Animals were the first to be sent into space - cats, dogs, turtles and many others, and only later people.

The first animals in space.

The world's first living creatures (and not just one, but two at once) to fly into space were dogs. Two mongrel dogs - Gypsy and Desik. The rocket with the dogs rose to a height of 101 km. The scientists' goal was to study the possibility of flight and observe the behavior of highly organized animals under rocket flight conditions. Their flight was successful on July 22, 1951. After this, many flights into space were made with other dogs on board.

In 1957, Laika became the first astronaut dog launched into Earth orbit. At that time, Laika was about two years old, she was a mongrel dog. The return of Laika to Earth was not included in the design of the spacecraft. The dog died during the flight 5-7 hours after takeoff from overheating, although it was assumed that it would live on space orbit about a week. Lisichka and Chaika, who followed her, died in an accident at the time of launch, but the following dogs, Belka and Strelka, were the first living creatures to return safely from orbit. In 1960, Soviet cosmonaut dogs Belka and Strelka completed a space flight that lasted more than 25 hours. During this flight, the ship with them made 17 complete orbits around the Earth and successfully returned home.

In 1959, the United States sent the first monkey into orbit, Sam. The Americans also launched other monkeys into space. In addition to the Americans, monkeys were sent into space by the Soviet Union, France, and Argentina. And the Iranian monkey-cosmonaut Aftab returned safely from a flight just recently - on January 28, 2013.

In addition to these animals, cat astronauts have been in space. They were used only in France to practice space flights. The first cat-astronaut was Felisseta, who on October 18, 1963, safely flew into a suborbital flight to an altitude of 200 km and returned to Earth alive and healthy.

But the first animals to reach another cosmic body were two Central Asian turtles. In September 1968, they flew around the Moon in a very motley company. Along with them on board the Soviet spacecraft were fruit flies, beetles, a Tradescantia plant with buds, seeds of wheat, pine, barley, chlorella algae and various microorganisms.

The first people in space.

The first person to fly into space was Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin flew in orbit around our planet on the Vostok spacecraft; he was in space for 108 minutes and returned successfully.

The first manned space flight aroused great interest throughout the world, and Yuri Gagarin became a world celebrity. In orbit, Gagarin reported on his feelings, the state of the ship and observations, and also carried out simple experiments - he drank, ate, and made notes in pencil. He observed the Earth through the window, he really liked this view, in particular, he recorded the following words on the on-board tape recorder: “I observe clouds above the Earth, small cumulus, and the shadows from them. Beautiful, beautiful!... Attention. I see the horizon of the Earth. Such a very beautiful halo. First, a rainbow from the very surface of the Earth and down. Such a rainbow passes. Very beautiful!"

In March 1965, Alexey Leonov flew into space; on this flight he made the first spacewalk in the history of astronautics. open space lasting 12 minutes 9 seconds. During his exit he showed exceptional courage, especially in emergency situation, when a bloated space suit prevented him from returning to the spacecraft. Leonov managed to enter the airlock only by releasing excess pressure from the suit, while he climbed into the ship's hatch not with his feet, but with his head first, which was prohibited by the instructions.

The first female cosmonaut to complete a three-day flight in orbit around the Earth in June 1963 was Valentina Tereshkova. Tereshkova did not tolerate space flight well, but despite nausea and physical discomfort, Tereshkova survived 48 revolutions around the Earth. And in space she led logbook and took photographs of the horizon, which were later used to detect aerosol layers in the atmosphere. On the day of her flight into space, she told her family that she was leaving for a parachute competition; they learned about the flight from the news on the radio. Valentina Tereshkova is the only woman in the world who has committed space flight by oneself.

Today, a large number of people and various animals have already been in space, and they all do huge contribution in the development of astronautics.

For each anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight, “exposing” articles appear again and again in newspapers and the Internet, claiming that Gagarin was not the first cosmonaut. Usually they come down to a list of rumors about pilots who allegedly flew into space before Gagarin, but died there, which is why their names are classified. Where did the myth about the victims of Soviet cosmonautics come from?

Venusian phantom

For the first time, the Soviet Union was accused of keeping silent about the deaths of cosmonauts even before Gagarin’s flight. In the diary of the then head of the cosmonaut corps, Nikolai Kamanin, there is an entry dated February 12, 1961:

After the launch of a rocket to Venus on February 4, many in the West believe that we failed to launch a man into space; the Italians even allegedly “heard” groans and intermittent Russian speech. These are all completely baseless fabrications. In fact, we are working hard to guarantee the astronaut's landing. From my point of view, we are even overly cautious in this. There will never be a complete guarantee of a successful first flight into space, and some of the risk is justified by the greatness of the task...

