The reasons for attempts to abandon the use of the spacesuit in flight Yu.A. Gagarin

The path to the first manned space flight was difficult. And some details of preparation for it are still known only to a narrow circle of specialists and amateurs. stories cosmonautics.

In the spring of 1959, at Plant No. 918 (AO NPP Zvezda), work began on the creation of a space suit for the first flight, which was designated S-10.

Instead of a spacesuit, a protective suit?

However, in February 1960 (less than 1,5 years before the first flight), when the prototypes of the SK S-10 were already tested at the GNII A&KM, work on it was stopped. And before Zvezda, the customers of protective equipment and rescue equipment for a manned spacecraft from OKB-1 (headed by K.P. Feoktistov) set a new task - to develop a protective suit instead of a spacesuit, which is necessary, first of all, for rescue during a splashdown.

The main reason for the attempt to abandon the use of the spacesuit was the limit of the payload weight of the Vostok spacecraft put into orbit. And in the fact that (based on data on the absence of depressurization during flights of artificial earth satellites), the ship's developers considered the probability of capsule depressurization in flight as an unlikely and "off-design" event.

The Vostok launch vehicle was significantly more powerful than the Redstone rocket. But the Vostok spacecraft also weighed not two, but 4,6 tons. Unlike the spacecraft "Mercury" with a primitive coolant providing a 100% oxygen environment and a pressure inside the cabin of 0,3 kgf / cm2, the spacecraft "Vostok" possessed a full-fledged coolant designed for a 10-day flight and was able to maintain a gas environment in the capsule close to to the terrestrial air atmosphere (pressure in the cabin 600–900 mm Hg at 21% oxygen in the medium).

In addition, the Vostok spacecraft was supplied with an ejection seat capable of rescuing an astronaut not only during an accident at the launch pad, but also in the early stages of launching into orbit.

While the spacecraft "Mercury" lacked a seat as such - its function was performed by a special bed inside the cockpit. From the very beginning of the creation of the coolant for long-term flights of the Vostok spacecraft, power and water supply was provided with an open glazing of the pressure helmet, and a full-fledged sewage system was used for the administration of natural needs.

Naturally, among the designers from OKB-1, the opinion was widespread that the risk of depressurization of the KK cabin is much lower than that of other abnormal accidents. Therefore, the weight deficit could be reduced by abandoning the use of a spacesuit and the coolant necessary for it. In February 1960, Zvezda began to develop a protective suit called "V-3".

Rescue suit of the astronaut V-3

The main purpose of the V-3 protective suit was to provide protection for an astronaut in case of landing in a deserted area or splashing down into cold water. At its core, the V-3 was a variation of the marine rescue kit adapted for use in the Vostok spacecraft.

The set consisted of a jumpsuit that had an outer (protective) and an inner (hermetic) shell, a heat-protective suit (TZK) made of quilted foam rubber and woolen knitwear worn under the jumpsuit. The suit was ventilated with cabin air from an autonomous ventilation unit.

Plant No. 918 (JSC NPP Zvezda) manufactured eight products, some of which were sent for physiological tests at the State Research Institute of A&KM and LII for practicing parachute jumps.

On the "Zvezda" itself, twelve-hour experiments were carried out on staying in ice water, as well as two-day experiments on survival in a deserted area in winter conditions.

After OKB-1 made a decision to abandon the use of a spacesuit, military doctors of the Air Force Research Institute of A&KM and civil physiologists of Aerospace Medicine Department No. 8 of Plant No. 918 GKAT at all meetings continued to stubbornly prove the need for SC.

In August 1960, an interdepartmental meeting was held, in which S.P. Korolev, K.P. Feoktistov (OKB-1), S.M. Alekseev ("Star"), M.I. Vakar and L.G. Golovkin (GNII AiKM), A.V. Pokrovsky (from department No. 8, the first head of the medical department of "Stars"), A.P. Popov (former chief physician of the Air Force - deputy head of department No. 8) and others.

The main customer of these products of Plant No. 918 GKAT, the chief designer of OKB-1 Sergey Pavlovich Korolev, personally put an end to the heated discussion of the designers-developers and doctors. He agreed to allocate up to 500 kg of mass, severely limiting the development time of the SK, which was supposed to be ready by the end of 1960.

In September 1960, seven months before the Vostok-1 launch, work began on the creation of the first SK-1 cosmonaut spacesuit based on the Vorkuta aviation spacesuit.

