Baikonur disaster, or what the accidentally surviving designer reported to Khrushchev

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

In October 1960, Baikonur burst into flames as a result of a major catastrophe. At the start, an R-16 intercontinental ballistic missile exploded. Then information about the details of the accident was immediately classified. Today, the reason is called a whole chain of events that unfolded as a result of the race between the USSR and the United States. That explosion claimed the lives of dozens of people, including the famous commander of the Great Patriotic War, the commander-in-chief of the missile forces, Mitrofan Nedelin. The technical manager of the launch, Mikhail Yangel, who left the site for a smoke break, miraculously survived.

Russian-American races and the first ballistic missiles

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, another war began - the Cold War. The USA and the USSR clashed in an arms race. Both geopolitical blocs were rushing into space, and the issue of primacy and prestige was above all. By the end of the 50s, the United States had an impressive rocket fleet. About 4 dozen intercontinental ballistic missiles could reach a target on the territory of the USSR at any moment. The missiles were also deployed at American military bases near the Soviet borders. Moscow was forced to respond quickly to such a threat. The hot-blooded Khrushchev, in a conversation with Nixon, threatened the latter with Kuzka's mother, which was now obliged to affect some kind of counterbalance to the state's missile potential. The party and government demanded immediate progress from the scientists. Against this background, the USSR unfolded its own internal rocket race.

By the end of 1959, artillery marshal Mitrofan Nedelin became the first commander-in-chief of the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces). And a month later, the first ballistic missile, created by the designers of Sergei Korolev, was adopted for army armament. In parallel, scientific developments were carried out by the Dnipropetrovsk bureau of Mikhail Yangel, who openly competed with Korolev. Historians call this fact one of the reasons for the tragedy. Yangel was opposed to the missile proposed by KB-1 and insisted on the introduction of his own ideas. Korolevskaya BR-7 did have a number of imperfections, but the development of Ukrainian scientists included poisonous explosive components.

New explosive developments under tight deadlines

Khrushchev himself followed the progress of scientific work, so scientists had to work actively and in a short time. The ideal outcome could be the launch of a new rocket for the anniversary of October. At that time, it had already become a tradition to coincide the implementation of projects of the all-Union level with the red dates. Since the government approved the daring project of the Dnipropetrovskites, Yangel was in a hurry.

When the design of the R-16 was ready, the dates for flight design tests were set. It was decided to study the finished rocket during the summer of 1961, the sighting work was postponed to the end of 1962. But the international situation escalated sharply, and it was decided to postpone the dates. By the end of the summer of 1960, factory tests were completed, the composition of the State Commission for Flight Testing was approved: commander-in-chief Mitrofan Nedelin and technical director Mikhail Yangel. In September, a train with a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile departed from Dnepropetrovsk in the direction of Baikonur. By the beginning of the 60s, the corresponding infrastructure was ready for missile tests at Baikonur. The day before, the Korolevskaya R-7 was already tested here, several satellites successfully entered orbit. For the new R-16, three sites were allocated at once. The first was occupied by the launch complex: a launcher and an underground command post. The second site was allocated for service and auxiliary premises, the third was intended for residential buildings. At a safe distance from the planned start, a reliable reinforced concrete bunker, 10 meters high, dug into the ground was erected.

On October 21, scientists reported the completion of ground tests. The next step was to set the ballistic "kuzka mother" on the launch pad in an upright position. The rise of a massive rocket looked majestic: a 30-meter colossus with a docked head and a transport trolley smoothly unfolded, coming to an upright position. For a while, the rocket hovered in the air, after which it lowered itself onto the launch pad supports. The cart was slowly retracted, and the rocket, in order to avoid overturning by gusts of wind, was attached to the launch pad with ties. The launch was scheduled for October 23. The imperfection of the system provoked false signals about the operation of pyromembranes, and when detonated, there was a threat of leakage, which could provoke a fuel ignition. For this reason, it was decided to observe the launching process point-blank, and not from the bunker. If scientists relied on technical installations and safety rules, testing should have been postponed for at least a month. But time could not stand it, and the state commission ordered to continue without serious modifications with manual breakthrough of pyromembranes. Some experts spoke out against the continuation of testing in such circumstances, but their objection was not heard.

Tragedy day

The last minutes remained before the launch. Prelaunch diagnostics were alarming: there is a high probability of unauthorized fuel entering the engines. An additional system check confirmed doubts. Both deputy general designers reported that something incomprehensible was happening. Marshal Nedelin, carried away by painstaking work on a new rocket project, controlled everything personally. Although his official level did not require such risk and dedication at all. The commander-in-chief was a few meters from the missile, with dozens of specialists next to him. Moments before the launch, one of the engines started up prematurely, and the red-hot gas tails in seconds burned the people on the site. The first rocket block blazed and exploded, fuel splashing all over the launch pad and beyond. Mitrofan Nedelin died immediately in the fire at a temperature of at least three thousand degrees. The colleagues who were next to him turned to ashes. Then an inexorable fire with radiation began. There was virtually no one to save the ambulances that arrived.

The remains of the commander-in-chief were identified by the surviving Hero's star. Yangel survived only due to the fact that he left for a smoke before the start. After the report to Khrushchev, he was struck by a massive heart attack, but the designer survived. The charred remains of the servicemen were buried in a mass grave at Baikonur. And the exact number of deaths and deaths from injuries cannot be called today. Witnesses claim that their number was up to a hundred.

More than 30 years have passed since the Chernobyl disaster. And today you can even get on an excursion to a closed area and see with your own eyes, what does the Chernobyl control room look like - a place where fatal decisions for humanity were made.