a panoramic image of the lunar surface. 04/03/1966 the Luna-10 station became the first in the world artificial satellite Moons.

10/18/1967. The Soviet automatic interplanetary station "Venera-4" reached Venus. The AMS lander made a smooth descent through the atmosphere of Venus and reached its surface. The signal from the station during descent was received to an altitude of 24.96 km. On May 16 and 17, 1969, Venera 5 and Venera 6 made a smooth descent into the atmosphere of Venus, transmitting scientific information up to a height of 10 kilometers from the surface. On 12/15/70, the descent vehicle of the AMS "Venera-7" made a smooth descent by parachute in the atmosphere of Venus, reached the surface, after which signals from the vehicle were received for another 23 minutes. 07/22/1972 The Venera-8 spacecraft made its first landing on the illuminated side of the planet Venus.

07/16/1965. The UR-500 (Proton) launch vehicle was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which placed it into low-Earth orbit soviet satellite for the study of cosmic rays and interaction with ultra-high energy matter "Proton-1".

02.11.1965 "UR-500", which launched the Soviet satellite "Proton-2" into orbit.

03/02/1968. LV "Proton-K" with accelerating block"D" launched the Soviet unmanned spacecraft Zond-4 onto the flight path to the Moon. 03/05/1968. The Soviet spacecraft Zond-4 flew around the Moon and began its return trajectory to Earth.

09.14.1968. The Proton-K launch vehicle launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which launched the Soviet unmanned spacecraft Zond-5 onto the flight path to the Moon. There were living creatures on board: turtles, fruit flies, worms, plants, bacteria. On September 18, 1968, Zond-5 flew around the Moon, passing at a minimum distance of 1960 kilometers from its surface. A high-resolution image of the Earth was taken from a distance of 90,000 kilometers.

On September 21, 1968, the Zond-5 lander splashed down in the Indian Ocean. For the first time in the world, a station, having flown around the Moon, successfully returned to Earth at the second cosmic speed.

11/10/1968. Zond-6 was launched, which on November 14, 1968 orbited the Moon, passing at a distance of 2,420 kilometers from its surface. During the flyby, panoramic photographs of the visible and far sides of the lunar surface were taken.

11/17/1968 Zond-6 landed in a given area on the territory of the USSR.
The Soviet spacecraft Zond-7 orbited the Moon on August 11, 1969. minimum distance from its surface about 1200 kilometers, and on 08/14/1969 he landed in a given area of ​​the USSR.

09.12.70. The Proton-K launch vehicle was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which launched the Soviet automatic interplanetary station Luna-16 onto the flight path to the Moon. 09/20/70 the automatic interplanetary station "Luna-16" made a soft landing on the Moon. On September 21, 1970, the Luna-16 return vehicle launched from the surface of the Moon. Samples were taken before the start lunar soil, which were delivered to Earth on September 24, 1970.

11/10/70. The Proton-K launch vehicle launched the Luna-17 automatic interplanetary station with the Lunokhod-1 self-propelled vehicle on board on a flight path to the Moon. 11/17/70 Luna 17 made a soft landing on the Moon. Two and a half hours later, Lunokhod 1 left the landing platform along the ramp and began its program.

02.12.1971. The descent vehicle of the automatic interplanetary station "Mars-3" made a soft landing on the surface of Mars. 1.5 minutes after landing, the station was brought into working condition and began transmitting a video signal to Earth.

05/15/1987. The first test launch of the Energia launch vehicle was carried out from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch of the launch vehicle was successful.

11/15/1988. The Energia-Buran launch vehicle was launched, which placed the Soviet Buran spacecraft into low-Earth orbit. Reusable ship"Buran" was the first in the world to perform an automatic landing on Earth.
The Energia-Buran rocket and space system was many years ahead of its time, and in a number of characteristics it significantly surpassed the space technology used in the United States.

People in our country began to dream about flights to planets and stars even before the Revolution. The revolutionaries dreamed of a breakthrough to the stars of the Society of the Future, realizing that this could only be done by the society for which they died. The brilliant inventor-revolutionary Kibalchich, sentenced to death on death row, writes not letters to his relatives, not petitions for pardon, but draws sketches of an interstellar jet apparatus, knowing that it can be preserved in the prison archive for posterity. The most advanced people in Russia dreamed of Space, and a whole direction in Russian philosophy was formed - Cosmism. The founder of cosmonautics, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, who founded the theoretical basis space flights, gave a philosophical and technical justification for human space exploration. Tsiolkovsky was so ahead of his time that in the West at that time they simply did not understand him and... forgot! Only the Russians remembered and honored him.

However, starting from the 60s in the West, major scientists began to put forward projects for space exploration, one-to-one coinciding with Tsiolkovsky’s projects, but completely taking credit for his ideas. This category includes the so-called “Dyson Sphere”, “ Space settlements O'Neill" and much more. In the West, the legacy of the great scientist and philosopher has been almost erased from history and is practically unknown even to specialists.

Tsarist Russia, like modern oligarchic Russia, did not need any and was even harmful. The Great October Revolution gave a chance for the development of Tsiolkovsky’s ideas Socialist Revolution. The enthusiasm for building a New Society that overwhelmed the Land of Soviets was inseparable for Russian people with the dream of other worlds.

There is even a semi-legend that the red star on the country’s coat of arms is nothing more than Mars. A planet you MUST fly to! The destroyed, impoverished peasant country dreamed of flights into space. In the 1920s, A. Tolstoy’s wonderful science fiction book “Aelita,” about a flight to Mars by two enthusiasts on a homemade rocket, gained enormous popularity in the USSR. The interplanetary rocket was fantastic for that time, but the reflection of the state of mind in Red Russia was completely real: groups of enthusiastic engineers lived with the idea of ​​​​creating real means of overcoming interplanetary spaces. By the end of the twenties of the twentieth century, it became obvious that only rocket technology with rocket thrust was suitable for space exploration. The prototype of the engineer Los from “Aelita” was a real Soviet engineer, a teacher at the Moscow Aviation Institute, Friedrich Zander. Mortally ill with an incurable form of tuberculosis, he manages to found the scientific and engineering group GIRD, lay the foundations of theoretical calculations jet engines, rocket astrodynamics, duration calculation space flights, put forward the concept of a spaceplane - a combination of an airplane and a rocket, theoretically substantiate the principle of gliding descent from near-Earth space, prove the idea of ​​​​a “gravitational sling”, which is now used by almost all spacecraft sent to explore groups of planets. Almost all subsequent developments in rocket technology were based on Zander's work.