The launch on February 4, 1961 was indeed unsuccessful, but there was no person on board. This was the first attempt to send a research apparatus to Venus. The Molniya launch vehicle launched it into space, but due to a malfunction, the device remained in low-Earth orbit. The Soviet government, according to established tradition, did not officially acknowledge the failure, and in a TASS message to the whole world it was announced that the heavy satellite had been successfully launched and that the scientific and technical tasks had been completed.

In general, it was the unjustified in many cases veil of secrecy surrounding the domestic space program that gave rise to a lot of rumors and speculation - and not only among Western journalists, but also among Soviet citizens.

Birth of a myth

However, let's return to Western journalists. The first message dedicated to the “victims of red space” was published by the Italians: in December 1959, the Continental agency disseminated a statement by a certain high-ranking Czech communist that the USSR had been launching manned ballistic missiles since 1957. One of the pilots, named Alexey Ledovsky, allegedly died on November 1, 1957 during such a suborbital launch. Developing the topic, journalists mentioned three more “dead cosmonauts”: Sergei Shiborin (allegedly died on February 1, 1958), Andrei Mitkov (allegedly died on January 1, 1959) and Maria Gromova (allegedly died on June 1, 1959). At the same time, the female pilot allegedly crashed not in a rocket, but while testing a prototype of an orbital aircraft with a rocket engine.

During the same period, rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth said that he had heard about a manned suborbital launch that allegedly took place at the Kapustin Yar test site in early 1958 and ended in the death of the pilot. However, Obert emphasized that he knew about the “cosmic catastrophe” from hearsay and could not vouch for the veracity of the information.

And the Continental agency produced sensation after sensation. Italian correspondents talked either about the “lunar ship” that exploded on the launch pad of the mythical Siberian cosmodrome “Sputnikgrad”, or about the upcoming secret flight of two Soviet pilots... Since none of the sensations was confirmed, they stopped trusting Continental’s reports. But the “rumor factory” soon gained followers.

In October 1959, the Ogonyok magazine published an article about aircraft testers. Among them were mentioned Alexey Belokonev, Ivan Kachur, Alexey Grachev. The newspaper "Evening Moscow" in a note on a similar topic spoke about Gennady Mikhailov and Gennady Zavodovsky. For some reason, a journalist from the Associated Press, which republished the materials, decided that the photographs in these articles depicted future Soviet cosmonauts. Since their names subsequently did not appear in TASS space reports, the “logical” conclusion was drawn: these five died during early unsuccessful launches.

The real Belokonov, Grachev and Kachur in photographs from Ogonyok (Photo: Dmitry Baltermants)

Moreover, the wild imagination of the journalists ran so wild that for each of the pilots they came up with a separate detailed version of their death. Thus, after the launch of the first satellite 1KP, the Vostok prototype, on May 15, 1960, Western media claimed that the pilot Zavodovsky was on board. He allegedly died due to a malfunction in the orientation system, which put the ship into a higher orbit.

The mythical cosmonaut Kachur found his death on September 27, 1960 during the unsuccessful launch of another satellite, the orbital flight of which was supposed to take place during Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to New York. According to rumors Soviet leader had with him a model of a manned spaceship, which he was supposed to triumphantly show to Western journalists if the flight had been successful.

It must be admitted that the Soviet diplomatic services themselves created an unhealthy atmosphere of anticipation for some high-profile event, hinting to American journalists that “something amazing” would happen on September 27. Intelligence reported that spacecraft tracking ships had taken positions in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. A Soviet sailor who escaped during the same period confirmed that he was preparing space launch. But, after knocking his fist at the UN General Assembly, on October 13, 1960, Nikita Khrushchev left America. There have been no official statements from TASS. Of course, journalists immediately trumpeted to the whole world about a new disaster that befell the Soviet space program.

Many years later it became known that a launch was actually planned for those days. But it was not a person who was supposed to fly into space, but 1M - the first apparatus for studying Mars. However, attempts to send two identical devices into at least low-Earth orbit, undertaken on October 10 and 14, ended ingloriously: in both cases, the launch was disrupted due to the failure of the Molniya launch vehicle.

The next “victim of the space race,” pilot Grachev, died, according to Western media, on September 15, 1961. The same rumor factory “Continental” told about his terrible death. In February 1962, the agency said that in September 1961, two Soviet cosmonauts were launched on the Vostok-3 spacecraft: supposedly this launch was timed to coincide with the XXII Congress of the CPSU and during the flight the ship was supposed to fly around the Moon, but instead “ lost in the depths of the Universe."

Cosmonaut Ilyushin?

