1.
Soyuz (rocket family)
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Soyuz is a family of expendable launch systems developed by OKB-1, and manufactured by Progress State Research and Production Rocket Space Center in Samara, Russia. The Soyuz launch vehicle is the most frequently used vehicle in the world. Space Shuttle program ended in 2011, Soyuz rockets became the launch vehicle able to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. All Soyuz rockets use RP-1 and liquid propellant, with the exception of the Soyuz-U2, which used Syntin. In the United States, it has the Library of Congress designation A-2, the Soyuz family is a subset of the R-7 family. The Soyuz launcher was introduced in 1966, deriving from the Vostok launcher and it was initially a three-stage rocket with a Block I upper stage. Later a Molniya variant was produced by adding a fourth stage, a later variant was the Soyuz-U. The production of Soyuz launchers reached a peak of 60 per year in the early 1980s and it has become the worlds most used space launcher, flying over 1700 times, far more than any other rocket. Despite its age and perhaps thanks to its simplicity, this family has been notable for its low cost and very high reliability. In the early 1990s plans were made for a redesigned Soyuz with a Fregat upper stage, the Fregat engine was developed by NPO Lavochkin from the propulsion module of its Phobos interplanetary probes. The creation of Starsem in July 1996 provided new funding for the creation of an ambitious variant. This consisted of a slightly modified Soyuz U combined with the Fregat upper stage, in April 1997, Starsem obtained a contract from the European Space Agency to launch two pairs of Cluster 2 plasma science satellites using the Soyuz-Fregat. After successful test flights of Soyuz-Fregat on February 9,2000 and March 20,2000, another Soyuz-Fregat launched the ESAs Mars Express probe from Baikonur in June 2003. Now the Soyuz-Fregat launcher is used by Starsem for commercial payloads, between February 1,2003 and July 26,2005 with the grounding of the U. S. Space Shuttle fleet, Soyuz was the means of transportation to. This included the transfer of supplies, via Progress spacecraft, NASA is scheduled to resume manned flights from the United States in late 2018 or 2019 through the Commercial Crew Development program. One person from the crew was killed and eight injured. Another failure occurred on June 21,2005, during a Molniya military communications satellite launch from the Plesetsk launch site, the flight ended six minutes after the launch because of a failure of the third stage engine or an unfulfilled order to separate the second and third stages
2.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
3.
Gagarin's Start
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Gagarins Start is a launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, used for the Soviet space program and now managed by Roscosmos State Corporation. The launchpad for the worlds first human made by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1 in 1961. It is also referred to as NIIP-5 LC1, Baikonur LC1 or GIK-5 LC1. On 17 March 1954 the Council of Ministers ordered several ministries to select a site for a ground to test the R-7 rocket by 1 January 1955. A special reconnaissance commission considered several possible geographic regions and selected Tyuratam in the Kazakh SSR and this selection was approved on 12 February 1955 by the Council of Ministers, with a completion of construction targeted for 1958. Work on the construction of Site No.1 began on 20 July 1955 by military engineers. Day and night more than 60 powerful trucks worked at the site,15,000 cubic metres of earth were excavated and removed per day, during winter explosives were widely utilized. By the end of October 1956 all primary building and installation of infrastructure for R-7 tests was completed. The Installation and Testing Building named Site No.2 was built, by April 1957 all remaining work was completed and the site was ready for launches. The R-7 missile made its voyage from LC-1 on May 15,1957. On 4 October 1957 the pad was used to launch the worlds first artificial satellite, the pad was also used to launch Luna program spacecraft, Mars probe program spacecraft, Venera program spacecraft, many Cosmos satellites and others. From 1957 through 1966 the site hosted ready-to-launch strategic nuclear ICBMs in addition to spacecraft launches, the 500th launch from this site was of Soyuz TMA-18M on 2 September 2015. In 1961, the launch schedule of the Soviet space program resulted in the opening of a sister pad at Baikonur. LC-1 has been the primary facility for manned launches, with occasional Soyuz flights from LC-31/6, LC-1 was damaged several times by booster explosions during the early years. Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 31 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14, the equivalent for the United States first manned spaceflights. «Korolev, Facts and myths» - J. K. Golovanov, M, Nauka,1994, - ISBN 5-02-000822-2, Rockets and people – B. E. Chertok, M, kuznetsk, Voronezh, IPF Voronezh,1997, ISBN 5-89981-117-X, Look back and look ahead. Notes of a military engineer - Rjazhsky A. A.2004, SC. first, rocket and space feat Baikonur - Vladimir Порошков, the Patriot publishers 2007. ISBN 5-7030-0969-3 Unknown Baikonur - edited by B. I, ISBN 5-8155-0051-8 Bank of the Universe - edited by Boltenko A. C
4.