The Moscow GIRD group included the future Chief Designer Soviet launch vehicles - Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. At the beginning of their work, our rocket scientists had only one idea: to build a spacecraft for flight into space, as Zander dreamed - to Mars, which was supposed to be inhabited, and as an intermediate stage - to the Moon, as Tsiolkovsky believed. But reality has shown that without the completion of Industrialization there can be no chance of a flight to Mars. Therefore, they began to build romantic plans, but more realistic, but feasible: the rockets were supposed to be used in two main areas: “geophysical rockets” for research upper layers atmosphere, where balloons and airplanes could not rise then, and even in military affairs. Geopolitical and ideological opponents did not hide plans to prepare for military destruction Soviet Russia. By the way, the result of the development of the military direction were multiple launch rocket systems that were simple in concept, but had terrifying efficiency - the Katyusha rocket mortars designed by Ivan Platonovich Grave, who is also the inventor of a solid-fuel rocket using smokeless powder. Unfortunately, due to the total falsification of history, the name of the real creator of the legendary weapon is now few people know. After the start of the War, there was clearly no time to develop flights to Mars; things were done that could directly help defeat the enemy: jet fighters, rocket boosters for heavy bombers, heavy 300-mm rocket mines (“Andryusha”), etc. were designed.

The Germans' use of V-1 cruise missiles and V-2 ballistic missiles against England showed their high efficiency. Practice has shown that ballistic missiles were invulnerable to the air defense of that time and were irresistible weapons.
By the way, the idea of ​​a cruise missile and the priority of its creation belongs to S.P. Korolev, who called it an “aircraft projectile.” Such a rocket was tested by the Moscow GIRD in 1936. The Germans repeated this idea, according to them, without knowing about the Soviet development, but according to one version, the promising development was stolen by German intelligence.

Birth of the space program

The rapid development of rocket technology after the Great Patriotic War inevitably led to the development of the Soviet Space Program. The Soviet Space Program was born as a natural extension of defense programs. The plan for a human flight into space was proposed to Stalin in 1946, but the answer was: “Half the country is in ruins, we must wait 7-8 years until we rise.” Stalin remembered these plans and the state plans for the creation of the R-7, the basis of the entire Soviet Cosmonautics, were signed by Stalin and accepted for execution just a few weeks before his death.

It was planned not only to send a person into near-Earth space, but also to create a weapon delivery vehicle unprecedented in history - an intercontinental ballistic missile. By that time, the USSR had managed to create nuclear bomb, but without means of delivery to the target it could not become a full-fledged weapon of retaliation. The Americans had quite reliable means delivery - B-52 heavy bombers, especially the Americans, surrounded the USSR on all sides with their military bases, from which they could freely reach any city in the USSR with their bombers, while the main American cities were beyond the reach of Soviet bombers. The territory of the United States, with the exception of Alaska, remained practically inaccessible for a retaliatory strike. The Americans believed that the USSR was in a hopeless situation and would be a virtually defenseless victim.

The US plans to launch nuclear strikes on the cities of the USSR and start a war were well known, and yesterday’s allies did not particularly hide them - preparations for the destruction of the USSR and the Russian people were in full swing in the US. The Dropshot plan called for 300 atomic bombs to be dropped on Soviet cities, destroying almost half the population and most of the industrial capacity. Plans for dividing Russia into occupation zones were seriously created, personnel were selected for this, etc.

To thwart these plans, it was vital to create such a delivery vehicle atomic bomb, which could reach the opposite hemisphere, otherwise the terrible blow of the Anglo-Saxon fascists to Russian civilization was inevitable. Reachability of the aggressor's territory for retaliation nuclear strike it would very seriously cool down these non-humans who exterminate with pleasure defenseless people, but fearing a formidable enemy. Which, by the way, confirmed the near future.

In the mid-40s, our engineers had two options for solving the problem: a long-range bomber and a ballistic missile going into near space.
Calculations showed that the United States could well protect itself from bombers mainly due to military bases around the world, often almost on the border of the USSR. It was almost impossible to shoot down the missile. Only now have relatively reliable means of intercepting warheads appeared, but even in the foreseeable future they are still not capable of repelling a massive attack by thousands of missiles.

It is quite natural that it was the development of the rocket industry that received maximum funding. But our engineers continued to dream of the stars. The rocket can not only deliver an atomic bomb to any point on Earth, but can also be launched into orbit by an artificial earth satellite (AES). Soviet people believed that military theme their developments are an inevitable but transitory evil that is about to end. They believed in a bright future, when war and violence would become a thing of the past forever, and it would be possible to directly study the secrets of the Universe.

In a country that defeated fascism, such ideas were in the air. Works of fantastic literature of the 30s and post-war years directly testify to this.
Even before the launch of the First Artificial Earth Satellite (AES) in our country, Ivan Antonovich Efremov created a brilliant science fiction work “The Andromeda Nebula” about the people of the Future and flights to the stars. I.A. Efremov could have known about deeply secret work on the creation powerful missiles, capable of launching satellites into Earth orbit and launching vehicles to celestial bodies. He simply reflected the contemporary state of mind of the people of the country, their dreams and specific ideas about a wonderful Future. And the fact that this Future was directly connected with the stars was very significant.

