#Nikolai kamanin

[mudwerks]

The Remains of Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, The man who fell from space (1967)

"In his diary, Nikolai Kamanin recorded that the Soyuz 1 capsule crashed into the ground at 30–40 metres per second (98–131 ft/s) and that the remains of Komarov's body were an irregular lump 30 centimetres (12 in) in diameter and 80 centimetres (31 in) long."

I guess his remains probably have a pretty good shelf-life.

[philosopherking1887]

Sixty years ago this week, for the first time in human history, one of our species ventured beyond the atmosphere.

That man was Yuri Gargarin, a young Soviet cosmonaut who manned the Vostok 1 spacecraft. On April 12, 1961, he became the first human being to orbit the planet.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Gargarin was almost certainly not a Jew. (The website JewOrNotJew.com poignantly declares: “Sadly, not a Jew.”)

However, the first Jew to exit Earth’s atmosphere was not too far away – indeed, he was part of the same first cohort of cosmonauts.

Boris Volynov was a Soviet pilot, born to a Jewish mother in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.

Though he trained in the initial class of cosmonauts with Gargarin, he wouldn’t get the chance to fly into space until eight years later in 1969. But antisemitism almost lost him that opportunity.

Volynov was originally chosen as one of two possible leaders for the Soviet Union’s Voskhod 1 mission in 1964, which was set to be the first-ever multi-crew space flight. However, both Volynov’s Jewishness and the fact that one of his crewmates was the son of a victim of Stalin’s purges led Soviet authorities to switch both of them out for an alternative crew at the last minute.

Nonetheless, two years later, Volynov was tapped to lead the Voskhod 3 mission. But the flight was scrapped just 10 days before launch after the death of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union’s chief rocket engineer.

Finally, the same year Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, Volynov was picked for the Soviet space program’s Soyuz 5 mission, during which he performed the first ship-to-ship docking in space with the previous Soyuz 4 craft.

Even still, antisemitism almost jeopardized his flight.

“Thus ended the painfully long journey of Boris Volynov to space flight,” Soviet Air Force General Nikolai Kamanin, who oversaw the cosmonaut training program, wrote in his diary. “He began preparing for flights together with Gagarin, was a backup five times and once was appointed commander of Voskhod, but before the upcoming flight there was a big threat that he would not be included in the Soyuz 5 crew just because his mother is Jewish.”

“In the very last days, letters came from the Central Committee with an appeal: ‘Do not send Jews into space!’ With great difficulty, we managed to protect the good guy from these malicious and stupid attacks,” Kamanin wrote.

Downplaying his Judaism

While the national backgrounds of other cosmonauts were usually highlighted in Soviet fanfare, Volynov’s Jewishness was still downplayed before and after lift off.

A 1969 report by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency pointed out that it was, if anything, further proof of his Judaism.

“One strong indication of Volynov’s Jewish origin is the fact that the Soviet authorities reversed their practice of announcing the nationality of cosmonauts engaged in space exploration three months before the Soyuz 5 launching. The nationality of cosmonauts was always stressed in the past.”

Under Soviet law, Jews were considered a national group – comparable to other Soviet ethnic groups like Tatars or Chechens – rather than a religious one.

Despite the setbacks, Volynov set the stage for other Jewish spacefarers such as American astronaut Judith Resnick, the first Jewish woman, and both the second Jew and second woman in space; Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut; and Jessica Meir, who participated in the first all female spacewalk in 2019. Others, including NASA’s Kayla Barron, are prepping for future missions.

In total, Volynov spent 52 days in space – three during his first flight on the Soyuz 5, and 49 in 1976 during his second flight on the Soyuz 21.

At 86, Volynov remains the last surviving member of the Soviet Union’s first class of Cosmonauts, and the world’s first batch of space explorers.

[unhistorical]

April 23, 1967: The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 1 into orbit.