Soyuz (spacecraft)
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Soyuz is a series of spacecraft designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s that remains in service today. The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraft and was built as part of the Soviet manned lunar programs. The Soyuz spacecraft is launched on a Soyuz rocket, the most frequently used, the Soyuz rocket design is based on the Vostok launcher, which in turn was based on the 8K74 or R-7A Semyorka, a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile. All Soyuz spacecraft are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the first Soyuz flight was unmanned and started on November 28,1966. The first Soyuz mission with a crew, Soyuz 1, launched on 23 April 1967 but ended with a due to a parachute failure. Soyuz 3, launched on October 26,1968, became the programs first successful manned mission, the only other flight to suffer a fatal accident, Soyuz 11, killed its crew of three when the cabin depressurized prematurely just before reentry. These were the humans to date to have died above the Kármán line. Despite these early incidents, Soyuz is widely considered the worlds safest, most cost-effective human spaceflight vehicle, Soyuz spacecraft were used to carry cosmonauts to and from Salyut and later Mir Soviet space stations, and are now used for transport to and from the International Space Station. At least one Soyuz spacecraft is docked to ISS at all times for use as a craft in the event of an emergency. The spacecraft is intended to be replaced by the six-person Federation spacecraft, the orbital and service modules are single-use and are destroyed upon re-entry in the atmosphere. The orbital and reentry portions are habitable living space, Soyuz can carry up to three crew members and provide life support for about 30 person days. The life support system provides an atmosphere at sea level partial pressures. The atmosphere is regenerated through KO2 cylinders, which absorb most of the CO2 and water produced by the crew and regenerates the oxygen, the vehicle is protected during launch by a payload fairing, which is jettisoned along with the SAS at 2-1/2 minutes into launch. It has a docking system. The ship can be operated automatically, or by a pilot independently of ground control, inspired by the Mercury LES, Soviet designers began work on a similar system in 1962. This included developing a complex sensing system to monitor various launch vehicle parameters, the SAS could also be manually activated from the ground, but unlike American spacecraft, there was no way for the cosmonauts to trigger it themselves. Four folding stabilizers were added to improve stability during descent. Two test runs of the SAS were carried out in 1966-67, the basic design of the SAS has remained almost unchanged in 50 years of use and all Soyuz launches carry it
5.
Samara
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Samara, known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev, is the sixth largest city in Russia and the administrative center of Samara Oblast. It is situated in the part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga. The Volga acts as the western boundary, across the river are the Zhiguli Mountains. The northern boundary is formed by the Sokolyi Hills and by the steppes in the south, the land within the city boundaries covers 46,597 hectares. The metropolitan area of Samara-Tolyatti-Syzran within Samara Oblast contains a population of three million. Formerly a closed city, Samara is now a large and important social, political, economic, industrial and it has a continental climate characterised by hot summers and cold winters. Samaras riverfront is considered one of the recreation places both for local citizens and tourists. After the Soviet novelist Vasily Aksyonov visited Samara, he remarked, I am not sure where in the West one can find such a long, ahmad ibn Fadlan visited the area that is now Samara around the year 921 AD while on his journey up the Volga. The Volga port of Samara appears on Italian maps of the 14th century, before 1586, the Samara Bend was a pirate nest. Lookouts would spot a boat and quickly cross to the other side of the peninsula where the pirates would organize an attack. Officially, Samara started with a built in 1586 at the confluence of the Volga. This fortress was a frontier post protecting the then easternmost boundaries of Russia from forays of nomads, a local customs office was established in 1600. As more and more pulled into Samaras port, the town turned into a center for diplomatic and economic links between Russia and the East. Samara also opened its gates to peasant war rebels headed by Stepan Razin and Yemelyan Pugachyov, welcoming them with traditional bread, the town was visited by Peter the Great and later Tsars. In 1780, Samara was turned into a town of Simbirsk Governorate overseen by the local Governor-General, and Uyezd and Zemstvo Courts of Justice. On January 1,1851, Samara became the center of Samara Governorate with a population of 20,000. This gave a stimulus to the development of the economic, political and cultural life of the community, in 1877, during the Russian-Turkish War, a mission from the Samara city government Duma led by Pyotr V. The quick growth of Samaras economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was determined by the scope of the bread trade and flour milling business
6.