First steps for the atmosphere
Naturally, in the process of creating missiles, test launches were not possible. These launches were often used to probe the upper atmosphere. Therefore, even a special direction in the design and use of ballistic missiles has emerged - the geophysical rocket. Almost all the rockets before the “Seven”, which launched the first satellite into orbit, were also geophysical. The numbering was unpretentious: the first letter is “rocket”, and then the model number. Model seven is the same one that launched both the first satellite and the first ship with a person on board.
The more powerful the rockets became, the higher they climbed into the upper layers of the atmosphere, which became less and less different from outer space. Already the R-5 could go into space along a ballistic trajectory. But it was not yet suitable for a full-fledged satellite launch.
Our scientists were aware that work on rocketry was also underway in the United States, especially since they brought the talented inventor of German rockets, von Braun, to the United States and managed to kidnap a number of other prominent German scientists. But since the United States had nuclear weapons carriers, the B-52 aircraft, they were in no hurry to develop powerful missiles. Apparently they believed that it wouldn’t come to that - the USSR would fall first. However, they very noisily announced that they were going to launch the first artificial Earth satellite. They even demonstrated what they were going to launch - a device the size of an orange. As usual for Americans, an incredible propaganda fuss was made around this case. It was believed that this launch would be a triumph of American science and an undoubted demonstration to the whole world of the absolute superiority of Anglo-Saxon science over all others, especially over Soviet science. They had no doubt that this would be the case - they would be the first. Moreover, there was deafening silence on the part of the “Russians” in this area. US intelligence knew that work on missiles was underway in the USSR, but they did not know how successfully. By default, it was believed that Russians were “always” behind Americans.
The launch of the American rocket was timed to coincide with the International Geophysical Year. But they were haunted by a whole series of failures.
We were also thinking about launching the first satellite.
A preliminary design of a rocket for launching a satellite was even completed based on already developed, working models. During this work, it became clear that already with the R-5 this was technically possible, although it was a medium-range missile. It was supposed (according to the preliminary design) to connect four of these rockets to launch a satellite.

Sputnik Photos

But the most important goal at that time was the creation of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying an atomic bomb.
Therefore, the satellite launch project was postponed until the R-7 appeared. “Seven” passed successful tests just in time for the geophysical year. Since it was completely unimportant for the rocket what cargo to carry, it was decided to put Sputnik as a payload in one of the launches.
By the way, Sputnik, according to engineers, was made in a very interesting way: its body was the shell of an atomic bomb with the filling completely removed. The filling for the first satellite was a simple radio transmitter.

Political significance of the launch of the first satellite

The weight of the first satellite amazed American engineers. If they hoped to “launch an orange” with the help of their super-advanced launch vehicle, then the Soviet satellite weighed almost a hundredweight.

The second artificial satellite of the Earth is the world's first biological satellite, in the pressurized cabin of which the dog Laika flew in November 1957. And the launch of the third satellite was generally shocking - its weight was one and a half tons.

Model of the Second Satellite

Photo of the third satellite.

Further details of the space program

At first, the program as such was only in the minds of engineers and scientists directly involved in the creation of rocket technology. It was of a completely abstract nature, like: “It would be nice to fly to the Moon, to Mars, to the Stars,” but when it became absolutely clear that Sputnik would be launched in the next few years, Korolev sent out a letter to academicians in which he asked them to express their opinion on the tasks, that could be solved and research that could be carried out on board an artificial Earth satellite. Some academics thought it was a stupid joke and responded in the spirit of: “I’m not interested in science fiction!” - unfortunately, they were retrogrades. But the proposals of those scientists who approached the issue seriously became the basis of the Soviet Space Program.
All proposals that were received were grouped into the following sections:

study of the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere (ionosphere), and near-Earth space;
studying the Earth from space in the interests of cartography, meteorology, geophysics;
Study of near-Earth space;
Extra-atmospheric astronomy;
Direct study of the Moon and solar system bodies.
Subsequently, this Program was only supplemented in detail and made more specific.
Somehow it was self-evident that this Program would last forever, and that the study and exploration of outer space would be a continuous, planned process and completely abstracted from any purely “entertaining”, ambitious goals, such as the naked pursuit of records. As always in the USSR, in relation to such areas of activity, the planning horizon was “for centuries”, in contrast to the Western 4-5 years.

Clarifications from S.P. Queen
Korolev was an engineer, and, naturally, calculated the steps that led to the solution of the grandiose tasks laid down in the Space Program. Korolev had a specific goal-dream - a flight to Mars, and to achieve it, he built his “stairway to heaven” - consistently, methodically, purposefully. The country subsequently carefully passed all the steps that he outlined for the Mars expedition without an empty pursuit of records and a waste of money to achieve short-term benefits to the detriment of the main thing.
Everything was done according to master plan compiled by S.P. Korolev, designed for decades to come, with which the majority of engineers and those who were responsible for decision-making in the country's leadership agreed. It is quite natural that no one was going to forget about “Earthly affairs” and not take care of fulfilling the current needs of the country. But setting long-term goals along with closer and purely pragmatic goals was the rule, because the country was building communism - a Society of universal social justice, and this plan was for centuries. And if so, now it was necessary to attend to the solution of those small and large tasks that are necessary for the implementation of such a super project. Think through the steps through which Soviet science will be able to solve the problem of sending a manned expedition to Mars, solve it without overexerting forces and resources. Hence the questions...

