What are the portholes of the ORION spacecraft are made. Incredible photos from Astronaut's astronaut Douglas Wiloca Views from the porthole of the spacecraft

Famous photography "Sunrise of the Earth" (Earthrise, the number of the picture in the catalogs of the NASA - AS08-14-2383), and in the catalog of 100 photos of the changing world according to Life magazine, was made by Astronaut William Anders (William Alison Anders) on December 24, 1968, from the side of the spacecraft "Apollo 8 ", when he performed the fourth round in the orbit of the moon artificial satellite. This photo is one of the most famous photos of the Earth from Cosmos.

As a small digression: the article was written on December 24 on the day of the 45th anniversary of Earthrise, and was a kind of reaction to previous publications, where Astronaut William Anders was called the "probable" author of the famous photo. There were still inaccuracies that led me to the thoughts to write this article. The moderation process took several days, but as soon as the "invite" arrived, the article was immediately translated from Chernivikov in the Kosmonautics hub.

Few people know that the AS08-14-2383 was not the first photo of the Earth, shot in a similar perspective, i.e. ascending over the horizon of the moon. Frank Frederick Borman, who was in the left commander's chair, drove a roll of spacecraft according to a fly plan (180 ° to the right) for a fixed shooting of the lunar surface through the left docking porthole using a hardly attached 70mm camera HASSELBLAD 500EL With 80 mm, the Zeiss Planar competence (F / 2.8), which made automatic shots of the lunar surface with a 20-second interval on the black and white film of the cassette D ().

Anders, who was located near the right chair, photographed the lunar surface through the right side window of the command module on a 70-mm black and white film using the HASSELBLAD 500EL camera with a 250 mm Zeiss Sonnar lens (F / 5.6), commenting on its observations. To write on the onboard voice recorder. The right window, thanks to the turn on the roll, turned out to be rotten just in the direction of the Earth, when the Apollo-8 spacecraft began to go out over the opposite side of the Moon. Anders was the first of the astronauts aside ascending land. Nobody saw her the first three turns on the arriving orbit. Seeing the land, Anders said: "My God, look at the local picture! This is the rise of the Earth. Wow, it's pretty! " Bormarman seeing that Anders was going to take a picture of the land, Ironically joked: "Hey, do not do this, it is not according to plan." The shooting of the Earth was not included in the plans of scientists who develop a scientific program for astronauts of the Apollo-8 spacecraft. After the ironic replica of Borman, Anders mixed over the joke of the commander made the only shot of the ascending land (AS08-13-2329) on the black and white film of the cassette E ():

Immediately after this picture was taken, Anders asked the pilot of the James Arthur Lovell, Jr. (James Arthur Lovell, JR.), who was located on the part of the secret in his workplace (Lower Equipment Bay) and engaged in navigating the ship, give it a cassette with color film: "Color film from you, Jim? Give me a film with color, quickly, please? " Lovellel supporting the idea, asked: "Where is she?" Anders hurried him, suggesting that the cassette is labeled with color marking. Having found one cassette, Lovelle noted that this film "C 368" (was due to the SO-368 color film from Eastman Kodak Company). Anders continued quietly: "anything. Fast." Immediately after passing the film by the film, Anders, the latter realized that the Earth came out of the overview of the side porthole. At the same time, Anders said: "So, I think we lost it." At this time, due to the rotation of the spacecraft, the land could already be observed through the right docking porthole and the porthole of the inlet hatch. Lovellus suggested Anders from where you can take a picture. Anders, asking the father to move away, made his famous image AS08-14-2383 through the input hatch porthole:

Specifying the focus settings in a small discussion with Lovelloil, Anders did already through the right docking porthole of the second color, less well-known, the picture AS08-14-2384, on which the earth is above the horizon of the moon slightly higher than on the first color picture:

More 4 photos of the Earth's Sunrise (AS08-14-2388) were made subsequently (AS08-14-2385), and 8 photos (AS08-14-2389 - AS08-14-2396), but they were not so impressive (example - photo as08-14-2392):

These 12 shots are made through the right docking porthole.
A cartridge cassette is available here :.

The land in the pictures looked as follows:

Antarctica was in the left side of the picture (for 10 hours);
- the central part of the land appearance occupied the Atlantic Ocean with cyclones and anticyclones;
- On the light of the western part of Africa, along the terminator, the desert of Namib, Namibia, the southern part of Angola and the western sugar can be seen. These territories are not covered with cloud. A significant part of the territory of Central Africa and the historic region of Guinea (including the Guinean Bay) is covered with layers of clouds.

