Space exploration is a dream that has occupied the thoughts of many people for hundreds of years. Even in those distant, distant times, when a person could see the stars and planets, relying only on his eyesight, he dreamed of finding out what the bottomless black abysses of the dark sky above his head were hiding. Dreams began to come true relatively recently.
Almost all the leading space powers immediately began a kind of “arms race” here too: scientists tried to get ahead of their colleagues by launching them earlier and testing various devices for space exploration. However, there was still a silver lining: the Apollo-Soyuz program was supposed to show the friendship of the USSR and the USA, as well as their desire to jointly pave the way for humanity to the stars.
General information
The abbreviated name of this program is ASTP. The flight is also known as the "Handshake in Space". Overall, Apollo-Soyuz was a daring experimental flight by Soyuz 19 and the American Apollo. The expedition participants had to overcome many difficulties, the most significant of which was the absolute different designs docking points. But docking was on the “agenda”!
In fact, quite normal contacts between scientists of the USSR and the USA began back at the time of the launch. The Agreement on the Common, Peaceful Exploration of Outer Space was signed in 1962. At the same time, researchers had the opportunity to exchange the results of programs and some developments in the space industry.
First meetings of researchers
On the part of the USSR and the USA, the initiators of the joint work were: the President of the Academy of Sciences (AS), the famous M.V. Keldysh, as well as the director of the National Aerospace Agency (known in the world as NASA) Dr. Payne.
The first meeting of delegations from the USA and the USSR took place in the late autumn of 1970. The American mission was led by the director of the Johnson Managed Space Flight Center, Dr. R. Gilruth. The Soviet side was led by the Chairman of the Council for International Space Research (Intercosmos program), Academician B. N. Petrov. Joint working groups were immediately formed, the main task of which was to discuss the possibility of compatibility of structural components of Soviet and American spacecraft.
IN next year, already in Houston, was organized new meeting, which was led by B.N. Petrov and R. Gilrut, already known to us. The teams reviewed the basic requirements for design features manned vehicles, and a number of issues regarding the standardization of life support systems were fully agreed upon. It was then that the possibility of a joint flight with subsequent docking by crews began to be discussed.
As you can see, the Soyuz-Apollo program, the year of which became a triumph for world astronautics, required the revision of a huge number of technical and political rules and regulations.
Conclusions on the feasibility of joint manned flights
In 1972, the Soviet and American sides again held a meeting, at which all the work done over the past period was summarized and systematized. The final decision on the feasibility of a joint manned flight was positive; ships already familiar to us were chosen to implement the program. And so the Apollo-Soyuz project was born.
Start of the program
It was May 1972. A historic agreement was signed between our country and America, providing for joint peaceful exploration of outer space. In addition, the parties have finally decided on the technical side of the issue regarding the Apollo-Soyuz flight. This time the delegations were headed by Academician K.D. Bushuev on the Soviet side, and Dr. G. Lanni represented the Americans.
During the meeting, they decided on the goals to which all future work would be devoted:
- Testing the compatibility of control systems during the rendezvous of ships in space.
- Field testing of automatic and manual docking systems.
- Testing and setting up equipment intended for the transition of astronauts from ship to ship.
- Finally, the accumulation of invaluable experience in the field of joint manned space flights. When Soyuz-19 docked with the Apollo spacecraft, specialists received so much valuable information that it was actively used throughout the American lunar program.
Other areas of work
The specialists, among other things, wanted to test the possibility of spatial orientation of already docked ships, as well as test the stability of communication systems on different machines. Finally, it was critical to test the compatibility of Soviet and American flight control systems.
Here is how the main events developed at that time:
- At the end of May 1975, a final meeting was held to discuss some organizational issues. The final document on full readiness for the flight was signed. It was signed by Academician V.A. Kotelnikov from the Soviet side; the document was endorsed by J. Lowe for the Americans. The launch date was set for July 15, 1975.
- Exactly at 15:20 the Soviet Soyuz-19 successfully launches.
- Apollo launches using the Saturn 1B launch vehicle. Time - 22 hours 50 minutes. The starting point is Cape Canaveral.
- Two days later, after all preparatory work, at 19:12 Soyuz-19 docked. In 1975, a new era of space exploration opened.
- Exactly after two orbits of the Soyuz, a new Soyuz-Apollo docking was made, after which they flew in this position for two more orbits. After some time, the devices finally dispersed, having completely completed the research program.
In general, the flight time was:
- The Soviet Soyuz 19 spent 5 days, 22 hours and 31 minutes in orbit.
- Apollo spent 9 days, 1 hour and 28 minutes in flight.
- The ships spent exactly 46 hours and 36 minutes in the docked position.
Crew composition
And now the time has come to remember by name the crew members of the American and Soviet ships who, having overcome a huge number of difficulties, were able to fully implement all stages of such an important space program.
The American crew was represented by:
- Thomas Stafford. American crew commander. Experienced cosmonaut, fourth flight.
- Vance Brand. Piloted the command module, first flight.
- Donald Slayton. It was he who was responsible for the critical docking operation; this was also his first flight.
The Soviet crew included the following cosmonauts:
- was the commander.
- Valery Kubasov was an on-board engineer.
Both Soviet cosmonauts had already been in orbit once, so the Soyuz-Apollo flight was already their second.
What experiments were carried out during the joint flight?
- An experiment was conducted to study a solar eclipse: Apollo blocked the light, while the Soyuz studied and described the effects that occurred.
- Ultraviolet absorption was studied, during which crews measured the content of atomic oxygen and nitrogen in the planet's orbit.
- In addition, several experiments were carried out in which researchers tested how weightlessness, the absence of a magnetic field and other space conditions affect the flow of biological rhythms.
- For microbiologists, the program for studying the mutual exchange and transfer of microorganisms in conditions of weightlessness between two ships (via a docking station) is also of great interest.
