Archival documents of the first flight of Yuri Gagarin into space have been declassified: What the authorities were hiding for many years

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

60 years ago, an event of enormous historical significance took place. The first man flew into space - the Soviet pilot Yuri Gagarin. This triumphant flight is perceived today as an incredible breakthrough, an extraordinary achievement of all mankind. The event had a tremendous public response! Gagarin became a national hero, a favorite of all women in the USSR at once, or, as they would say now, a real "star". This short orbital flight was of the greatest importance for world science, but it almost ended in the most deafening fiasco in world history …

Perfect flight?

All Soviet mass media unanimously repeated like a mantra that everything went “perfect”. Yuri Gagarin's single-turn flight proceeded strictly according to plan and ended exactly 108 minutes after the start, clearly in the place where it should have been. At the same time, however, no one bothered to explain why after landing the Vostok was met not by the search team, but by local residents and servicemen of the nearest unit.

All documents related to the flight were strictly classified. It was only after 1991 that all these archives were raised. For twenty years, researchers have been analyzing documents and only recently have detailed collections begun to appear, where all the true details of this event were accurately described. The fact is, the first space flight didn't just go “perfect”. It could well have ended in a terrible disaster and even the death of the pilot.

Not a very successful project

Today it is already known that before the ship started with Yuri Gagarin on board, seven similar ships were launched into space. The very first unmanned satellite ship in the USSR was launched in May 1960. Just four days later, after the command to brake and descend, the orientation system malfunctioned. The satellite, on the contrary, accelerated and began to rise higher and higher. Then there was the launch of the spacecraft with the experimental dogs on board: the Fox and the Seagull. Unfortunately, the rocket exploded almost immediately after launch.

On August 19, the second ship with Belka and Strelka was launched. This flight has already attracted everyone's attention. A day later, the spacecraft landed in the calculated area, the animals were all right. Then the third ship with the dogs Bee and Mushka was sent into space. After spending one day in orbit, upon returning to Earth, the ship deviated greatly from the prescribed trajectory. As a result, the facility's emergency detonation system destroyed it. This information did not become public. The incident was carefully concealed. In December of the same year, another device was launched with the dogs Alpha and Pearl. When returning for unknown reasons, the third stage of the rocket failed, the emergency rescue system worked. The ship made an emergency landing near the village of Tura in the region of the Nizhnyaya Tunguska River. The apparatus was found, and so were the dogs. Everything was carefully collected and taken out. This launch could not be called successful and information about it was also hidden.

In other words, at the beginning of 1961, out of five space flights, only one completed without an accident. This was unacceptable performance. The project needed to be completely revised and changed. Only there was no time for that. The United States from day to day had to implement its project of the first manned flight into space. The Soviet Union could not allow this to happen. It was decided to continue testing.

In early March, an exact copy of the Vostok spacecraft was launched. Only on board was not a living astronaut, but a dummy. Together with Ivan Ivanovich (as he was jokingly called), they placed the dog Chernushka. This time everything went smoothly. The ship flew and landed, just not where it was planned. At the end of March, another satellite was launched. On board was a dog named Zvezdochka. Everything went fine, only the landing again did not happen where it was calculated. Scientists have not been able to establish the exact reason why the ships fly their distance. A similar defect was recognized as a minor error. The main thing is that the astronaut will survive. The chief designer of rocket and space technology, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, took this risk and gave the order to prepare the launch of a spacecraft with a living pilot on board.

Go

The manned spacecraft Vostok was launched on April 12, 1961, at 9:07 Moscow time. It took off from the Tyura-Tam test site, which would later be renamed the Baikonur cosmodrome. During takeoff, Gagarin said his historic: "Let's go!" Korolev shouted in pursuit: "We all wish you a good flight!"

At nine in the morning, the ship with the world's first living astronaut on board entered orbit. The perigee was 181 kilometers, and the apogee exceeded the calculated figures by as much as 92 kilometers! The reason for this was a serious failure in the radio control system. Half a second later than planned, the separation of the third stage took place. The device has already gained more than necessary speed. It was very dangerous. After all, the planned altitude was chosen on the basis that if suddenly the propulsion system suddenly fails, the ship will decelerate naturally and leave orbit on its own. It should have taken about five to seven days. All possible reserves of life support systems were calculated for this period. Departure from real orbit meant an increase in this period by more than three times. By this time, the pilot was guaranteed to be dead.

During the flight, the cosmonaut tried to keep in touch with the Earth all the time. The signal was not always stable and Yuri Alekseevich could not be completely sure that he was being heard. Soon the Vostok spacecraft passed the area over the Hawaiian Islands, crossed the Pacific Ocean, circled Cape Horn from the south and approached Africa. Gagarin tried the "space" food, washed down with canned water. Later, the astronaut will tell you that everything was just fine.