On the animation commented by the famous historian Apollo program Andrew Chaikin (Andrew L. Chaikin) and made in Scientific Visualization Studio (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), presented these events. The moon is modeled according to high resolution images made using an automatic interplanetary station LoRA (LUNAR RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER):

Negotiations of astronauts during photographing of the Earth's sunrise (in English, the specified time is the flight, counted since the start):
075: 47: 30 Anders: Oh My God, Look At That Picture Over There! There "S The Earth Comin" Up. WOW, IS THAT PETTY! "
075: 47: 37 Borman: (ironic) "Hey, Don" T Take That, IT "S NOT SCHEDULED."
Laughing, Anders makes a picture AS08-13-2329 through the side of the porthole
075: 47: 39 Anders: "YOU GOT A COLOR FILM, JIM?"
075: 47: 46 Anders: "Hand Me A Roll of Color, Quick, Would You?"
075: 47: 48 Lovell: "Oh Man, That" S Great! Where Is it? "
075: 47: 50 Anders: "Hurry. Quick. "
075: 47: 54 Borman: "Gee."
075: 47: 55 Lovell: "DOWN HERE?"
075: 47: 56 Anders: "Just Grab Me a Color. A Color Exterior. "
075: 48: 00 Lovell: (illegible)
075: 48: 01 Anders: "Hurry Up."
075: 48: 06 Anders: "Got One?"
075: 48: 08 Lovell: "Yeah, I" M Lookin "for one. C 368. "
075: 48: 11 Anders: "Anything. Quick. "
075: 48: 13 Lovell: "Here."
075: 48: 17 Anders: "WELL, I THINK WE MISSED IT."
075: 48: 31 Lovell: "Hey, I Got It Right Here." (Lovell saw the land in the input hatch porthole)
075: 48: 33 Anders: "Let ME Get It Out This One, It" S A Lot Clearer. " (Anders asked Lovell to free the place at the porthole of the inlet hatch, after which makes his famous shot AS08-14-2383)
075: 48: 37 Lovell: "Bill, I Got It Framed, IT" S Very Clear Right Here! (Having because of the right docking porthole) Got It? "
075: 48: 41 Anders: "Yep."
075: 48: 42 Borman: "Well, Take Several of Them."
075: 48: 43 Lovell: "Take Several, Take Several of" Em! Here, Give It To Me. "
075: 48: 44 Anders: "Wait a Minute, Just Let ME Get The Right Setting Here Now, Just Calm Down."
075: 48: 47 Borman: "Calm Down, Lovell!"
075: 48: 49 Lovell: "Well I Got It Right-Aw, That" s a beautiful shot. "
075: 48: 54 Lovell: "Two-Fifty AT F / 11."
Anders takes the picture AS08-14-2384 through the right docking porthole
075: 49: 07 Anders: "Okay."
075: 49: 08 Lovell: "NOW VARY-VARY THE EXPOSURE A LITTLE BIT."
075: 49: 09 Anders: "I DID. I TOOK TWOO OF "EM HERE."
075: 49: 11 Lovell: "You Sure You Got IT Now?"
075: 49: 12 Anders: "Yeah, We" LL GET - WELL, IT "LL Come Up Again I Think."
075: 49: 17 Lovell: "Just Take Another One, Bill."

July twentieth, 1969 Astronauts of the piloted spacecraft " Apollo-11.»Steel the first people who stepped onto the surface of the moon. Years of efforts, hazardous experiments and ambitious missions led to the fact that the residents of the Earth for the first time in history have landed on the surface of another celestial body. At this event, millions of people around the world have been observed in live events. Nile Armstrong Astronauts, Michael Collins and Edwin Oldrin left the land on Wednesday, landed on the moon on Sunday, spent a little more than two hours on the lunar surface, posted a set of scientific instruments and collected samples of the lunar soil, after which they were given in the Pacific Ocean next Thursday.

In the continuation, a grand gallery of photographs of this historical mission is presented.

NASA.
Astronaut Edwin Oldrin, the pilot of the lunar module, on the surface of the moon near the support of the Moon Module "Eagle" on July 20, 1969. This snapshot was made by astronaut Nile Armstrong, the crew commander of the APOLLON-11 mission. While Oldrin and Armstrong examined the sea of \u200b\u200bcalm, astronaut Michael Collins, the pilot of the command module, remained in Colombia in the lunar orbit.