- Finally, the Soyuz-Apollo flight made it possible to study the processes occurring in metal and semiconductor materials under such specific conditions. It should be noted that the “father” of this kind of study was K.P. Gurov, well-known among metallurgists, who proposed carrying out this work.
Some technical information
It should be noted that on the American ship pure oxygen was used as the breathing mixture, while on the domestic ship there was an atmosphere identical in composition to that on Earth. Thus, direct transfer from ship to ship was impossible. Especially to solve this problem, a special transition compartment was launched together with the American ship.
It should be noted that the Americans subsequently took advantage of this development when creating their lunar module. During the transition, the pressure in Apollo was slightly raised, and in Soyuz, on the contrary, it was lowered, simultaneously raising the oxygen content in the breathing mixture to 40%. As a result, people were able to stay in the transition module (before entering an alien ship) not for eight hours, but for only 30 minutes.
By the way, if you are interested in this story, visit the Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow. There is a huge stand dedicated to this topic.
General history of manned space flights
It is no coincidence that our article touches on the topic of the history of manned space flights. The entire program described above would have been impossible in principle if it were not for preliminary developments in this area, experience in which had been accumulated over decades. Who “paved the way”, thanks to whom manned space flights became possible?
As you know, on April 12, 1961, an event occurred that was truly of global significance. On that day, Yuri Gagarin carried out the first manned flight in the history of the world on the Vostok spacecraft.
The second country to do this was the United States. Their spacecraft, Mercury-Redstone 3, piloted by Alan Shepard, was launched into orbit just a month later, on May 5, 1961. In February, Mercury-Atlas 6 launched with John Glenn on board.
First records and achievements
Two years after Gagarin, the first woman flew into space. It was Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova. She flew alone on the Vostok-6 ship. The launch took place on June 16, 1963. In America, the first representative of the fairer sex to go into orbit was Sally Ride. She was a member of a mixed crew that took off in 1983.
Already on March 18, 1965, another record was broken: Alexei Leonov went into space. The first woman to visit outer space, which accomplished this in 1984. Note that at present women are included in all ISS crews without exception, since all the necessary information on the physiology of the female body in space conditions has been collected, and therefore nothing threatens the health of the astronauts.
Longest flights
To this day, the longest single space flight is considered to be the 437-day stay in orbit of an astronaut. He stayed aboard Mir from January 1994 to March 1995. The record for the total number of days spent in orbit again belongs to Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev.
If we talk about the group flight, then the cosmonauts and astronauts flew for about 364 days from September 1989 to August 1999. Thus, it was proven that a person, theoretically, can withstand a flight to Mars. Now researchers are more concerned about the problem psychological compatibility crew.
Information on the history of reusable space flights
Today, the only country that has more or less successful experience in operating reusable space shuttles of the Space Shuttle series is the United States. The first flight of the spacecraft of this series, Columbia, occurred exactly two decades after Gagarin's flight, on April 12, 1981. The USSR launched Buran for the first and only time in 1988. That flight was also unique in that it took place in fully automatic mode, although manual piloting was also possible.
An exhibition showing the entire history of the “Soviet shuttle” is shown at the Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow. We recommend visiting it, as there are a lot of interesting things there!
Highest orbit, in highest point The passage, which reached 1374 kilometers, was reached by the American crew on the Gemini 11 ship. This happened back in 1966. In addition, the shuttles were often used for repairs and maintenance of the Hubble telescope, when they performed rather complex manned flights at an altitude of about 600 kilometers. Most often, the spacecraft orbits at an altitude of about 200-300 kilometers.
Note that immediately after the shuttles ended operation, the ISS orbit was gradually raised to an altitude of 400 kilometers. This is due to the fact that the shuttles could effectively maneuver at an altitude of only 300 kilometers, but for the station itself those altitudes were not very suitable due to high density surrounding space (by cosmic standards, of course).
Have there been flights beyond the Earth's orbit?
Only Americans flew beyond the Earth's orbit when they carried out the tasks of the Apollo program. The spacecraft orbited the Moon in 1968. Note that from July 16, 1969, the Americans carried out their lunar program, during which the “lunar landing” was carried out. At the end of 1972, the program was curtailed, which caused indignation not only of American, but also of Soviet scientists who empathized with their colleagues.
Note that in the USSR there were many similar programs. Despite the almost complete completion of many of them, the “go-ahead” for their implementation was never received.
Other "space" countries
China has become the third space power. This happened on October 15, 2003, when the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft entered space. In general, China’s space program dates back to the 70s of the last century, but all the planned flights were never completed.
At the end of the 90s, Europeans and Japanese took steps in this direction. But their projects to create reusable manned spacecraft were curtailed after several years of development, since the Soviet-Russian Soyuz spacecraft turned out to be simpler, more reliable and cheaper, which made the work economically infeasible.
Space tourism and “private space”
Since 1978, astronauts from dozens of countries have flown on ships and stations of the USSR/Russian Federation and the USA. In addition, recently the so-called “space tourism” has been gaining momentum, when an ordinary (unusual in terms of financial capabilities) person can visit aboard the ISS. In the recent past, China also announced the beginning of the development of similar programs.
But the real excitement was caused by the Ansari X-Prize program, which started in 1996. Its terms required that private company(without state support) by the end of 2004 was able to lift (twice) a ship with a crew of three people to a height of 100 kilometers. The prize was more than substantial - 10 million dollars. More than two dozen companies and even individuals immediately began developing their projects.
So it began new story cosmonautics, in which any person could theoretically become a “discoverer” of space.
The first successes of “private traders”
Since the devices they developed did not need to go into actual outer space, the costs required were hundreds of times less. The first private spaceship, SpaceShipOne, launched in the early summer of 2004. It was created by the company Scaled Composites.