Vladimir Sergeevich Ilyushin, the son of a famous aircraft designer, is another victim of sensation hunters. In 1960, he had an accident and was declared another “Dogagarin cosmonaut.” Proponents of the conspiracy theory believe that Ilyushin was forbidden to talk about his flight into space until the end of his life, because he allegedly... landed on Chinese territory. It is impossible to think of a more ridiculous reason to abandon space primacy. Moreover, Ilyushin not only did not die - he lived until 2010 and rose to the rank of major general.

Voices in space

The grave of tester Zavodovsky. As can be seen from the dates, the “deceased cosmonaut” died in the 21st century in retirement

The failed launch of the Venusian station on February 4, 1961 gave rise to new wave rumors Then the radio amateur brothers Achille and Giovanni Iudica-Cordiglia first made their presence known and built their own radio station near Turin. They claimed to have intercepted telemetry radio signals of a human heartbeat and the ragged breathing of a dying Soviet cosmonaut. This “incident” is associated with the name of the mythical cosmonaut Mikhailov, who allegedly died in orbit.

But that's not all! In 1965, brother radio amateurs told an Italian newspaper about three strange broadcasts from space. The first interception allegedly took place on November 28, 1960: radio amateurs heard the sounds of Morse code and a request for help on English language. On May 16, 1961, they managed to catch the confused speech of a Russian female cosmonaut on air. The third radio intercept, on May 15, 1962, recorded conversations between three Russian pilots (two men and a woman) dying in space. In the recording, through the crackling noise, the following phrases could be discerned: “Conditions are getting worse... why aren’t you responding?.. the speed is falling... the world will never know about us...”

Impressive, isn't it? In order to finally assure the reader of the authenticity of the “facts” presented, the Italian newspaper names the names of the victims. The first “victim” on this list was pilot Alexey Grachev. The female cosmonaut's name was Lyudmila. Among the trio who died in 1962, for some reason only one is named - Alexei Belokonev, about whom Ogonyok wrote.

In the same year, “sensational” information Italian newspaper reprinted by the American magazine Reader's Digest. Four years later, the book Autopsy of an Astronaut, written by pathologist Sam Stonebreaker, was published. In it, the author claimed that he flew into space on Gemini 12 to obtain tissue samples from dead Soviet pilots resting in the ship in orbit since May 1962.

That's who really flew into space before Gagarin - the dummy Ivan Ivanovich. To prevent him from being mistaken for the corpse of an astronaut, a “Model” sign was inserted into the helmet.

As for the article in Ogonyok, which gave rise not even to a myth, but to an entire mythology, the famous journalist Yaroslav Golovanov, who investigated the stories of the “Dogagarin cosmonauts,” interviewed Alexei Timofeevich Belokonov himself (that’s right, and not Belokonev, as is customary among myth-makers ). This is what the tester, who was buried by Western rumor factories a long time ago, said.

In the 50s, long before Gagarin’s flight, my comrades and I, then very young guys - Lyosha Grachev, Gennady Zavodovsky, Gennady Mikhailov, Vanya Kachur, were engaged in ground testing of aviation equipment and anti-g flight suits. By the way, at the same time, spacesuits for dogs that flew on high-altitude rockets were created and tested in a nearby laboratory. The work was difficult, but very interesting.

One day a correspondent from the magazine “Ogonyok” came to us, walked around the laboratories, talked with us, and then published a report “On the threshold of great heights” with photographs (see “Ogonyok” No. 42, 1959 - Ya. G.). The main character of this report was Lyosha Grachev, but they also told about me how I experienced the effects of explosive decompression. Ivan Kachur was also mentioned. They also talked about the altitude record of Vladimir Ilyushin, who then rose to 28,852 meters. The journalist slightly distorted my last name and called me not Belokonov, but Belokonev.

Well, that's where it all started. The New York Journal-American published a fake that my comrades and I flew into space before Gagarin and died. The editor-in-chief of Izvestia, Alexey Ivanovich Adzhubey, invited Mikhailov and me to the editorial office. We arrived, talked with journalists, and took pictures of us. This photograph was published in Izvestia (May 27, 1963 - Ya. G.) next to open letter Adzhubey to Mr. Hurst Jr., the owner of the magazine that sent us into space and buried us.

We ourselves published a response to the Americans to their article in the newspaper “Krasnaya Zvezda” (May 29, 1963 - Ya. G.), in which we honestly wrote: “We did not have the chance to rise into extra-atmospheric space. We are testing various equipment for high-altitude flights.” No one died during these tests. Gennady Zavodovsky lived in Moscow, worked as a driver, did not get into Izvestia at that time - he was on a flight, Lyosha Grachev worked in Ryazan at the factory of computing and analytical machines, Ivan Kachur lived in the town of Pechenezhin in the Ivano-Frankovsk region, worked as a teacher in orphanage. Later, I participated in tests related to life support systems for astronauts, and even after Gagarin’s flight I was awarded the medal “For Labor Valor” for this work...