NASA.
Crew Mission "Apollo-11": Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin Oldrin.

NASA.
Aerial view of Saturn-5 carrier rocket for the "Apollo-11" mission, May 20, 1969.

NASA.
The crew members of the APOLLON-11 mission and the head of the Astronaut Dald Salaton squad during the traditional breakfast mission, July 16, 1969.

NASA.
Technicians work on the top of a white room, through which astronauts enter the spacecraft, July 11, 1969.

AP Photo / File
Nile Archsrong and crew members of the Apollo-11 mission before sending to the starting platform to the carrier rocket for launching on the moon at the Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida, July 16, 1969.

AP PHOTO / Edwin Reichert
Residents of Berlin stand in front of the television shop window and are watching the beginning of the Mission "Apollo-11", July 16, 1969.

NASA.
The start of Apollo-11 was held on Wednesday, July 16, 1969. When launching a carrier rocket "Saturn-5", the thrust force was 34.5 million Newtons.

AFP / Getty Images
US Vice-President Spiro Agnus and Former US President Lindon Johnson watch the start of the Apollo-11 mission at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, July 16, 1969.

NASA.
View of the flight "Apollo-11" from the Boeing EC-135N aircraft.

NASA.
The view of the planet Earth from the side of the Pilotable spacecraft Apollo-11.

NASA.
This snapshot was made by astronaut Nile Armstrong before landing on the moon. In the photo - Edwin Oldrin in the lunar module.

NASA.
The view of the lunar module amid the earth during the stay of astronauts on the surface of the moon.

NASA.
Having reached the lunar orbit, the view of Crater was from the side of Apollona-11.

NASA.
The view from the side of the Apollo-11 spacecraft to the ground ascending over the horizon of the moon.

NASA.
Command Module "Colombia" above the crates in the sea of \u200b\u200babundance.

NASA.
Astronauts who supported contact with the crew of the Mission "Apollo-11": Charles Moss Duuk, James Arthur Lovell and Fred Wallace Haze.

NASA.
Moon module "Eagle" in the landing configuration. The snapshot was made on the lunar orbit using the Columbia's command module.

NASA.
View from the Illuminator Nile Armstrong on Mesia and Messier Craters A.

AP Photo.
Astronaut Mission Apollo-11 Neal Armstrong steps to the surface of the Moon, July 20, 1969.

AFP / Getty Images
In Paris, France, the family is watching the "Apollo-11" commander steps on the surface of the moon, July 20, 1969.

NASA.
The first photo made by the Nile Armstrong after entering the surface of the moon. White package in the foreground - bag with garbage.

NASA.
Crater near the Moon Module "Eagle".

NASA.
One of the first traces left by Edwin Older, a member of the crew of the Apollo-11 mission.

NASA.
The shadow of Edwin Oldrina on the background of the lunar surface.

NASA.
Basz Oldrin salutes the American flag on the moon during the Apollo-11 mission. The picture was made by astronaut Nile Armstrong.

NASA.
The crowd in the Central Park of New York is watching the planting crew "Apollo-11" on the moon, July 20, 1969.

NASA.
Oldrin unpacks experimental equipment from the lunar module.

NASA.
Astronaut Basz Oldrin carries experimental equipment for deployment on the lunar surface.

NASA.
Oldrin collects passive seismic experimental equipment - a device for measuring moon-dimensions.

AP Photo.
Family in Tokyo, Japan, looking at the TV. Speech by American President Richard Nixon on the background of a direct broadcast greeting of Astronauts of the Apollo-11 mission from the Moon in July 1969.

NASA.
Armstrong takes pictures of the module "Eagle".

NASA.
Module on the surface of the moon on the background of the earth.

NASA.
Lunar module staircase and memorial plate: "Here people from the planet Earth first stepped on the moon. July 1969 of our era. We came with the world on behalf of all mankind. "

NASA.
Astronaut Neil Armstrong in the lunar module after the historical walk through the moon.

NASA.
After takeoff from the surface of the moon, the Eagle module is preparing to dock with the command module in the background.

NASA.
View of the full lunar disk.

NASA.
Earth in the porthole of the Colombia command module during the reverse flight.

AP Photo.
The crew members of the APOLLON-11 mission aboard the helicopter after a successful pressure in the Pacific Ocean, July 24, 1969.

