What does a spaceship for kids consist of. Inhabited spaceships - the path to space - metal - iron

Is it so easy to put a person in a jar or about the design of manned spacecraft January 3, 2017

Spaceship. Surely many of you, having heard this phrase, imagine something huge, complex and densely populated, a whole city in space. This is how I once imagined spaceships, and numerous science fiction films and books actively contribute to this.

It's probably good that the authors of films are limited only by fantasy, unlike space technology design engineers. At least in the cinema, we can enjoy gigantic volumes, hundreds of compartments and thousands of crew members...

A real spaceship is not at all impressive in size:

The photo shows the Soviet Soyuz-19 spacecraft, taken by American astronauts from the Apollo spacecraft. It can be seen that the ship is quite small, and given that the habitable volume does not occupy the entire ship, it is obvious that it must be quite crowded there.

It is not surprising: large size is a large mass, and mass is enemy number one in astronautics. Therefore, spacecraft designers try to make them as light as possible, often at the expense of crew comfort. Notice how crowded the Soyuz is:

American ships in this regard are not particularly different from Russian ones. For example, here is a photo of Ed White and Jim McDivit in the Gemini spacecraft.

Only the crews of the Space Shuttle could boast of at least some freedom of movement. They had two relatively spacious compartments at their disposal.

Flight deck (actually the control cabin):

The middle deck (this is a household compartment with sleeping places, a toilet, a pantry and an airlock):

Unfortunately, the Soviet ship Buran, similar in size and layout, has never flown in a manned mode, like the TKS, which still has a record habitable volume among all ships ever designed.

But habitable volume is far from the only requirement for a spacecraft. I have heard statements like this: "They put a man in an aluminum can and sent him to spin around Mother Earth." This sentence is, of course, incorrect. So how is a spaceship different from a simple metal barrel?

And the fact that the spacecraft must:
- Provide the crew with a breathable gas mixture,
- remove carbon dioxide and water vapor exhaled by the crew from the habitable volume,
- Provide an acceptable temperature regime for the crew,
- Have a sealed volume sufficient for the life of the crew,
- Provide the ability to control the orientation in space and (optionally) the ability to perform orbital maneuvers,
- Have the necessary supplies of food and water for the life of the crew,
- Ensure the possibility of a safe return of the crew and cargo to the ground,
- Be as light as possible
- Have an emergency rescue system that allows the crew to return to the ground in an emergency at any stage of the flight,
- Be very reliable. Any one failure of the equipment must not lead to the cancellation of the flight, any second failure must not endanger the life of the crew.

As you can see, this is no longer a simple barrel, but a complex technological device, stuffed with a variety of equipment, having engines and a supply of fuel for them.

Here, for example, is the layout of the first-generation Soviet spacecraft Vostok.

It consists of a sealed spherical capsule and a conical instrument-aggregate compartment. Almost all ships have such an arrangement, in which most of the instruments are placed in a separate unpressurized compartment. This is necessary to save weight: if all the instruments are placed in a sealed compartment, this compartment would turn out to be quite large, and since it needs to keep atmospheric pressure inside and withstand significant mechanical and thermal loads during entry into the dense layers of the atmosphere during descent to the ground, the walls it must be thick, strong, which makes the whole structure very heavy. And an unpressurized compartment, which will separate from the descent vehicle upon return to earth and burn up in the atmosphere, does not need strong heavy walls. The descent vehicle without unnecessary instruments during the return turns out to be smaller and, accordingly, lighter. A spherical shape is also given to it to reduce mass, because of all geometric bodies of the same volume, a sphere has the smallest surface area.

The only spacecraft where all the equipment was placed in a sealed capsule is the American Mercury. Here is his photo in the hangar:

One person could fit in this capsule, and then with difficulty. Realizing the inefficiency of such an arrangement, the Americans made their next series of Gemini ships with a detachable leaky instrument-aggregate compartment. In the photo, this is the back of the ship in white:

By the way, this compartment is painted white for a reason. The fact is that the walls of the compartment are pierced by many tubes through which water circulates. This is a system for removing excess heat received from the Sun. Water takes heat from inside the habitable compartment and gives it to the surface of the instrument-aggregate compartment, from where heat is radiated into space. To make these radiators less heated in direct sunlight, they were painted white.

On the Vostok ships, the radiators were located on the surface of the conical instrument-aggregate compartment and were closed with shutters similar to blinds. By opening a different number of shutters, it was possible to regulate the heat transfer of the radiators, and hence the temperature regime inside the ship.

On Soyuz ships and their cargo counterparts Progress, the heat removal system is similar to Gemini. Pay attention to the color of the surface of the instrument-aggregate compartment. Of course, white :)

Inside the instrument-assembly compartment are sustainer engines, low-thrust shunting engines, a supply of fuel for all this stuff, batteries, oxygen and water supplies, and part of the on-board electronics. Outside, radio communication antennas, proximity antennas, various orientation sensors and solar panels are usually installed.

The descent vehicle, which simultaneously serves as the cabin of the spacecraft, contains only those elements that are needed during the descent of the vehicle in the atmosphere and a soft landing, as well as what should be directly accessible to the crew: a control panel, a radio station, an emergency supply of oxygen, parachutes , cassettes with lithium hydroxide to remove carbon dioxide, soft landing engines, lodgements (chairs for astronauts), emergency rescue kits in case of landing at an off-design point, and, of course, the astronauts themselves.

Soyuz ships have one more compartment - household:

It contains everything you need on a long flight, but without which you can do without at the stage of launching the ship into orbit and upon landing: scientific instruments, food supplies, Sanitation device (toilet), spacesuits for extravehicular activities, sleeping bags and other household items. items.

