NASA paper space
I have long wanted to write about this very "immortal feat", about the flight to the moon, that is. This flight has long been a symbol of America and tightly entered the human history. However, questions remain, moreover - the more time passes after the end of the last flight, the more questions arise. Humanity has achieved a lot in the very same 20 century, 20 century - a century of achievements in general. And what's more, like a cherry on a cake - a flight to the moon.
But with this “cherry” just not everything is clear and not everything is unambiguous. So back to half a century ago: the USSR launched the first satellite of the Earth (1957) and the first man in space (1961). For the US, it was a terrible slap. The Americans clearly claimed world leadership, and here it is ... And something had to be done about it, and somehow it was necessary to save their reputation. That was the way the task was set by President John F. Kennedy. Outrun the Russians.
The funny thing is that those who chose targets for this show, clearly very poorly versed in space technology. Otherwise they would not stutter about the moon. At the time of the adoption of the Apollo program, the highest achievement of manned space flight was a flight in the thermosphere around the Earth. That is, the little man was thrown into orbit, he spun on it in the "spacecraft" and ... landed back to Earth. That's the end of the show.
By the way, looking ahead, we can say that to this day, all astronauts, astronauts and teahouses are doing about the same thing: “Skating on the orbital carousel.” And you thought? The presence of some "orbital stations" here makes little difference. Well, the little man is in orbit longer: six months, a year ... This is interesting from the point of view of medicine, but not from the point of view of manned cosmonautics.
A lot of films have been made about interstellar travels, a lot of books have been written about alien worlds in other galaxies ... And this has become a part of our culture and our consciousness. We so long believed in the flights of “humans” to Mars and Alpha Centauri, that we forgot that since Gagarin manned cosmonautics did not go very far forward. Rather, marking time on the same near-earth orbit. All the same "fun attraction." No, of course: docking / undocking in orbit, different evolution there, assembling orbital stations ... But everything strictly in orbit of the planet Earth.
And then suddenly seven flights to the moon, six of them successful ... Fantastic. What is most funny, the USSR, with all its industrial and scientific power, could not launch a single person even around the moon ... Shame on the jungle! Just a shame and a ganba! But the Americans "rolled" around the moon 27 astronauts (12 of them landed on the moon)! If you count from Apollo-10 to Apollo-17, plus Apollo-8. Nine ships with a crew of three. Here it is, the superiority of American technology ...
That is why the American nation is exceptional. None of the “low-born” alien could rise above the low orbit. And twenty-seven Americans flew around the moon ... Willingly you begin to envy. Here we mostly talk about Apollo-11, but, excuse me, these Apollos were just as hell! Here I, as a person with a technical education, admire just that. Reliability and repeatability of the developed technology.
Apollo went to the moon as a regular bus. Even getting bored. And this, of course, reflects the advantage of American technology and the American way of life. No one else could and did not even come close, and even half a century later everyone else can only dream and make plans. That was the technology / democracy in the USA in the blessed 60. Over time, the Americans themselves began to understand that “the ends do not converge,” and the first flight to the Moon is mentioned more. It is Armstrong. Well, "to the heap" remembered and removed the "movie" about the unsuccessful 13. Thirteenth, what a coincidence! That is, with hindsight, the "extraordinary success of American technologies" is being sought to diminish somewhat. Allegedly, not everything was so great ... There were problems.
Any technically literate person understands that such a bold flight to the moon on a new, untested technology is very risky. And the word "risky" here does not quite fit, rather an adventure. By itself, a manned flight around the moon is already a gigantic achievement that no one has yet repeated and does not dare to repeat. It has been almost fifty years old. Almost half a century. And yet: the very 27 Americans remained unique heroes who flew around the Earth satellite.
Only they, more none. But the flight around the moon, without disembarking on it, in theory, an order of magnitude easier to travel to the moon. Undocking in lunar orbit, landing of the lunar module, after which the launch of this module, docking ... and a safe return. Somehow too beautiful. It does not happen. At the level of technology 60-s (essentially post-war). And today it is quite a risky venture.