NASA.
Dispatakers of the center of manned space flights in Houston met the successful completion of the "Apollo-11" mission, July 24, 1969.

NASA.
US President Richard Nixon welcomes Apollo-11 crew, located in a quarantine van. From left to right: Nile Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin Oldrin.

NASA.
Residents of New York welcome the autocolon with astronauts of the Apollo-11 mission, moving on the 42nd street towards the United Nations building.

NASA.
Astronauts in Sombrero and Poncho around the amazed crowd in Mexico City during the Presidential Tour of Good Will, within which members of the crew "Apollo-11" together with his wives for forty-five days visited 27 cities of twenty-four countries of the world.

Do you think about what now, it was at this point that automatic probes were launched by the European Space Agency or NASA ??? Not? What are you talking aboutat alldo you think?

In fact, think about it and not! We need to watch pictures from space, which are obtained from these most probes! Only thanks to them, we make some conclusions about the "appearance" of our solar system. Currently, several probes are in open space, and monitor the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Saturn, do not leave without attention, of course, the sun. "Cosmologists "are less studying the galaxy as a whole. For example,Space Shuttle. Such cosmoles as Space Shuttle is small in size, but several astronauts can be served in them. Maybe they are closely there .. But did None of us think about seeing our land from space? Nobody envied those who saw the stars through the porthole rocket? If there are no opportunity to be on board the spacecraft, we offer you to populating with the help of photos of an asteroid of Vesta, walk along the dusty surface of the planet Mars along with a rover, admire Saturn's companions!

The NASA Observatory is engaged in directly studying any changes on the surface of the celestial bodies. For example, a change in the solar plasma lines cycle is clearly clearly seen in the photo - in our industry, the photographs are clearly shown by the effects of the magnetic field of the solar atmosphere on its modifications. If you are not associated with astronomy, then you know these modifications cause solar flares. For us - these are warm soft rays of the Sun! And there, in space, everything is serious!

Below: Comet is approaching the sun. The idea is a unique picture. Temperature near the sun over a million degrees. The comet must already be melted, actually, like the Figrands themselves - it does not matter the crew is or just a probe. Astronauts and astronomers are risking very much somewhere. To burn alive for the sake of comet - victims of science ...

Honestly, science made a lot of seven-mile steps forward. Science moves forward! Modern technique withstands both very low and unimaginable high temperatures.

Each spacecraft (probe, rocket, satellite) is fixed for someone on earth. So, thousands of devices send their "photo reports" with their curators. For example, the photo below was sent from the probe to the scientist of Washington University nameknegi John Hopkins. Hopkins gladly shared the image with people.

Amazing Photography: Space station at a distance of just 390 km from the Moon!

And so the moon looks like the surface of the moon. It seems that she hides in the clouds of our atmosphere. However, nothing like this. Astronauts from a space station, from where a picture is taken, argue that this is just a distortion of the lenses.

Here she is a real nightlife. View S.International Space Station. The picture shows Washington, Boston, New York and a piece of Long Island. In the center there are Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

But the most important thing on the photograph is a Russian satellite on the fart plan, where so without them! Watch America: And during the day, and at night!

Photographs fascinate, but they make either cars, or astronauts who live in space not in such a comfortable environment. But many argue that when such beauty is such a beauty, do not really think or feel about comfort.

It is clear why astronauts do not seek to return from space to Earth. Landing is not the most pleasant. Curious pressure, incredible speed, the capsule is disconnected, the ship burns in the atmosphere, and a very rigid landing.

The takeoff is much easier, albeit with the same pressure, and with no less shaking ..

But then silence comes, and weightlessness is an amazing sense of flight. You look into the porthole, and there for glass - the northern light and twisted clouds of the planet's atmosphere ... Beauty!

To fly normally, astronauts are obliged to perform "extracurricular excavations" to test the equipment and operation of the devices overboard. Every 6 hours should be checked. Within 15 minutes, the engineer checks everything. Also when docking ships, the astronauts of both space stations must control this process.

It is precisely because the glass is not an ideal material for the portholes, the engineers constantly looking for more suitable material for this. There are many structurally stable materials in the world, but among them there are only somewhat transparent among them in order to use them when creating portholes.

In the early stages of the development of Orion, NASA specialists tried to use polycarbonates as a material for portholes, but they did not meet the optical requirements necessary to obtain a high resolution image. After that, engineers switched to acrylic material, which provided the highest transparency and tremendous strength. In the USA from acrylic, huge aquariums are made, which protect their inhabitants from the environment of the environment that is potentially dangerous for them, while withstanding a huge water pressure.

