Yuri Gagarin several times was a hair from death

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12 April, our state celebrated the 50 anniversary of the first manned space flight. This day was truly stellar in stories our homeland, and the name of Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin entered the history not only of the USSR, but of the whole world. Exactly half a century has passed, and only now has the classified information about the dramatic events accompanying the flight.

Recently, one often hears doubts, especially from abroad: is there any element of a certain accident that the Soviet people themselves were the first to accomplish what humanity continued to dream at all times? But in the breakthroughs of a similar scale and significance, history does not allow any accidents or uncertainties. The feat of Yuri Gagarin seems to be the highest peak of the summit, the foundation of which was the whole Soviet people-hard worker, his industry, his science, his social optimism. And right next to Yuri Gagarin, the creator of rocket technology, the talented Soviet design engineer S.P. Korolev and more 2000 engineers, operators, technicians who worked at the time in building the space industry.

It is necessary to understand how important the first manned flight into space for the entire Soviet people was through 15 years after the completion of the most destructive war for the USSR. Germany, which rebuilt the entire West, about this could not even think. Japan with its technology has not yet come close to the space level of the USSR 60-s. Even the United States, with its colossal wealth obtained during the war, lost the battle for space in 1961.

A lot is known about the first space flight of Yuri Gagarin and, it would seem, everything: you can read about this in thousands of books, see hundreds of filmed films, including documentaries. We know a lot, but as it turned out, not all. Thus, over the course of 50 years, the information that Yuri Gagarin had been close to death as a result of a disaster several times remained secret. We did not know how the first cosmonaut returned to Earth. Declassified documents for the most part provide a technical report on the course of the flight, as well as events up to the significant moment and its final stage.

A moment before the start

The feat of Yuri Gagarin, as well as the subsequent Soviet cosmonauts, was greatly diminished due to the so-called “lacquering propaganda”, which was carried out in those years to raise the authority of the Soviet cosmonautics. The censors put a reliable information barrier, and in the press there was no mention of emergency situations, difficulties, and failures in the course of implementing the adopted space programs. Officially, only those miscalculations were reported that it was simply not realistic to hide. Unfortunately, this turned out to be only harm in terms of a realistic assessment of the entire true size of the heroism of the Soviet cosmonauts and people who embodied the revolutionary program of space exploration. The Americans in this regard looked much more attractive, their astronauts presented themselves as fearless people who struggled with difficulties and various faults and with honor left the most difficult situations. The conquest of space in the USSR seemed no more difficult than a country walk.

The embellishment of the real situation and the concealment of real problems began from the moment Yury Gagarin flew into space. The press told only that the flight was carefully prepared and worked out to the smallest detail and passed without risk and problems. Half a century has passed, and we learn that things have not gone so smoothly and that there were problems, and very serious ones.

Parsing information can begin with events that occurred long before 12 April 1961. As is now known, before the flight of Yuri Gagarin, several significant disasters occurred, the consequences of which were extremely grave. So, in 1960, one of the missiles exploded right on the launch pad. As a result, Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin died, as well as a large group of rocket specialists. As a preparation, seven launches of the unmanned Vostok ships were carried out, of which two ended in failure. In the first case, the descent vehicle remained in orbit, and the second burned down when returning to Earth, in the capsule of the apparatus there were experimental animals that died. It should also be noted that the last two launches in March were successful. And on March 25 the most significant success was achieved, a successful bailout of a dummy made in the image of an astronaut in full gear was carried out. The dummy was successfully catapulted and landed on Earth by parachute.

It is considered to be a rocket reliable only after eight successful launches, but the ship "Vostok" by this criterion clearly did not fit. There were seven launches, of which only three were truly successful. But at that time they decided not to pay attention to this significant fact, because the Americans were also preparing to conduct a manned flight. This could not but alarm the Soviet leadership, and it was for this reason that on April 3, at a meeting of the CPSU Central Committee Presidium chaired by Nikita Khrushchev, it was decided to launch a manned spacecraft into space with a man on board.