Yuri Gagarin was the first man to fly in space, but Colonel Vladimir Komarov was the first man to fly twice - and, when Soyuz 1 returned from orbit and hurtled to the Earth at terminal velocity, failed by a malfunctioning parachute, Komarov became the first to die in flight.

The colonel had in 1964 successfully commanded the Voskhod 1 mission, carrying a three-member crew. He and Gagarin were two of the Soviet Union’s premier cosmonauts, and more than that, they were close friends. Gagarin was to be Komarov’s backup pilot for the Soyuz 1 mission. This was why, although both men knew that the craft was seriously technically flawed, perhaps even doomed, Komarov would not back out — at least according to one account of that fated friendship and flight (note: this account, while vivid, is of questionable scholarship):

[Komarov] said, “I’m not going to make it back from this flight.”

Russayev asked, Why not refuse? …

Komarov answered: “If I don’t make this flight, they’ll send the backup pilot instead… That’s Yura. And he’ll die instead of me. We’ve got to take care of him.” Komarov then burst into tears.

Embellished or not, the high stakes that surrounded the tragedy were real. The Space Race had entered its lunar stretch. John F. Kennedy had, in 1961, announced the United States’ intent to land a man on the Moon before the decade’s close; Kennedy would not live to see either close or landing, but the Apollo program was now deep underway, and the Soyuz program was the Soviet response. In contrast to the earlier phase of the Space Race, it was now the Soviet effort that stumbled a few steps behind. Much was riding on the success of Soyuz 1 - all the hopes of the Soviets’ future on the Moon! - and all of this rested equally on the shoulders of Colonel Komarov.

Gagarin, along with an engineer and head cosmonaut trainer Nikolai Kamanin, accompanied Komarov to the rocket before dawn on the morning of April 23, 1967. Gagarin “went all the way to the top of the rocket and remained there until the hatch was closed.” He was likely the last person to see Komarov before his ill-fated flight, which was to return to Earth just over a day later, after 18 orbits.

Originally, Soyuz 1 was to remain in orbit for four days, during which it would rendezvous with Soyuz 2, but technical problems plagued the mission from the beginning. These could not be smoothed over; Soyuz 1 had to come down. Technical problems even in emergency re-entry sentenced the mission to its violent, fiery end. The idea that the colonel began to scream and bitterly curse the engineers and politics and politicians that had condemned him to this immolation is likely another embellishment. In a mission so shrouded in confusion and so amplified in its drama and lurid horror, rumors about the gruesome details and about the final hysterical moments of a betrayed cosmonaut before death were quick to fill in the spaces of the unknown.

But based on what is known, such a reaction on Komarov’s part would have been reasonable. Without a parachute, the re-entry capsule became a veritable missile fired into the Earth and, had anything managed to survive impact, it would have been swallowed in the explosion that engulfed the Soyuz afterward. It was only after careful assessment and excavation of the wreckage that the Soviets were able to recover what remained of Komarov’s body - “a small burnt lump measuring 30 to 80 centimeters.”

Vladimir Komarov was posthumously awarded the Gold Star Medal of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin. Gagarin would die, less than a year later, in a jet fighter crash during a routine training exercise. Both were cremated, interred in the walls of the Kremlin. And the Soyuz outlived both, outlived the Soviet Union itself, and it soldiered on, and to this day the Soyuz line continues to ferry flights to and from the International Space Station (since the termination of the American Space Shuttle program, American astronauts now rely on the Soyuz for ISS-related transport). At the foot of a lunar mountain, Komarov’s name is enshrined on a plaque with thirteen others, alongside that of his friend, Yuri Gagarin.

[sovietpostcards]

A rare Soviet book, "The Way to the Space Begins with Morning Exercise" by Nikolai Kamanin. Published in 1975.

General Kamanin was the head of cosmonaut training in the Soviet space program. 