Forgotten heroes

So, the list of mythical cosmonauts still included people who worked for the space program, but they authentic life markedly different from journalistic fantasies.

In addition to the four testing friends, a very real figure was, for example, Pyotr Dolgov. Western media They declared him an astronaut who died during the disaster of the orbital satellite on October 10, 1960 (in fact, on that day they tried to launch the 1M No. 1 apparatus). Colonel Pyotr Dolgov died much later: on November 1, 1962, during a parachute jump from a stratospheric balloon raised to a height of 25.5 kilometers. When Dolgov left the stratospheric balloon, the face shield of the pressure helmet cracked - death occurred instantly.

Record-breaking skydiver Pyotr Dolgov really died, but space has nothing to do with it

Pilot Anokhin flew on a rocket plane, not on a spaceship

I present all these details here not to amaze the reader or make him doubt the history of astronautics as we know it. A review of rumors and mythical episodes is needed to show how harmful it was to the reputation of the Russian space program policy of silence and disinformation. Reluctance and inability to admit mistakes played with us cruel joke: even when TASS made a completely truthful statement, they refused to believe it, looking for contradictions or trying to read “between the lines.”

Sometimes the test pilots themselves contribute to the spread of rumors. Shortly before his death in 1986, the outstanding Soviet pilot Sergei Anokhin said in an interview: “I flew on a rocket.” Journalists immediately asked the question: when and on what rocket could he fly? They remembered that from the mid-1960s Anokhin headed the department in Sergei Korolev’s bureau that trained “civilian” cosmonauts for flights. And he himself was part of the detachment. Is it because he already had experience “flying on a rocket” in the early 1950s?.. But in fact, long before working at the bureau, Anokhin participated in testing a rocket plane and a cruise missile and, most likely, had this in mind.

James Oberg, one of the debunkers of this "conspiracy theory"

All the rumors about the Soviet cosmonautics that flashed in the Western press since the mid-1960s, an American expert on the issues undertook to systematize space technology James Oberg. Based on the collected material, he wrote the article “Phantoms of Space,” first published in 1975. Now this work has been supplemented with new materials and has gone through many reprints. Having a reputation as a staunch anti-Soviet, Oberg is nevertheless very scrupulous in selecting information concerning the secrets of the Soviet space program, and is very careful in drawing conclusions. Without denying that there are many “blank spots” in the history of Soviet cosmonautics, he concludes that stories about cosmonauts dying during launch or in orbit are implausible. All these are the fruits of fantasy, heated by the regime of secrecy.

Reality vs Myth

Soviet cosmonauts really died - both before and after Gagarin’s flight. Let us remember them and bow our heads to Valentin Bondarenko (died on Earth, without ever flying into space, on March 23, 1961 due to a fire during testing), Vladimir Komarov (died on April 24, 1967 due to a disaster during the landing of the Soyuz spacecraft). 1"), Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev (died on June 30, 1971 due to depressurization of the Soyuz-11 descent module). However, in the history of Soviet cosmonautics there was and is not secret corpses.

For cynics who do not believe documents, memoirs and diaries, but rely on “logic” and “common sense,” I will give a cynical but absolutely logical argument. In the conditions of the space race, it did not matter whether the first cosmonaut returned to Earth or not - the main thing was to declare his priority. Therefore, if there had been pilot Zavodovsky on the 1KP satellite, as irresponsible authors are trying to assure us, it would be Zavodovsky who would have been declared the first cosmonaut of the planet. Of course, the whole world would mourn him, but soviet man I would still be the first to go into space, and that’s the main thing.

The readiness of the USSR government for any outcome of the flight is confirmed by declassified documents. I will give here a fragment of a note sent to the CPSU Central Committee on March 30, 1961 on behalf of those involved in the space program:

We consider it appropriate to publish the first TASS message immediately after the satellite enters orbit for the following reasons:

a) if necessary, this will facilitate the rapid organization of rescue;
b) this will prevent any foreign state from declaring an astronaut a spy for military purposes...

Here is another document on the same topic. On April 3, the CPSU Central Committee adopted a resolution “On the launch of a spacecraft-satellite”:

1. Approve the proposal<…>about the launch of the Vostok-3 spacecraft with an astronaut on board.
2. Approve the draft TASS report on the launch of a spacecraft with an astronaut on board an Earth satellite and grant the Launch Commission the right, if necessary, to make clarifications on the launch results, and the USSR Council of Ministers Commission on Military-Industrial Issues to publish it.

