What was the feat of the first cosmonauts. Konstantin Shavlovsky about the Russian space blockbuster “Time of the First”

Every year on April 12th we talk about space. And May 9 is about Victory. But we rarely remember that the 16-year difference between these dates is not that big. Space was explored by people who fought or grew up in wartime. And now, after celebrating Victory Day, it’s time to remember the mark the war left on their lives.

Improbability squared

The most incredible military background was that of cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov. When the war began, Konstantin was fifteen years old. The Feoktistov family lived in Voronezh, which was far from the front line until 1942. In the summer of 1942, the city began to be bombed for the first time, and Konstantin’s mother (his father was drafted) decided to leave the city. Konstantin quietly “got lost” and joined the reconnaissance group at the Voronezh garrison. The Germans occupied the right bank of the city on July 6, but were unable to cross to the left bank. And Feoktistov began to walk across the river on reconnaissance missions. Four times the sixteen-year-old boy swam across the river at night, walked around the city, scouting out the location of headquarters, artillery batteries and tanks, and returned back. And for the fifth time he was caught by an SS patrol, who, without any investigation, shot him...

I didn’t have time to get scared, I only saw the front sight on the barrel of the pistol, when the German stretched out his hand and shot me in the face. I felt like I had been hit in the jaw and fell into a hole. He fell successfully. While falling, he turned over on his stomach and did not break: the ground was hard, and there were fragments of bricks lying at the bottom of the hole. For a moment I probably lost consciousness, but then I woke up and realized: don’t move, don’t make a sound! That’s right, I hear a conversation, which means there are already two of them, the German kicked a brick into the hole, but didn’t hit me. Talking to each other, both left the yard. I lay there and felt severe pain in my chin and weakness throughout my body. Then he stood at the bottom of the hole - deep, one and a half to two meters, how to climb out? Suddenly I hear - the Germans are returning! I immediately fell face down, instantly returning to my previous position. They approached the pit, exchanged a few phrases and slowly left. I lay there a little longer, got up and finally got out.
K.P. Feoktistov, “The Trajectory of Life.”

I was lucky - the bullet went through the chin and neck, right through, and did not hit any vital vessels. I had to hide in the city for two days - on the first night I didn’t have enough strength to get to the river. I couldn’t eat or drink for three days—the tumor blocked the esophagus. On the fourth day she was asleep and no serious medical intervention was required. And in the medical battalion Konstantin’s mother found him and took him to the rear.

186 combat missions

Cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy was born in 1921 and by the beginning of the war he graduated from the Voroshilovgrad School of Military Pilots named after the Proletariat of Donbass. But in the unit where he arrived, the pilots were drawing lots for departure - there were practically no planes left. I had to retrain on the BB-22, then on the Pe-3, and finally on the Il-2. In the summer of 1942 he arrived at the Kalinin Front. During the war years he made 186 combat missions. Was shot down three times. In one case, he made an emergency landing in a forest and walked to his own people for four days. Another time I drove a burning car to the front line and jumped out of the plane literally at the very last moment.

In memory of the military past, Beregovoi asked to draw an Il-2 on the Soyuz-3 emblem:

Georgy Beregovoi is the only cosmonaut who, by the time he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for space flight, already had the title of hero for heroism in the Great Patriotic War.

Might as well not have happened

It’s not often thought about, but Gagarin’s world-famous smile could have been destroyed by a nameless German who kicked the Gagarin family out of their house in the village of Klushino, forcing them to live in a dugout. Gagarin did not fight - in 1941 he just started first grade, but hunger, disease, and war crimes of the Germans in the occupied territory could have killed him just as easily. Gagarin’s younger brother almost died - the German hung him with a scarf, but Yura managed to call his mother. The school in the village was closed - the Germans kicked the teacher and the children out of all the rooms where she tried to teach. Only when the village was liberated by Soviet troops in 43, the Gagarin family was able to return to their home, and Yura was able to study further.

Over the hills of Manchuria

Pavel Belyaev volunteered to go to the front in 1943, was sent to the Yeisk Pilot School and did not have time to go to the war in Europe. But he managed to take part as a fighter pilot in the defeat of the Kwantung Army of Japan.

Odessa underground

Georgy Dobrovolsky lived in Odessa. When the Nazis approached the city in 1941, he helped dig trenches and extinguished incendiary bombs. After the occupation of the city, he participated in the partisan movement. In 1944, a sixteen-year-old boy was arrested for possession of weapons, tortured and sentenced to 25 years of hard labor. But with the help of the underground, whose members George did not extradite even under torture, he was able to escape.

Son of the regiment

Vladimir Shatalov met the war in Leningrad at the age of thirteen. He repeatedly tried to escape to the front, and his father was forced to take him into his unit. For a month and a half he was a kind of son of the regiment, then he was sent for evacuation.