To date, the Orion is equipped with four portholes mounted in the crew module, as well as additional windows in each of the two hatches. Each porthole consists of three panels. The inner panel is made of acrylic, and two others are still glass. It was in this form that Orion has already managed to visit space during the first test flight. During this year, NASA engineers must decide whether they can use two acrylic panels in the portholes and one glass.

In the coming months, Linda Estes and her team should carry out the so-called "creep test" with acrylic panels. The creep in this case is a slow, occurring deformation of a solid body under the influence of constant load or mechanical stress. The creep is subject to everything without exception solid bodies - both crystalline and amorphous. Acrylic panels will be tested for 270 days under huge loads.

Acrylic portholes should make the Orion ship is much easier, and their structural strength will exclude the risk of destruction of the portholes due to random scratches and other damage. According to NASA engineers, thanks to the acrylic panels, they will be able to reduce the weight of the ship by more than 90 kilograms. Reducing the mass will make it possible to conclude a ship into space significantly cheaper.

The transition to acrylic panels also reduces the maintenance and construction of orders such as Orion, because acrylic is much cheaper than glass. Save on only the portholes will be able to be about 2 million dollars during the construction of one spacecraft. Perhaps in the future, glass panels will be excluded at all from the portholes, but so far additional thorough tests are needed.

Go to the lunar expedition in a projectile equipped with glass windows with dampers. Through the large windows look at the elevated heroes of Tsiolkovsky and Wells.

When it came to practice, a simple word "window" seemed unacceptable space technology developers. Therefore, what kind of astronauts can look out from the ship, it is called, there is no little, special, but less "branded" - the portholes. Moreover, the porthole itself for people is the porthole visual, and for some kind of equipment - optical.

The portholes are both a constructive element of the cosmic shell, and an optical device. On the one hand, they serve to protect devices and crews located inside the compartment, from the effects of the external environment, on the other, should provide the possibility of working in various optical equipment and visual observation. Not only, however, observation - when, on both sides of the ocean, the technique was painted for "star wars", through the portholes of warships were collected and aimed.

Americans and in general English rackets, the term "porthole" puts in a dead end. Ask how: "Is it windows, or what?" In English, everything is simple - that in the house that in the "Shuttle" - Window, and no problems. But the English sailors say Porthole. So the Russian cosmic window builders, probably, closer to the spirit of overseas shipboards.

Two types of portholes can be found on the spacecraft of observation. The first type completely separates the photographic equipment in the aromotage (lens, cassette part, image receivers and other functional elements) from the "hostile" external environment. According to such a scheme, Space Activities of the Zenit type are built. The second type of portholes separates the cassette part, image receivers and other elements from the external environment, while the lens is in the lentern compartment, that is, in vacuo. Such a scheme is applied on "Amber" spacecraft. With such a scheme, the requirements for the optical properties of the porthole become particularly rigid, since the porthole is now an integral part of the optical system of the film apparatus, and not a simple "window into space".

It was believed that the astronaut would be able to manage the ship, based on what he could see. The least managed to implement it. In particular, it is important to "look ahead" when docking and landing on the moon - there, American astronauts have repeatedly involved when landing manual control.

Most cosmonauts have a psychological view of the top and bottoms are formed depending on the environment, and the portholes can also help. Finally, the portholes, like windows on Earth, serve to illuminate compartments when flying above the illuminated side of the Earth, Moon or distant planets.

As with any optical instrument, the ship window has a focal length (from a semi-kilometer to fifty) and many other specific optical parameters.

Our glaziers are the best in the world.

When creating the first spacecraft in our country, the development of portholes was instructed by the Research Institute of Aviation Glass Minaviaprom (now it is JSC "Technical Glass"). In the creation of "windows to the universe" also participated in the state optical institute. S. I. Vavilov, Research Institute of Rubber Industry, Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant and a number of other enterprises and organizations. A great contribution to the cooking glass of various brands, the manufacture of portholes and unique long-focus lenses with a large aperture made near Moscow Lytkarinsky optical glass plant.

The task was extremely difficult. Another production of aircraft lamps was mastered at one time long and difficult - the glass quickly lost transparency, covered with cracks. In addition to ensuring transparency, the domestic war forced to develop armored cells, after the war, the growth of the velocities of reactive aviation led not only to the increase in strength requirements, but also to the need to preserve the properties of glazing during aerodynamic heating. For the Space Projects, glass that was used for lanterns and aircraft portholes was not suitable - no temperature and load.