That is why everyone talks about flying at once. on The moon Just like that on The moon (I remembered for some reason “Flying over the cuckoo's nest” and the key phrase of one of the patients). On the construction of inhabited lunar modules doodles, pictures draw ... Why no one offers to launch a single Russian / Chinese / Japanese around The moon? This is in fact much simpler, and this will be an achievement.
But no. Only the moon. And as already mentioned, to this day, all the heroes, astronauts hang out in the low orbit of the thermosphere. Heroic thermonauts ... And only the Americans were able to break this vicious circle. And then at the end of 60-x - the beginning of 70-x. And few of those "heroes" lived to the present day. I do not want to say bad things about those who fly into space, but, in fact, they both dangled and dangled above our heads in the upper layers of the atmosphere of planet Earth and sometimes talk about distant galactic wanderings.
Why today abruptly is interest in the manned space program falling? And there was already everything. Everything has already been ... Repeatedly. And what is an astronaut today? Here half a century ago - yes! Just when the Americans were actively leaving the field of the Earth and were rushing to the craters of the moon ... it was a glorious time, heroic.
For some reason, no one followed in their footsteps, which is strange. They, forgive that, this Moon was privatized? By the right of the pioneers? Apollo-8, December 68, the first flight around the moon. Almost half a century has passed, but no one else: neither Russia, nor Europe, nor China wants to send an astronaut into orbital flight around the moon. Why am I constantly talking about such an insignificant event? Yes, because the flight of man around The moon - this is a real feat and the greatest engineering achievement.
For this, it is already possible to give medals, orders and forever add to the lists. The flight of various unmanned objects there is not at all the same. They (these impudent "Drones”) have already been selected behindlimits of the solar system. And the Americans just got to the moon. But what kind of composition! "Twist" the living Chaiko / Cosmo / astronauts around the moon and return them to Earth alive - this is a serious engineering problem. By itself, without any landings.
Moreover, it was interesting in 60-s, when there were serious concerns that our Soviet cosmonauts, having made an orbital flight, might land not in the territory of the USSR or even in the territory of the social. Commonwealth (by mistake, and not out of malice!). And people were scratching a turnip, pondering what to do in this case. And even then, the Americans could bring a person to the surface of the Moon and take him from there ... Compare the level of technology.
And even after half a century, this level of technology is not blocked by anyone. By the way, this is an ambush: after the first breakthrough of Columbus to the New World (if he, of course, was the first) dozens of ships very quickly repeated his route. And the risk was no less: the Europeans had no ocean voyage experience, navigation in its infancy, poor ships (Columbus flagship - 200 tonnes of displacement). And yet, very soon it became hot on the Atlantic routes.
The same applies to even more complex and long voyages to India (the flagship of Vasco da Gama is even smaller than the Columbus). At what level of technology and how it all boiled! Literally seething. One by one, the ships reached the shores of the East Indies and the West Indies. Literally flocks. Where did that come from ... Sat on the shore of the flat Earth, sit ... and suddenly. And to say that the technological development in Europe of the XVI-th century was taking leaps and bounds, by no means impossible.
The feat of Magellan was not repeated by anyone for a very long time? So as it would not be necessary ... It was possible to swim and not around the world to any point of the planet.
And the feat of American astronauts remained unrepeated. But modern technology and technology 60-ies - these are two big differences. Computer equipment and electronics have gone incredibly ahead. Now, if you even compare the power of the computer on which this article is typed, and the computing power of the Houston space center, then in 68 year ...
Jet technology also does not stand still. Like materials science. Well, in the field of machine tools there was a real revolution. Then the CNC machines took their first, uncertain steps. And today ... huge machines, providing multi-meter accuracy with a few microns. Humanity has gone far ahead. The possibilities for the manufacture of space ships are now incomparable with what was then. And the possibilities for designing these same ships today are completely different (thanks to the same computers and automated design systems).
That is, today, “svayat” system, similar to the legendary APOLLO, much easier and cheaper. And the possibilities for calculating flight trajectories are completely different today. Well, how much do you do not malice that “nonnecha is not the way it was just now,” in fact, the possibility of flying to the Moon today is an order of magnitude more. However their none not in a hurry to use, more and more into the APOLLO museum are crammed. See, pofotkat, admire the "unparalleled feat" of 60's astronauts ...