Industry people

Among those who did not fly into space directly, there were many war veterans. The astronauts were selected, trained and trained by people who had gone through terrible military experiences. Assistant to the Air Force Commander-in-Chief for Space Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin , one of the first Heroes of the Soviet Union, on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War he commanded an aviation division, then a corps. The Cosmonaut Training Center was headed by Nikolai Fedorovich Kuznetsov , who fought in the Soviet-Finnish War, the Great Patriotic War, and in Korea.
The engineers who designed spaceships, as a rule, did not fight directly at the front. But their work to create new equipment was hard, selfless, and saved the lives of those who fought, bringing victory closer.

Overseas

Conclusion

Without the heroism of those who gave their lives for the Victory, fought, or selflessly worked in the rear, there would be neither us nor our space. Happy belated holiday, Happy Victory Day!

As is usually the case, leaving the cradle is accompanied not only by successes, but also by downfalls. What was not customary to talk about in the Soviet Union, so few people know that exactly 40 years ago the following story happened:

"Union" without a number. In 1975, Soviet cosmonauts survived falling from space

One of the most dramatic flights in the history of Soviet cosmonautics was kept secret for a long time.

Commander of the Soyuz-12 spacecraft, Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Lazarev (left) and flight engineer Oleg Makarov. / Alexander Mokletsov / RIA Novosti

18, fraction 1...

The official history of manned space flights says that the Soyuz-18 spacecraft launched on May 24, 1975 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with a crew of Pyotr Klimuk and Vitaly Sevastyanov. The ship successfully docked with the Salyut-4 station, where the crew worked for two months. On July 26 of the same year, the astronauts returned to Earth.

There is not a word of lie in these words, but not the whole truth. The fact is that the ship of Klimuk and Sevastyanov had a slightly different name for the initiates - “Soyuz-18 V”. Space industry specialists were not recommended to talk about what happened to Soyuz-18 A, or, in other words, Soyuz-18-1.

Meanwhile, the flight of this ship is one of the most dramatic pages in Russian cosmonautics, and its crew had to endure something that no one else had to endure.

The commander of the Soyuz-18-1 spacecraft was Vasily Lazarev, and the flight engineer was Oleg Makarov.

Flying Doctor

Lazarev, a native of the Altai Territory, after serving in the army entered medical institute, became a surgeon, and worked as a military medic. Lazarev served in the airfield technical support battalion of the air regiment of the 30th Air Army. But since childhood, he himself dreamed of flying, and in 1952, the 24-year-old physician made a sharp turn - Lazarev entered the Kharkov Higher Military Aviation School in Chuguev and graduated from it in an accelerated program, receiving the specialty “fighter pilot”.

Naturally, such a versatile specialist turned out to be extremely in demand - Lazarev tested aircraft of various types and modifications, and was involved in testing various high-altitude equipment for pilots (spacesuit, anti-g suits, oxygen equipment).

Lazarev participated in experimental flights of the Volga stratospheric balloon - the same one from which parachutist Evgeny Andreev made a unique “jump from space” as part of the Zvezda experiment. Vasily Lazarev flew the Volga for 28 hours.

When it came to testing “new technology,” as human space flight was carefully called, Lazarev was among the first volunteers. He underwent a medical examination together with Gagarin, Titov and other members of the “first detachment”, but... received a dismissal from the doctors.

Lazarev, however, had plenty of perseverance - in 1964 he was selected to prepare for a flight on the three-seat Voskhod spacecraft. Lazarev turned out to be the second backup for doctor Boris Egorov. And although he did not take part in the flight itself, this time they paid attention to him, and as a result, Vasily Lazarev became a member of the Soviet cosmonaut corps.

The engineer who broke into space

Lazarev was trained under several programs, including as part of the manned Soviet “lunar project”. It was then that Oleg Makarov became his crewmate.

Oleg Makarov, a native of the Tver region, before joining the ranks of cosmonauts, created equipment for them. In 1957, he graduated from the Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School and came to work at OKB No. 1, the famous design bureau of Sergei Korolev. Makarov was involved in the development of the first Soviet manned spacecraft.

Like many other young engineers from the Korolev Design Bureau, he wanted to fly into space himself. In 1966, Makarov was enrolled in the cosmonaut corps and spent several years preparing for the “lunar program.” The engineer was among those who were to be one of the first to go on the lunar expedition.

However, defeat in the “moon race” forced the Soviet Union to reconsider its priorities.

Lazarev and Makarov, who formed an excellent crew, were transferred to prepare for the flight at the Salyut-2 station.

