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Aviation History
1965
1965 - 1100.PDF
618 FLIGHT International, IS April / SpacefJight of scientific observations and investigations, and took a large number of still and cine photographs. The results of these investigations and observations are now being processed by experts. We also carried out a number of medical and biological experiments and observations, the results of which are also being processed. During the whole flight all systems and installations of Voskhod 2 worked normally. The temperature in the capsule was about 18°C; humidity, 35-40 per cent; pressure, one atmosphere. To ensure greater comfort in carrying out experiments and observations, we took off some parts of our spacesuits, such as the helmet, boots and gloves, and we felt quite well. According to our flight programme, we had been given time for eating and sleeping. I have to confess that we infringed our sleeping schedule. The fact is that we had so much interesting work to do; and we thought that, although space was all right for resting, we had come up not to rest but to work. Our 24hr of planned flight seemed too short considering all the many interesting things around us. There was, of course, the thought of not offending the doctors, because they needed to know how man sleeps in space. However, we could find an excuse here, since such experiments had already been performed on earlier flights and the relevant information seemed to have been gathered then. If, however, they had failed to get all the necessary information from previous nights, then I hope they will forgive us. We carried out many other observations and experiments which should make up for our infringements. Radio communications with Earth were stable during the whole flight and were maintained from all points of our orbit. As a fighter pilot I am accustomed to making landings in fast modern aircraft. But the speed of Voskhod 2 cannot be compared with the speed of even the latest aircraft. And now such a very fast craft had to be landed manually in a pre- determined area. I think that everybody will realize the great responsibility that rests on the pilot of a spaceship landing by manual control. Even a small mistake in steering the ship or determining the moment for switching on the retro-rockets might at best result in landing in a different place, and at worst in failing to land at all, only changing the ship's trajectory. My experience as a fighter pilot helped me to land Voskhod 2 successfully. In piloting the spaceship I felt as a pilot does in an aircraft. The spaceship's manual landing control is a reliable system and can be used successfully in future flight. The spaceship was brought down with the help of the soft-landing system, which has already been used on Voskhod 1 and has worked efficiently and has fully justified itself. Lt-Col Leonov Preparations for the flight were begun a year beforehand. Our group of cosmonauts was in practical training at the same time as the ship itself was being prepared— while scientists and designers were working on special equipment and on the modernization of the Voskhod. It is worthy of mention that while preparing ourselves theoretically, by studying the design of the Voskhod 2, we worked through complex tasks in close co-operation with the scientists and designers. The equipments prepared for us were checked in practice to find the most advantage- ous and comfortable variants, and, after the final designs had been decided upon, we began to master the drill for all operations pertaining to emergence into space. Much labour, inventiveness and persistence was applied in devising simulators, which would make it possible to bring the training as close to real circumstances as possible. In the model of this ship the air-lock and the thermobarometric chamber created conditions of a high vacuum. And under these conditions we became accustomed to the spacesuit and, stage by stage, worked out and developed all the drill for the air-lock system. When in these conditions every action had become near-automatic, we transferred our training to a special flying laboratory adapted to carry out this type of training by creating brief spells of weightlessness. The painstaking work began again. Dozens of times we rose up into the air and in short periods, step by step, we perfected all the details of emerging into space. I cannot find words to describe the tremendous work done by the people responsible for our training. These people worked with great enthusiasm. We cosmonauts had much to do in preparing ourselves. I shall read out to you some of the entries I made in my diary, which describe the extent of physical preparation between April 1964 and March 1965. I covered over 1,000km on a bicycle during my training; during the winter of 1965 I covered over 300km on skis- cross-country running also exceeded 300km; much attention was paid to vestibularly training sessions, of which there were over 150. I have mentioned here only the physical training I did; this was in addition to training on special apparatus, on simulators, which was carried out during this preparatory training period of a year. I would like to add that this training period was preceded by my five-year training in the cosmonauts' training centre. [Leonov said that, when he emerged from the spaceship, he pushed himself away and began to turn at a rate of 10° per sec. He found himself with his back to the Earth with the Sun shining into his eyes. But he did not lose orientation, and communications with the Earth and with Col Belyayev were faultless. When he stepped out of the craft he set up the cine camera. Later Leonov pulled himself up rather vigorously by the lifeline and had to put out his hands to prevent collision with the rapidly approaching spacecraft. His first thought was to avoid striking the visor of his helmet against the ship. Floating up to the airlock, he cushioned the blow with his hands. "This proved easy to do and I saw for myself that, once you get the hang of it, you can move about with sufficient precision and co-ordination in these unusual conditions..."] Cabin Layout Described The internal layout of the Voskhod 2 spacecraft (see photograph in last week's issue) was described in an article in Pravda on March 29, as follows :— Two comfortable armchairs, upholstered in white, stand next to each other, with instrument panels with numerous tumblers and luminous dashboards. Directly overhead are two instrument panels —one of them the control panel for the air-lock chamber, equally convenient for either cosmonaut to operate. On the right-hand side, above Belyayev's seat, is the spaceship's control panel. A long black handle operates the manual orientation system. A little way beyond this panel, underneath a transparent safety catch, are the instruments used during descent. A red metal hood covers a small black button marked "Descent TDU"—the Russian initials for the retro-engine set. This is the switch that fires the retro-rocket brake of the spacecraft. On the other side of the cabin, up left, is an instrument board with a globe. During the craft's flight this globe revolves, indicating the spacecraft's exact location at any moment. Next to it are an electric clock, several pointer-needle indicators, and a signalling board, the optical orientation system control panel. The lenses of the cine and television cameras are trained down from above. On the left is the hatch through which the exit is made into space. Leonov practised passing through this hatch a great many times on Earth, but there the operation was much more complicated than it was under weightless conditions in space. Leonov practised leaving the cabin while the craft was in a variety of different positions. Frosted bulbs are switched on in the air-lock chamber and a cine camera is installed in a corner. The air-lock system control panel installed in the cabin is duplicated in the air-lock chamber so that, in case of need, the cosmonaut can assume control of the lock by simply pressing a button. A space-like vacuum is then created in the lock chamber. At a signal from the cabin the second hatch— the "window into the universe" slowly swings open. Radiation Hazards An article in Pravda of March 28 by a group of Soviet scientists stated that the radiation environment in outer space was carefully forecast before the Voskhod 2 flight and monitored during the flight. Dosimetric instruments were used to register radiation doses suffered by the cosmonauts in the cabin and during exit. The Ground Radiation Safety Service processed the information on the radiation environment before the flight, analysed the dosimetric data received from the spaceship, and summarized all information on the activity and intensity of cosmic rays. Because of the possibility of giant solar flares, a system of pharmaco-chemical protection (special medicaments to prevent radiation sickness of the crew) was provided on board. In Krasnaya Zvezda for March 26 a group of medical scientists said that Leonov's experiment had shown the Soviet spacesuit to be reliable and safe. Interplanetary flight would encounter hazards in the shape of ionizing radiation, solar flares, etc, but these risks should not dis- courage man from attempting the flights.
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