They did it as they decided. The TASS report dedicated to the first manned space flight sounded even before Gagarin returned to Earth. He could have died during the descent - and April 12 would still have become Cosmonautics Day.

began long before man was there. Many people remember those times when seeing planet Earth or visiting the Moon was something out of the world of science fiction. Today, every schoolchild knows the date April 12, 1961 - first man's flight into space. This event, which was watched by the whole world, is associated with the name of the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin; his flight lasted 108 minutes.

This was a colossal success for Soviet scientists, the beginning of the history of mastering the territory of zero gravity, the whole country was waiting triumphant return Gagarin home. After all, no matter how well the astronaut was prepared, no one knew what exactly was happening outside our planet. Year of the first flight into space knows the whole world, and April 12 has since become an official holiday.

History of the study outer space is the most a shining example the exultation of the human mind over once unruly matter. The first object that was able to fly into Earth’s orbit took 50 years to create by the standards of historical chronicles, which is quite a bit. Before made the first flight into space Yuri Gagarin, the textbook Belka and Strelka, whose return no one expected, have already been there. But it took place, and the shaggy ones returned home.

The flight took place in August 1960 on the fifth satellite; in one day the animals managed to fly around the planet 17 times. It was no coincidence that they chose white dogs - the image on the screens was black and white, so contrast was required to observe the behavior of Belka and Strelka. Developed special system training dogs, they had to get used to wearing a vest and calmly respond to surveillance sensors. Most of all, scientists were concerned about how the state of weightlessness would affect the body, and it was impossible to answer this question while on Earth. This honorable task faced the shaggy cosmonauts.

After 8 months it was completed first manned space flight. Immediately before Gagarin, in March, a dog named Zvezdochka flew there. Future cosmonauts were also present at the launch of the ship to make sure that the object was completely ready for a safe human flight. Senior Lieutenant Gagarin also studied the technique. After it took place first manned space flight every year new discoveries were made.

It must be said that Belka and Strelka and Yuri Gagarin are far from the first living beings to conquer the territory of weightlessness. Before that, the dog Laika visited there, whose flight was prepared for 10 years and ended sadly - she died. Turtles, mice, and monkeys have also flown into space. The most striking flights, and there were only three of them, were made by a dog named Zhulka. Twice she launched on high-altitude rockets, the third - on a ship, which turned out to be not so perfect and suffered technical failures. The ship could not reach orbit, and a decision was considered to destroy it.

But again problems occur in the system, and the ship ahead of schedule returns home falling. The satellite was discovered in Siberia. No one hoped for a successful outcome of the search, let alone the dog. But survived terrible accident, hunger and thirst, Zhulka was saved and lived another 14 years after the fall.

Gagarin in space. How it was

Day April 12, 1961 - began first flights into space man, it became a milestone and divided the history of the exploration of weightless space into two periods - when man only dreamed of stars and the time of conquest of the “dark” territory. Gagarin started as a senior lieutenant and landed with the new rank of major. Baikonur Cosmodrome, launch pad No. 1, at exactly 9:07 Moscow time, the Vostok-1 spacecraft set off with the first person on board. It took 90 minutes to fly around planet Earth and cover 41 thousand km.

Yuri Gagarin's first flight into space took place, he landed near Saratov and since then he has become one of the most revered and famous people Planets. It must be said that the astronaut had to experience a lot during the flight, he was well prepared, but even the most approximate conditions at home during training cannot be compared with what actually happened. The ship tumbled repeatedly, had to endure a lot of overloads, and there were system failures, but everything ended well. Thus, the Soviet Union won the space race with the United States.

The first manned flight into space: the most interesting

A simple Soviet guy, Yuri Gagarin, accomplished a real feat, it was he who accomplished first flight into space this brought real success to the young man, now he will remain forever in the hearts of people with his famous “Let's go!” and a wide, kind smile. Do we know everything about this flight? There are many facts that were carefully hidden from the Soviet public until recently.

• Valentin Bondarenko could have become the first cosmonaut, but literally two weeks before the launch of the spacecraft, he died during a fire in a pressure chamber.
• Before entering the Earth's atmosphere, there was a failure in the automation responsible for separating the compartments, so the ship tumbled for 10 minutes.
• The landing in the Saratov region was not planned; Gagarin missed the target by 2800 km. The first people to meet the astronaut were the wife and daughter of a local forester.
• When selecting dogs for space flight, preference was given exclusively to females, since they did not raise their legs when relieving themselves.
• Gagarin's first flight into space could have ended tragically, so he wrote to his wife Farewell letter, in case he doesn't come back. Therefore, it was given away not in 1961, but in 1968 after a plane crash in which the astronaut died.

German Titov was much better physically prepared for the flight, but the charisma of his competitor played a key role here. Despite the fact that the Americans tried in every possible way to assign the title of discoverer to themselves and disputed year of the first manned space flight, arguing that they were there before, all their judgments are unfounded.