What is needed “for Mars”?
AMC or...?
Obviously, it was necessary to obtain reliable preliminary data about the nature of Mars in order to know what astronauts would encounter on this planet. It was extremely difficult to find out using purely astronomical methods. So, it was necessary to find out by flying there, but how? Reliable automatic spacecraft have already appeared, but they flew near the Earth. Is it even possible to send a device to Mars and, controlling it at a distance of hundreds of millions of kilometers, accurately “taxi” to Mars? This was a completely new question when celestial navigation came up on the agenda. It was necessary to very clearly imagine in space and time where the spacecraft was located at distances unimaginable to humans. In addition, it was necessary to know a lot of things, for example, would the conditions of space flight kill a person? It turned out that there were two possibilities - a manned expedition and flights of automatic interplanetary stations. An interesting problem arose: where does what can be studied with the help of automatic stations and begins something that can only be done by man?
Already from the most approximate calculations it followed that the expedition itself was an extremely expensive undertaking. After all, a device with people not only needs to be launched towards Mars, but also to ensure its return, provide a minimum of comfort and safety for people, and much more.
With a machine gun everything was simpler. It does not need to be returned - it is made under specific task. Consequently, the AMS (automatic interplanetary station) is simpler, lighter and thousands of times cheaper. One way or another, it followed that the direct study of the bodies of the Solar System would begin with Automatic Interplanetary Stations.

What is needed for a manned expedition?

But one way or another, a person will still have to fly sooner or later. What is needed for this?
Firstly, life support systems that can operate reliably for the required time and provide the astronauts with clean air and water.
Secondly, find out the impact on a person of exposure to all factors over a long period of time space flight(primarily weightlessness) and neutralize them as far as possible.
Thirdly, to create efficient engines for interplanetary spacecraft. The existing chemical ones were not suitable due to the low speed of the jet stream. As a result, the launch mass of the spacecraft was prohibitively large.
Ideas immediately appeared to use nuclear energy for engine operation. There are two types of such engines:

Electric rocket (invented back in 30), but with a compact nuclear reactor - a current source
Actually a nuclear engine.
According to the latter, of all the possible, three directions were identified that could produce results in the near future - solid-phase, liquid-phase and gas-phase nuclear engines.
In the first type, the core of the engine is a small nuclear reactor, where the fissile material is in a solid state, through which hydrogen is driven, which is heated and released, due to heating, at speeds of 8 - 10 km/s.
In the second, the fissile substance is in liquid state and is pressed against the walls of the chamber by its rotation and the speed of the outflow of hydrogen will already be up to 20 km/s.
But the most promising, though also the most problematic, is the gas-phase nuclear jet engine. The basis of his idea is that if it is possible to isolate a gaseous fissile substance from contact with the walls nuclear engine, then hydrogen can be accelerated to 70 km/s! If such engines were created, then travel within the solar system would become something very everyday, for example, it would be possible to make a manned expedition to Saturn in 1 year. The launch mass of the ship in low-Earth orbit would be very small - several hundred tons, and not hundreds of thousands, as for a chemical rocket. It should be said that the USSR in last years was very close to solving this problem. We stood on the threshold of intensive human exploration Solar System and sending automated robots to the nearest stars. One of the reasons for such an urgent destruction of the USSR was the task of stopping the movement of the Red Project and all humanity towards the Stars. Consideration of the reasons for the latter issue goes well beyond the scope of this work.

Pragmatic tasks

Okay, these are, so to speak, lofty and distant goals. But what should you use right now? This is also logically connected with distant targets - “near space” - near-Earth space

Providing, with the help of satellites, reliable television and radio communications with all points of our vast country. Several satellites cost hundreds of times less than the construction of a permanent network of relay stations.
Studying the meteorological situation on a global scale with the aim of reliably predicting the weather and warning of disasters for a sufficiently long period.
Observation of natural resources Earth and natural hazards - forest fires, insect migrations, tsunamis and geological shifts...
Production unique materials in space. Ultrapure vacuum and almost unlimited time weightlessness provide exceptional opportunities for the production of materials that are simply impossible to obtain on Earth.
Well, of course, as long as there are countries actively hatching plans to destroy the USSR, military satellites are needed - space reconnaissance, warning of aggression, and, if necessary, providing a counterstrike.
To accomplish these tasks, it was necessary to provide the country with a whole complex of devices that completely cover all possible tasks here - from launching a satellite into orbit, to ensuring communication with them and the subsequent delivery of the received materials to Earth.
This meant:
Creation heavy carriers to launch larger payloads into orbit at lower cost. Development of reusable systems.
Creation of a permanent outpost in low-Earth orbit, where it would be possible to conduct the entire range of research: from biomedical, technological, military to fundamental scientific research of Space. Research into the behavior of materials in space was needed. This knowledge was necessary to create reliable, permanently operating objects in space. At that time, they did not know at all how earthly materials would behave in vacuum conditions under continuous long-term exposure to all types of radiation.
Automated robots can handle relatively simple experiments and measurements, which means they need to be created, which requires the development of applied mathematics, computer technology and many other industries. But complex tasks required human presence, that is, the creation of a permanent orbital station.
All this represented a single Soviet Space Program, so interconnected that it was often impossible to separate one direction from another.
One of the long-term goals of this program was Mars.

The first manned flight into space. Space race.

After the triumph of the first satellite, only the first human flight into space could really save the face of American science. At that time, the United States did not have a launch vehicle powerful enough to launch a ship with a person on board into low-Earth orbit so that it could become a satellite of the Earth, so only a short-term launch of the vehicle into space along a ballistic trajectory was planned. American engineers figuratively called it “flea jump.”
The ship launched from the ground, emerged from the atmosphere into space for ten minutes and fell back. It is quite natural that such “ space flight"could not be complete. But for the United States, the main thing was to be the first to stake out space and thereby save face.
Unlike the USA, the USSR already had a fairly powerful P7. Therefore, immediately after the launch of the satellite, it was the orbital, and not the ballistic, flight of the ship with a person on board that began to be planned.
It’s true here, we should mention the episode when the R-5 rocket was created. Soviet engineers calculated that a bunch of four such rockets could launch a cabin with a man into space (“flea jump” in American). This useless and very expensive option for setting an altitude record was abandoned in favor of a real, not propaganda goal - launching an artificial satellite and orbital flight.