There is a well-known case with the Soyuz TM-5 spacecraft, when, in order to save fuel, the household compartment was fired not after issuing a braking impulse to deorbit, but before. Only now there was no braking impulse: the orientation system failed, then it was not possible to start the engine. As a result, the cosmonauts had to stay in orbit for another day, and the toilet remained in the shot-out amenity compartment. It is difficult to convey what inconvenience the astronauts experienced during these days, until, finally, they managed to land safely. After this incident, they decided to score on such fuel economy and shoot the household compartment together with the instrument-aggregate after braking.

That's how many all sorts of difficulties turned out to be in the "bank". We will separately go over each type of spacecraft of the USSR, the USA and China in the following articles. Stay tuned.

Dear members of the expedition! We begin with you the Third flight under the Star Trek Masters program. The crew is prepared. We have already learned a lot about the starry sky. And now - the most important thing. How will we explore outer space? Ask your friends: what do they fly in space? Many, for sure, will answer - on a rocket! And here is not true. Let's deal with this issue.

What is a rocket?

This is a firecracker, and a type of military weapon, and, of course, an apparatus that flies into space. Only in astronautics it is called booster . (Incorrectly sometimes called launch vehicle, because they are not carrying a rocket, but the rocket itself puts space devices into orbit).

launch vehicle- a device operating on the principle of jet propulsion and designed to launch spacecraft, satellites, orbital stations and other payloads into outer space. To date, this is the only vehicle known to science capable of launching a spacecraft into orbit.

This is the most powerful Russian Proton-M launch vehicle.

In order to enter Earth orbit, it is necessary to overcome the force of gravity, that is, the Earth's gravity. It is very large, so the rocket must move at a very high speed. The rocket needs a lot of fuel. You can see several first stage fuel tanks below. When they run out of fuel, the first stage separates and falls (into the ocean), thus it is no longer ballast for the rocket. It also happens with the second, third stage. As a result, only the spacecraft itself, located in the nose of the rocket, is launched into orbit.

Space vehicles.

So, we already know that in order to overcome the earth's gravity and put a spacecraft into orbit, we need a launch vehicle. And what are spacecraft?

artificial earth satellite (satellite) is a spacecraft orbiting the Earth. Used for research, experiments, communications, telecommunications and other purposes.

Here it is, the world's first artificial Earth satellite, launched in the Soviet Union in 1957. Quite small, right?

Currently, more than 40 countries are launching their satellites.

It is the first French satellite launched in 1965. They named him Asterix.

Spaceships- are used to deliver goods and people to the Earth's orbit and their return. There are automatic and manned.

This is our latest generation Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-M. Now he is in space. It was launched into orbit by a Soyuz-FG launch vehicle.

American scientists have developed another system for launching people and cargo into space.

Space transportation system, better known as space shuttle(from English. Spaceshuttle - space shuttle listen)) is an American reusable transport spacecraft. The shuttle is launched into space using launch vehicles, maneuvers in orbit like a spacecraft, and returns to Earth like an airplane. The shuttle Discovery made the most flights.

And this is the launch of the shuttle Endeavor. The Endeavor made its first flight in 1992. The Endeavor Shuttle is scheduled to complete the Space Shuttle program. The launch of his last mission is scheduled for February 2011.

The third country that has managed to go into space is China.

Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou ("Magic Boat"). In design and appearance, it resembles the Soyuz and was developed with the help of Russia, but is not an exact copy of the Russian Soyuz.

Where are the spaceships going? To the stars? Not yet. They can fly around the Earth, they can get to the Moon, or they can dock with a space station.

international space station (ISS) - manned orbital station, space research complex. The ISS is a joint international project involving sixteen countries (in alphabetical order): Belgium, Brazil, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, USA, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan.

The station is assembled from modules directly in orbit. Modules are separate parts, gradually delivered by transport ships. It receives power from solar panels.

But it is important not only to escape from the earth's gravity and end up in space. The astronaut still needs to safely return to Earth. For this, descent vehicles are used.

Landing vehicles- are used to deliver people and materials from an orbit around a planet or an interplanetary trajectory to the planet's surface.

The descent of the descent vehicle on a parachute is the final stage of space travel when returning to Earth. The parachute serves to soften the landing and braking of artificial satellites and spacecraft with a crew.

This is the descent vehicle of Yuri Gagarin, the first man to fly into space on April 12, 1961. In honor of the 50th anniversary of this event, 2011 was named the Year of Cosmonautics.

Can a person fly to another planet? Not yet. The only celestial body where people managed to land is the Earth's satellite, the Moon.

In 1969, American astronauts landed on the moon. The manned spacecraft Apollo 11 helped them fly. In orbit around the moon, the lunar module undocked from the spacecraft and landed on the surface of the moon. After spending 21 hours on the surface, the astronauts went back on the takeoff module. And on the surface of the moon remained the landing part. Outside, a plate with a map of the hemispheres of the Earth was strengthened on it and the words “Here, people from planet Earth first set foot on the moon. July 1969 new era. We come in peace on behalf of all Humanity." What good words!

But what about the exploration of other planets? Is it possible? Yes. That's what planet rovers are for.

rovers- automatic laboratory complexes or vehicles for moving on the surface of the planet and other celestial body.

The world's first planetary rover "Luna-1" was launched on the surface of the Moon on November 17, 1970 by the Soviet interplanetary station "Luna-17" and worked on its surface until September 29, 1971 (on this day the last successful communication session with the device was carried out) .

