Now, thanks to the appearance on the screen of several documentary and feature films about episodes of space exploration by Soviet cosmonautics, the space theme is again heard in our country. There is a renewed mass interest in the half-forgotten names of Russian science. Suddenly everyone remembered that space science was not the only one alive, especially since Musk had a very distant relationship, if at all, to space science. But I remembered such, for example, names and surnames as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Sergei Korolev, Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Dzhanibekov. And it is right. Because somewhere, where, and in space, Soviet science was definitely ahead of the rest of the planet. And this must not be forgotten. This is something to be proud of.
Legends and horror stories
In general, for a long time, especially in the West, the tabloid press liked to publish all sorts of horror stories about Soviet space exploration. They especially liked to talk about the fact that Yuri Gagarin was not the first person in space. They say that the Russians had sent several people into orbit before, and all of them died in terrible agony. The fact that this is nonsense should be clear from the fact that, as some experts remind, there is a certain document of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which was signed on April 3, 1961.
That is, exactly nine days before the launch of the ship with Yuri Gagarin on board. So this document contained an order to prepare in advance two TASS reports about this event. One bravura, that, they say, the world's first manned flight into space, the second about … failure and death of Gagarin. Sounds cynical. But this suggests that no one was going to hide anything, because the main thing was to become the first in the unfolding space race with the Americans. Even if the launch was unsuccessful, it should have been our launch.
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Space medicine and the jump from the stratosphere
Of course, this does not mean that we did not have losses. But sometimes completely ridiculous rumors were spread. So, in one of the Soviet magazines a photo of people in pressure helmets appeared. And then there were rumors that these were the first cosmonauts who flew to Gagarin and died. In fact, these were testers who worked for space medicine. They were not members of the cosmonaut corps. They talked about another person, Petr Dolgov, who allegedly burned down in the ship during the launch, which ended in failure in 1960. He really, unfortunately, died, but in 1962 while testing a spacesuit, making a parachute jump from the stratosphere. And also our cosmonauts "died" when launching ships to the Moon and Venus. Yes, such tales were also told.
And the Germans and Americans go there too
Of course, similar legends circulated about American astronauts. Only not so widely disseminated, because the Soviet press, unlike the Western yellow editions, did not sin by printing unscientific fiction under the guise of real facts. There was no such task in the ideological war. But on the other hand, the same American and other "yellow guys" did not hesitate at times to "win" the primacy in space from the Soviet Union in a very original way. True, they were not talking about American "achievements", but about German ones. Rather, about the achievements of Wernher von Braun, the German designer "Vau", who later, in fact, became the father of the American space program. They wrote, for example, that under his leadership, the Germans launched a man into space back in 1945. Moreover, it was reported that this neglected one even returned safely to earth. But this is nothing compared to another completely “true” story. Say, somewhere near Miami in the eighties of the last century, a certain apparatus fell, and it turned out to be … German cosmonauts who flew into space in the same 1945 and spent all this time in suspended animation. The question of why von Braun did not carry out anything like this in the United States, the authors of such articles, apparently, did not arise.
But they flew to Gagarin
Yes, we flew to Gagarin. Only this is not a secret, and everyone knows about it. Soviet cosmonaut dogs were the first to visit orbit and, most importantly, the first to return to Earth. And not some exotic or especially gifted breeds, but our simple, but terribly cute mongrels. And they called them, as everyone, we hope, knows, Belka and Strelka. On August 19, 1960, they took off on the Sputnik 5 spacecraft and completed seventeen orbits around the Earth in twenty-five hours. By the way, about cuteness. This is not written for a catchphrase The fact is that when preparing for the flight, any little things were taken into account, even such. Like, with a successful flight, suddenly, journalists, especially foreign ones, will be interested. They will have to show not just anyone, but beauties. Therefore, the casting for cute was very strict.
Chanterelle and Seagull
In fact, Belka and Strelka weren't the first either. Before them, for example, there were Fox and Seagull. However, they did not reach orbit. Chaika and Chaika died during the launch of the Sputnik-5-1 spacecraft in July 1960. On the twenty-third second of the flight, the combustion chamber of the side unit of the rocket collapsed. By the way, after that it was decided to develop a device for ejection of the capsule with dogs in the event of an accident during the initial stages of the rocket flight. There was such a device on the ship for Belka and Strelka.
Laika's tragic story
But the first animal to be launched into Earth's orbit was Laika the dog. It happened sixty years ago, on November 3rd, 1957. The worst thing is that the return of this dog to Earth was simply not provided for by the very design of the ship. From the word "in general". It was assumed that she could last about a week. But Laika died within five or seven hours. It is believed to be from overheating. Let's be honest, Laika was very unlucky. It was on it that they worked and tested everything that later made it possible for the same Belka and Strelka to return to Earth. By the way, in the USSR, seven days after the death of the dog, they transmitted data about its well-being, and in the West they admired the "cosmonaut". Then her death was announced. This incident was very badly tolerated by those who prepared the flight and participated in its conduct. One of them talked about the feeling of powerlessness, when you know that it is impossible to return the dog, that it must die there, and nothing at all can be done to save it.
Yes, it was a cruel, very cruel experiment. By the way, the Americans also experimented in those years, but not with dogs, but with monkeys.
Gypsy, Dezik and the heroic crook
But Laika, with her tragic fate, did not become the first in space. She was the first in orbit. And the dogs Tsygan and Dezik visited space on a high-altitude rocket. Visited and returned to Earth. And then there was the heroic dog Zhulka. She has been in space twice on such rockets. And for the third time I have already been in orbit. Moreover, on a ship that preceded Gagarin's own ship. Zhulka was on the verge of death both in space and on Earth after the fall of the device. They were looking for her for a long time, but she "waited" without food and water in the Siberian frost. But everything ended well. And then Zhulka lived for another fourteen years on a "well-deserved pension."
Noah's ark
But back at Sputnik-5. In fact, not only Belka and Strelka were on it. It was a real Noah's Ark. In the ejection container alone, twelve mice were flying, plus various insects. And outside this very container were twenty-eight more mice and even two white rats.
Not without adventure
So, it was the nineteenth of August 1960. Everything was ready to start. Sergei Korolev himself supervised the preparation of the ship. Despite the preliminary training, the dogs were nervous both during the launch and during the active phase of the flight, when the ship was gaining altitude: they breathed too often and they had a rapid heart rate. However, after the spacecraft entered orbit, Belka and Strelka calmed down. The condition of the dogs was closely monitored using various systems, including (for the first time!) Television. On 20 August, the lander successfully landed in the designated area. The dogs felt even better than after some exercise. Everything succeeded. What else? Belka and Strelka lived happily ever after. Yes, they were kept at the State Scientific Research Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine. They lived to a very old dog age. By the way, Strelka bore offspring just a few months after the flight. Without any deviation. Well, you've probably all seen cartoons about them.
Mark Raven