Buy: https://www.etsy.com/sovietpostcards/listing/560667506/

[yurigagarintimeline]

Soviet Space Program (Part II)

Dates: 1959-1961

Important Events: As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a corresponding course program at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Which is a stark difference to the requirements to be an astronaut today, most candidates today go through years and years of school with multiple degrees by the time they make it to space. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.This could be because of the increasing pressures of the space race, they were in a hurry to get a cosmonaut into space. Gagarin also had to go through experiments that were designed to test his physical and psychological endurance. This included oxygen starvation tests (in which the cosmonauts were locked in an isolation chamber and the air slowly pumped out). The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961 and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, the overseer of the Vostok program. Gagarin, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov all received excellent marks for the first day of testing. On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate for the mission and Titov as backup.

Sources

Photo: https://russkiymir.ru/en/magazines/article/144265/

Information: https://www.airspacemag.com/space/the-family-he-left-behind-516092/?page=1

https://www.history.com/news/what-really-happened-to-yuri-gagarin-the-first-man-in-space

[ownerzero]

The First Women Trained To Conquer Space

It wasn’t long after Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space that the Soviets began considering women as cosmonauts. To be precise, it was Nikolai Kamanin, the manager of the Star City space squad, who pushed the idea in 1961. Soviet bigwigs were enthusiastic, as it was another opportunity to be “first,” ahead of […]

The post The First Women Trained To Conquer Space appeared first on AWorkstation.com.

source https://aworkstation.com/the-first-women-trained-to-conquer-space/

[universallycrownpirate]

Frank Frederick Borman, II (* 14. März 1928 in Gary, Indiana, USA) ist ein ehemaliger amerikanischer Astronaut.

Nachdem Borman 1950 an der Militärakademie in West Point sein Luftfahrttechnikstudium beendet hatte, diente er bis 1953 als Kampfpilot der Luftwaffe auf den Philippinen, danach als Fluglehrer in Georgia und Arizona. 1957 erhielt Borman einen Master in Luft- und Raumfahrt. Danach lehrte er bis 1960 als Assistenzprofessor in West Point Thermodynamik und Fluidmechanik. Dann kehrte er an die Edwards Air Force Base in Kalifornien wieder ins Cockpit zurück: zuerst in der Ausbildung zum Testpilot, danach als Ausbilder.

Am 17. September 1962 wurde er von der NASA in die zweite Astronautengruppe gewählt. Als Spezialaufgabe übernahm er die Raketen, die die Raumschiffe in die Erdumlaufbahn bringen sollten.

Ende 1963 war Borman als Ersatzpilot für den Jungfernflug Gemini 3 vorgesehen. Durch die Fluguntauglichkeit des vorgesehenen Gemini-3-Kommandanten Alan Shepard und die Verschiebung der Missionsprofile wurde Borman dann jedoch Ersatz-Kommandant von Gemini 4, was am 27. Juli 1964 der Öffentlichkeit mitgeteilt wurde.

Nachdem der Flug im Juni 1965 erfolgreich durchgeführt worden war, wurde Borman zum Kommandanten von Gemini 7 nominiert. Borman war damit nach James McDivitt der zweite NASA-Astronaut, dem schon beim ersten Flug das Kommando über ein Mehrpersonenraumschiff übertragen wurde. Zusammen mit Jim Lovell umkreiste er vom 4. Dezember bis zum 18. Dezember 1965 die Erde, ein Langzeitrekord, der erst 1970 von der Besatzung von Sojus 9gebrochen wurde.

Am 29. September 1966 wurde er als Ersatzkommandant für den zweiten bemannten Apollo-Flug eingeteilt, doch dieser Flug wurde schon wenige Wochen später wieder gestrichen, weil es eine unnötige Wiederholung des ersten Fluges sei.

Nach der Katastrophe von Apollo 1, bei der drei Astronauten ums Leben kamen, war Frank Borman Mitglied der Untersuchungskommission. In der Folge bekam er die Aufgabe, das Team zum Umbau der Apollo-Kommandokapsel zu leiten.