That's when TVs were like that, and even the Rockefeller family had no iPhones or smartphones, people flew to the moon. Today it is difficult to believe in it, but it is so!
Here they immediately begin to explain that Americans, six once flown to the moon, they removed all the cream in this matter. And then immediately a counter question: "Why six time? "What is it? What does this prove? After all, the question was exactly who first set foot on the dusty surface of the moon. It seems the first was Armstrong. The question has been closed Apollo-11. All the cream was removed already. Every flight costs money, big money. But these devils continued to warp on the moon as in a shop on Friday evening.
But every flight is not only big money, but also a big risk. In space, anything can happen, and the "technicals" on the moon can not send ... Well, one time, well, a maximum of two. And everything - to drink, to wash the victory ... But no, they flew and flew ... as if at an official expense in Sochi in the summer ... What is there, on the Moon, with honey smeared? It seems to me, precisely because of the perseverance of the Americans on the moon worth a look. Something they dug there ... Gold Kolchak?
You see what the focus is: the whole story of the “unprecedented feat of the American people” is full of inconsistencies and blunders — before the APOLLO program, the Americans were clearly inferior to us in the manned cosmonautics. Then a bright breakthrough! Then ... nothing. Only the shuttle, which "broke". But this does not happen. And where did the Saturn-5 launch vehicle “evaporate”? Saturn engine? Author not is a specialist in rocket comic technology, but the “miracle on the moon” cannot but raise questions.
Rotate the corps de ballet six times with access to Earth's orbit, flight to the Moon, reassembly, uncoupling, trouble-free landing on an unexplored planet, starting from the lunar surface, docking in the lunar orbit, starting from the lunar orbit to Earth, diving into the ocean next with an aircraft carrier (from the second space velocity!) ... Yes, it is necessary to pray to the American engineers! You still know: in itself, landing on Earth from the second space station is already a very difficult task for manned cosmonautics. Child task, even today.
No, as a computer simulation is not so interesting, but to translate all this into metal ... Once again: the one who set the task (to go to the moon!) Was an obvious amateur. Because today it is not clear whether this is at all possible (that is, to fly there and return back, come back alive). Why did this invoke such a violent “enthusiasm” among space designers? And the fact is that their “passion” is very expensive. And under the "Moon Program" could get billions. And develop the space program with all my might.
At the same time there was no deception as such: the moon theoretically is achievable for a person with the help of missile technology. You just need to whip up a more powerful carrier... which is what the Russians/Americans were doing. And by the way, the Russians and Americans had serious problems with the carrier.
“At the beginning of May 1966, the first tests were carried out to launch the“ Saturn ”into open space, which were not crowned with success - at the time of launch, the second stage of the rocket failed and was completely destroyed. After that, it was decided to send the rocket to the necessary revision and tentatively at the beginning of 1967, to conduct repeated tests on its launch. But in the end, the rocket spent much time on repair work than originally planned, and only on November 9 of the year 1967 was able to make another attempt at an unmanned flight, which this time proved to be very successful.
The next flight, which took place on 4 on April 1968, was to confirm the well-established performance of the rocket and be final in a series of planned tests, but failed due to the failure of the second-stage engines, and the third stage was completely torn apart at the time of launch. In general, there were a lot of problems, and for their solution long repairs were planned. After just 8 months after the great failure of 4 on April 1968, the Saturn-5 was launched with people on board, heading straight for the Moon. As a result, July 20 of 1969 was already the year American astronauts landed on the surface of the moon for the first time in the history of mankind ”
Why such a long quote - about our “sufferings” when creating a carrier, everything was heard (there were discussions in the internet, sometimes in raised voices!), But as for the Americans ... for some reason everyone thinks that they had everything “bundle”. You read, it means that everything is bad and breaks at the start (rocket men are discussed for dozens of pages of the forum), and grief, and shame, and ganba ... and then suddenly (when we put our hands on our heads, we sit at the debris of the burned-down carrier! ) news - Americans are already walking on the moon ... And we realized that we had lost EVERYTHING. Get drunk and shoot yourself ...