Lunokhod "Luna-1". He worked on the Moon for almost a year, after which he remained on the surface of the Moon. BUT ... In 2007, scientists who conducted laser sounding of the Moon HAVE NOT DETECTED it there! What happened to him? Did a meteorite hit? Or?...

How many more mysteries does space hold? How much is connected with the planet closest to us - Mars! And so American scientists managed to send two rovers to this red planet.

There were many problems with the launch of the rovers. Until they thought of giving them their own names. In 2003, the United States held a real competition for names for new rovers. The winner was a 9-year-old girl, an orphan from Siberia, who was adopted by an American family. She suggested calling them Spirit (“Spirit”) and Opportunity (“Opportunity”). These names were chosen from 10,000 others.

January 3, 2011 marks seven years since the Spirit rover (pictured above) began operations on the surface of Mars. Spirit got stuck in the sands in April 2009 and hasn't been in contact with Earth since March 2010. It is not currently known if this rover is still alive.

Meanwhile, its twin named "Opportunity" is currently exploring the 90m diameter crater.

And this rover is just getting ready to launch.

This is an entire Martian science lab that is preparing to be sent to Mars in 2011. It will be several times larger and heavier than the existing twin rovers.

And finally, let's talk about starships. Do they exist in reality or is it just fiction? Exist!

starship- a spacecraft (spaceship) capable of moving between star systems or even galaxies.

In order for the spacecraft to become a starship, it is enough for it to reach the third cosmic speed. At present, spacecraft of this type are the Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2 spacecraft that left the solar system.

This " Pioneer-10» (USA) - an unmanned spacecraft designed mainly to study Jupiter. It was the first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter and photograph it from space. The twin apparatus Pioneer 11 also explored Saturn.

It was launched on March 2, 1972. In 1983, he passed the orbit of Pluto and became the first spacecraft launched from Earth to leave the solar system.

However, outside the solar system, Pioneer 10 began to experience mysterious phenomena. A force of unknown origin began to slow him down. The last signal from Pioneer 10 was received on January 23, 2003. It was reported that he was heading towards Aldebaran. If nothing happens to it along the way, it will reach the vicinity of the star in 2 million years. Such a long flight... A gold plate is fixed on board the device, where the location of the Earth is indicated for aliens, as well as a number of images and sounds are recorded.

space tourism

Of course, many people want to go to space, to see the Earth from above, the starry sky is much closer... Can only astronauts go there? Not only. Space tourism has been successfully developing for several years now.

Currently, the only used destination for space tourism is the International Space Station (ISS). Flights are carried out with the help of Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Already 7 space tourists have successfully completed their voyage, having spent several days in space. The last one was Guy Laliberte- founder and head of the company Cirque du Soleil (Circus of the Sun). True, a ticket to space is very expensive, from 20 to 40 million dollars.

There is another option. More precisely, it will be soon.

The manned ship SpaceShipTwo (he is in the middle) is lifted by a special White Knight catamaran aircraft to a height of 14 km, where they are undocked from the aircraft. After undocking, its own solid-fuel engine should turn on, and SpaceShipTwo will rise to a height of 50 km. Here, the engines will be turned off, and the device will rise to a height of 100 km by inertia. Then it turns around and begins to fall to Earth, at an altitude of 20 km, the wings of the device are in position for glide, and SpaceShipTwo lands.

Only 6 minutes it will be in outer space, and its passengers (6 people) will be able to experience all the delights of weightlessness and admire the view from the windows.

True, these 6 minutes will also cost a lot - 200 thousand dollars. But the test pilot says they are worth it. Tickets are already on sale!

In the fantasy world

So, we very briefly got acquainted with the main spacecraft that exist today. In conclusion, let's talk about those devices, the existence of which science has not yet confirmed. Newspapers, television, and the Internet often receive such photographs of flying objects visiting our Earth.

What is this? A flying saucer of alien origin, wonders of computer graphics and something else? We don't know yet. But you will know for sure!

Flights to the stars have always attracted the attention of science fiction writers, directors, screenwriters.

This is how the Pepelats spacecraft looks like in G. Danelia's film "Kin-dza-dza".

In the slang of specialists in rocket and space technology, the word "pepelats" has come to mean with humor a single-stage vertical launch and landing launch vehicle, as well as ridiculous and exotic designs of spacecraft and launch vehicles.

However, what seems like science fiction today may soon become reality. We still laugh at our favorite movie, and an American private company decided to implement these ideas.

This "pepelats" appeared ten years after the film, and he really flew, though under the name "Roton".

One of the most famous foreign science fiction films is Star Trek, a multi-part epic film created by Jim Roddenberry. There, a team of space explorers is sent to fly between galaxies on the starship Enterprise.

Some real-life spaceships have been named after the legendary Enterprise.

Starship Voyager. More perfect, continuing the research mission of the Enterprise.

Material from Wikipedia, www.cosmoworld.ru, from news feeds.

As you can see, reality and fiction are not so far apart. In this flight you have to create your own spacecraft. You can choose any kind of existing devices: launch vehicle, satellite, spacecraft, space station, planetary rover, etc. Or you can depict a starship from the fantasy world.

Spaceship, how does it work?

The mass of modern spacecraft is directly related to how high they fly. The main task of manned spacecraft is safety.