"Test" crew

This preparation took place in a difficult situation. The USSR's manned program was interrupted after the death of the Soyuz-11 crew due to depressurization while returning to Earth.

The Salyut-2 station, where Lazarev and Makarov were supposed to fly, was out of order, and the flight program was again revised.

A series of failures undermined the confidence of Soviet specialists. The new Soyuz-12 was checked many times; new spacesuits were developed for the crew, designed to prevent a repetition of the Soyuz-11 tragedy.

And yet, no matter how you check, no matter how hard you try to exclude surprises, you cannot take into account everything on Earth. The crew of Soyuz 12, in a sense, had to do again what Gagarin did - open the way to space for others.

This mission was entrusted to Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov.

On September 27, 1973, Soyuz-12 with Lazarev and Makarov successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The flight lasted 1 day 23 hours 15 minutes 32 seconds and ended safely. The designers exhaled - the manned program was saved! Lazarev and Makarov became Heroes of the Soviet Union, after which they began to prepare for a new space flight - this time to the Salyut-4 orbital station.

Emergency situation

In January 1975, Lazarev and Makarov were backups for the Soyuz-17 crew - Alexei Gubarev and Georgy Grechko. According to established tradition, the stand-ins are the next to go into space.

The launch of Soyuz 18 was scheduled for April 5, 1975. Unlike the flight on Soyuz-12, this launch did not seem extraordinary to specialists - after all, the same Gubarev and Grechko reached the station safely, fully worked out the flight program and returned successfully.

On April 5, everything also started well. Traditional pre-flight procedures, crew boarding the ship, launch... The rocket, as expected, carries Soyuz-18 into the sky at 11:04.

Everything went fine, the first stage separated in due time, then the nose fairing was released in the design mode. At the 261st second of flight, the separation of the second stage should have occurred, but instead the rocket began to sway noticeably, and the amplitude increased. It became clear very quickly that the carrier failed to carry the astronauts to the intended orbit. The emergency system was activated, shooting the return vehicle.

This happened at an altitude of just under 200 kilometers, that is, de facto already in space. In this case, the emergency descent occurred in an uncontrolled mode. Simply put, the Soyuz-18 descent module fell from space.

In conditions of uncontrolled descent, overloads increase significantly. In the situation in which the Soviet cosmonauts found themselves, these overloads posed a direct threat to life.

Vasily Lazarev, describing his feelings at that moment, compared them to a car that ran straight into his chest. Lazarev recalled: “Once, having endured a load of 10g in a centrifuge, I drew the attention of the doctor accompanying me to many red dots covering the back of the tester who was being spun before me. The doctor calmly answered: “It’s the small vessels that burst. It’s the same on your back.” But when Soyuz-18 was flying towards Earth, its crew was hit by overloads of 20g. It is not known exactly what magnitude of the weight pressing on the astronauts reached at its peak. Vasily Lazarev said that specialists, analyzing the telemetry, noted that for a few seconds it increased to an insane 26g. At this moment, the astronauts’ vision failed and cardiac arrest was recorded.

On Earth, experts did not have a complete picture of what was happening, but even without this, many had more gray hair.

The astronauts came to their senses when the parachute system worked. Trained organisms withstood unimaginable overloads, although they lasted a little longer, and the crew of Soyuz-18 would not have been destined to survive.

The wrath of designer Glushko

The ship's commander, Vasily Lazarev, said that when he came to his senses, he saw that the flight engineer was telling him something. But he couldn’t understand what his partner was saying—his hearing was temporarily cut off.

The crew tried to contact the control center to clarify where the descent module would land. But there was no connection. Or rather, the cosmonauts did not hear the MCC, but at the MCC they heard perfectly well what was being said on board.

- Oleg, where are we going to sit? - asked Lazarev.

“To China or to the Pacific Ocean,” the flight engineer quipped, after which he described what happened in selected Russian expressions, making extremely unflattering comments about the operation of the second stage engines.

Makarov did not know that General Designer Valentin Glushko was hearing his words. Hearing the “criticism” of the flight engineer, Glushko became hesitant, ordered the broadcast to be turned off and loudly promised that Makarov would never fly into space again.

The “jump into space” itself took a little more than 4 minutes, and together with landing, the entire flight lasted less than 22 minutes. But the adventures of the crew continued.

It was not for nothing that Makarov spoke about China and the Pacific Ocean. The fact is that an emergency landing in the event of a failure of the second stage was approximately supposed to occur in Altai, or, if unlucky, in China, with which the USSR had very difficult relations at that time. If the third stage failed, the astronauts would have to swim in the ocean.

On the edge of Teremok

As a result, the “lesser evil” happened - Soyuz-18 in a remote, inaccessible area southwest of Gorno-Altaisk, but on Soviet territory.