The middle of the twentieth century was marked the most important event in the history of mankind, the first man flew into space. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, the USSR pilot-cosmonaut, opened a new era in astronautics.

Biographical information about Gagarin

The future cosmonaut was born on March 9, 1934 in the village of Klushino into a peasant family. He spent his childhood in this village. Here he went to school, but his studies were soon interrupted due to the invasion of Klushino by German troops.

Soon the family moves to Gzhatsk. After some time, Yuri enters a vocational school and graduates with honors as a molder-foundry worker. In 1951, he entered the industrial technical school in Saratov, which he also graduated with honors. Simultaneously with his studies, he enrolls in the Saratov flying club and achieves significant success. Soon Yuri makes his first solo flight on an airplane. This is how his pilot career begins. In 1955, he served in the Voroshilov Fighter Aviation Regiment.

Yuri was an excellent student, the only problem was landing the plane. He couldn't land correctly. It was decided to expel him. But the reason that created the problem with landing the plane soon became clear. It was short stature the pilot, due to which the viewing angle changed and the sense of the ground decreased. After placing a thick pad under Yuri, he successfully managed to land the plane. In 1957. Gagarin graduates from college with honors. And after 2 years he received the rank of senior lieutenant.

How was the candidate selected?

During this period, the USSR Air Force carried out the selection and training of future cosmonauts. On December 9, 1959, Yuri Gagarin submitted a report on his inclusion in the group of candidates. A week later, the fighter pilot is specially called to Moscow to undergo a comprehensive medical examination. At the beginning of 1960, another special medical examination was carried out, after which Yuri Gagarin was declared fit for space flight.

The selection of candidates was carried out by Sergei Korolev, who is a Soviet scientist, design engineer, and also the founder of practical cosmonautics. The selection was made from military fighter pilots. A total of 20 people were elected.

The choice was made according to specific physical data:

• gender – male;
• weight – 72 kg;
• height – 170 cm;
• age – up to 30 years.

They were necessary for astronauts, since the cabin of the Vostok spacecraft had such a structure that only a person who had the above data could fit into it. And also the applicant had to be:

• mentally healthy;
• with good physical fitness;
• communist.

After the final selection, six people remained vying for space flight. The year 1961 is marked by the adoption of a final decision in the selection of an astronaut at a meeting of the Civil Code. It was Yuri Gagarin, and German Titov was chosen as his backup.

Features of the Vostok-1 spacecraft

The flight of the first man into space was to be carried out on the Vostok-1 spacecraft, which consisted of 2 parts:

• cabins with a life support system;
• compartment with brake motor and instruments.

The seat located in the cabin was also a storage place:

• walkie-talkie;
• medicines;
• food;
• rescue boat (if landing on water).

The outside of the spacecraft was covered with special thermal protection, since passing through the density of the layers of the atmosphere, it became very hot. Heat-resistant glass was used for the portholes.

The process of controlling the spacecraft itself was completely automated, i.e. the astronaut was a passenger. But Gagarin also received secret code, allowing you to activate manual control if necessary. However, this was only possible if the astronaut could solve a mathematical problem. It was written down on a piece of paper and sealed in an envelope. Having dealt with it, the pilot received a code.

All these precautions were due to the fact that the reaction human psyche was not yet known in space. In case the astronaut was on the verge of insanity (such a moment was assumed), he would not be able to switch to manual control and damage the equipment.

First flight to space

Sergei Korolev was in a hurry to carry out the first launch into space, since data was received indicating that the Americans were also going to send a man into space. They scheduled this event for April 20, 1961.

Before the flight, two days before, Yuri Gagarin wrote a farewell letter to his wife, since there was no guarantee of his exact return. The letter was given to his wife 7 years after the astronaut’s death, in 1968. He crashed his plane while on a training flight.

One day before the rocket took off, Gagarin, dressed in a spacesuit with a chair, was re-weighed together. It turned out that there was an overweight of as much as 14 kg. Urgently, one night remaining before departure, we developed and carried out work to eliminate excess weight to make the spacecraft lighter. The actions included cutting the cables of important temperature and pressure sensors, which later during the flight led to some abnormal situations.

April 12, 1961 at 09:07 (Moscow time) - a significant event took place, the first human flight into space was made. Gagarin’s word, which later became famous, “Let’s go,” sounded from the speaker. Before the launch, it turned out that the hatch cover did not close tightly after the pilot went through it into the cockpit. This malfunction was eliminated by the prompt actions of the leading designer of Vostok, Ivanovsky. In a short time, he unscrewed the thirty locking nuts that locked the hatch, adjusted the pressure of the lid and locked the hatch again. The rocket was ready to launch.