Five minutes of conspiracy theories
It should be noted that many projects (almost all, in general) were based not on some developments of private “nuggets”, but on work on the V-2 and the Soviet “Buran”, all documentation on which after the 90s “ “suddenly” suddenly became available to the foreign public. Some adherents of bold theories claim that the USSR carried out (unsuccessfully) the first manned launches back in 1957-1959.
There are also unconfirmed reports that the Nazis were developing designs for intercontinental missiles to attack America in the 40s. Rumor has it that during the tests, some pilots were still able to reach an altitude of 100 kilometers, which makes them (if there were any) the first cosmonauts.
"World" era
To this day, the history of astronautics contains information on the Soviet-Russian Mir station, which was a truly unique object. Its construction was completely completed only on April 26, 1996. Then the fifth and final module was attached to the station, which allowed complex research seas, oceans and forests of the Earth.
Mir was in orbit for 14.5 years, which was several times longer than the planned service life. During all this time, more than 11 tons of scientific equipment alone were delivered to it, scientists conducted tens of thousands of unique experiments, some of which predetermined the development of world science for all subsequent decades. In addition, cosmonauts and astronauts on board the station performed 75 spacewalks, the total duration of which was 15 days.
History of the ISS
16 countries took part in the construction. The greatest contribution to its creation was made by Russian, European (Germany and France), and American specialists. This facility is designed for 15 years of operation with the possibility of extending this period.
The first long-term expedition to the ISS launched at the end of October 2000. Participants from 42 long-term missions have already been on board. It should be noted that as part of the 13th expedition, the world's first Brazilian astronaut, Marcos Pontes, arrived at the station. He successfully completed all the work assigned to him, after which he returned to Earth as part of the members of the 12th mission.
This is how the history of space flights was made. There were many discoveries and victories, some gave their lives so that humanity would one day be able to call space home. We can only hope that our civilization will continue research in this area, and one day we will wait for the colonization of the nearest planets.
Between Soviet and American scientists in the field of space exploration began immediately after the launches of the first artificial satellites Earth. At that time, they were reduced mainly to the exchange of scientific results obtained at various international conferences and symposia. A shift towards the development and deepening of Soviet-American cooperation in space exploration began in 1970-1971, when a series of meetings of scientists and technical specialists from both countries took place. On October 26-27, 1970, the first meeting of Soviet and American specialists on the problems of compatibility of means of rendezvous and docking of manned spacecraft and stations was held in Moscow. At the meeting, working groups were formed to develop and agree on technical requirements to ensure the compatibility of these tools.
Handshake in space: the Soyuz-Apollo program in archival footageThe launch of the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz-19 and the American Apollo took place 40 years ago, on July 15, 1975. Watch the archive footage to see how the first joint space flight took place.On April 6, 1972, the final document of the meeting of representatives of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) laid the practical foundation for the Apollo-Soyuz experimental project (ASTP).
In Moscow, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Kosygin and US President Richard Nixon signed the “Agreement between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America on cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes,” which provided for the docking of a Soviet spacecraft of the type "Soyuz" and the American spacecraft of the "Apollo" type in outer space with the mutual passage of astronauts.
The main objectives of the program were to create a promising universal life-saving appliance, working out technical systems and methods of joint flight control, implementation of joint scientific research and experiments.
Especially for a joint flight, the universal docking port is petal or, as it is also called, “androgynous.” The petal connection was the same for both docking ships, which made it possible not to think about compatibility in an emergency.
A major problem when docking ships was the issue of the general atmosphere. Apollo was designed for an atmosphere of pure oxygen at low pressure (280 millimeters of mercury), while Soviet ships flew with an onboard atmosphere similar in composition and pressure to that of Earth. To solve this problem, an additional compartment was attached to Apollo, in which, after docking, the atmospheric parameters approached the atmosphere in the Soviet spacecraft. Because of this, the Soyuz lowered the pressure to 520 millimeters of mercury. At the same time, the Apollo command module with the one astronaut remaining there had to be sealed.
In March 1973, NASA announced the composition of the Apollo crew. The main crew included Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand and Donald Slayton, and the backup crew included Alan Bean, Ronald Evans and Jack Lousma. Two months later, the crews of the Soyuz spacecraft were determined. The first crew is Alexey Leonov and Valery Kubasov, the second is Anatoly Filipchenko and Nikolay Rukavishnikov, the third is Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Boris Andreev, the fourth is Yuri Romanenko and Alexander Ivanchenkov. At the same time, it was decided that each ship would be controlled by its own MCC (Mission Control Center).
On December 2-8, 1974, in accordance with the Soviet program of preparation for a joint space experiment, the modernized Soyuz-16 spacecraft was flown with a crew of Anatoly Filipchenko (commander) and Nikolai Rukavishnikov (flight engineer). During this flight, tests were carried out on the life support system, tests automatic system and individual components of the docking unit, development of methods for performing joint scientific experiments, etc.
On July 15, 1975, the final stage of the project began with the launch of the Soyuz-19 and Apollo spacecraft. At 15:20 Moscow time, the Soyuz-19 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome with cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov on board. And seven and a half hours later, the Apollo spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral (USA) with astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand and Donald Slayton.
On July 16, the crews of both spacecraft were engaged in repair work: On Soyuz 19, a malfunction was discovered in the television system, and on Apollo, an error was made when assembling the docking mechanism on the ground. The cosmonauts and astronauts managed to eliminate the malfunctions.
At this time, maneuvers and rapprochement of the two spacecraft took place. Two orbits before docking, the Soyuz-19 crew established with the help of manual control orbital orientation of the ship. It was maintained automatically. In the rendezvous area during the preparation for each maneuver, control was provided by the Apollo rocket system and digital autopilot.