International Space Station
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The International Space Station is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. Its first component launched into orbit in 1998, and the ISS is now the largest man-made body in space, the ISS consists of pressurised modules, external trusses, solar arrays, and other components. ISS components have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets, the ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields. The station is suited for the testing of systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon. The ISS maintains an orbit with an altitude of between 330 and 435 km by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda module or visiting spacecraft and it completes 15.54 orbits per day. The ISS is the space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz. The station has continuously occupied for 16 years and 156 days since the arrival of Expedition 1 on 2 November 2000. This is the longest continuous presence in low Earth orbit. It has been visited by astronauts, cosmonauts and space tourists from 17 different nations, Soyuz has very limited downmass capability. The ISS programme is a joint project among five participating space agencies, NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, the ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station is divided two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment and the United States Orbital Segment, which is shared by many nations. As of January 2014, the American portion of ISS is being funded until 2024, Roscosmos has endorsed the continued operation of ISS through 2024 but has proposed using elements of the Russian Orbital Segment to construct a new Russian space station called OPSEK. On 28 March 2015, Russian sources announced that Roscosmos and NASA had agreed to collaborate on the development of a replacement for the current ISS. NASA later issued a statement expressing thanks for Russias interest in future co-operation in space exploration. According to the original Memorandum of Understanding between NASA and Rosaviakosmos, the International Space Station was intended to be a laboratory, observatory and factory in low Earth orbit. It was also planned to provide transportation, maintenance, and act as a base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars. In the 2010 United States National Space Policy, the ISS was given roles of serving commercial, diplomatic. The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research, the ISS simplifies individual experiments by eliminating the need for separate rocket launches and research staff
7.
Progress (spacecraft)
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The Progress is a Russian expendable cargo spacecraft. Its purpose is to deliver supplies needed to sustain human presence in orbit, while it does not carry a crew it can be boarded by astronauts when docked with a space station, hence it being classified as manned by its manufacturer. Progress is derived from the manned Soyuz spacecraft and launches on the same vehicle, Progress has supported space stations as early as Salyut 6 and as recently as the International Space Station. Each year there are three and four Progress flights to the ISS. A Progress remains docked until shortly before being replaced with a new one or a Soyuz, then it is filled with waste, disconnected, and de-orbited, at which point it burns up in the atmosphere. Due to the variation in Progress vehicles flown to the ISS, Progress was developed because of the need for a constant source of supplies to make long duration space missions possible. It was determined that cosmonauts needed an inflow of consumables, plus there was a need for maintenance items, such payloads were impractical to launch with passengers in the restricted space of a Soyuz. As of December 1,2016 there have been 155 Progress flights with three failures, all three failures have occurred since 2011. Progress is of much the size and shape as Soyuz. It consists of three modules, A pressurized forward module and this carries the supplies for the crew such as scientific equipment, clothes, prepackaged and fresh food, and letters from home. The docking drogue is similar to that of the Soyuz but features ducting for the UDMH fuel, the reentry module of the Soyuz was replaced with an unpressurized propellant and refueling compartment with ducting along the outside of the spacecraft. This meant that if a leak occurred, the gas would not enter the stations atmosphere. The fuel is carried in two tanks, the propulsion module, at the rear of the spacecraft, remained unchanged and contains the orientation engines used for the automatic docking. It may be used to boost the orbit of the station once docked, reduction in mass was possible because the Progress was designed to be unmanned and disposable. This means that there is no need for life support systems. A small amount of weight is saved due to the lack of rescue crews system. The spacecraft also has no ability to split into separate modules, after undocking, the spacecraft performs a retrofire and burns up in the atmosphere. There were many variations between the different flights, but the major upgrades are reflected in the change of name
8.