But at the moment of landing, the threat of death again loomed over Lazarev and Makarov. According to the instructions, the crew was supposed to shoot off the parachute after landing. However, the rescuers had their own view of the situation. During various experiments, they noticed that when landing in a mountainous area, the descent vehicle, after shooting off the parachute, could easily roll down a slope with the most dire consequences. Therefore, the rescuers gave the Soyuz-18 crew an unofficial recommendation: if something happens, first look around, and only then shoot the parachute.

This advice saved the astronauts. When they got out, they discovered that the descent vehicle was standing on the mountainside, 150 meters from the abyss, and was not rolling down only because the parachute was tightly entangled in the treetops.

The only thing that was funny about all this was the name of the mountain on which the space explorers found themselves - Teremok-3.

There was thick snow at the landing site, the temperature was minus 7, and the astronauts had to survive in the literal sense of the word.

The rescuers were unable to approach Lazarev and Makarov. The first person to reach them was a geologist who landed from the geological party’s helicopter. However, the helicopter pilot was unable to lift the astronauts up. The regular rescue party, storming Teremok-3, fell into an avalanche, and they had to be rescued - fortunately, there were no casualties.

The next day, one of the Air Force helicopters, not part of the official rescue team, managed to lift the astronauts and the geologist at their own risk and evacuate them to a safe area.

“Cut down” flight – “cut down” rewards

There could be no complaints about the actions of the astronauts - their behavior cannot be called anything other than heroic. But in the USSR it was not customary to report about space failures; the media received information only about those cases that absolutely could not be hidden.

Veterans of the Soviet press recall that the journalists were expelled from Baikonur on April 5, 1975, immediately after it became clear that something had gone wrong.

The only message about the incident in the Soviet media appeared only on May 8 and was hidden in the internal pages of newspapers: “On April 5, 1975, a launch vehicle with a manned Soyuz spacecraft was launched to continue experiments together with the Salyut-4 station. On board the ship was a crew consisting of Heroes of the Soviet Union, pilot-cosmonauts of the USSR Vasily Grigorievich Lazarev, Oleg Grigorievich Makarov. During the operation of the third stage, a deviation of the launch vehicle's motion parameters from the calculated values ​​occurred, and an automatic device issued a command to terminate further flight according to the program and separate the spacecraft to return to Earth. The descent vehicle made a soft landing southwest of the city of Gorno-Altaisk. The search and rescue service ensured the delivery of the astronauts to the cosmodrome. Comrades V. G. Lazarev and O. G. Makarov are feeling good.”

After this, the silence lasted another eight years, until Red Star was allowed to write about some of the details of what happened.

The cosmonauts were noted for the flight, but according to the “cut down” version - according to the established procedure in the USSR, the second “Gold Star” of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin were awarded for the second flight, but Lazarev and Makarov were awarded only the Order of Lenin for heroism.

And the number of the emergency Soyuz-18 was taken away and transferred to the next ship. So it remained in history under the strange name “Soyuz-18-1”.

Overloads were not in vain

The cosmonauts themselves believed that they had not done anything so heroic, and only regretted that the flight was aborted.

It was officially stated that the terrible overloads did not affect the health of the astronauts. Indeed, at first it seemed that this was the case - both Lazarev and Makarov remained in the detachment.

But then it turned out that this test was not in vain - the astronauts began to develop diseases, one after another.

Makarov, who was five years younger, stayed in service longer - despite the threats of designer Glushko, he flew into space twice more, on Soyuz-27 and Soyuz T-3. By the way, during the launch of the Soyuz T-3, the commander of the backup crew was Vasily Lazarev, who accompanied his long-time partner into space.

Lazarev himself was no longer destined to fly to the stars. In 1985, he was discharged from the Armed Forces and expelled from the cosmonaut corps due to his health condition. He died on December 31, 1990 at the age of 62.

After leaving the cosmonaut corps, Oleg Makarov experienced heart problems that were so serious that in 1998 he underwent surgery. However, he was never able to fully recover - on May 28, 2003, he died of a heart attack at the age of 70.

And the dramatic story of their flight in 1975, which easily overshadows the plot of the Hollywood “Gravity,” remains unknown to most to this day...

Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Viktor Savinykh

“Slowly, feeling the empty, cold darkness, two men in gas masks floated into the space station...

This is probably how a fantastic and scary thriller could begin. This episode would undoubtedly look very impressive on film. In fact, it was impossible to see us: there was an eerie silence all around, impenetrable darkness and cosmic cold.” These words begin the book by V.P. Savinykh “Notes from a Dead Station” (hereinafter, quotes from the book are given). But this “thriller” is not a figment of the writer’s imagination. This is a real page in the history of the conquest of outer space. This is one of the most significant technical victories of our industry. For the first time in the world, a Soyuz spacecraft successfully docked with an inactive object in orbit.