The first space portholes were developed in our country on the basis of the decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 569-264 of May 22, 1959, which provided for the beginning of preparation for piloted flights. And in the USSR, and in the US, the first portholes were round - such it was easier to calculate and produce. In addition, domestic ships, as a rule, could be managed without the participation of a person, and, accordingly, there was, accordingly, there was no need for a too good review "on the aircraft". Gagarinsky "Vostok" had two portholes. One was placed on the input hatch of the descent apparatus, slightly above the head of the cosmonaut, the other - at his feet in the housing of the descent apparatus. It is not too superfluous to remember the names of the main developers of the first portholes in the Research Institute of Aviation Glass - this is S. M. Brehovsky, V.I. Alexandrov, H. E. Serebryannikova, Yu. I. Nechaev, L. A. Kalashnikova, F. T. Vorobyov, E. F. Postolskaya, L. V. King, B. P. Kolgankov, E. I. Flowers, C. V. Volchanov, V. I. Krasin, E. G. Loginova and others.

As a result of many reasons when creating their first spacecraft, our American colleagues experienced a serious "mass deficit". Therefore, the level of automation of the ship, similar to Soviet, they simply could not afford even taking into account the easier electronics, and many of the ship management functions were closed on experienced test pilots selected in the first cosmonaut detachment. At the same time, in the original version of the first American ship "Mercury" (about which they said that the astronaut is not included in it, but puts it on himself), the pilot the porthole is not provided for nothing - even the required 10 kg of additional mass took it was nowhere.

The porthole appeared only at the ultimate request of the Astronauts themselves after the first flight of Shepard. The present, full "pilot" the porthole appeared only on "Gemini" - on the planting hatch of the crew. But it was not round it, but a complex trapezoidal form, because for a full-fledged manual control when docking the pilot required an overview of ahead; In the "Union", by the way, for this purpose periscope was installed on the porthole of the descent apparatus. The development of the portholes from Americans was engaged in Corning, a jdsu division was responsible for the windows on the glasses.

On the Lunar Apollo command module, one of the five portholes also put on the hatch. Two others, providing rapprochement when docking with a moon module, looked forward, and two more "side" allowed to take a glance perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the ship. At the "unions" there were usually three portholes on the descent apparatus and up to five on the household compartment. Most of the portholes in orbital stations are up to several dozen, different shapes and sizes.

An important stage in the "window-building" was the creation of glazing for space aircraft - Space Shuttle and Burana. "Cheloveks" are planting in a self-sufficient, and therefore, the pilot needs to provide a good overview from the cab. Therefore, American, and domestic developers have provided for six large portholes of complex form. Plus a pair in the roof of the cabin is already to ensure docking. Plus windows in the back of the cab - for operations with a lot of cargo. Finally, by the Illuminator on the inlet hatch.

At dynamic sections of the flight on the front portholes "Shuttle" or "Burana" there are completely different loads other than those who are subject to the portholes of ordinary descent devices. Therefore, the calculation on the strength here is different. And when the "shuttle" already in orbit, the portholes turn out to be "too much" - the cab overheats, the crew receives an extra "ultraviolet". Therefore, during the orbital flight, part of the portholes in the cockpit "Shuttle" are closed with kevlar flaps-shutters. But the "Burana" inside the portholes had a photochromic layer, which darkly did not let in the action of ultraviolet radiation and "superfluous" into the cab.

Frames, shutters, scolding, carved vents ...

The bulk of the porthole is, of course, glass. "For space" is used not ordinary glass, and quartz. In the time of the "East" the choice was not particularly large - only the brands of SC and KV were available (the latter - nothing else like a melted quartz). Later they created and experienced many other varieties of glass (KV10C, K-108). I tried to even use the CO-120 brand plexiglas in space. Americans have a brand of thermo and shockproof glass Vycor.

For the portholes, glass of different sizes are used - from 80 mm to a non-small half-meter (490 mm), and recently in orbit appeared eight-graded "glass". About the external protection of "cosmic windows" is ahead, but to protect members of the crew from the harmful effects of near ultraviolet radiation on glass of portholes working with non-stationary installed devices, special lighting coatings are applied.