“Of course, experts understood the degree of risk perfectly well,” expert Vitaly Golovachev, one of the most informed in the field of manned cosmonautics, points out. - But they were concerned not only with the reliability of the equipment. It was equally important to receive an answer to the question of whether the astronaut can maintain his working capacity under the unusual conditions of an hour and a half weightlessness, considerable emotional stress, “being in open space, alone with the Universe”. Many experts, including quite reputable ones, pointed to the possibility of astronaut's clouding of reason. Given this, the designers chose such a scheme, according to which the ship must be in automatic mode during the flight. The astronaut did not need to touch the controls of the control system at all. This is a very real way to protect the pilot from unforeseen trouble, but what about if the complex equipment fails? Here, obviously, the pilot must take control of the control. For this, he needed to prove that he is in a clear mind and a solid memory. The complex control system of the spacecraft was “classified” from it by a combination lock. The pilot had to get the sealed regular envelope from the on-board documentation, open it, find out the code, which consisted of three digits - 125, and type them on the remote in the specified sequence. Only after that the power was turned on to start the manual control system. In an effort to insure as much as possible, the designers decided to go even further. According to their plan, even in the event of a brake engine failure, the ship still had to return to Earth itself after 5-7 days. The orbit for the flight was specifically chosen as low as possible with such a definite calculation that the Vostok, when entering the upper atmosphere, gradually slowed down the speed and entered dense layers at a reduced speed and made a ballistic descent. But, of course, the ship could land in the ocean, in Kazakhstan, and in the mountains of South America. But still, “East” in any case had to return within a week. But after the start, it became obvious that this emergency option is no longer necessary to pin hope. Due to an error in the instrument, which measured the speed of flight, the “Orient” trajectory at the apogee point was 40 km higher than the calculated one. And in the event of a brake engine failure, the launch of the spacecraft to Earth from the altitude would have occurred no earlier than in 15-20 days. The life support system of the ship was not designed for such a long time. In other words, with this option, Gagarin did not have a single chance to survive. ”

At that time, the very start was a huge risk, starting from the moment when Yuri Gagarin took the pilot's place in the ship’s cabin. The most crucial stage is, of course, the prelaunch countdown, as well as the first seconds of the ascent. It was taken into account that in the event of an accident at the first stage, Gagarin had to eject from the ship at a height of literally several tens of meters. Of course, the risk would be significant: an astronaut should land in close proximity to a rocket that had not yet been launched, the explosion of which could destroy both him and the rescuers.

The flight was, in general, normal, but if you delve into it, then, undoubtedly, in very harsh conditions. With a set of speed, the overload increased to 4 units. Specialists who monitored the pilot's physical condition recorded that his pulse had increased from normal 64 beats per minute to 150. At that moment, when the ship entered a predetermined near-earth orbit, its speed was 28 260 km / h. So fast before that, no one flew. For the first time, Gagarin experienced an unusual phenomenon of real weightlessness. Of course, all this could not put pressure on the psyche. But Gagarin firmly held himself in his hands. During all the 90 minutes of flight, he not only gave clear answers to the questions of the specialists and engineers of the MCC, but also made entries in the logbook. He wrote, dressed in a spacesuit, without taking off her glove gloves, and used an ordinary graphite pencil, clearly recording everything that he had heard and seen. The writing style and writing were perfect, which indicated the cosmonaut's confidence and calmness, as well as the absence of any fear.

Significant problems began at the finishing stage. This is what Yuri Gagarin wrote about this when compiling the technical report:
“At exactly the specified time, there passed ... the team. I felt how the TDU worked. A muffled noise was felt through the metal construction. I spotted the time since turning on the TDU. The inclusion was done abruptly. TDU worked exactly 40 seconds. As soon as the TDU turned off, there was a sharp jolt, and the spacecraft began to rotate very quickly around its axes. The rotation speed was about 30 degrees per second, no less. Everything began to spin. So I see Africa, then the horizon, then the sky. I put my feet closer to the porthole, but did not close the special curtains. I was very interested in what was actually happening. There is no separation. Remembering the calculation, I knew that this should have happened no more than 10 — 12 seconds after turning off the TDU. According to my feelings, more time has passed, but there is no separation ... I realized that not everything is in order here. I looked at the clock and timed it. Two minutes passed, and there was no separation. Reported on the HF channel that the TDU system worked fine. I understood that I would still sit, because there are still six thousand kilometers to the Soviet Union. Then eight thousand more to the Far East. Anyway, I'll sit down somewhere. Noise no need to raise. On the phone, I reported that the TDU worked as standard, and reported that the expected separation did not happen. I was sure that the situation was not emergency, so I reported with the key: “VN” - everything is fine. I fly, I see - the Mediterranean Sea, the northern coast of Africa, everything is clearly visible. True, everything is spinning with a wheel - head, legs. The split should have happened in 10 hours, 25 minutes, 57 seconds, and happened in 10 hours, 35 minutes. ”


Later it was found that Yuri Gagarin was very lucky. During the descent, the surface of the ship was so hot that the cables melted, the modules separated, and the danger of danger passed.