On July 17 at 18.14 Moscow time (MSK), the final phase of the ships’ approach began. Apollo, which had previously been catching up with Soyuz-19 from behind, came out 1.5 kilometers ahead of it. The docking (touching) of the Soyuz-19 and Apollo spacecraft was recorded at 19.09 Moscow time, the compression of the joint was recorded at 19.12 Moscow time. The ships docked, becoming the prototype of the future international space station.
After a rough check of the tightness in the Soyuz-19 spacecraft, the hatch between the descent module and the living compartment was opened and a precise check of the tightness began. Then the tunnel between the Apollo docking module and the Soyuz living compartment was inflated to 250 millimeters of mercury. The cosmonauts opened the hatch of the Soyuz living compartment. A few minutes later the hatch of the Apollo docking module was opened.
The symbolic handshake of the ship commanders took place at 22.19 Moscow time.
The meeting of Alexei Leonov, Valery Kubasov, Thomas Stafford and Donald Slayton in the Soyuz-19 spacecraft was observed on Earth on television. During the first transition, planned television reports, filming, the exchange of flags of the USSR and the USA, the transfer of the UN flag, the exchange of souvenirs, and the signing of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) certificate on the first docking of two spacecraft were carried out different countries in orbit, lunch together.
The next day, the second transition was carried out - astronaut Brand moved to Soyuz-19, and Soyuz-19 commander Leonov moved to the Apollo docking compartment. The crew members were familiarized in detail with the equipment and systems of the other ship, joint television reports and filming were carried out, physical exercise etc. Later, two more transitions were made.
The world's first international press conference in space took place on board the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft, during which cosmonauts and astronauts answered questions by radio from correspondents transmitted from Earth from the Soviet and American press centers.
The flight of the spacecraft in the docked state lasted 43 hours 54 minutes 11 seconds.
The ships undocked on July 19 at 15.03 Moscow time. Then Apollo moved 200 meters away from Soyuz 19. After the experiment
"Artificial solar eclipse"The spaceships came closer again. The second (test) docking took place, during which the Soyuz-19 docking unit was active. The docking device worked without any comments. After all the checks were carried out, at 18.26 Moscow time the spacecraft began to separate. For the second time, the ships were in the docked state two hours 52 minutes 33 seconds.
Upon completion of the joint and own programs flight, the Soyuz-19 crew successfully landed on July 21, 1975 near the city of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan, and splashed down on July 25 Pacific Ocean Apollo command module. During landing, the American crew confused the sequence of switching procedures, as a result of which toxic fuel exhaust began to be sucked into the cabin. Stafford managed to get oxygen masks and put them on for himself and his unconscious comrades, and the efficiency of the rescue services also helped.
The flight confirmed the correctness of technical solutions to ensure compatibility of rendezvous and docking means for future manned spacecraft and stations.
Today, the docking systems developed for the Soyuz-19 and Apollo spacecraft are used by almost all participants in space flights.
The success of the program was largely due to the extensive experience of the crews of American and Soviet ships.
The experience of the successful implementation of the Soyuz-Apollo program served as a good basis for subsequent international space flights under the Mir-Shuttle program, as well as for the creation and joint operation of the International Space Station (ISS) with the participation of many countries around the world.
Konstantin Bogdanov, for RIA Novosti.
On July 15, 1975, with an interval of several hours, two spacecraft launched into space: the Soviet Soyuz-19 and the American ASTP Apollo. ASTP began - the Soyuz-Apollo experimental flight, the first international initiative in the field of manned space exploration.
Tired of the race
The 1970s marched across the planet, “ Golden autumn"The Western world, burdened by economic and energy crises, leftist terror, and sometimes a very harsh reaction to the turbulent and capricious 60s. After the end of the Cuban crisis and the end of the Vietnam War, “détente of international tension” came into force: Soviet Union and the United States, step by step, brought their positions on limiting offensive weapons closer together. The Helsinki Agreement on Security and Cooperation in Europe was being prepared. In such conditions, it was impossible to overestimate the political significance of the joint flight into orbit of Soviet and American spacecraft - after a tense race of priorities of the previous decade. Having rather painfully slapped each other on the nose (with a final score of 1:1 - we got a satellite and the first manned flight, the Americans were the first to explore the Moon), having lost a total of eight people and squandered a lot of money that almost no one counted, the superpowers calmed down a bit, and were ready to “collaborate” (even if only on camera).
The background of the project can be traced back to the early 1960s. In 1963, John Kennedy, either jokingly or seriously, proposed to Khrushchev the idea of a joint Soviet-American lunar expedition. Nikita Sergeevich, inspired by the successes of Sergei Korolev’s design bureau, refused, maintaining the brand of the Soviet empire, which should “bury” America.
The second time they started talking about joint programs was in 1970. Just miraculously returned from lunar orbit, crippled by the Apollo 13 explosion. One of the declared topics of the joint program was the development of international operations to rescue damaged ships. The declaration, frankly speaking, is purely political: the situation in orbit usually develops so quickly that it is almost impossible to prepare and send a rescue expedition into space on time, even with full engineering and technical compatibility.
In May 1972, the joint flight program with docking in orbit was finally approved. Especially for this flight, a universal docking port was developed - petal or, as it is also called, “androgynous”. (The second name is associated with the classic engineering jargon in distinguishing the active and passive parts of the connection - “male” for the central pin and “female” for the receiving cone.) The spade connection was the same for both mating ones, which made it possible not to think about compatibility in an emergency. In addition, in the conditions of this political framework, no one wanted to avoid obscenities on the topic of who would be “dad” and who would be “mom.” Subsequently, androgynous knots took root in space; they were developed for Buran in 1989 and used during shuttle dockings to the Mir station in 1994-98. The ISS docking port for the shuttles is also made androgynous. Apparently, this is the most visible legacy of the Soyuz-Apollo program.
