The first Soviet-Bulgarian space flight almost ended with the painful death of the crew.
How comrade Kakalov became Ivanov
More than half a century has passed since the beginning of manned space flights, the first of which was the launch of Yuri Gagarin on the Vostok spacecraft.
The denouement of one of the most dramatic situations in the history of the Soviet space program also fell on Cosmonautics Day.
In the late 1970s, the USSR launched the Interkosmos program, part of which included joint flights with cosmonauts from other countries of the socialist bloc. In 1978, representatives of Czechoslovakia, Poland and the GDR, Vladimir Remek, Miroslav Hermashevsky and Sigmund Yen, visited space.
In April 1979, it was the turn of Bulgaria, which was represented by the pilot Georgy Ivanov, who passed the preliminary selection in his country, and then the program at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
Members of the international crew of the Soyuz-33 spacecraft - spacecraft commander Nikolai Rukavishnikov (left) and NRB cosmonaut-researcher Major Georgy Ivanov (right) Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Mokletsov.
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By the way, the future cosmonaut acquired the surname Ivanov only before the flight, having received it instead of his own, which was considered dissonant - Kakalov.
The flight was to take place on the Soyuz-33 spacecraft, of which Nikolai Rukavishnikov was appointed commander.
"Unlucky" Rukavishnikov
Rukavishnikov was a unique specialist. After graduating from the Institute, a graduate of MEPhI was hired at the Sergey Korolev Design Bureau, and was included in the cosmonaut corps in 1967, during an additional recruitment of civilian specialists.
Many veterans of the Soviet space program write that no one knew Soyuz as well as Rukavishnikov. He was one of the cosmonauts trained under the program to fly around the moon and land on it, but after the Americans were the first to land on the Earth's satellite, the USSR's manned "lunar program" was curtailed.
Rukavishnikov was transferred to the number of cosmonauts preparing to fly to the first space station Salyut-1. In April 1971, together with Vladimir Shatalov and Alexei Eliseev, he flew on the Soyuz-10. The ship docked with the station, however, due to malfunctions, it could not board it. As a result, the crew returned to Earth.
Crew members of the Soyuz-10 spacecraft (left to right): test engineer Nikolai Rukavishnikov, spacecraft commander Vladimir Shatalov and flight engineer Alexei Eliseev. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Mokletsov.
Nikolai Rukavishnikov began to gain a reputation for being "unlucky" - the "lunar program" was closed, and it was not possible to work on "Salyut-1". However, luck is a relative thing. The Soyuz-11 crew, which nevertheless got on board the station, died on their return to Earth …
In December 1974, Rukavishnikov went into space with Anatoly Filipchenko on Soyuz-16. This flight did not involve a docking with an orbital station and was conducted as a test flight in preparation for the Soviet-American Soyuz-Apollo project. The flight went exactly as planned, lasting a little less than six days.
The crew of the Soyuz-16 spacecraft commander, pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union Anatoly Filipchenko (left) and flight engineer, pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Nikolayevich Rukavishnikov. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Mokletsov.
Accident on the way to "Salyut"
In 1979, Rukavishnikov became the commander of Soyuz-33, and this was the first time a civilian specialist was appointed commander.
The program of the joint Soviet-Bulgarian flight was not long, but Rukavishnikov had to finally be on board the orbital station.
The main expedition consisting of Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin awaited Rukavishnikov and Ivanov on Salyut-6. "Soyuz-33" carried them food, water, parcels from family and friends.
Soyuz-33 successfully launched from Baikonur on April 10, 1979. The launch into orbit took place normally, there was a docking and 8 days of scientific experiments on Salyut-6 ahead.
The flight went on as usual, "Soyuz-33", after a series of maneuvers, entered the station's radio capture zone. The distance between the ship and the station was about 3 kilometers. In this case, the rapprochement with "Salyut-6" took place with an excess of the design speed. It had to be extinguished by sending a braking impulse to the ship, according to the calculations made, with a duration of 6 seconds.
But the engine worked abnormally, Soyuz-33 jerked, there was a loss of stabilization, and the automatics gave the command to turn off the engine.
Ivanov was somewhat confused, since he was not prepared for such an emergency situation, and the experienced Rukavishnikov understood that the problem with the engine was very serious.
The crew should rest for 15 hours
When it was possible to transmit telemetry to Earth and the data was analyzed there, a request came from the MCC not to the Soyuz-33 crew, but to Lyakhov and Ryumin, who were on Salyut-6: “Report where the torch was directed from the combustion chamber of the Soyuz ?
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, cosmonaut Nikolai Rukavishnikov (left) and Bulgarian cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union Georgy Ivanov. Members of the international crew of the Soyuz-33 spacecraft. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Mokletsov.
“The torch was directed sideways,” Lyakhov reported.
Rukavishnikov realized that a rare case in practical astronautics had occurred - a burn-through of the side wall of a combustion chamber. Nothing similar to what happened to Soyuz-33 had never happened before, not only in space, but also during tests.
The ship was left without a main engine, and there was no talk of docking with the station. The question was whether Rukavishnikov and Ivanov would survive at all.
If the torch was directed sideways, then the incandescent gases must have gotten to the fuel supply lines and the electric control cables of the backup brake engine. And the failure of the reserve braking propulsion system would mean that Soyuz-33 would remain in orbit forever. Well, to be absolutely precise, it’s not forever, but for a period that excluded the survival of the crew.
At that time, the flight control center was headed by Alexey Eliseev, Rukavishnikov's partner in flight on the Soyuz-10. “The decision of the Center is as follows. Landing on a standby engine. The crew rest for 15 hours. In case of urgent descent from orbit, use a backup propulsion system,”he told the crew.