After a successful experiment with the launch of the machine, the next stages of space exploration unfolded - the second and third satellites were biological. The impact of space flight factors was studied on living organisms. The first animal astronauts flew into space. The name of the first dog to be in space, Laika, has spread all over the world. Her mongrel face was printed on the front pages of all newspapers in the world, and documentary footage of her was shown in all cinemas. The next “cosmonauts” to return to Earth alive were the dogs, Belka and Strelka. Not only was the purely scientific program worked out, but the technical problem of returning a spacecraft from space to earth with a soft landing was also solved. Having worked on dogs what humans would later have to undergo, the Soviet space program came close to solving the problem of human flight into space.
The first apparatus for human flight into space was created with preliminary testing of all components in unmanned mode and many of them modularly - in parts, this was the rule in Soviet Cosmonautics. After all the parts were worked out, the Vostok unmanned ships flew. One of the flights was unsuccessful - due to incorrect processing of the deorbit impulse, instead of landing on Earth, the device moved to a higher orbit. Instead of an astronaut, a dummy flew in the pilot's seat. Our engineers, who were preparing it for flight, jokingly nicknamed the dummy “Uncle Vanya.”
Apparently, these unmanned launches of the Vostok spacecraft with mannequins became the basis for a wild legend according to which, before Yuri Gagarin’s flight, someone else allegedly flew and even died.

Finally, when all the elements of the flight were successfully worked out, on April 12, 1961, starting from the cosmodrome, the Vostok spacecraft with a person on board made one complete revolution around the Earth and landed in a given area of ​​the Soviet Union. This is how the first human flight into space took place in the history of mankind. The first cosmonaut on the planet was Yuri Alekseevich.

The second flight was that of German Titov on August 7, 1961 (he was Gagarin’s backup). Titov stayed in orbit for more than a day - 25 hours 11 minutes.

Photo: at the Mission Control Center

After SUCH achievements, the American “flea jump” performed on the Mercury spacecraft was quite naturally not perceived as a full-fledged space flight (although they pompously announced two space flights performed between Gagarin’s launch and Titov’s flight).
For the Americans, this circumstance was no longer just a serious failure, but a disgrace. Trying to somehow wash it away and restore the completely destroyed legend of the “indisputable leadership of US science and technology,” America furiously joined the space race.

New manned flights and our priorities

Unfortunately, at present, in our country there is a deliberate campaign to sully the great victories of the past. Many young people often simply do not know anything about what really happened during the times of “totalitarianism.” They hear only the slander of the enemies of the USSR, but real facts they are kept under seven seals. The policy of slanderers Soviet Union here is elementary: to convince a person that there was nothing good “then”... and nothing special at all - everything important and important happened only in the USA, and all we knew was that we lagged behind and repeated other people’s achievements.
But in fact, everything was completely the opposite. And a striking example of this is the Soviet achievements in space exploration.
Here is just a small list of what was done and DONE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE WORLD by the Soviet Union in space.
The first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. Made a flight on June 16-19, 1963. on the Vostok-6 ship with a flight duration of 2 days 22 hours 50 minutes. This flight was not a purely political action, but was intended to obtain serious scientific information about the behavior of the female body during space flight, which was later used during the flights of other female astronauts, including American women who flew much later than ours.

Photo of Gagarin with Tereshkova

Since the Soviet Union intended to seriously explore near space, it was necessary to make ships on which it was possible to “carry” not one, but several cosmonauts, performing not only the functions of piloting the ship, but also full-scale scientific experiments. This first three-seater spacecraft was launched on October 12, 1964. The crew consisted of the ship commander V.M. Komarova, research fellow K.P. Feoktistov and doctor B.B. Egorova.

To find out the possibility of human operations outside a spacecraft, for the first time in the world, our Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov carried out a human spacewalk as part of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft flight on March 18-19, 1965. Duration of stay in space is 12 minutes 9 seconds. Need I say that for this purpose it was necessary for the first time to create a special spacesuit, which had no equal at that time?

Photo: Leonov in space.

Leonov was not only an astronaut, but also an artist. He himself and together with the artist Sokolov painted many “space paintings”. The legacy of these two artists is truly enormous and priceless. An artist can display such facets of the world and perception that no photographic or film film can reproduce.
Naturally, our achievements were not limited to these priority actions. And further, our science has more than once placed Americans in the extremely difficult and disreputable position of catching up and repeating the achievements of others. Our ability to do something first and for the first time in the world ended only in 1991 with the treacherous destruction of the USSR.

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Space and the Land of Soviets

People in our country began to dream about flights to planets and stars even before the Revolution. The revolutionaries dreamed of a breakthrough to the stars, realizing that this could only be done by the society of the Future Society, for which they died. The brilliant inventor-revolutionary Kibalchich, sentenced to death on death row, writes not letters to his relatives, not petitions for pardon, but draws sketches of an interstellar jet apparatus, knowing that the royal tricksters can preserve it in the prison archive for posterity.

The most advanced people in Russia dreamed about Space, and a whole direction in philosophy was formed - Russian Cosmism. The founder of cosmonautics, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, also belongs to the cosmist philosophers, who laid the theoretical foundations of space flights and gave a philosophical and technical justification for human space exploration. Tsiolkovsky was so ahead of his time that in the West at that time they simply did not understand him and... forgot! Only the Russians remembered and honored him.

However, starting from the 60s in the West, major scientists began to put forward projects for space exploration, one-to-one coinciding with Tsiolkovsky’s projects, but completely taking credit for his ideas. This category includes the so-called “Dyson Sphere”, “O’Neill’s Space Settlements” and much more. In the West, the legacy of the great scientist and philosopher has been almost erased from history and is practically unknown even to specialists.

By 1917, the ideas of Tsiolkovsky’s flight to other worlds, to the stars and the settlement of Humanity throughout the Universe, became noticeably widespread among the progressive intelligentsia. One of the fans of this idea was Lenin’s closest ally (and opponent), Alexander Bogdanov. Being a very extraordinary person, he was not only a fan of these ideas, but also became famous then for writing two very popular science fiction novels (in 1907!) about an expedition to Mars - “Red Star” and “Engineer Manny” " In style, these novels were classic utopia.