Extract from the technical report of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin:
“I felt the separation abruptly. Such a clap, then a push, while the spin continued. All the indices that are on the remote control went out. Instead, only one technical inscription “Prepare for the Bailout” was included. After that one feels, the braking begins, an incomprehensible weak itch on the construction goes, it was noticeable, put the legs on the chair ... At this moment I already took the pose for the work of ejection, I sit - I wait. There is a slowdown in the rotation of the ship, which is the most important - on all three axes. The ship began to oscillate by roughly 90 degrees left and right. Full turn did not occur. On the other axis are also minor oscillatory movements with deceleration. At this time, the review window "Vzor" was closed by a curtain, only at the edges of this curtain there was such a bright purple light. Similar crimson light was observed in a small hole in the right window. Strange weightlessness disappeared, the overload increased with terrible force and pressed to the chair. They were stronger several times than during takeoff, almost 10 units. The spacecraft began to rotate again. ”


In the Soviet media in 1961, they reported that the lander with the first cosmonaut on board had landed in 10: 55: 34 Moscow time in the specified region of the USSR. But dozens of peasants in the Saratov region saw a cosmonaut with a bright parachute landed on the field. Witnesses told this to journalists who phoned to Smelovsky Village Council. But the censors removed from the newspaper reports so “unauthorized details." Why?

According to the statement of Colonel Anatoly Dokuchaev, an expert in manned cosmonautics, the fact is that in the future astronauts should have descended to Earth in a descent vehicle. In the situation with Gagarin decided to err. The creators considered that the landing for the astronaut inside the descent capsule would be too tough, and they chose, in their opinion, a safer way of returning. For Gagarin, the ejection and subsequent descent by parachute became another test of will and courage.

From the technical report of Yuri Gagarin:
“At a height of about 7000 meters, hatch cover No. 1 is shot: cotton - and the hatch cover is gone. I am sitting and thinking, have I not ejected? He turned his head up so quietly, and at that moment a shot — and I catapulted — quickly, well, gently, without hitting anything. Flew out with the chair. I looked, the stabilizing parachute was put into action. On the chair sat down like a chair. Sit on it comfortably, very well, and rotates to the right.

I immediately saw: the river is big - Volga. I think that there are no more such rivers here than other rivers, which means Volga. Then I look, something like a city, on one side a large city and on the other significant one. I think something familiar. The ejection occurred over the coast, in my opinion, about a kilometer. Well, I think, obviously, the breeze will now drag me there, I will spill. The stabilizing one is uncoupling, the main parachute is put into action - and here it is so soft, I didn’t even notice anything, I pulled it off. The chair left me, went down. I began to descend on the main parachute ... I think, probably, Saratov is landing here in Saratov. Then the reserve parachute opened, opened and hung down, it didn’t open, the satchel simply opened ... There was a layer of clouds, a little bit of a cloud was blown in, a second parachute opened, filled up, and I went down two parachutes. It was difficult with the opening of the breathing valve in the air, it turned out such a thing that when they put it on, it came under the unmasking shell ... for six minutes I tried to get it. But then he took it, unbuckled the unmasking casing, with the help of a mirror, he pulled out this very cable and opened it normally. ”


Already 13 April 1961goda rumors appeared in the Western media and the unsubstantiated data about Gagarin’s flight. So, according to one statement, Yuri Gagarin was not the first astronaut who visited a near-earth orbit. During the 50 years that have passed since the first flight into space, dozens of surnames were named for people who had allegedly been in space, but died due to various technical flaws.

In the authoritative Guinness Book of Records in the 1964 edition of the year, the first man who was in space is the son of the famous aircraft designer Vladimir Ilyushin. A young man 8 June 1960 of the year, was in a car accident and received significant injuries. He was treated in Moscow for a long time, then he was transported for final recovery to China. But, not attaching importance to the facts provided, journalists of the Western media reported on the unsuccessful launch of the spacecraft and its emergency landing on the territory of China.

There were also rumors about other astronaut pilots who allegedly piloted space rockets launched before 1961. Foreign press called the names Ledovskikh and Shaborin. Even today, half a century later, foreign journalists continue to write stories about those who participated in the recruitment with Gagarin, but did not become astronauts, nine of these pilots. Mars Rafikov left the team for personal reasons. Anatoly Kartashov and Dmitry Zaikin were expelled in connection with the medical opinion. Varlamov during the holidays received a serious spinal injury. Valentin Filatyev, Ivan Anikeev and Grigory Nelyubov were expelled from the team for disciplinary offenses. In the Western media they still write that all of these pilots became astronauts and died during flights into space, and the details of the disasters, they say, continue to be carefully ignored.
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