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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1115.PDF
FLIGHT, 17 August 1961 GRISSOM 217 TITOV VIRGIL IVAN GRISSOM was born April 3, 1926 in Mitchell,Indiana. He is 5ft 7in tall, weighs 1501b, has brown hair and brown eyes. Mrs Grissom is the former Betty L. Moore. They have twosons: Scott, 11, and Mark, 7. Grissom's parents, Mr and Mrs Dennis D. Grissom, live at 715 Baker Street, Mitchell. He hastwo brothers and a sister. Grissom attended primary and high schools in Mitchell. Hefirst entered the Air Force in 1944 as an aviation cadet and was discharged in November 1945. He graduated from Purdue Uni-versity with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1950. He returned to aviation cadet training after his graduation from Purdue andreceived his wings in March 1951. Grissom joined the 75th Fighter- Interceptor Squadron at Presque Isle, Maine, as an F-86 fighterpilot. He flew 100 combat missions in Korea in F-86s with the 334th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. He left Korea in June 1952 and became a jet pilot instructor atBryan, Texas. In August 1955 he went to the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, tostudy aeronautical engineering. In October 1956 he attended the Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, andreturned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in May 1957 as a test pilot assigned to the Fighter Branch. He has flown more than3,400hr, over 2,500 in jets. Grissom has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross andAir Medal with Cluster for service in Korea. His hobbies are hunting and fishing. In Project Mercury, Grissom's specialization comprised thereaction control system and autopilot of the capsule. HERMAN STEPANOVICH TITOV was born in 1935 in thevillage of Verkhneye Zhilino, Kosikha district, Altai region of Siberia, in the family of a teacher. He is of Russian nationality. He studied at the Nalobikhino secondary school of the samedistrict in the Altai region. From 1955 to 1957 he was a cadet at the Stalingrad Air Force Pilot's School, from which he graduatedin the first category and passed his pilot's examinations with distinc- tion. After graduation he was sent to serve in the Leningradmilitary district. Herman Titov is a candidate-member of the Communist Partyof the Soviet Union, and is married. His wife, Tamara Vasilyevna, was born in 1937. The cosmonaut's father, Stepan Pavolvich, bornin 1910, taught Russian language and literature and the German language in a seven-year school in the Altai region. Stcpan Pavol-vich has been a pensioner since 1961. The cosmonaut's mother, Aleksandra Mikhailovna, was born in 1914. In 1943 Herman Stepanovich Titov entered primary school ofthe May Morning collective farm in Kosikha district, where his mother had moved at the beginning of the war. In 1950 he finishedhis schooling at the seven-year school in the same district. In 1949 Titov entered the Young Communist League. In 1953 he enteredthe military aviation school for preliminary flying training. For his successes in combat training and socialist preparation, and forexemplary military discipline, the Leningrad District Committee of the Young Communist League awarded him two certificates ofmerit. Parachute drops from aircraft formed part of the specializedcosmonaut training of both Titov and Gagarin. to Gagarin's April 12 orbital flight began in earnest on May 15,1960, with the launch into orbit of Sputnik 4, alias Spaceship Satellite 1. This was the first of five preliminary orbital shots withplanned recovery, of which the latter phase of two were unsuccess- ful. Russia's concentration on the goal of man in orbit was inter-rupted only for the orbital launch of the Venus probe, successfully effected last February with Sputnik 8 and believed attempted earlierthat month with Sputnik 7. The series was as follows:— 1960May 15. Spaceship satellite 1 (Sputnik 4). First orbit by heavy satellite (10,0081b, including 3,2501b scientific instrumentation) with object ofproving systems guaranteeing man's life functions during flight. Orientation fault caused change into higher orbit, not re-entry, onfiring retro-rocket. August 29. Spaceship satellite 2 (Sputnik 5). First successful re-covery from orbit of heavy spacecraft containing animals. Object, proving recovery systems and systems securing man's life activity;recording of cosmic radiation levels; investigation of solar shortwave radiation; medical and biological investigations. December 1. Spaceship satellite 3 (Sputnik 6). Same object as August19 launch. Craft descended on unplanned trajectory when signalled to re-enter, and burned up in dense atmosphere. 1961March 9. Spaceship satellite 4 (Sputnik 9, possibly Vostok). Further test of spacecraft and systems for manned flight, carrying animals.Successful recovery. March 25. Spaceship satellite 5 (Sputnik 10, possibly Vostok).Further test of spacecraft and systems for manned flight, carrying animals. Successful recovery.April 12. Vostok (Spaceship satellite 6, or Sputnik 11). First manned orbital flight by Maj Yuri Gagarin. One complete orbit, duration108 min. Successful recovery. August 6. Vostok 2 (Spaceship satellite 7, or Sputnik 12). Orbitalflight by Maj Herman Titov. Seventeen complete orbits, duration 25hrl8min. Successful recovery.The basic Vostok spacecraft was described in Flight of May 4, 1961. Additional details of its cabin equipment and technique ofre-entry, presumably identical on both Vostok and Vostok 2, have been officially outlined thus:—For descent in a predetermined area, an exact orientation in space must be given to the spaceship-satellite before the retro- engine is switched in. This problem is solved with an orientationsystem. In the given flight, one of the axes of the spaceship was oriented towards the Sun. The sensitive elements of this system area series of optical and gyroscopic sensors. The signals which thoy generate are transformed in an electronic unit into commands forthe system of organs of control. The orientation system ensures automatic location of the Sun,corresponding rotation of the spaceship, and its maintenance in the desired position with great accuracy. After the spaceship is oriented,the retro-engine switches in at the appropriate moment. Commands for switching in the orientation system, retro-engine and othersystems, are given by an electronic programming device. For measuring the orbital parameters of the spaceship-satelliteand controlling the work of the equipment on board, it carries radio-measuring and radio-telemetry apparatus. Measurement ofthe orbital parameters and the reception of telemetric information are accomplished by stations on the territory of the USSR. Themeasurement data is automatically transmitted along communica- tion lines to calculating centres, where it is processed with elec-tronic computing machines. Thus, during the flight, information about the basic orbital parameters is operationally received, and thefuture motion of the spaceship is predicted. On the spaceship also is a "Signal" radio system working on afrequency of 19.9995 Mc/s. This serves for the radio-location of the spaceship and the transmission of part of the telemetric informa-tion. The television system transmits to Earth the picture of the cosmonaut, permitting visual monitoring of his condition. One ofthe television cameras transmits the cosmonaut's pictuie full-face, and the other in profile. Two-way communication of the cosmonaut with the Earth iseffected by a radio-telephone system working in the short-wave range (9.019 and 20.006Mc/s) and the ultra-short-wave range(143.625Mc/s). The ultra-short-wave channel is used for communi- cation with ground stations at distances up to l,500-2,00Okm.Short-wave communication with ground stations on the territory of the USSR may be secured, experience has shown, over a greatpart of the orbit. The radio-telephone system includes a tape recorder, permittingthe cosmonaut's speech to be recorded in flight and later reproduced
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