The main reasons for “zrada” are the following: discord between Korolev, Chelomey and Yangel (Beria on them already did not have!); and also “insufficient financing”: allegedly the USA allocated 25 billions of “greens” to the “lunar project”, and the USSR only 2,5 billions of “wooden” - hence the result, or rather its absence. Ostensibly in the US was NASA, and we did not have NASA - hence the confusion and reeling and squabbling between competing firms.
Say anything, but the USSR was a much more centralized system than the United States. And even in space. As for money, they don't always decide everything. Money is only one of the resources. No less important people. And very critical time. To master the money (do not cut!), You need time and qualified professionals. Having filled up the project with money, we will not solve the problems. Strange as it may sound. Then (along the way) it turns out that "the guys need to be prepared here," that is, the guys are smart, but they need Cookthen it turns out that the R & D themselves need not only money, but also time.
Suddenly. That is, first, the “genius / general designer” will knock out money, people and equipment, and then ... then we will find out that everything is not so simple. The process has begun, but the result is still far away. And America is not much different from Russia. So, in 66-68, Saturns in America explode, and in 1969, the H-1s in the USSR begin to break. Lepote ...
Here you know, colleagues, I look at all this disgrace (retrospectively) and make one unfamiliar conclusion: Earthlings could not fly to the moon at the end of 60's ... not to shoulder. No, it is certainly possible to try and experiment, nobody forbids it. But before the real flight to the moon and back ... as before the same moon on foot. It’s simply pointless to compare astronauts to low-Earth orbit flights. Different things never before.
The space program has rested on the technical / economic / temporary ceiling. But what about the Americans with their 25 "lard" (in the prices of the end of 60's!)? Did they have a higher ceiling? Well, you have a non-working launch vehicle and a lot of dough next to it. Has it become easier? Here there is such a "ring" logic. Why were the Americans able to solve technical problems with the launch vehicle? Because they were more advanced in technology. And why are they more advanced in technology? Well, they landed on the moon! It even kids know!
For some reason, everyone assumes that the United States РјРѕРіР »Ryo deliver a man to the moon (two pieces at once!), but the USSR is not (even one)! Proceed from the fact that Neil Armstrong 20 July 1969 of the year ... and this is recognized by all ... Well, cool! The moonlit path shines with silver ... People like to believe in miracles, they like fairy tales about princesses and dragons. You know, as one old Odessa Jew said: “It can be difficult for a doctor to believe in the Immaculate Conception.”
At the beginning of 60, the United States lagged behind the USSR in space technology. Inhabited capsules of the USSR had thick, solid walls, and there was no problem with creating an internal atmosphere. Gemini had problems with strong walls and an atmosphere. By the way, yes, the Americans were burning in the oxygen atmosphere at the beginning of 60's, but we also had such a precedent. How much was common in our space programs ... And then, suddenlyAmericans committed giant leap forward. Literally eight years after the flight of Gagarin.
Why would it suddenly? What were the reasons for this? By the way, we did finish the H-1 already at the beginning of 70's and never finished it ... But the Americans had a lot of money ... And what will it give you when the carrier explodes and the time is up? No, if we are talking about a systematic long-term work for the future (by the middle of 70's, maybe by the end of it, fly), then yes - money becomes the decisive factor. But when it is necessary to fly tomorrow, but neither the Russians nor their American “competitors” have a working heavy launch vehicle for going into orbit ...
What will a "quadrillion dollars" give you in such a situation? Buy some strong dope for the whole team? The USSR's refusal to participate in the "Moon Race" was one of the most reasonable decisions of the "party and government". No, they got involved, figured out how complicated and expensive everything was... and refused. We needed a "quadrillion dollars" for other purposes. One of the reasons for the refusal was the high risks for the crew. It would be more correct to say - prohibitive. The loss of an automatic station is just the loss of an automatic station. Risking people is something completely different.
But the Americans were not afraid and took the risk ... and won. Here, you know, this is what leads to serious reflections - this win in Russian roulette. How well they all came together, no matter how much they twisted the drum of a revolver ... And were there cartridges in the drum? It hurts too much fun Americans jump on the surface a stranger hostile planet. They also dragged the buggy there and drove it onto the buggy. What a moon is near and home ... like a California beach.