But this is a completely different story ...

Comments

[Flooding]

When I was a boy in the vestibule at the entrance to the apartment there was a portrait of a smiling Gagarin.
I remember from this Gagarin smile and the thought that he was no longer, tears welling up more than once.
Small was, forgivable.

[Lipchanin]

Quote: Flood

Small was, forgivable.

It is forgivable even now

[beeper]

Quote: Flood

When I was a boy in the vestibule at the entrance to the apartment there was a portrait of a smiling Gagarin.
I remember from this Gagarin smile and the thought that he was no longer, tears welling up more than once.
Small was, forgivable.

You are not the only one!
Especially when we all learned that OUR Yura Gagarin was killed!
Then there was a song with these words of the chorus ...

How Yura accompanied us on the flight ...

When it was broadcast at a solemn meeting on Cosmonautics Day, not only girls, but also boys in our Palace of Pioneers could not hold back tears ...

[Pete mitchell]

Thanks for the article, interesting.

[Aviator_]

Nice cycle about spacesuits, respect to the author. I remember well the day of Gagarin's death - spring, sun, I went to Voentorg to buy radio components, and all the visitors were kind of knocked down. From the receiver rushes: "Colonel Seregin crashed" - I was surprised, our colonels often crashed, and then - "Yuri Gagarin". I myself also experienced a shock.

[Jager]

Forgive us, Yura. We are all about ......

[Virus-free crown]

I'll put it simply ... after reading the comments ... When the USSR was preparing to launch our first lunar rover to the moon, there was a lot of debate about what the soil of the moon is ... Korolev issued an "order" - almost literally - the moon is solid))) and signed under him

so with spacesuits ... no one knew anything - they could only guess ...

[Old26]

Quote: pishchak

Especially when we all learned that OUR Yura Gagarin was killed!
Then there was a song with these words of the chorus ...
How Yura accompanied us on the flight ...
When it was broadcast at a solemn meeting on Cosmonautics Day, not only girls, but also boys in our Palace of Pioneers could not hold back tears ...

At first they did not believe. Everyone hoped that he was saved. Although it was clear that if he had stayed alive, they would have already said.
And this song is from the cycle "Gagarin's Constellation". So it was called - "How Yura accompanied us on the flight"
"... Let's remember the star pier
And the training wheel
How Yura accompanied us on the flight ... "

Quote: Corona without virus

I'll put it simply ... after reading the comments ... When the USSR was preparing to launch our first lunar rover to the moon, there was a lot of debate about what the soil of the moon is ... Korolev issued an "order" - almost literally - the moon is solid))) and signed under him

Well, not exactly an order ... EMNIP Chertok talked about it as follows. The creators of the station were afraid that the station would fall into lunar dust (there was such a hypothesis at one time). The Queen got tired of listening to all these excuses and he asked the creators: "What do you need?"
Having received the answer that it would be nice to have some kind of document, he wrote in his notebook "The moon is firm", signed and tore out the sheet, gave it to these designers

[ANB]

... The creators of the station were afraid that the station would fall into lunar dust (there was such a hypothesis at one time).

I read a whole science fiction novel as a child, where the plot was based on the fact that the moon was covered with many kilometers of dust.

[Old26]

Quote: ANB

I read a whole science fiction novel as a child, where the plot was based on the fact that the moon was covered with many kilometers of dust.

MULTI-METER dust layer. Arthur Clarke's novel "Moon Dust"

[Vladimir_2U]

the ship's designers considered the probability of capsule depressurization in flight an unlikely and "off-design" event.

How will this confidence hurt Soviet cosmonautics because of the death of the Soyuz-11 crew consisting of:

Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Georgy Dobrovolsky
Flight Engineer: Vladislav Volkov
Research Engineer: Victor Patsaev

Let's remember them.

[ycuce234-san]

In principle, they, spacesuits, would also help in case of a fire hazard, not only in case of depressurization. The fire hazard is still being thoroughly investigated - for example, the Cygnus spacecraft was recently specially fired for this in an unmanned mode in orbit.
It is quite possible to carry out particularly important and fire hazardous operations with a reduced oxygen content in the atmosphere of the ship - at 16% oxygen the fire burns poorly, and the person only understands worse and can use a fire-fighting suit and breathing apparatus.
In the future, if hundreds and thousands of commercial astronauts and commercial ships and stations are in orbit, the problem of cheap fire protection will be very urgent. And here it is hardly possible to come up with something cheaper, except for temporarily filling the additional volumes of the ship with carbon dioxide, nitrogen and using spacesuits, deoxygenating all unused compartments and volumes, etc.