The impact of his novels on the consciousness of his contemporaries was very strong; for example, in many ways “Aelita” by Alexei Tolstoy was written under the impression of Bogdanov’s books. By placing socialism on Mars, he thereby set a standard and goal - to do as on that very “red star named Mars.” Well, he implicitly indicated another goal for the future of humanity - to rise to the stars.

Tsarist Russia, like modern oligarchic Russia, did not need any space and was even harmful. The Great October Socialist Revolution gave a chance for the development of Tsiolkovsky's ideas. The enthusiasm for building a New Society that overwhelmed the Land of Soviets was inseparable for Russian people with the dream of other worlds.

There is even a semi-legend that the red star on the country’s coat of arms is nothing more than Mars. A planet you MUST fly to! The destroyed, impoverished peasant country dreamed of flights into space. In the 1920s, A. Tolstoy’s wonderful science fiction book “Aelita,” about a flight to Mars by two enthusiasts on a homemade rocket, gained enormous popularity in the USSR. The interplanetary rocket was fantastic for that time, but the reflection of the state of mind in Red Russia was completely real: groups of enthusiastic engineers lived with the idea of ​​​​creating real means of overcoming interplanetary spaces. By the end of the twenties of the twentieth century, it became obvious that only rocket technology with rocket thrust was suitable for space exploration. The prototype of the engineer Los from “Aelita” was a real Soviet engineer - a teacher at the Moscow Aviation Institute, Friedrich Arturovich Zander. Mortally ill with an incurable form of tuberculosis, he manages to found the scientific and engineering group GIRD, lay the foundations for theoretical calculations of jet engines, rocket astrodynamics, calculation of the duration of space flights, put forward the concept of a spaceplane - a combination of an airplane and a rocket, theoretically substantiate the principle of gliding descent from near-Earth space, prove the idea “ gravitational sling,” which is now used by almost all spacecraft sent to explore groups of planets.

Almost all subsequent developments in rocket technology were based on Zander's work.
The Moscow GIRD group included the future Chief Designer of Soviet launch vehicles, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. At the beginning of their work, our rocket scientists had only one idea: to build a spacecraft to fly into space, as Zander dreamed - to Mars, which was supposed to be inhabited, and as an intermediate stage - to the Moon, as Tsiolkovsky believed.

But reality has shown that without the completion of Industrialization there can be no chance of a flight to Mars. Therefore, not romantic plans began to be made, but more realistic ones, but at least feasible: the rockets were supposed to be used in two main areas: “geophysical rockets” for studying the upper layers of the atmosphere, where balloons and airplanes could not reach then, and also in military affairs.

Geopolitical and ideological opponents did not hide their plans to prepare for the military destruction of Soviet Russia. By the way, the result of the development of the military direction were multiple launch rocket systems that were simple in concept, but had terrifying efficiency - the Katyusha rocket mortars designed by Ivan Platonovich Grave, who is also the inventor of a solid-fuel rocket using smokeless powder. Unfortunately, due to the total falsification of history, the name of the real creator of the legendary weapon is now few people know. After the start of the War, there was clearly no time to develop flights to Mars; things were done that could directly help defeat the enemy: jet fighters, rocket boosters for heavy bombers, heavy 300-mm rocket mines (“Andryusha”), etc. were designed.

The Germans' use of V-1 cruise missiles and V-2 ballistic missiles against England showed their high effectiveness. Practice has shown that ballistic missiles were invulnerable to the air defense of that time and were irresistible weapons.

By the way, the idea of ​​a cruise missile and the priority of its creation belonged to Zander, from whose unpublished brochure it was inherited by S.P. Korolev, who called it an “aircraft projectile.” Such a rocket was tested by the Moscow GIRD in 1936. The Germans repeated this idea, according to them, without knowing about the Soviet development, but according to one version, the promising development was stolen by German intelligence.

Birth of the space program

The rapid development of rocket technology after the Great Patriotic War inevitably led to the development of the Soviet Space Program. The Soviet Space Program was born as a natural extension of defense programs.

The plan for a human flight into space was proposed to Stalin in 1946, but the answer was: “Half the country is in ruins, we must wait 7-8 years until we rise.” Stalin remembered these plans and the state plans for the creation of the R-7, the basis of the entire Soviet Cosmonautics, were signed by Stalin and accepted for execution just a few weeks before his death. It was planned not only to send a person into near-Earth space, but also to create a weapon delivery vehicle unprecedented in history - an intercontinental ballistic missile. By that time, the USSR had managed to create a nuclear bomb, but without means of delivery to the target it could not become a full-fledged weapon of retaliation. The Americans had a completely reliable means of delivery - the B-52 heavy bombers, especially since the Americans surrounded the USSR on all sides with their military bases, from which they freely hit any city in the USSR, while the main American cities were beyond the reach of Soviet bombers. The territory of the United States, with the exception of Alaska, remained practically inaccessible for a retaliatory strike. The Americans believed that the USSR was in a hopeless situation and would be a virtually defenseless victim.

The US plans to launch nuclear strikes on the cities of the USSR and start a war were well known, and yesterday’s allies did not particularly hide them - preparations for the destruction of the USSR and the Russian people were in full swing in the US. The Dropshot plan called for 300 atomic bombs to be dropped on Soviet cities, destroying almost half the population and most of the industrial capacity. Plans for dividing Russia into occupation zones were seriously created, personnel were selected for this, etc.

To thwart these plans, it was vitally necessary to create a means of delivering an atomic bomb that could reach the opposite hemisphere, otherwise a terrible blow by the Anglo-Saxon fascists to Russian civilization was inevitable. The reach of the aggressor's territory for a retaliatory nuclear strike would very seriously cool the ardor of these non-humans, who always exterminate defenseless people with pleasure, but fear a formidable enemy. Which, by the way, confirmed the near future.
In the mid-40s, our engineers had two options for solving the problem: a long-range bomber and a ballistic missile going into near space.