The SOYUZ descent vehicle became the first space series of the Soviet Union. During this period, an arms race was going on between the USSR and the USA. If we compare the size and approach to the issue of construction, then the leadership of the USSR did everything for the speedy conquest of space. It is clear why similar devices are not being built today. It is unlikely that someone will undertake to build according to a scheme in which there is no personal space for astronauts. Modern spacecraft are equipped with both crew rest rooms and a descent capsule, the main task of which is to make it as soft as possible during the landing.

The first spaceship: the history of creation

Tsiolkovsky is rightly considered the father of astronautics. Based on his teachings, Goddrad built a rocket engine.

Scientists who worked in the Soviet Union were the first to design and launch an artificial satellite. They were also the first to invent the possibility of launching a living creature into space. The states are aware that the Union was the first to create an aircraft capable of going into space with a person. The father of rocket science is rightly called Korolev, who went down in history as the one who figured out how to overcome gravity and was able to create the first manned spacecraft. Today, even kids know in what year the first ship with a person on board was launched, but few people remember the contribution of the Queen to this process.

The crew and their safety during the flight

The main task today is the safety of the crew, because they spend a lot of time at flight altitude. When building an aircraft, it is important what metal it is made of. The following types of metals are used in rocket science:

Aluminum - allows you to significantly increase the size of the spacecraft, as it is lightweight.
Iron - perfectly copes with all the loads on the ship's hull.
Copper has a high thermal conductivity.
Silver - reliably binds copper and steel.
Tanks for liquid oxygen and hydrogen are made from titanium alloys.

A modern life support system allows you to create a familiar atmosphere for a person. Many boys see how they fly in space, forgetting about the very large overload of the astronaut at the start.

The largest space ship in the world

Among warships, fighters and interceptors are very popular. A modern cargo ship has the following classification:

The probe is a research ship.
Capsule - cargo compartment for delivery or rescue operations of the crew.
The module is launched into orbit by an unmanned carrier. Modern modules are divided into 3 categories.
Rocket. The prototype for the creation was military development.
Shuttle - reusable structures for the delivery of the necessary cargo.
Stations are the largest spaceships. Today, not only Russians, but also French, Chinese and others are in outer space.

Buran - a spaceship that went down in history

Vostok was the first spacecraft to go into space. After the Federation of Rocket Science of the USSR, the production of Soyuz ships began. Much later, Clippers and Rus began to be produced. The federation places great hopes on all these manned projects.

In 1960, the Vostok spacecraft by its flight proved the possibility of man entering space. On April 12, 1961, Vostok 1 orbited the Earth. But the question of who flew on the ship Vostok 1, for some reason, causes difficulty. Maybe the fact is that we simply do not know that Gagarin made his first flight on this ship? In the same year, the Vostok 2 spacecraft entered orbit for the first time, in which there were two cosmonauts at once, one of whom went beyond the ship in space. It was progress. And already in 1965 Voskhod 2 was able to go into outer space. The history of the Sunrise 2 ship was filmed.

Vostok 3 set a new world record for the longest time a ship spent in space. The last ship in the series was Vostok 6.

The American shuttle of the Apollo series opened new horizons. After all, in 1968, Apollo 11 was the first to land on the moon. Today there are several projects for the development of spaceplanes of the future, such as Hermes and Columbus.

Salyut is a series of interorbital space stations of the Soviet Union. Salyut 7 is known for having crashed.

The next spaceship, whose history is of interest, was Buran, by the way, I wonder where he is now. In 1988 he made his first and last flight. After repeated analysis and transportation, Buran's path of movement was lost. The last known location of the Buran spacecraft is in Sochi, work on it has been mothballed. However, the storm around this project has not yet subsided, and the further fate of the abandoned Buran project is of interest to many. And in Moscow, an interactive museum complex was created inside the model of the Buran spacecraft at VDNKh.

Gemini - a series of ships of American designers. They replaced the Mercury project and were able to make a spiral in orbit.

American ships with the name Space Shuttle have become a kind of shuttles, making more than 100 flights between objects. The second Space Shuttle was the Challenger.

One cannot but be interested in the history of the planet Nibiru, which is recognized as a warden ship. Nibiru has already twice approached a dangerous distance to Earth, but both times the collision was avoided.

Dragon is a spacecraft that was supposed to fly to the planet Mars in 2018. In 2014, the federation, citing the technical characteristics and condition of the Dragon ship, postponed the launch. Not so long ago, another event happened: the Boeing company made a statement that it had also begun development work on the creation of a rover.

The first reusable station wagon in history was to be an apparatus called Zarya. Zarya is the first development of a reusable transport ship, on which the federation had very high hopes.

A breakthrough is the possibility of using nuclear installations in space. For these purposes, work began on the transport and energy module. In parallel, developments are underway on the Prometheus project - a compact nuclear reactor for rockets and spacecraft.

China's Shenzhou 11 launched in 2016 with two astronauts to spend 33 days in space.

Spacecraft speed (km/h)

The minimum speed with which you can go into orbit around the Earth is 8 km / s. Today there is no need to develop the fastest ship in the world, since we are at the very beginning of outer space. After all, the maximum height that we could reach in space is only 500 km. The record for the fastest movement in space was set in 1969, and so far it has not been possible to break it. On the Apollo 10 spacecraft, three astronauts were returning home after orbiting the moon. The capsule that was supposed to deliver them from the flight managed to reach a speed of 39.897 km / h. For comparison, let's consider how fast a space station flies. As much as possible, it can develop up to 27,600 km / h.

Abandoned spaceships

Today, for spacecraft that have become unusable, a cemetery has been created in the Pacific Ocean, where dozens of abandoned spaceships can find their last refuge. spaceship disasters

Disasters happen in space, often taking lives. The most frequent, oddly enough, are accidents that occur due to collisions with space debris. On impact, the object's orbit is displaced and causes crash and damage, often resulting in an explosion. The most famous disaster is the death of the manned American spacecraft Challenger.