The cosmonauts managed to revive the “dead” station literally in a matter of days. Thanks to the high professionalism and dedication of the ship’s crew - Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Viktor Savinykh - Russian cosmonautics was able to once again prove to the whole world that the impossible is possible.

So, let's start in order. June 8, 1985. “Two in Gas Masks” are cosmonauts Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dzhanibekov and Viktor Petrovich Savinykh. The station filled with cosmic cold is Salyut-7. Episode - two astronauts save the life of an orbital station. The modified Salyut-7 orbital station was designed for a longer period of operation (up to 5 years) than its predecessors. The volume of internal habitable space at the station was increased, living conditions for the crew were improved, and additional solar panels were installed. For EVA on Salyut-7, they began to use improved Orlan spacesuits, in which they could work in outer space for up to 6.5 hours.

Salyut-7 was launched into orbit on April 19, 1982 by a Proton launch vehicle. Until 1984, crews constantly worked at the station. The last long-term expedition left Salyut 7 in October 1984. At that moment the station was in working order. However, after some time, contact with Salyut-7 was lost. “The station fell silent, went dark, losing interest in life - almost like a person, Salyut suffered from depression.” On February 12, 1985, a malfunction was discovered in one of the blocks of the station’s command radio line, through which radio commands from the MCC and information from the station to Earth passed. An analysis of the state of the on-board systems showed that an automatic switch to the second transmitter occurred. A command was issued from Earth to resume operation of the first transmitter. The command was accepted, and the station went into another orbit. But at the next communication session there was no information from the station at all. “Thus, we found ourselves in complete ignorance of what was happening on board the Salyut; it was impossible to obtain telemetric data on the state of the complex’s onboard systems. All this meant that it was now impossible to monitor the state of the station in orbit using station radio signals, analyze the nature of its movement around the center of mass, the possibility of using equipment and attitude control engines to ensure rendezvous and docking with transport ships was excluded, the ability to monitor the operation and condition of onboard station systems (thermal control, power supply, ensuring the gas composition of the atmosphere, fuel reserves in the propulsion system). What happened? What is the condition of the station? One could only guess: an explosion, depressurization due to a meteorite, or maybe a fire...”

To find out the reasons for the station’s “silence”, industry management decided to send a crew to Salyut. However, not everything was so simple. Equipping an expedition is one thing, but, as already mentioned, the station was in an uncontrollable mode. How to achieve rendezvous and docking with what would now be called “space junk” or a “zombie station”? There was only one way out - manual docking. Vladimir Dzhanibekov, who by that time had already completed 4 space flights, had such an experience. “Jan’s engineering knowledge (as his friends call him), ability to accurately navigate the situation, enormous diligence, comradely dependability, were very helpful in the upcoming flight full of uncertainty.” The second in the Salyut-7 rescue team was Viktor Savinykh, who went on his second space flight.

The Soyuz T-13 was modified specifically for this mission - instead of the dismantled standard seat of the third cosmonaut, additional supplies of water were taken on board the flight, since it was unknown what condition the station’s water supply systems were in. Soyuz T-13 with commander Dzhanibekov and flight engineer Savinykh took off from Baikonur on June 6, 1985. “Dzhanibekov briefly reported: “Come on, let’s go! It’s going fine, the car is moving steadily. It’s going very hard. Small vibrations, transverse... There is a separation of the first stage, the second one works softer, a slight rocking... There is a separation of the second stage... Engine "It works steadily, smoothly. There is order on board! The third stage is working, very steadily... The object separated from the carrier and entered orbit."

Two days later, on June 8, the ship approached the station. The crew already at 02:40 began preparing equipment and instruments for rendezvous and docking. At 11 o'clock in the morning Dzhanibekov and Savinykh saw the station. From V.A. Dzhanibekov’s entry in the logbook: “The station is very bright. At first it was not visible, but then it began to flare up. Red-red, ten times brighter than Jupiter. It moves to the side, range 7.2 km , speed 12.8 m/sec... Range 4.4 km, speed 7.8 m/sec... Discrepancy 1.5 km..."

It was not possible to dock the first time. All further operations to bring the Dzhanibeks and Savins closer together were carried out in a completely manual mode and, thus, practically proved the fundamental possibility of ensuring a close approach of an active Soyuz-type ship to any object in space. Crew negotiations with Earth: “V. A. Dzhanibekov: “The distance is 200 meters, we turn on the engines to accelerate. The approach is at a low speed, within 1.5 m/sec. The rotation speed of the station is within normal limits, it has practically stabilized. So we hover over it, turn around... Well, now we will suffer a little because everything is not good with the sun... Here the image has improved. The crosses are aligned. The mismatch between the ship and the station is within tolerance... Control is normal, I turn down the speed... we are waiting for contact.. "V.P. Savinykh: "There is a touch. There is a mechanical grip." Earth: “Well done, guys. Everyone congratulates you...”