Calculations showed that the United States could well protect itself from bombers mainly due to military bases around the world, often almost on the border of the USSR. It was almost impossible to shoot down the missile. Only now have relatively reliable means of intercepting warheads appeared, but even in the foreseeable future they are still not capable of repelling a massive attack by thousands of missiles.

It is quite natural that it was the development of the rocket industry that received maximum funding. But our engineers continued to dream of the stars. The rocket can not only deliver an atomic bomb to any point on Earth, but can also launch an artificial earth satellite (AES) into orbit. Soviet people believed that the military theme of their developments was an inevitable, but transitory evil that was about to end. They believed in a bright future, when war and violence would become a thing of the past forever, and it would be possible to directly study the secrets of the Universe.

In a country that defeated fascism, such ideas were in the air. Works of fantastic literature of the 30s and post-war years directly testify to this.
Even before the launch of the First Artificial Earth Satellite (AES) in our country, Ivan Antonovich Efremov created a brilliant science fiction work “The Andromeda Nebula” about the people of the Future and flights to the stars. I.A. Efremov could not have known about the deeply secret work on creating powerful rockets capable of launching satellites into Earth orbit and launching vehicles to celestial bodies. He simply reflected the contemporary state of mind of the people of the country, their dreams and specific ideas about a wonderful Future. And the fact that this Future was directly connected with the stars was very significant.

First steps for the atmosphere

Naturally, in the process of creating missiles, test launches were not possible. These launches were often used to probe the upper atmosphere. Even a special direction in the design and use of ballistic missiles has emerged - the geophysical rocket. Almost all the rockets before the “seven”, which launched the first satellite into orbit, were geophysical. The numbering was unpretentious: the first letter “P” is “rocket”, and then the model number. Model seven is the same one that launched both the first satellite and the first ship with a person on board.

The more powerful the rockets became, the higher they climbed into the upper layers of the atmosphere, which became less and less different from outer space. Already the R-5 could go into space along a ballistic trajectory. But it was not yet suitable for a full-fledged satellite launch.

Our scientists were aware that work on missiles was also underway in the United States, especially since they brought the talented inventor of German missiles, Wernher von Braun, to the United States and managed to kidnap a number of other prominent German scientists. But since the United States had nuclear weapons carriers, the B-52 aircraft, they were in no hurry to develop powerful missiles. Apparently they believed that it wouldn’t come to that - the USSR would fall first. However, they very noisily announced that they were going to launch the first artificial Earth satellite. They even demonstrated what they were going to launch - a device the size of an orange. As usual for Americans, an incredible propaganda fuss was made around this case. It was believed that this launch would be an undoubted demonstration to the whole world of the absolute superiority of Anglo-Saxon science over all others, especially over Soviet science. They had no doubt that they would be the first. Moreover, there was deafening silence on the part of the “Russians” in this area. US intelligence knew that work on missiles was underway in the USSR, but they did not know how successfully. By default, it was believed that Russians were “always” behind Americans.

The launch of the American rocket was timed to coincide with the International Geophysical Year. But they were haunted by a whole series of failures.

We were also thinking about launching the first satellite.

A preliminary design of a rocket for launching a satellite was even completed based on already developed, working models. During this work, it became clear that already with the R-5 this was technically possible, although it was a medium-range missile. It was supposed (according to the preliminary design) to connect four of these rockets to launch a satellite.

But the most important goal at that time was the creation of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying an atomic bomb.

Therefore, the satellite launch project was postponed until the R-7 appeared. “Seven” passed successful tests just in time for the geophysical year. Since it was completely unimportant for the rocket what cargo to carry, it was decided to put Sputnik as a payload in one of the launches.

By the way, Sputnik, according to engineers, was made in a very interesting way: its body was the shell of an atomic bomb with the filling completely removed. The filling for the first satellite was a simple radio transmitter.

From the very beginning, the history of space exploration developed in a bipolar world. The space confrontation was a good incentive for both American and Soviet programs. The consequence of this confrontation was that all successes became a cause for international pride and were advertised on a planetary scale. But this happened only with successes, and failures remained sealed, both for rivals and for their own citizens.

Captured missiles

At the start of World War II, there was no missile technology in the USSR at all, while German scientists were developing several military missile programs at once. The scientific material given to the winners as a trophy formed the basis for Soviet developments. Captured German scientists adapted the famous V-2 for space needs, thanks to which the first launch of a satellite into Earth orbit took place in 1957.

The USSR space program arose by accident

Sergei Korolev, one of the leading scientists in the Soviet missile program, kept secret his developments, which were initially aimed at creating intercontinental ballistic missiles. Many at the top of the party did not take the prospect of launching satellites and rockets seriously. Only when Korolev outlined the propaganda prospects for space exploration did serious progress in this area begin.

Space dogs did not return to Earth

Belka and Strelka are the first Soviet cosmonaut dogs to complete an orbital space flight and return to Earth unharmed. The flight took place on the Sputnik 5 spacecraft. The launch took place on August 19, 1960, the flight lasted more than 25 hours, during which time the ship made 17 complete orbits around the Earth. But few people know that several more animals were sent before Belka and Strelka and did not return. Many of the experimental subjects died during takeoff, from overloads and high temperatures. One of the experimental dogs, Laika, died a few hours after the launch due to a failure of the thermoregulation system.

Yuri Gagarin may not be the first man in space

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, entering Earth orbit on the Vostok spacecraft. However, some historians believe that before the triumphant launch there could have been several unsuccessful attempts, during which Gagarin's predecessors died. But no data on this matter was made public, and it is quite possible that the documents were destroyed under a program of absolute secrecy.