Nuclear engine for spaceships 2017

Today, scientists are working on projects to create an atomic electric motor. These developments involve the conquest of space with the help of photonic engines. Russian scientists are planning to start testing a thermonuclear engine in the near future.

Spaceships of Russia and the USA

The rapid interest in space arose during the Cold War between the USSR and the USA. American scientists recognized worthy rivals in their Russian colleagues. Soviet rocket science continued to develop, and after the collapse of the state, Russia became its successor. Of course, the spacecraft that Russian cosmonauts fly are significantly different from the first ships. Moreover, today, thanks to the successful developments of American scientists, spacecraft have become reusable.

Spaceships of the future

Today, there is increasing interest in projects that will enable humanity to make longer journeys. Modern developments are already preparing ships for interstellar expeditions.

Where are spaceships launched from?

To see with your own eyes the launch of a spacecraft at the start is the dream of many. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the first launch does not always lead to the desired result. But thanks to the Internet, we can see how the ship takes off. Given the fact that those watching the launch of a manned spacecraft must be far enough away, we can imagine that we are on the takeoff site.

Spaceship: what is it like inside?

Today, thanks to museum exhibits, we can personally see the structure of such ships as the Soyuz. Of course, from the inside, the first ships were very simple. The interior of more modern options is designed in soothing colors. The device of any spacecraft is sure to scare us with a lot of levers and buttons. And this adds pride for those who were able to remember how the ship works, and, moreover, learned how to manage it.

What spaceships are flying now?

New spaceships with their appearance confirm that fantasy has become reality. Today, no one will be surprised by the fact that the docking of spacecraft is a reality. And few people remember that the world's first such docking took place back in 1967...

The structure of the spacecraft "Vostok 1"

Great Soviet Encyclopedia. -- M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969--1978.

1. Antenna of the command radio link system. 2. Communication antenna. 3. Casing of electrical connectors 4. Entrance hatch. 5. Container with food. 6. Tie-down straps. 7. Ribbon antennas. 8. Brake motor. 9. Communication antennas. 10. Service hatches. 11 Instrument compartment with main systems. 12. Ignition wiring. 13. Pneumatic system cylinders (16 pcs.) for the life support system. 14. Ejection seat. 15. Radio antenna. 16. Porthole with an optical guide. 17. Technological hatch. 18. Television camera. 19. Thermal protection from ablative material. 20. Block of electronic equipment.

BRIEF DETAILS ABOUT THE SHIP

Registration number	1961-Mu-1/00103
Start date and time (Universal Time)	06h07m. 04/12/1961
Starting point	Baikonur, site 1
launch vehicle
Ship mass (kg)
Initial orbit parameters:
Orbital inclination (degree)
Period of circulation (minutes)
Perigee (km)
Apogee (km)
Date and time of astronaut landing (Universal Time)	07h55m. 04/12/1961
Landing place	To the north-west. from the village Smelovka, Saratov region
astronaut flight time
Distance traveled (km)
Number of orbits around the earth
Briefly about the flight	The first manned flight into space.

List of used literature

1. Glushko V.P. "Development of rocket science and astronautics in the USSR", Moscow, 1987

2. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. -- M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969--1978.

3. Bobkov V.N. From the history of aviation and astronautics. Issue 72. Spaceships of the Vostok and Voskhod type. Experimental studies based on them.

4. Manned spacecraft "Vostok" and "Voskhod" / In the book. "Rocket and space corporation "Energia" named after S.P. Korolev. B. m. [Korolev], 1996, pp. 20 -118.

High-speed transport vehicles differ from vehicles moving at low speed in lightness of construction. Huge ocean liners weigh hundreds of thousands of kilonewtons. The speed of their movement is relatively low (= 50 km/h). The weight of speedboats does not exceed 500 - 700 kN, but they can reach speeds up to 100 km/h. With increasing speed of movement, reducing the weight of the structure of transport vehicles becomes an increasingly important indicator of their perfection. The weight of the structure is especially important for aircraft (airplanes, helicopters).

A spaceship is also an aircraft, but it is only designed to move in a vacuum. You can fly through the air much faster than you can swim on water or move on the ground, and in airless space you can reach even higher speeds, but the greater the speed, the more important the weight of the structure. The increase in the weight of the spacecraft leads to a very large increase in the weight of the rocket system, which takes the ship into the planned region of outer space.

Therefore, everything that is on board the spacecraft should weigh as little as possible, and nothing should be superfluous. This requirement creates one of the biggest challenges for spacecraft designers.

What are the main parts of a spaceship? Spacecraft are divided into two classes: habitable (a crew of several people is on board) and uninhabited (scientific equipment is installed on board, which automatically transmits all measurement data to Earth). We will consider only manned spacecraft. The first manned spacecraft, on which Yu. A. Gagarin made his flight, was Vostok. It is followed by ships from the Sunrise series. These are no longer single-seat, like Vostok, but multi-seat devices. For the first time in the world, a group flight of three cosmonauts - Komarov, Feoktistov, Egorov - was made on the Voskhod spacecraft.

The next series of spacecraft created in the Soviet Union was called Soyuz. The ships of this series are much more complex than their predecessors, and the tasks they can perform are also more difficult. In the United States, spacecraft of various types have also been created.

Let us consider the general scheme of the structure of a manned spacecraft on the example of the American spacecraft "Apollo".