Thus, it happened the most important moment in the history of astronautics, in which Yuri Gagarin made the first flight into space.

Television and radio telemetry systems made it possible to conduct regular monitoring of Gagarin’s health, as well as the flight as a whole. The life support system was designed to last for ten days.

When the ship passed through the dense layers of the atmosphere, Yuri Gagarin saw the Earth. As the cosmonaut himself later said, he was most impressed by the view of the horizon, which separated very black sky from the planet.

During the flight, which lasted 108 minutes, Vostok managed to fly around globe just once. Of these, only 89 minutes were spent in orbit, the rest of the time was spent taking off and landing the spacecraft. The maximum distance of the Vostok orbit from the Earth’s surface was 327 km.

During the flight, Gagarin recorded everything he felt and sensed during the flight on an on-board tape recorder. And also led simple experiments in orbit: ate, drank and took notes in pencil. At the same time, he discovered that the latter was floating away. This led the pilot to the idea that it would be advisable to tether objects in space.

Return to Earth

When the final stage of the flight was underway and the spacecraft passed through dense layers of the atmosphere during descent, Yuri Gagarin, seeing a flame in the window and deciding that Vostok-1 had caught fire, said goodbye to his comrades via radio communication. At that time they didn’t know what it was natural process when it occurs due to friction of the protective heat-resistant coating of a ship against the atmosphere.

The landing went according to a pre-drawn plan. Having reached an altitude of 7 km from the Earth, Gagarin ejected. The astronaut and the capsule landed on separate parachutes. During the ejection, at the moment when the ship's air duct was supposed to be disconnected, there was a problem with the suit's valve, designed to supply fresh outside air. It did not open right away, and the astronaut began to choke, but after a short period of time the part started working.

Another problem with the situation was seat. The braking system experienced some abnormalities during landing. This served as a slight deviation of the Vostok-1 ship from the planned course and if Gagarin had not had good level preparation, then he could find himself in the icy waves of the Volga during the descent. He managed to move the parachute away from the river by moving his feet. The astronaut successfully landed near the village of Smelovka ( Saratov region), 1.5-2 km from the coastline, not far from the ship. This happened at 10:55 am. Only an hour later search services were able to find him.

Yuri Gagarin, the man who flew into space, was awarded the rank of major, “Hero” Soviet Union"," Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR. He became a man who was able to visit space for the first time and talk about this still unexplored atmosphere.

This allowed us to:

1. Testing the ship's system.
2. Study the effect of weightlessness on the human body.
3. Investigate the impact of flight on the physiological and psychological and physiological state of a person.

A new era in space

Yuri Gagarin became the man who first discovered space. The name of the one who first flew into space is forever etched in history. After him, new names continued to be adopted.

On June 16, 1963, she became the first female astronaut and flew into space. She was the only woman to fly solo, while others only flew as part of crews.

On March 18, 1965, the first man, Alexei Leonov, made his first spacewalk. The time spent outside the spacecraft was 12 minutes.

The first astronauts in space laid the foundation for further discoveries of outer space.

Who are they - the first people in space? The second half of the twentieth century is significant for many events. One of the most grandiose was the discovery of outer space by man. The Soviet Union played a leading role in this qualitative leap that humanity made when it began to explore space. Despite the intense rivalry between the leading powers of the world, the USSR and the USA, the first people in space were from the Soviet Union, which caused bouts of impotent anger in the rival country.

1961

The twelfth of April 1961 is a date that is known to any schoolchild. On this day, a man flew into space for the first time. It was then that all the people of Earth learned from the astronaut that our planet is really round. It was then, on April 12, that the first man visited space. The year 1961 will forever go down in the history of earthlings.

In those years, there was fierce rivalry between the USSR and the USA. Both there and there actively sought to explore outer space. The United States was also preparing to fly into space. But it so happened that the first cosmonaut to fly was from the Soviet Union. It turned out to be Yuri Gagarin. Experiments had already been carried out before, and dogs, the famous Belka and Strelka, flew into space, but not humans. The whole world applauded the first cosmonaut, despite all the US attempts to reduce the significance of his flight.

How it was

The Vostok-1 spacecraft launched at 9:07 a.m. from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, with Yuri Gagarin on board. His flight did not last long, only 108 minutes. This is not to say that it was completely smooth. Communication failures occurred during the flight; the leakage sensor, which prevented the unit compartment from being disconnected, did not work; there was also a jamming of the spacesuit.

But the optimism of the astronaut and the technology as a whole did not disappoint. He landed, catapulting to Earth. But due to a malfunction in the braking system, the device descended not in the planned area (110 kilometers from Stalingrad), but in Saratov, not far from the city of Engels.