The crew and the incident with stamps
The commander of the Soyuz-19 crew was Alexei Leonov, perhaps the most famous Russian cosmonaut in the world after Yuri Gagarin, the man who was the first to step into outer space. Leonov was somewhat unlucky: after his triumphant flight in 1965, he became the head of a group of Soviet cosmonauts preparing to go to the Moon. But the Zond program lagged behind the successes of the American Apollo, the reliability of the technology remained low, and Vasily Mishin, who replaced the late Sergei Korolev, played it safe and did not agree to a manned flight around the Moon. As a result, Frank Borman was the first to succeed on Apollo 8, and then problems began with the monstrous brainchild of the Russian cosmonautics - the N-1 heavy lunar rocket. Leonov never visited space during all this time. Leonov's partner as a flight engineer was Valery Kubasov, a member of the crew of the Soyuz-6 expedition, which for the first time carried out a unique experiment on welding in the vacuum of space.
Tom Stafford, the commander of Apollo 10, the second manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon, was chosen as the head of the American expedition. The tenth Apollo mission is mostly remembered as a dress rehearsal for Neil Armstrong's flight. Stafford and Eugene Cernan (the future commander of Apollo 17, the last manned lunar expedition of planet Earth to date) undocked the lunar module and approached the surface of the night star. But in the end, Stafford never made it to the Moon itself.
Initially, Stafford was supposed to be accompanied as a command module pilot by John Swigert, one of the heroes of the Apollo 13 disaster epic. However, he got into a very unpleasant story, better known as the “Apollo 15 stamp scandal.” As it turns out, the crew of Apollo 15 illegally smuggled 398 envelopes with postage stamps commemorating the flight to the Moon and back, with the goal of profiting from their resale upon return. Swigert did not fly on the fifteenth Apollo, nor was he among the shareholders of this illegal business, but he was aware of what was happening in the astronaut corps. During the official investigation, he refused to testify in a rather harsh manner. According to the results of the investigation, in addition to the main culprits, Swigert also suffered a rebound: instead of him, the newcomer Vance Brand, who had not flown in space before, was included in the crew of the future Soviet-American expedition.
The third person assigned to Stafford and Brand was Donald Slayton, NASA's deputy director for crewing. This man's story is dramatic. He is the only one of the first seven American astronauts (the same “Original Seven”) who has never been in space: either at the last moment the third suborbital flight “Mercury-Redstone” was canceled, or only later, during the preparation of the planned flight into orbit, health difficulties arose. Finally, Slayton’s time has come, and he was entrusted with an important role - the pilot of the docking module.
Barely breathing
A major problem when docking ships was the issue of the general atmosphere. Apollo was designed for an atmosphere of pure oxygen at low pressure (280 mm Hg), while Soviet ships flew with an onboard atmosphere similar in composition and pressure to that of Earth. To solve this problem, an additional compartment was attached to the Apollo, in which, after docking, the atmospheric parameters approached the Soviet ones. In Soyuz, for the sake of such a case, they lowered the pressure to 520 mmHg. At the same time, the Apollo command module with the one astronaut remaining there was sealed.
On July 17 at 16:12 GMT, the ships successfully connected in orbit. Minutes dragged on for the atmosphere to equalize. Finally, the hatch was cleared, and Leonov and Stafford shook hands through the airlock tunnel, apparently ignoring the Russian sign “you don’t say hello across the threshold,” which is not valid in space.
The docked ships remained in orbit for almost two days. The crews got acquainted with the equipment of their comrades, conducted scientific experiments and paid quite a lot of attention to television broadcasts to Earth. There were also traditional tricks. In front of the television cameras, Alexey Leonov, with a very serious look, handed the Americans tubes, which, judging by the inscriptions, contained vodka, and persuaded his colleagues to drink, although they were “not supposed to.” Naturally, the tubes contained not vodka, but ordinary borscht, and the famous joker Leonov had pasted the labels in advance.
Undocking followed, and then Soyuz-19, after two orbits, reconnected with Apollo, practicing the use of the docking port. Here the Americans played the active side, and Slayton, who was steering the engines, accidentally gave a strong impulse, overloading the extended and already latched shock absorbers of the Soyuz. The multiple safety factor of the docking unit rods saved the day.
The “political flight” ended relatively successfully, despite the difficulties that arose. The Soyuz went back to Earth, and Apollo remained in orbit for more than three days, and only then splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. During landing, the American crew confused the sequence of switching procedures, as a result of which toxic fuel exhaust began to be sucked into the cabin. Stafford managed to get oxygen masks and put them on for himself and his unconscious comrades, and the efficiency of the rescue services also helped. However, the risk was enormous: according to doctors, the astronauts “grabbed” 75% of the lethal dose.
This is the history of joint space programs took a break. Afghanistan shone ahead, " star Wars"and the last hysterical paroxysm cold war. Joint manned flights with dockings will resume only twenty years later, with the Mir-Shuttle program and the International Space Station project.
But the phrase “Soyuz-Apollo” is firmly etched in my memory. For some, it is the beginning of open and honest international cooperation in space, for others, it is an example of expensive window dressing on a planetary scale, and for others, in connection with it, only the neighboring tobacco shop is remembered.
Ill.1. Artist's reconstruction - July 17 and 19, 1975: Apollo and Soyuz 19 dock in orbit during the joint ASPEC flight. From left to right: astronauts D. Slayton, T. Stafford and V. Brand, cosmonauts A. Leonov and V. Kubasov
1. Introduction
What is ASTP
Experimental flight "Apollo" - "Soyuz" (), English. Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) is a joint flight program between the Soviet Soyuz-19 spacecraft and the American Apollo spacecraft.
The program was approved on May 24, 1972 Agreement between the USSR and the USA on cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes (hereinafter, abbreviations and emphases in quotations are made by the author):
- testing of elements of a compatible in-orbit rendezvous system;
- testing of active-passive docking units;
- checking technology and equipment to ensure the transition of astronauts from ship to ship;
- accumulation of experience in conducting joint flights of spacecraft of the USSR and the USA.