Rice. 10. Scheme of a three-stage rocket with a spacecraft and a rescue system.

Figure 10 shows a general view of the Saturn rocket system and the Apollo spacecraft docked to it. The spacecraft sits between the rocket's third stage and a device that attaches to the spacecraft at the truss, called the bailout system. What is this device for? The operation of the rocket engine or its control system during the launch of the rocket does not exclude the occurrence of malfunctions. Sometimes these malfunctions can lead to an accident - the rocket will fall to Earth. What can happen in this case? The propellant components will mix, and a sea of fire is formed, in which both the rocket and the spacecraft will be. Moreover, when mixing fuel components, explosive mixtures can also be formed. Therefore, if for any reason an accident occurs, it is necessary to take the ship away from the rocket for a certain distance and only after that land. Under these conditions, neither explosions nor fire will be dangerous for astronauts. This is the purpose of the emergency rescue system (abbreviated SAS).

The SAS system includes the main and control engines running on solid fuel. If the SAS system receives a signal about the emergency state of the rocket, it works. The spacecraft separates from the rocket, and the gunpowder engines of the emergency escape system pull the spacecraft up and to the side. When the powder engine finishes its work, a parachute is ejected from the spacecraft and the ship smoothly descends to Earth. The SAS system is designed to rescue cosmonauts in the event of an emergency, during the launch of the launch vehicle and its flight on the active site.

If the launch of the launch vehicle went well and the flight on the active site is successfully completed, there is no need for an emergency rescue system. After the launch of the spacecraft into low Earth orbit, this system becomes useless. Therefore, before the spacecraft enters orbit, the emergency rescue system is discarded from the spacecraft as unnecessary ballast.

The emergency rescue system is directly attached to the so-called descent or return vehicle of the spacecraft. Why does it have such a name? We have already said that a spacecraft going on a space flight consists of several parts. But only one of its components returns to Earth from a space flight, which is why it is called a return vehicle. The returnable or descent vehicle, unlike other parts of the spacecraft, has thick walls and a special shape that is most advantageous in terms of flight in the Earth's atmosphere at high speeds. The reentry vehicle, or command compartment, is the place where the astronauts are during the launch of the spacecraft into orbit and, of course, during the descent to Earth. It installs most of the equipment with which the ship is controlled. Since the command compartment is intended for the descent of cosmonauts to Earth, it also contains parachutes, with the help of which the spacecraft is braked in the atmosphere, and then a smooth descent is carried out.

Behind the descent vehicle is a compartment called the orbital. This compartment contains scientific equipment necessary for conducting special research in space, as well as systems that provide the ship with everything necessary: air, electricity, etc. The orbital compartment does not return to Earth after the spacecraft has completed its mission. Its very thin walls are not able to withstand the heat that the reentry vehicle undergoes during its descent to Earth, passing through the dense layers of the atmosphere. Therefore, upon entering the atmosphere, the orbital compartment burns out like a meteor.

It is necessary to have one more compartment in spaceships intended for flight into deep space with landing of people on other celestial bodies. In this compartment, astronauts can descend to the surface of the planet, and when necessary, take off from it.

We have listed the main parts of a modern spacecraft. Now let's see how the life of the crew and the operability of the equipment installed on board the ship are ensured.

It takes a lot to ensure human life. Let's start with the fact that a person cannot exist either at very low or at very high temperatures. The temperature regulator on the globe is the atmosphere, i.e. air. And what about the temperature on the spacecraft? It is known that there are three types of heat transfer from one body to another - thermal conductivity, convection and radiation. To transfer heat by conduction and convection, a heat transmitter is needed. Therefore, in space, these types of heat transfer are impossible. The spacecraft, being in interplanetary space, receives heat from the Sun, the Earth and other planets exclusively by radiation. It is enough to create a shadow from a thin sheet of some material that will block the path of the rays of the Sun (or light from other planets) to the surface of the spacecraft - and it will stop heating up. Therefore, it is not difficult to insulate a spacecraft in an airless space.

However, when flying in outer space, one has to fear not overheating of the ship by the sun's rays or its hypothermia as a result of heat radiation from the walls into the surrounding space, but overheating from the heat that is released inside the spacecraft itself. What causes the temperature in the ship to rise? Firstly, man himself is a source that continuously radiates heat, and secondly, a spacecraft is a very complex machine equipped with many devices and systems, the operation of which is associated with the release of a large amount of heat. The system that ensures the life of the crew members of the ship has a very important task - to remove all the heat generated by both the person and the devices in a timely manner outside the ship's compartments and ensure that the temperature in them is maintained at a level that is required for the normal existence of a person and the operation of devices.

How is it possible in space, where heat is transferred only by radiation, to ensure the necessary temperature regime in the spacecraft? You know that in the summer, when the sultry Sun shines, everyone wears light-colored clothes, in which the heat is less felt. What's the matter here? It turns out that a light surface, unlike a dark one, does not absorb radiant energy well. It reflects it and therefore heats up much weaker.

This property of bodies, depending on the color of the color, to a greater or lesser extent to absorb or reflect radiant energy, can be used to control the temperature inside the spacecraft. There are substances (they are called thermophototropes) that change their color depending on the heating temperature. As the temperature rises, they begin to discolor and the stronger, the higher the temperature of their heating. On the contrary, when cooled, they darken. This property of thermophototropes can be very useful if they are used in the thermal control system of spacecraft. After all, thermophototropes allow you to maintain the temperature of an object at a certain level automatically, without the use of any mechanisms, heaters or coolers. As a result, the thermal control system with the use of thermophototropes will have a small mass (and this is very important for spacecraft), and no energy will be required to put it into action. (Thermal control systems that operate without consuming energy are called passive.)