The porthole is not only glass. To obtain a solid and functional design, several glasses are inserted into the clip made of aluminum or titanium alloy. Even lithium was used for the portholes "shuttle".

To ensure the required level of reliability of glasses in the porthole initially began to do several. In the case of which one glass collapses, and the rest will remain, keeping the ship hermetic. Domestic portholes on the "Unions" and "Easterns" had three glasses (on the "Union" there is one double-decker, but it covered the most part of the flight to the periscope).

On Apollo and Space Shuttle, the "windows" are also also three-lane, but "Mercury" - its "first swallow" - the Americans equipped with a four-square porthole.

In contrast to the Soviet American porthole on the Apollo command module, was not a single assembly. One glass worked as part of the shell of the bearing heat shielding surface, and the other two (in fact, a double-decker porthole) was already part of the Hermoconstruction. As a result, such portholes were more visual than optical. Actually, taking into account the key role of pilots in the management of "apollons", such a decision looked quite logical.

On the lunar cabin "Apollonov", all three portholes themselves were single-glossy, but with the outside, they were covered with external glass, not included in the hemoconptors, and from the inside - an internal safety plexiglass. Another single-set portholes were subsequently installed in orbital stations, where the loads are still less than the descent vehicles of spacecraft. And on some spacecraft, for example, on the Soviet interplanetary stations "Mars" of the beginning of the 70s, in one cable were virtually several portholes (double-decker compositions).

When the spacecraft is in orbit, the temperature difference on its surface can be a couple of hundred degrees. Expansion coefficients in glass and metal, naturally, are different. So between glass and metal metal put seals. In our country they dealt with the Research Institute of the Rubber Industry. The design uses vacuum resistant rubber. The development of such seals is a difficult task: rubber - polymer, and cosmic radiation over time "rubit" polymer molecules into pieces, and as a result, "ordinary" rubber simply spreads.

Nasal glazing of a cabin of Burana. Internal and external part of the porthole of the Buran

Upon closer examination, it turns out that in the design of domestic and American "windows" differ significantly from each other. Almost all glasses in domestic structures have the form of a cylinder (naturally, with the exception of the glazing of the camp devices like "Burana" or "Spiral"). Accordingly, the cylinder has a side surface that needs to be specifically processed to minimize the glare. Reflective surfaces inside the porthole are covered with a special enamel, and the side walls of the chambers are sometimes even glued together with a semi-breeze. The glass three rubber rings is compacted (as they were first called - sealing rubber bands).

The glasses of American ships "Apollo" were rounded lateral surfaces, and the rubber seal was stretched onto them, like a tire on the car's wheeler disk.

The glasses inside the porthole will not succeed with a cloth during the flight, and therefore no trash in the camera (the intercouche space) can not categorically. In addition, glass should not foggle or freeze. Therefore, before the start of the spacecraft, not only tanks, but also the portholes - the camera fill in a particularly clean dry nitrogen or dry air. To "unload" the glass itself, the pressure in the chamber is provided twice as smaller than in the hermetic compartment. Finally, it is desirable that the surface of the compartment walls is not too hot or too cold from the inside. To do this, sometimes an internal screen from the plexiglass is installed.

The light on India fell as wedge. Lens turned out to be!

Glass is not metal, it is destroyed differently. There will be no dents here - a crack will appear. The strength of the glass depends mainly on the state of its surface. Therefore, it is strengthened, eliminating surface defects - microcracks, laits, scratches. For this, the glass is etched, hardened. However, with glasses used in optical devices, not accepted. Their surface is reinforced with the so-called deep grinding. By the beginning of the 70s, external glass of optical portholes learned how to strengthen the ion exchange, which made it possible to increase their abrasive resistance.

To improve the light light, the glass is enlightened by a multi-layer enlightened coating. They may include tin or indium oxide. Such coatings increase light transmission by 10-12%, and they are applied by the method of reactive cathode spraying. In addition, India's oxide absorbs neutrons well, which is not suitable, for example, during the manned interplanetary flight. India generally "philosopher's stone" glass, and not only glass, industry. The mirrors with an indium coating reflect most of the spectrum equally. In the rubbing nodes of Indium significantly improves resistance to abrasion.

In flight, the portholes can be dirty and from the outside. Already after the start of flights under the program "Gemini", astronauts have noticed that evaporation from heat-shielding coating is settled on the glasses. Spacecraft in flight generally acquire the so-called concomitant atmosphere. Something breaks out of the shooters, "hang" next to the ship small particles of screen-vacuum heat insulation, right there - products combustion of fuel components when operating orientation engines ... In general, garbage and dirt turns out to be more than enough so that not only "spoil View, but also, for example, break the work of on-board cameras.