1975: There is faith in the honesty of partners - there is no room for doubt
In July 1975, the press wrote widely about the joint flight of manned spacecraft of the two, then the only space powers (Fig. 1). On July 15, 1975, Soyuz-19 launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome (A. Leonov - commander and on board - engineer V. Kubasov). After 4 hours from the cosmodrome. Kennedy (Florida) launched Apollo (T. Stafford - commander, V. Brandt and D. Slayton). The ships docked twice: on July 17 and July 19. Astronauts and cosmonauts visited each other. Several joint experiments were carried out in space. On July 19, the ships undocked and soon returned to Earth to their assigned areas (“Soyuz-19” - July 21, “Apollo” - July 24). This is the official version of the flight.
Ill.2. Pages of Soviet newspapers dedicated to the ASTP flight on July 15 and 18, 1975
It seemed that this flight marked the beginning of new friendly relations between the great powers. Take a look at the “caps” from Soviet newspapers (ill. 2): “ Good wishes...”, “Orbit of cooperation”, “Historic handshake”. And the author, then still a young specialist, sincerely believed in everything that the newspapers wrote about this flight. Yes, and how can you not believe it? If there was a stream of solemn congratulations from such leading politicians as US President D. Ford, Soviet Secretary General L. Brezhnev, UN Secretary General K. Waldheim and others.
Note 1: According to NASA, the Apollo that participated in the ASTP experiment did not have its own serial number. Therefore, in cases where there is a risk of confusing the Apollo we are interested in with the previous Apollos, we will call it “Apollo-ASTR”.
The ASTP project has been nurtured by both sides since the very beginning of the lunar race
Even the first Apollo did not launch “to the Moon” (A-8, December 1968), and already in 1967 there were negotiations about what would later be called ASTER.
“Between the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Academician M.V. Keldysh and NASA Director Dr. Payne, an agreement was reached on a meeting of specialists to discuss cooperation in the field of manned flights. The meeting took place in October 1970 at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow. The American delegation was headed by the director of the Johnson Manned Flight Center, Dr. R. Gilruth, the Soviet delegation was headed by the chairman of the Council for International Cooperation in the Study and Use of Outer Space "Intercosmos" at the Academy of Sciences, Academician B. N. Petrov. (Further) meetings of specialists were held in Moscow and Houston alternately. AND were headed from the Soviet side by B. N. Petrov, and from the American side by R. Gilruth».
It was R. Gilruth who led the American “flights to the Moon” , and not Wernher von Braun, the unlucky creator of the “mythical” Saturn-5 rocket (raised on this shield completely without reason at the suggestion of the irresponsible media). In 1972 technical director project, a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences is appointed from the USSR, and from the American side - G. Lunny (NASA, Johnson Center).
By this time, the fame of American flights to the Moon had already thundered throughout the world. The last “flight to the Moon” was Apollo 17 in December 1972. And already in May 1972 in Moscow, US President R. Nixon and General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I. Brezhnev signed a final agreement on conducting a joint flight of the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft.
In those years, the author did not meet anyone among his comrades and work colleagues who doubted the “moon landings.” Moreover, there was not a single reason for doubt from the Soviet leadership. And we perceived all this in such a way that from now on the USSR is the No. 2 space power. Our most powerful Protons are pale shadows of the gigantic and victorious American Saturn 5. Our Soyuz spacecraft is smaller, and therefore worse, than the American Apollo (ill. 1).
The reasoning of amateurs, but what happened was what happened. In general, we lost to America on all counts. Thank God that the Americans still agreed to some kind of international flight. All that remained was to rejoice at least in this and believe in the hopes of a future eternal world.
Note 2. Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (Central Committee Communist Party Soviet Union) was the highest body of political power in the USSR. The General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and the head of the Politburo in the years under review was L.I. Brezhnev (1964-1982).
2011: faith in the honesty of partners has gone - doubts have come
What made you rethink an almost forgotten and seemingly clear event like ASTP? First of all, completely new knowledge about the history of the lunar race. Through the efforts of hundreds of researchers, facts of deception in “flights to the Moon” have been revealed.. At first these were isolated guesses, then the number of dubious facts grew into tens and hundreds. And now these researchers don’t put “flights to the Moon” except in quotation marks. And in our time, the discovery of more and more flaws in NASA’s lunar evidence is no longer without laughter.
Ill.3."Big Forum" NASA's lunar epic
But it turned out that there are reasons to doubt the honesty of the Soviet side. No, not Soviet specialists. Each of them did everything possible for the lunar victory and completely trusted the political leadership. But research has inexorably revealed that the American the hoax of flights to the moon took place with the consent and assistance of the top Soviet leadership. Of course, the help is not selfish. And therefore The statement of NASA defenders completely loses its credibility: “Our people, if anything had been wrong, would have exposed us immediately!” . No, such exposure was disadvantageous to those who contributed to their defeat in the lunar race. As a result, our understanding of the true content of the lunar race has radically changed. What did the Brezhnev Politburo do for the success of the lunar epic? And what did it exchange for the brilliant results of the dedicated work of tens and hundreds of thousands of Soviet space specialists?
1968-1970: first sale of Pobeda.
Soviet cosmonauts have prepared a flyby of the Moon. CC: “NO! CANCEL!"
The now famous Soyuz spacecraft was created specifically for the task of a manned flyby of the Moon. It still remains unsurpassed and therefore the only means of delivering astronauts to the ISS. To launch the Soyuz into lunar orbit, the UR-500 (Proton) rocket was created. Today it is one of the most powerful rockets in the world and launched the main modules of the ISS into orbit. But its American analogue (Saturn-1B) disappeared without a trace in the year of ASTP, apparently “ashamed” of the inevitable loss in the competition. In the unmanned flight version, the Soyuz was called 7LK1 (“Zond”). The United States had nothing like the Soviet Zonds. Since 1967 to 1970 to test a successful return to Earth were launched 14 (fourteen!) launches of "Probes". (Don’t be confused by the subsequent numbering of the “Probes”; some, including the obviously unsuccessful ones, did not receive their numbers). On this path, Soviet specialists had both successes and failures, but, in the end, complete success came.