There are other passive thermal control systems. All of them have one important property - low weight. However, they are unreliable in operation, especially during long-term operation. Therefore, spacecraft are usually equipped with so-called active temperature control systems. A distinctive feature of such systems is the ability to change the mode of operation. An active temperature control system is like a radiator in a central heating system - if you want the room to be colder, you shut off the hot water supply to the radiator. On the contrary, if you need to raise the temperature in the room, the shut-off valve opens completely.

The task of the thermal control system is to maintain the air temperature in the ship's cabin within the normal, room temperature, i.e. 15 - 20 ° C. If the room is heated with central heating batteries, then the temperature in any place of the room is practically the same. Why is there a very small difference in air temperature near a hot battery and far from it? This is due to the fact that in the room there is a continuous mixing of warm and cold layers of air. Warm (light) air rises, cold (heavy) air sinks. This movement (convection) of air is due to the presence of gravity. Everything in a spaceship is weightless. Consequently, there can be no convection, i.e., air mixing and temperature equalization throughout the entire volume of the cabin. There is no natural convection, but it is created artificially.

For this purpose, the thermal control system provides for the installation of several fans. The fans, driven by an electric motor, force air to circulate continuously through the ship's cabin. Due to this, the heat generated by the human body or any device does not accumulate in one place, but is evenly distributed throughout the volume.

Rice. 11. Scheme of spacecraft cabin air cooling.

Practice has shown that more heat is always generated in a spacecraft than is radiated into the surrounding space through the walls. Therefore, it is advisable to install batteries in it, through which cold liquid must be pumped. This liquid will be given heat by the cabin air driven by the fan (see Fig. 11), while being cooled. Depending on the temperature of the liquid in the radiator, as well as its size, more or less heat can be removed and thus maintain the temperature inside the ship's cabin at the required level. The air-cooling radiator also serves another purpose. You know that when breathing, a person exhales a gas into the surrounding atmosphere, which contains much less oxygen than air, but more carbon dioxide and water vapor. If water vapor is not removed from the atmosphere, it will accumulate in it until a state of saturation occurs. Saturated steam will condense on all instruments, the walls of the ship, everything will become damp. Of course, in such conditions it is harmful for a person to live and work for a long time, and not all devices with such humidity can function normally.

The radiators we talked about help to remove excess water vapor from the atmosphere of the spacecraft cabin. Have you noticed what happens to a cold object brought from the street into a warm room in winter? It is immediately covered with tiny droplets of water. Where did they come from? Out of the air. Air always contains some amount of water vapor. At room temperature (+20°C), 1 m³ of air can contain up to 17 g of moisture in the form of vapor. With an increase in air temperature, the possible moisture content also increases, and vice versa: with a decrease in temperature, less water vapor can be present in the air. That is why on cold objects brought into a warm room, moisture falls out in the form of dew.

In a spacecraft, the cold object is a radiator through which a cold liquid is pumped. As soon as too much water vapor accumulates in the cabin air, it from the air washing the radiator tubes condenses on them in the form of dew. Thus, the radiator serves not only as a means of cooling the air, but at the same time is its dehumidifier. Since the radiator performs two tasks at once - it cools and dries the air, it is called a refrigeration dryer.

So, in order to maintain normal temperature and air humidity in the spacecraft cabin, it is necessary to have a liquid in the thermal control system that must be continuously cooled, otherwise it will not be able to fulfill its role - to remove excess heat from the spacecraft cabin. How to cool the liquid? Cooling the liquid, of course, is not a problem if there is a conventional electric refrigerator. But electric refrigerators are not installed on spacecraft, and they are not needed there. Outer space differs from terrestrial conditions in that there is both heat and cold at the same time. It turns out that in order to cool the liquid, with the help of which the temperature and humidity of the air inside the cabin are maintained at a given level, it is enough to place it in outer space for a while, but so that it is in the shade.

In the thermal control system, in addition to the fans that move the air, pumps are provided. Their task is to pump liquid from a radiator inside the cabin to a radiator installed on the outer side of the spacecraft shell, i.e. in outer space. These two radiators are connected to each other by pipelines, which have valves and sensors that measure the temperature of the liquid at the inlet and outlet of the radiators. Depending on the readings of these sensors, the rate of fluid transfer from one radiator to another, i.e., the amount of heat removed from the ship's cabin, is regulated.

What properties should a fluid used in a temperature control system have? Since one of the radiators is located in outer space, where very low temperatures are possible, one of the main requirements for the liquid is a low solidification temperature. Indeed, if the liquid in the external radiator freezes, the temperature control system will fail.

Maintaining the temperature inside the spacecraft at a level at which human performance is maintained is a very important task. A person cannot live and work either in the cold or in the heat. Can a person exist without air? Of course not. Yes, and such a question never arises before us, since air on Earth is everywhere. The air fills the cabin of the spacecraft. Is there a difference in providing a person with air on Earth and in the cabin of a spacecraft? The airspace on Earth has a large volume. No matter how much we breathe, no matter how much oxygen we consume for other needs, its content in the air practically does not change.

The position in the cockpit of the spacecraft is different. Firstly, the volume of air in it is very small and, in addition, there is no natural regulator of the composition of the atmosphere, since there are no plants that would absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Therefore, very soon people in the cabin of the spacecraft will begin to feel the lack of oxygen for breathing. A person feels normal if the atmosphere contains at least 19% oxygen. With less oxygen, it becomes difficult to breathe. In a spacecraft, one crew member has a free volume = 1.5 - 2.0 m³. Calculations show that already after 1.5 - 1.6 hours the air in the cabin becomes unsuitable for normal breathing.