Khimki
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Khimki is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia,19 kilometres northwest of central Moscow. Khimki is asserted by many as the nearest point German forces reached in their advance on Moscow in World War II, Khimki was initially a railway station that existed since 1850 on the Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway. The Moskva-Volga Canal was constructed between 1932 and 1937 on which Khimki lies on the west bank, Khimki was then officially founded in 1939. The German attack starting the Battle of Moscow began on 2 October 1941, the attack on a broad front brought German forces to occupy the village of Krasnaya Polyana to Moscows North West. Krasnaya Polyana was taken on 30 November, many sources state that at least one German army patrol visited Khimki. Similarly many sources state this as the closest point the Germans reached to Moscow, among the sources stating the Germans visited Khimki the details of the date and unit involved are inconsistent and disputed. One story of events asserts a skirmish took place in Khimki on 16 October at the Leningradskoe Shosse bridge involving a German motorcycle unit, another account is a patrol reached Khimki around 30 November or early December before returning to its main unit without combat. The dates mentioned for this second account vary, a myth surrounding this is that the Germans would have been able to see the Kremlin in the distance from Khimki. The Soviet Army counter offensive for removing the threat to Moscow started on 5 December on the North-Western Front. The South-Western Front and Western Fronts began their offensives on 6 December, the German forces were driven back. Moscow was never under such close land threat again during the war, a memorial in the form of a giant tank trap is located at the Kilometer 23 point 55°54′46. 103″N 37°24′10. 577″E) of Leningradskoye Highway. The memorial is one mile south east of Planernaya Railway Station, the memorial was unveiled on 6 December 1966 as a 25th anniversary recognition of the launch of the Soviet counter offensive. This location is just short of an intersection with the Moscow-St Petersburg railway and this memorial and shopping centre on the Northern side of Khimki has a direct distance of 22 kilometres from Moscow city centre. At the time of the conflict this location was outside Khimki and this memorial is different to the Khimki War Memorial moved in 2007 to in Novoluzhinskoe cemetery. Khimki was home to several Soviet aerospace defense development centers that became the principal employers for the majority of the city population, for this reason, Khimki was off limits for all foreigners visiting the country, despite its location on a highway between Moscow and its major international airport. In 2010 the city saw protests over the construction of the new Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway through the Khimki Forest, currently, the city of Khimki is directly adjacent to the territory of the city of Moscow. Population,207,425,141,000,132, within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Khimki City Under Oblast Jurisdiction—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, Khimki City Under Oblast Jurisdiction is incorporated as Khimki Urban Okrug, the city enjoys a great deal of commercial activity due to its location between Moscow and one of its main airports, Sheremetyevo
9.
Launch vehicle
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In spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket used to carry a payload from Earths surface into outer space. A launch system includes the launch vehicle, the launch pad, Earth orbital launch vehicles typically have at least two stages, and sometimes as many as four or more. Expendable launch vehicles are designed for one-time use and they usually separate from their payload and disintegrate during atmospheric reentry. In contrast, reusable vehicles are designed to be recovered intact. The Space Shuttle was a part of a vehicle with components used for multiple orbital spaceflights. SpaceX has developed a rocket launching system to successfully bring back a part—the first stage—of their Falcon 9 and launch it again. A fully reusable VTVL design is planned for all parts of the ITS launch vehicle, Launch vehicles are often classified by the amount of mass they can carry into orbit. For example, a Proton rocket can lift 22,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit, Launch vehicles are also characterized by their number of stages. Rockets with as many as five stages have been successfully launched, additionally, launch vehicles are very often supplied with boosters supplying high early thrust, normally burning with other engines. Boosters allow the engines to be smaller, reducing the burnout mass of later stages to allow larger payloads. Other frequently reported characteristics of vehicles are the launching nation or space agency. For example, the European Space Agency is responsible for the Ariane V, many launch vehicles are considered part of a historical line of vehicles of same or similar name, e. g. the Atlas V is the latest Atlas rocket. A small-lift launch vehicle is capable of lifting up to 2,000 kg of payload into low Earth orbit, a medium-lift launch vehicle is capable of lifting 2,000 to 20,000 kg of payload into LEO. A heavy-lift launch vehicle is capable of lifting 20,000 to 50,000 kg of payload into LEO, a super-heavy lift vehicle is capable of lifting more than 50,000 kg of payload into LEO. It refers to its 1,500 kg to LEO Vega launch vehicle as light lift, sounding rockets have long been used for brief, inexpensive unmanned space and microgravity experiments. Current human-rated suborbital launch vehicles include SpaceShipOne and the upcoming SpaceShipTwo, minimizing air drag requires a reasonably high ballistic coefficient, a ratio of length to diameter greater than ten. This generally results in a vehicle that is at least 20 m long. Leaving the atmosphere as early on in the flight as possible provides a velocity loss due to air drag of around 300 m/s, Launch vehicles of sufficient size are capable of launching payloads smaller than their orbital capability, to the Moon or beyond