It is because of this that the US for a long time tried to impose on the world their opinion that the flight could not be called complete. However, the attempts were unsuccessful. Gagarin was greeted in many countries as a hero. He was awarded a huge number of various awards in different countries peace.

Yuri Gagarin: short biography

He was born on March 9, 1934 in the village of Klushino, Gzhatsky district (currently Gagarinsky district, Smolensk region) into a simple peasant family. There he survived a year and a half of occupation by fascist troops, when the entire family was kicked out of the house and was forced to huddle in a dugout. At this time, the boy did not study, and only after the liberation by the Red Army did school resume. Gagarin graduated with honors from a vocational school and entered the Saratov Industrial College. In 1954, he first came to the Saratov flying club, and in 1955, after graduating, he made his first flight. There were subsequently 196 in total.

He then graduated from the military aviation school and served as a fighter pilot. And in 1959 he wrote an application to be included in the group of astronaut candidates.

Yuri Gagarin passed away very early, at the age of 34. But during his short life, he left a great memory of himself in the hearts of many people, who remembered him as the person who first visited extraterrestrial space.

After Yuri Gagarin's flight, this direction began to develop at an even more active pace. Man and space attracted each other with renewed vigor. Scientists are now eager for a woman to visit there. Perseverance and intelligence helped the fair sex Valentina Tereshkova. On June 16, 1963, having launched on the Vostok-6 spacecraft, the first woman visited space, and has since become famous throughout the world.

Valentina Tereshkova: short biography

She was born on March 6, 1937 in the Tutaevsky district of the Yaroslavl region in an ordinary family. Her father was a tractor driver and died at the front, and her mother worked at a weaving factory. In 1953, Valya graduated from seven classes and got a job as a bracelet maker at a Yaroslavl factory. At the same time, she received her education at evening school. In 1959, young Tereshkova began parachuting and made about a hundred jumps.

She cast her lot in with astronautics in 1962, when it was decided to send a woman into space. Out of many applicants, only five candidates were selected. After joining the cosmonaut squad, Valentina began intensive training and education. And a year later, she was chosen for the flight.

The first astronaut in open space

He was the first to leave the spacecraft into open extraterrestrial space. It was March 18, 1965. At that time, no rescue systems were provided for astronauts. It was impossible to dock or move from one ship to another. One could only rely on himself and the equipment that flew with him. Alexey Arkhipovich decided to do this, thereby realizing the dream of the legendary Tsiolkovsky, who proposed using an airlock chamber to go into outer space.

And again the USSR was ahead of the USA. They also wanted to implement this. But the first man in space was carried out by a Soviet man.

How it was

At first they wanted to send the animal into open space, but later abandoned this idea. After all, the main task, which is to find out how a person will behave in space, would not have been solved. In addition, the animal would not be able to tell about its impressions later.

There were various assumptions on the lips of the public regarding the entry of man into open extraterrestrial space. And, despite the fact that the first people had already been in space, no one had exact confidence in how a person would behave outside the ship.

The crew composition was selected most carefully. In addition to excellent physical data, coherence and teamwork of the entire team was required. Belyaev and Leonov became cosmonauts, two people who complement each other in their qualities. The astronaut stayed overboard for twelve minutes, during which he flew away from the ship and returned back five times. The problem arose when he needed to return to the cockpit. The suit in the vacuum swelled so much that he could not squeeze into the hatch. After a number of unsuccessful attempts, Leonov decided, contrary to instructions, to swim inside with his head and not his feet. He succeeded.

Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov: short biography

He was born on May 30, 1934 in a Siberian village, near the city of Kemerovo. His father was a miner, and his mother was a teacher.

Alexey grew up in a large family and was the ninth child. More for school desk he began to be interested in aviation technology, and after high school entered pilot school. Then he graduated from fighter pilot school. And in 1960, having passed a strict selection process, he was enrolled as an astronaut.

Leonov carried out his flight in 1965. From 1967 to 1970 he headed lunar group astronauts. In 1973, he was selected for a joint flight with US astronauts, when spacecraft docked for the first time in history.

Alexey Leonov is an international member of the astronaut corps, an academician of the RAA and co-chairman of the association of space flight participants.

Man and space

Touching on the topic of space, one cannot fail to mention such people as S. P. Korolev and K. E. Tsiolkovsky. They are not the first people in space and have never been there. However, largely thanks to their efforts and labors, man still achieved it.

Sergei Pavlovich - creator of the rocket and space mission It was on his initiative that the first artificial satellite Earth and Vostok-1 with Yuri Gagarin on board. When a photo of Sergei Pavlovich was found in his jacket.

Konstantin Eduardovich is a self-taught scientist, considered the founder of theoretical cosmonautics. He is the author of many scientific and science fiction works, and promoted the ideas of space exploration.