The docking went well. But when the Soyuz T-13 approached the station, the control center noticed that the solar panel orientation system was not working, and this entailed turning off the station’s power supply system. No one knew whether the crew could be inside the station. And no one knew what really happened at Salyut. The astronauts had to find out. Dzhanibekov and Savinykh entered the station, the temperature at which at that time was about 7 degrees.

Obviously, under such conditions it was almost impossible to carry out repair work. It was necessary to restore the functionality of the solar panels. “To restore the batteries, it was necessary to connect solar panels to the buses of the power supply system. To do this, you need to apply voltage, but there is no voltage. Vicious circle. It is possible to supply voltage from the ship, but if there is a malfunction in the station’s electrical circuits that disables the ship’s power supply system, then its descent and return to Earth becomes impossible. Therefore, we had long, painstaking work ahead of us. By checking, we identified and excluded faulty chemical batteries from further work. Fortunately, there were not so many of them - two out of eight; there was hope that the remaining batteries would accept the charge if they were connected directly to the solar panels. We have prepared all the necessary cables for connection. In the thick trunk of cables we found the required connector to which we connected the cable we made. I had to twist the electrical cores of this cable with my bare hands in the cold and insulate the twists with electrical tape. Sixteen wires needed to be connected. And on June 10, the first battery was charged!”

They worked without regard for time. In hats and mittens that Viktor Savin’s mother and wife knitted. They warmed up their frozen hands and feet with heated cans. The station gradually began to come to life... And already on June 23, Progress 24 docked with Salyut with cargo for the crew and the station. And in September, Vladimir Vasyutin, Georgy Grechko and Alexander Volkov joined Dzhanibekov and Savinykh on board.

On September 19, the Soyuz T-14 spacecraft docked with the Salyut-7 space station. Grechko returned to Earth together with Dzhanibekov in the Soyuz T-13 spacecraft. On September 26, 1985, Viktor Petrovich Savinykh landed together with Vasyutin and Volkov.

After that, the Salyut-7 station worked in orbit for another 6 years. Over the 9 years of operation, 6 main crews and 5 visiting expeditions worked at the Salyut-7 station. The visiting expeditions included the first cosmonauts from France and India. In total, 21 cosmonauts worked at the station, three cosmonauts twice and one three times. 11 manned Soyuz T spacecraft, 12 Progress cargo spacecraft and 3 Cosmos series cargo spacecraft flew to the station. 13 spacewalks were carried out from the Salyut-7 station, with a total duration of 48 hours 33 minutes.

Salyut 7 was sunk on February 7, 1991. This was the last station in the Salyut series. The station, which was originally planned to be launched into orbit under the name Salyut-8, was later renamed Mir. Savinykh worked at Mir for several months in 1988. After the historic mission on the Soyuz T-13, Dzhanibekov never flew into space again.

“Today’s space is our purely practical concerns and anxieties related to the weather on the human planet, the productivity of our fields and pastures, the study of natural resources, and environmental protection. Problems of the World Ocean, navigation, mapping, long-distance radio and television communications, production of ultrapure substances and unique materials - all this and much more is directly related to space. It became a work site, laboratory and workshop for us. Space is work, and, frankly, it’s not easy work. It gets especially bad in the first days. There is a lot to do in the space house, so the flight program turns out to be flexible: if some urgent concerns accumulate, then we coordinate with the Earth a change in the program. As for the emotional background, it is not removed, but fades into the background, the action comes first. Composure and concentration are necessary conditions for any responsible work.”

There are many feats in the Russian history of space exploration. The flight of Dzhanibekov and Savinykh is one of them. June 8, 2010 marked the 25th anniversary of this feat. Twice Heroes of the Soviet Union, pilot-cosmonauts Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dzhanibekov and Viktor Petrovich Savinykh today pay special attention to the education of the younger generation. Vladimir Dzhanibekov spoke about this in one of his interviews: “According to my calculations, there are hundreds of thousands of children interested in astronautics and space in Russia. Young people are very actively interested in space topics, technology, and space philosophy. Many people dream about space since childhood. I’ll tell you straight - our children want to fly to Mars... This process cannot be interfered with. He just needs help. We must educate our future."

Let's add - educate by examples of such feats as the one that you, Vladimir Alexandrovich and Viktor Petrovich accomplished!

FKA Roscosmos

On November 26, 1937, USSR pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union Boris Egorov was born.

