Review of the space program of the USSR and Russia

There is evidence according to which the military space stations of Bara, M were equipped with weapons - some with a 30 mm cannon for protection against possible interception by American combat spaceships.... This fact was kept a secret until the beginning of the nineties * The review was published during the visit of cosmonaut Boris Volinov to Israel 21/10/2003

By: Tal Inbar, Israel Space Association, special for the Science site

On October 4 at 01:00 the site will be updated with new articles that will all deal with one topic -Marking the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik

On the morning of October 1957, XNUMX, the USSR surprised the rest of the world with the launch of the world's first satellite - theSpotNick 1″. The first years of the space age were characterized by an incredible series of achievements by the Soviet Union: the first satellite in space, the first animal in space, the first unmanned spacecraft to the Moon, Mars and Venus, the first man in space - Yuri Gagarin - the first human levitation outside a spacecraft, and more.

During the sixties, the USSR was in a close space race with the USA, the culmination of which was the landing of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon, in the "Apollo 11" spacecraft on July 20.7.1969, XNUMX. The USSR itself intended to land cosmonauts on the moon, but various administrative, financial and technological factors prevented it from achieving this goal.

After the manned landing on the moon, the USSR directed its efforts in the field of space to manned activity for a long time in low orbit around the earth. As part of these efforts, eight different space stations were built by the Russians and launched into space. Over the years, about 200 people stayed in the Soviet space stations, starting with Russians, through guest cosmonauts from the countries of the communist bloc and ending with visits by American astronauts aboard the Russian space station "Mir".

Cosmonaut Boris Volinov, one of the first cosmonauts of the USSR, served as a backup pilot for several missions before flying into space for the first time aboard the Soyuz 5 spacecraft, as mission commander. The highlight of this flight, conducted in 1969, was the first connection in history with another spacecraft, the "Soyuz 4".

Colonel Volinov returned to space for the second time in 1976, as the first commander of the USSR military space station - "Saliot 5". As part of this mission, he stayed in space for 49 days, and experienced repairing various malfunctions in the space station, in various emergency situations and in various activities of a unique nature, including photographing various sites on Earth using special photographic equipment.

Colonel Volinov enlisted in the USSR Air Force in 1953, and joined the handful of pilots who began training for space flights in 1960. After his flights, Volinov mentored generations of space pilots until his retirement in 1990.

Space stations differ from spacecraft in that they stay in orbit around the Earth for a long period of time - and they are used as a place to live and conduct experiments for teams of astronauts who fly to the station and return from it by spacecraft. The "Salyut 1" space station, launched in 1971, was the first space station in history. After that, additional space stations were launched in the series, up to the "Saliot 7" space station.

Two of the "Saliot" series space stations were actually military space stations, which were used for reconnaissance and surveillance of the Earth. The real oil - "Almaz" was officially allowed to be published only after the dissolution of the USSR. The civilian names of the military space stations were "Saliot 3" and "Saliot 5", which was under the command of Colonel Volinov.

The "Almez" military space station was equipped with a sophisticated photography system, designed to provide The "Elmez" military space station was equipped with a sophisticated photography system, designed to provide high-resolution images of various sites on Earth. For the purpose of returning the images, the cosmonauts used special capsules, which contained the photographic films. These penetration cells passed through the Earth's atmosphere, and descended to pre-planned destinations, where they were collected. Unmanned resupply spacecraft brought up to the space station a new supply of photographic film and penetration chambers. There is evidence according to which the military space stations of Bara, M were equipped with weapons - some of them with 30 mm cannon for protection against possible interception by American combat spaceships.... This fact was kept a secret until the early nineties.

In 1975, a historic event took place in space - the first meeting of manned spacecraft from the two superpowers: the American "Apollo" connected to the "Soyuz" spacecraft from the USSR. For the first time, the two countries shared an action in the field of space exploration.
"Saliot 7" space station

The third and last generation of Soviet space stations was the "Mir" space station. This modular space station was launched in parts into space starting in 1986, and remained there until the middle of 2001. After the breakup of the USSR, a serious crisis hit Russia's space programs. A significant lifeline was the signing of cooperation agreements with NASA, which began sending its astronauts in the space shuttle "Atlantis" for a series of meetings with "Mir". The culmination of cooperation is in making Russia a senior partner in the International Space Station project, and it built and sent into space a significant part of the components of this space station. During its existence, the "Mir" space station suffered from various malfunctions, the most serious of which were a fire, and a collision with an unmanned supply spacecraft. Despite everything - and with the help of the resourcefulness of its occupants - this space station lasted for 15 years in a row - an unprecedented achievement.

The "Mir" space station is in orbit around the Earth

The space program of the USSR, and then of Russia, left us a glorious legacy. An excellent source to learn about these programs, and many others, is the "Astronautics Encyclopedia":

www.astronautix.com

In order to keep up to date with various space activities in Israel and around the world, and to actively influence - join the Israel Space Association for free: www.space.org.il