[Vladimir_2U]

Quote: ycuce234-san

deoxygenate volumes too

Yes, watching space science fiction is sometimes just creepy, "Oh fire, we're burning!" You have a full space of vacuum, you don't even need to carry buckets, but you put out all kinds of garbage heroically (it comes to idiocy)!

[ycuce234-san]

She's not so wrong. Of course, it is very simple - "boatswain - open the vacuum kingston!" - but no, special extinguishers are still being developed, because depressurization is far from always possible.
On the other hand, having removed the excess oxygen from the atmosphere of some orbital plant that is rarely used by people, you can not send a crew there for years, making do with robots and automation where possible. This gives confidence and peace of mind for the safety in the event of a fire or short circuit of its equipment, which even without a station can cost billions.

[Vladimir_2U]

Quote: ycuce234-san

they are still developing special extinguishers, because depressurization is far from always possible

It goes without saying, where you can knock down the flame with a fire extinguisher, there is no need to open the compartment, but not using the most effective method in principle is sheer stupidity (I'm talking about science fiction).

[ycuce234-san]

There are other reasons - for example, just a few seconds for a reaction before losing consciousness from poisoning (who will assess the situation and close the valve and restore the atmosphere if a person is unconscious?), The inability to quickly put on breathing apparatus, etc. And if the atmosphere is purely oxygen and with high pressure, then a fire burns like a furnace with an oxygen supply - there is simply nothing at all in time.

[ycuce234-san]

In general, it is not excluded that low-oxygen atmospheres will become the norm on such space industrial objects - if you lose consciousness but do not die before being discovered and helped.
And for sleep and rest, they will borrow the concept from deep-divers and baromedians - when separate compartments with completely non-combustible contents and equipment are allocated for life; they don't even take all clothes into the oxygen chambers, only underwear.

[Vladimir_2U]

Quote: ycuce234-san

on such space industrial facilities, low-oxygen atmospheres will become the norm - if you lose consciousness

Do not forget about the partial pressure, the less oxygen, the higher the required pressure in atmospheres, which means weight!

[ycuce234-san]

And the partial will be less. We do not need to have an atmosphere for active and conscious activity - it is enough for the unconscious to survive. In it, they will work in breathing apparatus like scuba divers - they connect to the main line at the workplace and work. Move - take the cylinders with you.
A normal atmosphere will be in compartments separate from production, where there is a special fire-prevention structure, there are no flammable materials, etc.

[Alien From]

An interesting series of articles, we look forward to continuing

[Dmitry Vladimirovich]

Boris Chertok "Rockets and People":

In five days from June 25 to June 30, 1971, fate struck us three blows: on the 25th - the death of Isaev, on the 27th - the death of N1 No. 6L, on the 30th - the death of the Soyuz-11 crew.
It was not difficult to foresee that throughout July and August our collective will be shaken by at least two independent commissions: one for N1 and the other for Soyuz.

He also has a commission on depressurization of Soyuz-11:

It was difficult for Mishin to answer Keldysh's question about the reasons for abandoning spacesuits. This decision was made personally by Korolev before the launch of Voskhod. It is also impossible to place three people in spacesuits in the Soyuz spacecraft.... Under the Queen, only Kamanin spoke out sharply in defense of spacesuits. But the chief designer of the manned spacecraft, Feoktistov, himself flew without a spacesuit with Komarov and Egorov. He actively supported the initiative of the Queen. Mishin had no direct relation to the rejection of spacesuits. None of the flights of "Vostoks", "Voskhod", unmanned and manned "Soyuz" had problems with maintaining tightness. The demands to restore flights in spacesuits were somehow forgotten by themselves.

Mishuk asked how the electrical version was analyzed, why no one talks about it.