The number "13" is considered unlucky in many countries. It gets to the point that hotels sometimes don’t have 13 rooms, and some theaters don’t have 13 rows.

There are also signs and superstitions in astronautics, and the number “13” is also not favored there. However, someone still had to become the 13th cosmonaut on planet Earth. The choice of fate fell on the third crew member of the Soviet spaceship Voskhod-1 Boris Egorov.

The first doctor in orbit, handsome, a favorite of women, Egorov was envied, considered the darling of fate, and they whispered behind his back that successes came not thanks to talent, but through connections.

He passed away as a relatively young man, at a time when the glory of space heroes had faded and they were rarely remembered. One of the first Soviet space explorers did not give candid interviews, either because he did not consider it necessary to share this with anyone, or because he believed that science was more important than everyday experiences.

Father and son

He was born on November 26, 1937 in Moscow, in the family of a neurosurgeon Boris Grigorievich Egorov. The father of the future cosmonaut was a real luminary of medicine, an academician, and director of the Burdenko Institute of Neurosurgery.

His father’s high position was the main reason why Egorov Jr. was called “thieves” behind his back. But in fact, the relationship between the two Boriss was not warm. Boris Borisovich's mother, also a doctor, died when he was 14. His father brought a new woman into the house, and the son considered this act a betrayal. Having become a student, Egorov Jr. practically stopped communicating with his father.

Like his parents, he chose medicine, but while still at the institute, he became interested in the newest direction at that time - the study of the influence of space conditions on humans.

Space medicine was taking its very first steps, and Boris Egorov was among the pioneers. After graduating from the medical faculty of the 1st Moscow Order of Lenin Medical Institute. I.M. Sechenov, he threw himself into his work.

Boris Egorov, 1964. Photo: RIA Novosti

Stubborn candidate

At the Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine, employees had to undergo special training. An astronaut may need help in the most inaccessible areas, which means the doctor must be prepared to parachute from an airplane. By the time of Gagarin’s flight, Egorov was in a group of parachutist doctors. On April 12, 1961, he was on duty in Siberia in case the landing occurred in an unplanned area. But his help was not needed then.

In the spring of 1962, recruitment for the first group of cosmonaut doctors was announced, and Egorov submitted a report for enrollment. But he was refused - he was found to be nearsighted. Boris was stubborn - in the fall he wrote a new report addressed to the head of the laboratory, and asked to petition the higher management to include him in the group of “space doctors”.

Persistence helped, Egorov was actually added to the previously selected candidates.

Flight for three

In 1963, it was decided to transform the single-seat Vostok into the multi-seat Voskhod. The task was to send a crew of three people into space at once. There weren’t enough resources to solve such a problem; it wasn’t possible to place three people where it was cramped for one, so we had to get rid of some of the equipment. They also abandoned spacesuits, since the engineers convinced that the ship was safe and there was no need for them.

The Voskhod-1 crew was planned to be composed according to the “pilot, scientist, doctor” scheme. There were no difficulties with the first ones, since the cosmonaut corps recruited in 1960 included 20 people. The selection of scientists and doctors was much more problematic, since they did not have such ideal health as pilots.

In May 1964, the Credentials Commission allowed four doctors and one scientist to train. Egorov was included in this small list. The group was then expanded to nine people.

Boris Egorov had an advantage over other candidates in the group of doctors - being younger than the others, he already had 10 scientific papers on space medicine and an almost finished Ph.D. thesis.

Boris Egorov and Yuri Gagarin. Photo: RIA Novosti

24 hours 17 minutes in space

In July 1964, two crews were formed. The main one included Boris Volynov, Georgy Katys And Boris Egorov, and in the duplicate - Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov, Alexey Sorokin and Vasily Lazarev. They decided to secure the position of a doctor with an additional candidate.

During the preparation process, the commission came to the conclusion that the backup crews were better prepared, and the crews swapped places. But Egorov remained in the main lineup - his level of readiness was considered high.

On October 12, 1964, Voskhod-1 launched with a crew consisting of Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Egorov. The flight lasted 1 day 00 hours 17 minutes 03 seconds. This was the first space trip where full-fledged medical experiments were carried out.

However, on Earth, the astronauts discovered that they were not the ones who carried out the main “experiment”. Voskhod-1 launched at Nikita Khrushchev, and, according to established tradition, they were supposed to report to him on the successful completion of the task. However, just these days Khrushchev was removed, and the report was accepted by the new head of the country Leonid Brezhnev.

A ceremonial meeting in Moscow for the crew of the Voskhod-I spacecraft: Konstantin Feoktistov, Vladimir Komarov and Boris Egorov (from left to right). Photo: RIA Novosti

All members of the Voskhod-1 crew became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

Dream of the weaker sex

As already mentioned, there were only 13 space explorers on the entire planet Earth at that time, and in the USSR there were only nine, of which one was a woman.