Nachdem die NASA die Planungen für bemannte Weltraumflüge wieder aufgenommen hatte, wurden am 20. November 1967 die Einteilungen für den zweiten und dritten Apolloflug (Missionen D und E) bekannt gegeben. Borman war als Kommandant für Mission E vorgesehen. Zusammen mit ihm wurden Michael Collins und William Anders eingeteilt. Dies sollte der erste bemannte Flug der neuen Rakete Saturn V werden und bis zu 11 Tage dauern.

Im Sommer 1968 zeichnete sich jedoch ab, dass die Mondlandefähre, die im zweiten bemannten Apolloflug (der Mission D) getestet werden sollte, nicht rechtzeitig einsatzbereit sein würde. Im August entschied die NASA, vorerst ohne die Öffentlichkeit zu informieren, dass die Mission E vorgezogen werden könnte und Bormans Team als Mission C' den Mond umrunden sollte. Allerdings musste sich Michael Collins einer Operation unterziehen und wurde durch Jim Lovell ersetzt.

Nachdem die Mission C (Apollo 7) erfolgreich verlief, entschied die NASA am 10. November endgültig, dass Bormans Mannschaft die erste sein sollte, die zum Mond fliegt. Der historische Flug von Apollo 8 begann am 21. Dezember 1968 und dauerte sieben Tage. Für Borman war dies der zweite und letzte Raumflug. Er war einer der wenigen Astronauten des Gemini- und Apollo-Projekts, die selbst nie als Verbindungssprecher (Capcom) gearbeitet hatten.

Im Juli 1969, kurz vor der Mondlandung von Apollo 11 besuchte Borman offiziell die Sowjetunion. Er wurde dabei von seiner Frau und seinen 15- und 17-jährigen Söhnen begleitet. Borman traf Nikolai Kamanin, den Leiter der sowjetischen bemannten Raumfahrt, sowie die Kosmonauten Feoktistow, Titow, Schatalow, Volynow, Beregowoi und Tereschkowa. Kamanin würdigte Borman als geübten Redner und Diplomaten sowie als geborenen Politiker.

Am 1. Juli 1970 schied Frank Borman bei der NASA aus und ging zur amerikanischen Fluggesellschaft Eastern Air Lines, zuerst als Vizepräsident, ab 1976 als Vorsitzender. Während seiner Zeit bei Eastern gelangen der Gesellschaft die vier profitabelsten Jahresabschlüsse ihrer Geschichte. Unter seiner Führung beschaffte Eastern als erste amerikanische Fluggesellschaft Flugzeuge von Airbus.

Als Eastern-Air-Lines-Flug 401 am 29. Dezember 1972 in den Everglades in Florida verunglückte, beteiligte Borman sich noch in derselben Nacht persönlich an den Rettungsmaßnahmen.

1986 zog er sich bei Eastern zurück. Derzeit beschäftigt er sich mit der Restaurierung von Flugzeugen.

Borman wurde 1978 als zweitem Astronauten die Congressional Space Medal of Honor verliehen

Er ist als einer von wenigen Astronauten Mitglied in der National Aviation Hall of Fame

1968 war er mit seinem Kameraden von Apollo 8 Mann des Jahres des Time Magazine

Der Name des Softwareunternehmens Borland wurde von Bormans Namen inspiriert

[fyeahcosmonauts-blog]

I almost forgot about Soyuz 11! Today in 1971 the crew of Soyuz 11; Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev; died during landing as a result of their Soyuz depressurizing (among other problems). They were the first crew to stay on a space station, Salyut 1.

This photo is after the press conference that confirmed Volkov, Dobrovolsky and Patsayev as the Soyuz 11 crew. The original crew was taken off when it was discovered on a X-ray that crew member Valery Kubasov might have tuberculosis. Left to right: Volkov, Dobrovolsky, head of cosmonaut training Nikolai Kamanin, Patsayev, Vladimir Shatalov and Nikolai Rukavishnikov, both of the Soyuz 10 crew.

(Source)