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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 1774.PDF
Bion biosateUites to study the effect of zero g on plants and ianimals are just one of many Vostok derivatives o ver the past 30 years, the Soviets have conducted more than 1,000 space missions using variants of the Vostok capsule which carried cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961 to become the first man in space. The Vostok spacecraft, which went on to be used for military photo-reconnaissance, civilian remote-sensing, biosatellite, and microgravity missions, first flew on 15 May, 1960. On that day an SL-3 booster took off from Pad 1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying the 4.7t Korabl-Sputnik 1 (known as Sputnik 4 in the West) into orbit. The spacecraft, on a re-entry test flight, included a 2.46t, 2.43m-diameter, spherical recoverable capsule containing a dummy cosmonaut. Four days later Sputnik 4 fired a retro-rocket which, because it was incor rectly oriented, mistakenly fired the capsule and "crewman" into a higher orbit. Since then, the spherical Vostok capsule and double-cone shaped 2.27t, 2.25m-long instrument module have been put to good THE DC-3 OF SPACE The Soviet Union is planning yet another derivative of the Vostok capsule, used for a wide variety of space missions in the 30 years since its first flight, reports Tim Furniss. use in the Soviet space programme, flying a variety of over 1,000 missions from spying to microgravity processing. That these Vostok capsules are still in use after 30 years is a perfect illustration of the Soviet policy of using proven vehicles: "Effective and func- 36 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 June 1990
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