Guaranteed instant death
Rest in such a situation was very conditional. Rukavishnikov and Ivanov were preparing for landing, realizing that it might not happen. And the Salyut-6 crew at that moment could only follow the drama that was happening with their colleagues, not being able to help them in any way.
The Soyuz-33 commander slept two out of the 15 hours allotted for rest. The rest of the time, Rukavishnikov painfully considered the options for the development of events.
“If the Soyuz stayed in orbit for a long time, then in a few days we were threatened with painful death from suffocation,” the cosmonaut recalled. - It was then that I decided: in the worst case scenario, we will continue the flight until we can breathe normally. And then … I knew where the differential pressure valve was located on the ship's hull and how it worked. The valve is known to be triggered when descending, already in the earth's atmosphere. But it was not difficult for me to discover it in space. This guaranteed us almost instant death - within a few tens of seconds."
The commander of the ship calculated in his mind how he would conduct this operation, but did not say anything to Ivanov, reasoning that he should not worry his comrade with such options.
Georgy Ivanov (left) and Nikolai Rukavishnikov (right) in one of the classrooms. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Mokletsov.
The commander relied on intuition
On April 12, 1979, on Cosmonautics Day, MCC announced the final decision: to start the backup engine at 18:47. In the design mode, he had to work for 188 seconds. If it shut down earlier than 90 seconds later, it would mean that the crew would remain in orbit. If the engine runs for more than one and a half minutes, but less than 188 seconds, Rukavishnikov was recommended to manually give the command to restart.
At 18:47, the engine was turned on, and a third option occurred - after 188 seconds, it continued to work. Such a development of events did not bode well either, since Soyuz-33 could fall on its descent along a ballistic trajectory fraught with terrible overloads that the cosmonauts could simply not survive.
It would seem that the commander had to manually turn off the engine after 188 seconds. But Nikolai Rukavishnikov, as already mentioned, knew the Soyuz like no one else. Analyzing the work of the reserve engine, he came to the conclusion that it gives incomplete thrust. This means that the momentum may be insufficient to de-orbit. But it is impossible to wait indefinitely for the reasons stated above.
The Soyuz-33 commander gave the command to turn off the engine after 213 seconds, focusing exclusively on experience and intuition. There are no other cosmonauts and astronauts in the world who have found themselves in a similar situation.
Members of the international crew of the Soyuz-33 spacecraft - spacecraft commander Nikolai Rukavishnikov (right) and NRB cosmonaut-researcher Major Georgy Ivanov (left) Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Mokletsov.
After turning off the engine, Rukavishnikov and Ivanov could only wait. The Bulgarian had a figurine of a man tied to an armchair, which floated in weightlessness. If the little man went down, it would mean that the state of weightlessness ceases, and the ship leaves orbit. If the little man hadn't gone down, then … Then the plan would have become relevant, about which Nikolai Rukavishnikov did not want to tell Georgy Ivanov.
After waiting, which seemed to last an eternity, the man went down and hung on a string. Soyuz-33 was heading for Earth!
They walked along the edge of a knife
The descent really went along a ballistic trajectory, with overloads up to 10 g. But in the situation in which Rukavishnikov and Ivanov found themselves, this was not the worst option - they were prepared for such loads.
At that moment on Earth, the landing site was frantically calculated; according to some forecasts, the descent vehicle should have landed with a deviation of 600 km. The commander of the search and rescue squad was required to urgently transfer all forces to the new area, however, at his own peril and risk, he left two helicopters in the originally designated landing area.
And the search engine commander also had a brilliant intuition - "Soyuz-33", as if deciding that it had enough adventures, sat down 320 km southeast of Dzhezkazgan, in the area where Soviet spaceships usually ended their journey.
Instead of 8 days, the Soviet-Bulgarian space flight lasted 1 day 23 hours 1 minute 6 seconds, but there was no limit to the happiness of those who met the astronauts on Earth.
The Soyuz-33 crew, without exaggeration, walked along the edge of the knife and looked into the eyes of death. Therefore, the successful completion of the mission was a great success.
Three times a Hero is not supposed to be
Rukavishnikov and Ivanov were honored both in the USSR and in Bulgaria. The first Bulgarian cosmonaut became the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, but Rukavishnikov was awarded only the title of Hero of the NRB.
This was explained by the rule that existed in the Soviet years - the Golden Stars of the Heroes of the Soviet Union were awarded to cosmonauts only for the first two flights, and subsequent space travels were celebrated only with the Orders of Lenin. Nikolai Rukavishnikov was already twice Hero of the Soviet Union, and it turned out that his most heroic and unique flight could not be awarded the country's highest rank.
Neither Nikolai Rukavishnikov, nor Georgy Ivanov's drama with Soyuz-33 made them give up their desire to once again visit space. However, neither one nor the other managed to do this. Rukavishnikov was preparing for his fourth start, but was removed from training due to illness. Georgy Ivanov took part in the selection for the second Soviet-Bulgarian flight, but did not pass it.
Rukavishnikov, after leaving the cosmonaut corps, worked for many years at NPO Energia, headed the USSR and Russian Federation of Cosmonautics. He passed away in 2002 at the age of 70.
Georgy Ivanov, after completing a space flight, continued to carry out military service, was an inspector of the Bulgarian Air Force, was elected to the Great People's Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. In the early 1990s, he took part in the creation of the private airline Air Sofia, and was its managing director. Later, the first Bulgarian cosmonaut participated in charity projects, was engaged in business and the popularization of golf in Bulgaria. Today Georgy Ivanov is 75 years old, he is a pensioner and lives in Sofia.
Andrey Sidorchik