Video: How the interiors of Soviet spaceships were created, and why Galina Balashova was not paid for this work
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
There are people who dream of a profession since childhood. And there are those who clearly know: "I will be a doctor, a ballerina, a pilot - and that's it." Galina Balashova from an early age was convinced that her vocation was architecture. But she had a chance to create not for the Earth, but for space. It was she who created the interiors of Soviet space stations and ships …
Galina Balashova was born in 1931, in Kolomna, in the family of an architect. For two years she studied painting under the guidance of the famous watercolorist Nikolai Polyaninov. She graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute and went to Kuibyshev to “fight against architectural excesses”. So, at the beginning of her career, the most secret architect in the world was removing elaborate cornices and removing stucco from the ceilings. In 1956, she married her former classmate who worked with Korolev. A year later, on the recommendation of her spouse, she entered OKB-1 in the department of the chief architect … and was the only person there with a diploma in architecture. Her boss, for example, was a plumber by training.
For seven years she has been planning urban development, landscaping, designing factories and houses of culture. Meanwhile, the USSR defended its primacy in space exploration. The first Soviet cosmonauts flew in tiny capsules, where even sitting was problematic. But these flights did not last long. And the Soviet space program required a long-term presence of people, which means that innovative developments were needed. Korolev rejected all existing projects: "You can't fly into space in some kind of toilet!" After a few acquaintances, he managed to reach Balashova, who just like that, in a couple of days, sitting in the kitchen, sketched the first sketches of the living compartment of the space station. It was a spherical module with fashionable, eye-pleasing furniture without a single sharp corner, with a sofa and a sideboard in pleasant colors.
Korolev approved Balashova's project. She has been designing space interiors for nearly three decades. Lunar orbital ship (was not implemented), Soyuz-19, Salyut-6 and Salyut-7, Buran spacecraft, Mir orbital station … This is just an incomplete list of projects that Galina Balashova worked on. One of the fundamental approaches of Galina Balashova was the refusal to focus on weightlessness. It would seem, why do we need a floor and a ceiling on the space station - astronauts literally soar! But it turned out that it is very difficult to be in such an “unstructured” environment - complete disorientation arises, the risks of negative reactions of the psyche increase. Therefore, the interiors were designed in an earthly spirit - with clear zoning, taking into account the psychophysiology of color perception, with sofas and paintings on the walls.
Pictures in space are another story. Korolev's bureau was anxious about the implementation of projects. If the sketch was signed by Korolev, everything had to come true down to the smallest detail! And Balashova, creating drawings of the interiors of the "Union", added small pictures to the walls - just like that, for beauty … And so it happened that nine of her watercolors went into space. There, the landscapes and still lifes of Galina Andreevna reminded the cosmonauts of their native places, of their home. It turned out that paintings actually reduce the stress level of astronauts.
One of her inventions is multifunctional space furniture (for example, it was possible to store things in the seats) and pile mounts that allowed astronauts to fix themselves at certain points on the spacecraft. At first, the mounts were extensive and too strong - sometimes the astronauts literally fell out of their spacesuits, tightly attached to the pile, so it was decided to introduce pile dies and belts, more comfortable and safe.
For quite a long time Balashova worked for the benefit of space exploration completely free of charge. In the department of KB Korolev, they simply did not introduce such a position - an architect. Why is an architect in space? Therefore, Galina Andreevna was engaged in urban development projects and plans for park zones during the day, and in the evening she came up with space interiors. In addition, she was one of a kind, the only one in her professional field - no one in the USSR did such things. Balashova was forbidden to talk anywhere about her developments, for a long time she was not allowed to join the Union of Architects (where she hoped to receive at least some professional advice). Until her position was approved, she did not have access to the territory of the office, and she met with engineers, designers and technologists either in the corridor, then on the stairs, or even simply on the street …
Balashova developed the very emblem of the Soyuz-Apollo program, which was subsequently used everywhere. The authorship was strictly classified, Galina Andreevna did not receive a fee. In addition, she drew space pennants - more than four dozen - and commemorative medals, for example, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite.
In 1990, Galina Andreevna retired to devote herself entirely to painting. Interest in the activities of the "first space architect" skyrocketed after Balashova demonstrated her old sketches and the emblem of the Soyuz-Apollo program at one of the exhibitions of the Union of Architects. For many years, its development was classified, and after that no one needed it, but in the 2010s it became known to the whole world. In Germany, the architect Philip Moiser published a book about her, the Russia-Kultura TV channel released a documentary film by Balashova, in the USA, at international academic conferences at several leading universities, reports on her work were presented … Galina Balashova herself lives in Korolev, is engaged in watercolors, sometimes gives interviews, her great-grandchildren are growing up. On the basis of the project of Galina Balashova for the Mir station, the interiors of the ISS were developed, a number of its innovations are used to design the spaces of aircraft and stations to this day.
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