Ill.4. A) The descent module of the automatic Zond-7, returning to Earth (1969) after flying around the Moon . b) The earth above the lunar horizon, photographed by Zond 7 during its flyby of the Moon
On April 4, 1968, the Americans failed to test the Saturn 5 lunar rocket. And 19 days later they announced that on December 21 of the same year the manned Apollo 8 spacecraft would fly around the Moon. General N.P. Kamanin, head of the Cosmonaut Training Center (hereinafter referred to as the Cosmonaut Training Center) wrote in his diary:
“continue to carry out your flight program without adapting it to American tricks. “I warned everyone that we would be preparing a manned flight around the Moon for January 1969, and if the Americans successfully flew on Apollo 8, then we would postpone such a flight until April.”
In November 1968, Zond-6 circles the Moon, successfully enters the Earth's atmosphere, approaches the landing area, but at the last moment the parachutes do not work. NASA already reported in December that Apollo 8 orbited the Moon. These days, our cosmonauts are really eager to step on the heels of the Americans. Here are the words of A.A. Leonov (he was appointed to the crew to fly around the Moon):
“It was necessary to go on a manned flyby of the Moon even after Frank Borman flew around the Moon. The lunar landing program has not been cancelled; we will still have to start the landing with a flyby. There is a ship. Allow me to fly! CC: “No!” .
What lies behind this “no”? Emotions, frustration? In real politics, it is not emotions that rule, but the interests of one’s own country. Here are two relevant examples: On October 4, 1957, the USSR launched the first satellite. The Americans did not say: “We are so upset that we will not launch our satellite.” Their first satellite flew 4 months later (January 31, 1958), and the first unsuccessful attempt was made already on December 6, 1957.
On April 12, 1961, Yu. Gagarin flew into orbit. Almost a year later (February 20, 1962), NASA was able to report that the American spacecraft had completed its first orbital flight. What kind of flight it was, and whether it was orbital is a topic for a separate article. The main thing is that the Americans did not hesitate to catch up or even pretend that they were catching up.
Or maybe the Politburo has lost faith in the need for the Probes or in the abilities of Soviet specialists? It’s also different, because Soviet specialists are given another year and a half to fully develop the “Probes.” And well-deserved success comes: in 1969 - 1970. Our specialists carry out two completely successful launches and return of Probes No. 7 and No. 8. The path to orbiting the Moon is open for astronauts!
And then, quite unexpectedly, the Politburo cancels the task of a manned flight around the Moon. Two ships, fully equipped for a manned flyby of the Moon, remain on Earth. It turns out that automatic machines can fly around the Moon, but astronauts cannot! Absurd?
And this is how you look at it. But one thing became obvious: it was not concern for the astronauts that lay at the heart of the Politburo’s first ban on manned flights of the Moon, pronounced in December 1968.
The assertions that the Soviet Union decided to withdraw from the lunar race for purely economic reasons are also unfounded. Every year the USSR spent hundreds of times more money on the arms race. And at that time no one was going to reduce these funds. In addition, the development of space rockets was only a relatively insignificant branch in terms of costs from a much larger and more expensive state task - the nuclear missile weapons of the USSR. Thus, to launch the first satellite (SS), one R7 rocket was needed. And soon hundreds of R7 missiles went on combat duty. The PS itself was a cheap metal ball, equipped with a radio transmitter and stuffed with batteries. So space race could not ruin the Soviet Union in any way. But the international response after the launch of the PS was enormous.
Let's return to the manned flyby of the Moon. Its role in the growth of the international prestige of the USSR would be enormous. For this project, as already mentioned, a pair was developed - the Soyuz spacecraft and the Proton rocket. And here the costs were miniscule compared to the costs of the arms race. It is worth adding to this that both of these products have already paid for themselves a hundredfold in commercial launches alone. Yes, and when with money on space flights a bit tight, they are not thrown around and thrown into a landfill "two ships fully equipped for a manned flyby of the Moon". So the thesis “the space race” ruined the USSR was invented by unscrupulous authors, and does not stand up to the simplest criticism.
Behind all this there is another reason:
THE POLITIBURO DID NOT STRIVE FOR VICTORY IN THE MOON RACE, ALTHOUGH IT HAD ALL THE TECHNICAL PREREQUISITES FOR THIS.
That is why it turned a blind eye to the Apollo 8 flyby of the Moon and the Apollo 11 landing. For what price? More on this below. But until the “Probes” learned to reliably return to Earth, the Politburo did not have a stash effective means pressure on the Americans. You can’t grab Apollo 8 “by the tail” at all. After all, according to NASA, it was only circling around the Moon. And there are no traces left in orbit. The first “landing” of Apollo 11 is a different matter. It is impossible to land and not be left behind. One landing stage from the lunar module, supposedly remaining on the Moon, is a trace that is impossible not to notice when flying over the landing site. And here the double success of Probes No. 7 and No. 8 gave the Politburo its first excellent means of blackmail. Experts perceived this success as opening the way for astronauts, and for the Politburo, “Probes No. 7 and No. 8” were bargaining chips that they had long dreamed of getting. Now, gentlemen, Americans, we have demonstrated our capabilities to fly around and control the Moon. And your “landings” are in our hands. If you skimp, we will send not automatic “Probes” around the Moon, but full-fledged ships with crews. And they will quickly establish whether there is at least something at the site of the so-called “landings.” Well, if we agree, then the crews will not fly, and you can continue your “lunar landings.” Blackmail? Of course! But that’s what it’s all about big politics.