Developers of interplanetary space stations from NGOs them. C.A. Lochochkin says that during the flight of the spacecraft, two "heads" - kernels were discovered in its composition. It was recognized as an important scientific discovery. Then it turned out that the second "head" appeared due to the fogging of the porthole, which led to the effect of the optical prism.

The glasses of the portholes should not change the lights, when exposed to ionizing radiation from the background space radiation and cosmic radiation, including as a result of outbreaks in the sun. The interaction of the electromagnetic radiation of the Sun and the cosmic rays with glass is generally complex phenomenon. The absorption of radiation with glass can lead to the formation of the so-called "color centers", that is, to a decrease in the initial light transmission, as well as cause luminescence, since part of the absorbed energy can immediately stand out as light quanta. The luminescence of the glass creates an additional background, which lowers the contrast of the image, increases the noise ratio to the signal and can make the normal functioning of the instrument. Therefore, glass used in optical portholes must have, along with high radiation-optical resistance, low luminescence levels. The magnitude of the luminescence intensity is no less important for optical glasses under the influence of radiation than staining resistance.

Among the factors of the space flight one of the most dangerous for the portholes is a micrometeor impact. It leads to a rapid drop in glass strength. His optical characteristics deteriorate. Already after the first year of flight on the outer surfaces of long-term orbital stations, craters and scratches are detected, reaching one and a half years. If most of the surface can be used from meteor and man-made particles, then the portholes do not protect. To a certain extent, blends are saved, sometimes installed on the portholes, through which, for example, onboard cameras. At the first American orbital station "Skylab" was assumed that the portholes would be partly energized with elements of the structure. But, of course, the most radical and reliable solution is to cover up outside the portholes of "orbital" controlled lids. This decision was applied, in particular, at the Soviet orbital station of the second generation "Salyut-7".

"The garbage" in orbit is becoming more and more. In one of the flights "Shuttle", something clearly technological left on one of the portholes a rather noticeable injection-crater. The glass has grown, but who knows what can fly next time? .. This, by the way, is one of the reasons for the serious concern of the "space community" problems of cosmic garbage. In our country, the problems of micrometeorite effect on the elements of the design of spacecraft, including the portholes, is actively involved in, in particular, Professor of the Samara State Aerospace University L.G. Lukashev.

In even more difficult conditions, the portholes of the descent devices are operating. When descending in the atmosphere, they turn out to be in the high-temperature plasma cloud. In addition to the pressure from the inside of the compartment on the porthole, there is an external pressure on the descent. And then it follows landing - often on snow, sometimes into water. At the same time, the glass is sharply cooled. Therefore, special attention is paid to the strength issues.

"The simplicity of the porthole is the apparent phenomenon. Some optics say that the creation of a flat porthole is more complex task than the manufacture of a spherical lens, since it is much more complicated to construct the mechanism of "accurate infinity" than the mechanism with a finite radius, that is, spherical surfaces. And nevertheless, there were never any problems with the portholes, "it's probably the best of estimates for the spacecraft node, especially if it sounded from the mouth of Georgy Fomin, in the recent past - First Deputy General Designer of SNPRCTS TsSKB - Progress.

We are all under the "dome" in Europe

Panoramic module Cupola.

Not so long ago - February 8, 2010 after the flight "Shattla" STS-130 - an overview dome appeared at the International Space Station, consisting of several large plithinators of the quadrangular shape and a round eight-graded porthole.

The Cupola module is designed to observe Earth and working with a manipulator. He was developed by the European concern Thales Alenia Space, and Italian machine builders were built in Turin.

Thus, today Europeans hold a record - such large portholes in the United States nor in Russia in orbit have not yet been displayed. The developers of various "cosmic hotels" of the future are also told about huge windows, insisting on their special significance for future space tourists. So, "Oknostration" has a great future, and the portholes continue to remain one of the key elements of the piloted and unmanned spacecraft.

"Dome" - really cool thing! When you look at the land from the window, it's like an embrasure. And in the "dome" by 360 degrees review, everything is visible! The earth looks like a card from here, yes, most of all this resembles a geographical map. It can be seen how the sun goes, as it gets up like the night comes ... You look at all this beauty with some sinking inside.