The first satellite network in the world

The launch vehicles for the Vostok spacecraft, which launched the satellites and Gagarin into orbit, were initially developed in parallel with the spy satellite program.

Astronauts and wolves

Pavel Belyaev and Alexey Leonov entered orbit on the Voskhod spacecraft on March 18, 1965, during a mission during which Leonov made history by making the first spacewalk. open space. Despite the historic achievement, the mission was fraught with danger: Leonov was at risk of heatstroke and decompression sickness as a result of errors in the design of his spacesuit. Nevertheless, everything went well, but after landing 180 kilometers north of the city of Perm, the astronauts had a hard time. The TASS report called this a landing in a “reserve area,” which was actually the remote Perm taiga. After landing, the huge canopy of the parachute, stuck on two tall spruce trees, fluttered in the wind. The wild forest was infested with bears and wolves, and Leonov and Belyaev had to wait about 12 hours before the rescue mission arrived.

The USSR launched the first lunar rover

Although the US was the first to land a man on the moon, the Soviets were the first to launch a rover onto the lunar surface. "Lunokhod-1" (Apparatus 8EL No. 203) is the world's first planetary rover to successfully operate on the surface of another celestial body - the Moon. Belonged to the series of Soviet remote-controlled self-propelled vehicles “Lunokhod” for lunar exploration (Project E-8), worked on the Moon for eleven lunar days(10.5 Earth months).

The USSR created the safest descent capsules in history

Despite early security setbacks space research, the Soyuz capsule became the most reliable system returning astronauts to Earth, which is still used today.

The USSR did not have a good relationship with the Moon

Soviet manned lunar programs, in contrast to their unmanned missions, have largely proven to be insufficient, mainly due to disabilities N1 rockets. In general, historians of Russian cosmonautics believe that the collapse of the Soviet lunar program with the participation of the N-1 rocket was largely due not only to the economic difficulties of those years and the split among the chief designers, but also to the attitude of the country's leadership regarding this project. The government did not clearly calculate its financial side, and therefore, when it came to allocating the necessary funds for it, the country's leaders demanded that the designers observe an economy regime.

Luna-15

Buzz Aldrin said that when they were leaving the surface of the Moon, they saw an object that was approaching the surface. The American conspiracy theory says that it was the Soviet probe Luna 15, which crashed during landing on the surface of the satellite.

A selection of photographs that will help you see the history of the development of the Soviet space program.


October 4, 1957: Sputnik I was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Soviet Union, becoming the first artificial satellite to be launched into Earth orbit and marking the start of the serious space race.


November 3, 1957: The dog Laika became the first living creature to orbit the Earth. Laika entered space aboard Sputnik II. Laika died a few hours after launch from stress and overheating. Most likely, the cause of the dog’s death was a malfunction of the temperature control system. Exact date her death was not made public until 2002 - according to official information, which she presented to the funds mass media Soviet power, the dog died on the sixth day during its stay in space.


August 19, 1960: Two dogs, Belka and Strelka, became the first living creatures to go into orbit and return to Earth alive. They were accompanied by a rabbit, several mice, and flies. Plants were also sent into orbit. Everyone returned safe and sound.


April 12, 1961: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to travel into space and into Earth orbit. he spent 1 hour and 48 minutes in space...


The Vostok 1 spacecraft, carrying Yuri Gagarin, takes off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.


Soviet leader, general secretary Nikita Khrushchev hugs cosmonauts German Titov and Yuri Gagarin after Titov became the second person to orbit our planet. He spent 25 hours in space, becoming the first person to sleep while in orbit. Titov was only 25 years old at the time of the flight, and remains the youngest person to ever go into space.


June 16, 1963. Valentina Tereshkova became the first female astronaut to travel into space. Another nineteen years passed until the second female cosmonaut, Svetlana Savitskaya, went into space.


March 18, 1965: Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov performed the first spacewalk in the history of astronautics. Leonov made his journey on the Voskhod 2 spacecraft.


February 3, 1966: The unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon. This photograph of the lunar surface was sent back to Earth by a Soviet spacecraft.


Valentina Komarova, the widow of Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, kisses a photograph of her deceased husband, April 26, 1967, during the official funeral ceremony on Red Square in Moscow. Komarov died on his second flight, aboard the Soyuz 1 spacecraft, on April 23, 1967, when the spacecraft crashed on its return to Earth. He was the first person to die while flying in space, and the first Soviet cosmonaut to travel in space multiple times. Shortly before Komarov's death, Soviet Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin told the cosmonaut that his country was proud of him.


1968: Soviet scientists examine two turtles after they returned from a trip to the Moon aboard the Zond 5 spacecraft. The spacecraft, which in addition to the turtles carried flies, plants and bacteria, circled the Moon and splashed down in the Indian Ocean a week later. after takeoff.


November 17, 1970: Lunokhod 1 became the first robot with remote control, which landed on the surface of another celestial body. The rover analyzed the lunar surface and sent more than 20,000 photographs back to Earth until the Soviets finally lost contact with it after 322 days had passed.


1975: Venera 9 - this spacecraft became the first to land on another planet and send back images from the surface of that planet to Earth...


A photograph of the surface of Venus that was taken by Venera 9.


July 17, 1975: The commander of the Soviet crew of the Soyuz spacecraft, Alexei Leonov (left), and the commander of the American crew of the Apollo mission, Thomas Stafford, shake hands in space, somewhere in the West Germany region, after the docking of the two spacecraft which was successful. It was the last U.S. manned space mission until the first space shuttle flight in April 1981.


July 25, 1984: Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to perform a spacewalk. She was also the second woman in space, nineteen years after Valentina Tereshkova, and one year before Sally Ride, who became the first American woman in space.


From 1989 to 1999: The Mir space station became the first manned space station. Its construction began in 1986, the station was allowed to return to Earth in 2001.


1987-88: Vladimir Titov (left) and Musa Manarov became the first people to be in space for more than a year. The total duration of their mission was 365 days, 22 hours and 39 minutes.