It's not about cowardice / courage, it's just that the environment imposes serious restrictions. In real life, astronauts on the moon are suicide bombers. There is a great chance of not returning - the equipment is completely new and not rolled. Any failure, mistake and ... everything, hello. Gymnasts under the dome of the circus without insurance. But how confident they are! And how confident the leadership of the flight program is ... Time after time sending people to the “minefield”.
As it turned out much later, with the flight of Gagarin, things were not so smooth as with Leonov’s exit into outer space ...
“During the flight of Gagarin, 11 of emergency situations were detected”
“Soviet cosmonauts spent the first spacewalk two and a half months earlier than the Americans. Everyone knows that. But very few people know that in the flight of the ship "Voskhod-2", on board which were Pavel Belyaev (commander) and Alexey Leonov (co-pilot), there were several serious emergency situations. And three or four of them are deadly. ”
“28 November 1966 of the year the launch of the“ first ”automatic“ Union-1 ”(which was later renamed TASS in the“ Cosmos-133 ”) ended with an emergency de-orbit. 14 December 1966 of the launch of the Soyuz-2 also ended abnormally, and even with the destruction of the launch pad (there was no open information about this Union-2). ”
And it all happened when flying on orbit of planet earth. The technique is new, the risk is fatal. So what about the fact that: “Gagarin flew into space, did not see God ...”, I do not agree. In the storm sea not happens atheists. And here people walk very close to death. So for sure, Gagarin remembered God in orbit repeatedly, and Leonov, when he stuck in the airlock.
But the Americans already at the end of 60-s with technology (much more complex) everything was fine. Problems? No problem!
But ours and their space technology was in many respects similar and about the same level. Where does such a gap in the results come from? The results of more powerful financing would have affected ... in ten to fifteen years. If the technical solution is not developed, buy its impossible how much money you allocate for this.
The funny thing is that further, instead of developing Saturns, the Americans created Shuttles. Which began to actively explode, and which had to be abandoned. Just the truth is very similar. And now they fly on Russian carriers (heirs of the Armstrong's glory ...).
A lot has been written about the “moon swindle”: the first publications appeared already at the beginning of 70's and in the USA. It's simple: technically literate people began to doubt. Doubt the very possibility of flying to the moon at the level the technologies. The author shares these doubts: to fly to the moon, based on technologies that do not guarantee the safety of flights to the Earth’s orbit, is absolutely impossible. From the word at all.
Analyzing photos from the moon ... it's something with something, but let's leave it to photographic technicians. But recently it turned out that the film, on which the first landing on the Moon was recorded, got lost somewhere ... Yes, a lot of the archives disappeared due to an oversight. But not only.
“So, for a day and a half the flight between the Earth and the Moon, when the crew didn’t have anything to do, there were practically no film clips and photos of the Earth and the Moon ... There are, of course, funny episodes of the American original genre of “game documentary” inside the confined space of Apollo with a duration of no more than 40 seconds, which can easily be taken on board a plane falling along a parabola, but no more. And where are the unique frames of the receding and rotating Earth or the approaching and rotating Moon, which nowhere and never again could it be taken from the hands, except in such flights? There are no such records. ”
From the comical: recently it turned out that the Americans no reliable model of "space toilet". What was on the ISS is broken ...
And the first real American "space sortiry" were built on the Shuttle, but they were unsuccessful. The devil, as they say, in the details. But how did they fly to the moon, without a toilet? Good question…
It's funny: almost half a century has passed since the first flight, and the debate continues. Were or were not? The author, not being a specialist in nuclear physics, leaves the Van-Allen belt problem aside.
No, of course, there are a lot of great research on this “heroic topic” topic, it is very difficult to compete here. But if it’s just easy to analyze well-known facts at your leisure, without going into research ... then even then it will be extremely difficult to believe in “expedition”. That is to believe in Armstrong, "dancing" on the moon, still somehow possible (we all read fairy tales in childhood), but to believe in the flight "back and forth" six times on the 60 technique is incredibly problematic. If he was a hobbit ...
Although Ostap Ibrahimovic would certainly appreciate the project.
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