Therefore, the spacecraft must be equipped with a system that would feed its atmosphere with oxygen. Where do you get oxygen from? Of course, it is possible to store oxygen on board the ship in the form of compressed gas in special cylinders. As needed, the gas from the cylinder can be released into the cabin. But this kind of oxygen storage is not very suitable for spacecraft. The fact is that metal cylinders, in which gas is under high pressure, weigh a lot. Therefore, this simple method of storing oxygen on spacecraft is not used. But gaseous oxygen can be turned into a liquid. The density of liquid oxygen is almost 1000 times greater than the density of gaseous oxygen, as a result of which much less capacity is required to store it (the same mass). In addition, liquid oxygen can be stored under slight pressure. Therefore, the walls of the vessel can be thin.

However, the use of liquid oxygen on board the ship is associated with some difficulties. It is very easy to supply oxygen to the atmosphere of the spacecraft cabin if it is in a gaseous state, it is more difficult if it is liquid. The liquid must first be turned into a gas, and for this it must be heated. Heating of oxygen is also necessary because its vapors can have a temperature close to the boiling point of oxygen, i.e. - 183°C. Such cold oxygen cannot be let into the cockpit, it is, of course, impossible to breathe it. It should be heated to at least 15 - 18°C.

Gasification of liquid oxygen and heating of vapors will require special devices, which will complicate the oxygen supply system. It must also be remembered that a person in the process of breathing not only consumes oxygen in the air, but simultaneously releases carbon dioxide. A person emits about 20 liters of carbon dioxide per hour. Carbon dioxide, as you know, is not a toxic substance, but it is difficult for a person to breathe air in which carbon dioxide contains more than 1 - 2%.

In order for the cabin air of a spacecraft to be breathable, it is necessary not only to add oxygen to it, but also to remove carbon dioxide from it at the same time. To do this, it would be convenient to have on board the spacecraft a substance that releases oxygen and at the same time absorbs carbon dioxide from the air. Such substances exist. You know that metal oxide is a combination of oxygen with a metal. Rust, for example, is iron oxide. Other metals are also oxidized, including alkali metals (sodium, potassium).

Alkali metals, combining with oxygen, form not only oxides, but also the so-called peroxides and superoxides. Peroxides and superoxides of alkali metals contain much more oxygen than oxides. The formula of sodium oxide is Na₂O, and the superoxide is NaO₂. Under the action of moisture, sodium superoxide decomposes with the release of pure oxygen and the formation of alkali: 4NaO₂ + 2Н₂О → 4NaOH + 3O₂.

Alkali metal superoxides proved to be very convenient substances for obtaining oxygen from them under spacecraft conditions and for cleaning cabin air from excess carbon dioxide. After all, alkali (NaOH), which is released during the decomposition of alkali metal superoxide, very readily combines with carbon dioxide. The calculation shows that for every 20 - 25 liters of oxygen released during the decomposition of sodium superoxide, soda alkali is formed in an amount sufficient to bind 20 liters of carbon dioxide.

The binding of carbon dioxide with alkali is that a chemical reaction occurs between them: CO₂ + 2NaOH → Na₂CO + H₂O. As a result of the reaction, sodium carbonate (soda) and water are formed. The ratio between oxygen and alkali, formed during the decomposition of alkali metal superoxides, turned out to be very favorable, since a person consumes an average of 25 A of oxygen per hour and emits 20 liters of carbon dioxide in the same time.

Alkali metal superoxide decomposes on contact with water. Where do you get water for this? It turns out you don't need to worry about it. We have already said that when a person breathes, he emits not only carbon dioxide, but also water vapor. The moisture contained in the exhaled air is sufficient in excess to decompose the required amount of superoxide. Of course, we know that oxygen consumption depends on the depth and frequency of breathing. You sit at the table and breathe calmly - you consume one amount of oxygen. And if you run or work physically, you breathe deeply and often, so you consume more oxygen than with calm breathing. Spacecraft crew members will also consume different amounts of oxygen at different times of the day. During sleep and rest, oxygen consumption is minimal, but when work related to movement is performed, oxygen consumption increases dramatically.

Due to the inhaled oxygen, certain oxidative processes occur in the body. As a result of these processes, water vapor and carbon dioxide are formed. If the body consumes more oxygen, it means that it emits more carbon dioxide and water vapor. Consequently, the body, as it were, automatically maintains the moisture content in the air in such an amount that is necessary for the decomposition of the corresponding amount of alkali metal superoxide.

Rice. 12. Scheme of replenishing the atmosphere of the spacecraft cabin with oxygen and cleaning it from carbon dioxide.

The scheme of air purification from carbon dioxide and its replenishment with oxygen is shown in Figure 12. Cabin air is driven by a fan through cartridges with sodium or potassium superoxide. From the cartridges, the air comes out already enriched with oxygen and purified from carbon dioxide.

A sensor is installed in the cabin that monitors the oxygen content in the air. If the sensor indicates that the oxygen content in the air is becoming too low, the fan motors are signaled to increase the number of revolutions, as a result of which the speed of air passing through the superoxide cartridges increases, and therefore the amount of moisture (which is in the air) that enters the cartridge at the same time. More moisture equals more oxygen. If the cabin air contains oxygen above the norm, then a signal is sent from the sensors to the fan motors to reduce the number of revolutions.