I replied that the recordings of both telemetry and the autonomous recorder had been carefully reviewed. No signs of a false premature command to the valve opening squib was detected... From the analysis of the records of "Mir" it follows that the tightness was broken at the moment of separation of the descent vehicle and the utility compartment (BO). The pressure decay curve corresponds to a hole size equal to the flow area of ​​one valve. In fact, there are two valves: one for delivery and the other for suction. If there was a false command, then both valves would open at once: they are electrically in the same circuit. The command to open the two valves went smoothly, as it should, at a safe height. According to the conclusion of the specialists of the NIIERAT - Scientific Research Institute for the Operation and Repair of Aviation Equipment (the Air Force Institute, a monopolist in the investigation of all aviation accidents, had such a cunning name) - the squibs did not work in a vacuum, but at a height corresponding to the time of issuing a regular team. But by this time one valve was already open without an electrical command.

“The separation process lasted only 0,06 seconds,” Shabarov reported. - At 1 hour 47 minutes 26,5 seconds, the pressure in the CA was recorded at 915 millimeters of mercury. After 115 seconds, it dropped to 50 millimeters and continued to decline. When entering the dense layers of the atmosphere, the work of the SUS was recorded. Overload reaches 3,3 units and then decreases. But the pressure in the SA begins to rise slowly: there is a leak from the external atmosphere through the open breathing valve. Here is the command to open the valve on the graph. We see that the leakage intensity has increased. This corresponds to the opening on command of the second valve. Analysis of the Mir records confirms the version about the opening of one [344] of the two valves at the time of the separation of the ship's compartments.

“Before moving on, let's hear about the results of medical research,” Keldysh suggested. The report was made by Burnazyan.
In the first second after the separation, Dobrovolsky's pulse quickens immediately to 114, and Volkov's - to 180. 50 seconds after the separation, Patsaev has a respiratory rate of 42 per minute, which is characteristic of acute oxygen starvation. Dobrovolsky's pulse quickly drops, breathing stops by this time. This is the initial period of death. At the 110th second after separation, neither pulse nor respiration is recorded in all three. We believe that death occurred 120 seconds after the separation. They were conscious no more than 50-60 seconds after separation. During this time, Dobrovolsky, apparently, wanted to do something, judging by the fact that he pulled off the seat belts.

17 leading experts were involved in the autopsy. All three cosmonauts had subcutaneous hemorrhages. Air bubbles, like fine sand, got into the vessels. All have hemorrhages in the middle ear and ruptured eardrums. The stomach and intestines are distended. Gases: nitrogen, oxygen and CO2, dissolved in the blood, boiled with a sharp drop in pressure. The gases dissolved in the blood turned into bubbles and blocked the vessels.

Burnazyan's calm report made a depressing impression. Mentally transported to the descent vehicle, it is impossible to imagine the first seconds of the cosmonauts' sensations. Terrible pains throughout the body made it difficult to understand and think. Surely they heard the whistle of the outgoing air, but the eardrums quickly burst and silence fell. Actively move and do something, judging by the rate of pressure drop, they could, perhaps, for the first 15–20 seconds ...
- To figure out what happened, to unfasten, to find a hole under the inner lining in 20 seconds is unrealistic. It would be necessary to train them in advance for this. We tested the possibility of closing the air opening with a manual actuator, which is made for the case of landing on water. This operation in a calm environment takes 35-40 seconds. Thus, they had no chance of salvation. Clinical death occurred in 90-100 seconds simultaneously for all.

By the way, the reason for the opening of the valve was never found by full-scale tests in a pressure chamber (with an explosion of prirobolts) - the defect did not appear.

The models of the SA and BO were pulled together with standard fire bolts. Breathing valves were installed deliberately with technological irregularities that supposedly could have occurred during their manufacture. Pyrobolts were detonated simultaneously according to the scheme that was used in flight. The experiment [347] was carried out twice. The valves did not open. The true reason for the opening of the breathing valve during the separation of the SA and BO "Soyuz-11" has remained a mystery. "

here in more detail.
http://militera.lib.ru/explo/chertok_be/36.html

[Mikhail3]

The main reason for the attempt to abandon the use of the spacesuit was the limit of the payload weight of the Vostok spacecraft put into orbit.

What nonsense, really! Here are the Americans! Someone from the "First Lunar" took a set of instruments from the lunar module as a souvenir. And to the natural question, how did this kit end up there (it was not on the list of equipment), he nonchalantly replied that someone had forgotten it under the seat, and the kit was smuggled to the moon by accident.
These pathetic Russian cosmonauts weighed their modules and struggled with a shortage of available weight! And the heroic Americans did not bother with trifles at all, they did not weigh the module, so they flew ...