And this will happen, as we will see, more than once. Soviet specialists were allowed to come close to solving one or another milestone problem of the lunar race. But as soon as the light of success flared up at the end of the tunnel of endless technical difficulties, the signal “STOP!” immediately followed from the Central Committee. Is it because blackmail and bargaining are possible only when the threat is quite real, but not carried out?
P.S.: The story is like about the ASTP project will be quite long due to both the significant volume of material under consideration and the accumulated questions regarding the “oddities” of the Russian and American space programs, and not only space programs. There will be inevitable repetitions of facts and assumptions already known to part of the audience. In short, there will be a lot of things, but it will, I hope, be informative and interesting, especially in those cases when familiar and seemingly obvious facts and phenomena suddenly sparkle with new unexpected facets and turn out to be not so familiar...
And I would like to immediately warn you about one more thing: the author in the original articles of his articles, for reasons that are quite clear to me, uses literally a huge mass of links to third-party sources. I, unlike him, do not plan to prove anything to anyone, and therefore I will simply omit most of these often, in my opinion, redundant links, leaving only those that seem significant to ME PERSONALLY. An astute reader can always turn to the source and use the links there.
On July 15, 1975, the first joint space flight of representatives from different countries in the history of mankind began with the launch of the Soyuz-19 spacecraft in the USSR and Apollo in the USA.
The first meeting of Soviet and American specialists on the problems of compatibility of means of rendezvous and docking of manned spacecraft and stations took place on October 26-27, 1970 in Moscow. Working groups were formed there to develop and coordinate technical requirements to ensure the compatibility of these tools.
At the following meetings, held in 1971, technical requirements for spacecraft systems were reviewed and fundamental principles were agreed upon. technical solutions and basic provisions for ensuring compatibility technical means, and also considered the possibility of carrying out manned flights on existing spacecraft in the mid-1970s to test the rendezvous and docking means being created.
On May 24, 1972, in Moscow, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Kosygin and US President Richard Nixon signed the “Agreement between the Union
Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America. It provided for the docking of a Soviet Soyuz-type spacecraft and an American Apollo-type spacecraft in outer space during 1975 with a mutual transfer of cosmonauts.
Thirty-five years ago, Soviet cosmonauts and US astronauts shook hands in Earth orbit for the first time in history. Watch the RIA Novosti video of Leonov's memories of the flight under the Soyuz-Apollo program.The main objectives of the program were to create a promising universal rescue vehicle, test technical systems and methods of joint flight control, carry out joint scientific research and experiments, as well as rescue operations in space.
The technical directors of the experimental project "Soyuz-Apollo" (ASTP) on the Soviet side were corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Konstantin Bushuev and on the American side - Glynn Lunney, the flight directors, respectively, were USSR pilot-cosmonaut Alexey Eliseev and Peter Frank.
Especially for a joint flight, a universal docking port was developed - petal or, as it is also called, “androgynous”. The spade connection was the same for both mating ones, which made it possible not to think about compatibility in an emergency.
A major problem when docking ships was the issue of the general atmosphere. Apollo was designed for an atmosphere of pure oxygen at low pressure (280 millimeters of mercury), while Soviet ships flew with an onboard atmosphere similar in composition and pressure to that of Earth. To solve this problem, an additional compartment was attached to Apollo, in which, after docking, the atmospheric parameters approached the atmosphere in the Soviet spacecraft. Because of this, the Soyuz lowered the pressure to 520 millimeters of mercury. At the same time, the Apollo command module with the one astronaut remaining there had to be sealed.
In March 1973, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the composition of the Apollo crew. The main crew included Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand and Donald Slayton, and the backup crew included Alan Bean, Ronald Evans and Jack Lousma. Two months later, the crews of the Soyuz spacecraft were determined. The first crew is Alexey Leonov and Valery Kubasov, the second is Anatoly Filipchenko and Nikolay Rukavishnikov, the third is Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Boris Andreev, the fourth is Yuri Romanenko and Alexander Ivanchenkov.
On December 2-8, 1974, in accordance with the Soviet program of preparation for a joint space experiment, the flight of the modernized Soyuz-16 spacecraft was carried out with the crew of Anatoly Filipchenko (commander) and Nikolai Rukavishnikov (flight engineer). During this flight, tests of the life support system were carried out, tests of the automatic system and individual components of the docking unit, development of methods for performing some joint scientific experiments and conducting one-way experiments, formation of an installation orbit with an altitude of 225 kilometers, and others.
At 15:20 Moscow time, the Soyuz-19 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome with cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov on board. And seven and a half hours later, the Apollo spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral (USA) with astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand and Donald Slayton. On July 17, the ships docked, becoming the prototype of the future international space station. When the ships were flying in a docked state, four transitions of crew members between ships were carried out. The crews got acquainted with the equipment of the Allied ships, communicated, conducted scientific experiments and, according to the program, devoted a lot of time to television broadcasts to Earth.
On July 19, the ships undocked. The docked flight phase lasted 43 hours 54 minutes 11 seconds.
After the ships were undocking, a second “test” docking was carried out, where the use of the Soyuz spacecraft’s docking unit was tested (during the first docking, the Apollo docking unit was in active mode).
During this experimental flight, all the main tasks of the program were completed: the rendezvous and docking of ships, the transition of crew members from ship to ship, the interaction of Flight Control Centers, and all planned joint scientific experiments were completed.
The Apollo-Soyuz project went down in history as an important stage in the path of space exploration through the joint efforts of different countries. For the first time in the history of space navigation, a space system consisting of docked spacecraft from two countries with an international crew on board was created and operated for two days in low-Earth orbit.
Joint manned flights with connections resumed only twenty years later. This was facilitated by the Mir-Shuttle program and the International Space Station project.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