The pilot observed the Earth, the surrounding stars, the endless outer space. He constantly recorded the readings of all the instruments. Gagarin dictated them to the onboard tape recorder and duplicated them in the logbook. There were also minor troubles. In a state of weightlessness, a pencil "escaped" from Gagarin. There was nothing to make notes with. The tape has run out of tape. The astronaut manually rewound it to the middle. Gagarin continued to take notes, but because of this, some of the valuable information about the flight was lost forever.

After the separation of the spacecraft from the carrier, the program-time device was switched on immediately. Then this device started the orientation system. The system steered the ship in the desired direction. Then the brake motor turned on. According to calculations, he should have worked exactly 41 seconds. But there was a small defect in the valve and the engine turned off earlier than expected. This led to the fact that the boost lines remained open. Under enormous pressure, nitrogen began to flow into them. As a result, the ship spun at a speed of 30 revolutions per second. In his report, the pilot wrote about it this way: “It turned out to be some kind of corps de ballet: head-legs, head-legs … All this at great speeds. Everything was spinning around. Before me flashed now Africa, now the sky, now the horizon. All I could do was to close my eyes from the Sun. I put my feet directly on the porthole. I did not close the curtains. I myself was incredibly interested in what was happening. I waited until the moment of separation came, but it still did not come …"

Emergency landing

As a result of the totality of all minor technical problems and inconsistencies, a completely unique situation has developed. The pilot had no way of assessing the danger of developing events. We must pay tribute to Yuri Alekseevich - he did not panic. Gagarin did his best to make the flight go according to plan. The astronaut noted the time on the clock and continued to monitor what was happening. When the compartments of the ship were finally divided, the apparatus was located over the Mediterranean Sea. The height was no more than 120 kilometers.

The spacecraft continued to move, its rotation gradually slowed down. The overloads continued to grow. The cockpit of the rocket lit up with a bright crimson light. The pilot heard a strange crackle, but he did not understand where it came from. Gagarin decided that this sound was the effect of the thermal expansion of the ship's shell. Yuri Alekseevich smelled the smell of something burnt. His eyes darkened from significant overloads. All this lasted for some seconds, but the astronaut had already said goodbye to life. Then suddenly everything stopped. Gagarin felt better.

The entry of the spacecraft into the dense layers of the atmosphere was registered in Simferopol by the local measuring point. Some time later, at a speed of just over 200 meters per second, at an altitude of seven kilometers, the system opened the hatch cover and the pilot ejected. The main parachute went off, Gagarin flew out of the chair. At the same time, the emergency supply in the container was separated. For some unknown reason, he did not hang on the halyard, but fell off. Thus, the pilot was deprived of all the necessary medicines, food supplies, a walkie-talkie and a direction finder. When Yuri Alekseevich was at an altitude of three kilometers above the Earth, the reserve parachute opened. Gagarin could not control two of them, so he flew backwards. Only when he was at a height of thirty meters did he turn his face. So he was able to land well and not get injured.

In general, the pilot's landing may well be considered successful. This happened not far from the village of Smelovka, Engels District, Saratov Region, right on the freshly plowed field of the Leninsky Put collective farm. If we compare the flight duration according to the documents, then it will turn out to be one hundred and six minutes, and not one hundred and eight, as everyone has been assured for almost fifty years.

The planned landing site was, according to calculations, just north of the village of Akatnaya Maza, Khvalynsky district, Saratov region. Forecasts foreshadowed a flight, but the ship, on the contrary, did not reach a place of almost two hundred kilometers. The pilot was not expected here. The astronaut personally extinguished the canopy of the parachutes, was able to free himself from all the leashes and went on foot in search of people.

For science, this flight was and remains invaluable

As previously classified documents showed, the Vostok ship was far from perfect from a technical point of view. The success of the space flight was a matter of chance. It's scary even to think about how the case could turn out for Yuri Alekseevich. Scientists who were involved in this space flight did not have a better fate either. It was a completely and completely political decision. The United States could not be allowed to be the first. At any cost. The status of an advanced space nation was at stake. No risk was excessive. The cost of the mistake could have been prohibitive. The work of all engineers, test missiles and designers can be called a feat without undue pathos.

For the scientific world, the launch of a person into orbit became the very starting point that marked the beginning of a new era for humanity. This helped to resolve all the disputes that have been waged by scientists for decades. After all, before the flight of a man into space, no one really knew anything about the conditions outside the Earth. Of course, science knew that interplanetary space is emptiness. But for example, it was believed that there are much more comets and meteoroids. It was these celestial bodies that were considered the main obstacle to space travel. Scientists were not aware of the effect of overloads, as well as radiation hazards. This is the biggest problem today.

Read more about the Soviet pilot who was the first to conquer space, read our article. curious facts from the biography of the first cosmonaut that the public did not know about: unknown Yuri Gagarin.