The weaker sex was thrilled at the sight of eight men who had been in orbit, not paying attention to whether they were married or not. And Egorov, whom nature had endowed with the appearance of a movie star, slayed the ladies on the spot.

Boris Egorov's first wife Eleanor and son Boris. Photo: RIA Novosti/ Alexander Mokletsov

While still at the institute, Egorov married a fellow student Eleonora Mordvinkina. The couple had a child, but the ardent youthful love quickly faded away. And when fame and fame came to Boris, and he found himself surrounded by female fans, it turned out that his masculine temperament was no weaker than that of his father, whom Egorov failed to understand in his youth.

The cosmonaut's second wife was a Soviet film star. Natalya Fateeva. In modern times, such a striking couple would inevitably be the center of attention in gossip columns. However, even then, Soviet citizens enthusiastically passed on from mouth to mouth the details of the life of the astronaut and actress, which reached them in a distorted form.

20 years of happiness

For what reason this marriage cracked, there are many versions. It is known for sure that Boris Egorov’s new love was another actress, Fateeva’s partner in the comedy “Three Plus Two” Natalya Kustinskaya.

Kustinskaya was married, but Egorov did not give up - he traveled all over the country for the object of his adoration, and could spend whole days on her staircase. And, in the end, the woman gave up.

They spent two decades together, which, given the love and temperament of both, is an incredibly long time. They had no children together, but Boris gave his last name to Natalya’s son from a previous marriage, Dmitry.

The marriage broke up in 1991 - as Natalya Kustinskaya said, she could not forgive her husband for his betrayal. In the same year, Egorov married again, to a dentist Tatiana Vuraki.

Experiments and motorcycle racing

Women did not distract him from his favorite work. He no longer prepared for new flights, but worked hard at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems. From 1984 to 1992, Egorov headed the new Research Institute of Biomedical Technology, of which he was one of the founders.

Cosmonaut Boris Egorov. 1988 Photo: RIA Novosti/Vitaly Savelyev

In addition to the fairer sex and science, Boris Egorov loved speed. He was one of the first to have a personal foreign car in the USSR - Buick Electra. Friends remember that he was a great driver, he drove fast, but never got into an accident. And at the age of 40, he surprised those around him by becoming interested in motocross and began personally collecting motorcycles for racing.

Business turned out to be harder than space flight

The collapse of the Union also hit Egorov - negligible money began to be allocated for science, and the specialist in biotechnology and space medicine decided to go into business.

Newly-minted entrepreneurs were willing to cooperate with him, hoping that a well-known person with connections would help “settle” the problems. Egorov “sorted things out,” although his friends noted that this was very difficult for him. He felt out of place in business, and the constant stress affected his health. His heart was increasingly bothering him, and doctors advised him to start treatment as soon as possible. Egorov promised that he would take over as soon as he had settled the most urgent matters. But on September 12, 1994, the astronaut’s heart stopped.

Boris Egorov was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery, next to his father.

The public has been taught: a film “on the date” is not necessary to watch, patriotism on demand always fails. The film "Time of the First", released on Cosmonautics Day, is a happy surprise: this movie is sincere, exciting and honest.

“The Time of the First” by Dmitry Kiselev is a story about the first human spacewalk in history. It happened on March 18, 1965, when Alexey Leonov spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, as triumphantly reported by the Soviet media; television broadcast to the whole world footage of a man hovering over the abyss. “The Time of the First” is about what it cost and how it could end. There's a lot to think about.

There are many story layers in the film. The first is “a story about a real person.” About a man who can do the impossible. Such a character: always testing oneself to the limit, taking risks, exploring human limits. Evgeny Mironov plays unbending stubbornness - as always, organically, truthfully and psychologically justified, but slightly monotonously, repeating his signature colors. The second hero of the film is Leonov’s space flight comrade Pavel Belyaev. Less impulsive, more rational, he perfectly balances the ardor of his hot friend. In the role - Konstantin Khabensky, this is one of the most powerful and, despite the outward dispassion, intense work of an excellent actor. Finally, the chief designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, the third main character of the film. Pasternak wrote approximately what Vladimir Ilyin does in this role: to the point of complete death in earnest. Ilyin has always been a grandiose master; in Hollywood he would have become equal to Nicholson or surpassed him; We film him little and sluggishly, but every appearance of him on the screen is a shock.

Another layer is the plot associated with a shooting technique unprecedented in our country. Maximum authenticity of the spectacle is a separate topic; we only note that there have never been such perfect films about space in our cinema. This is important: the feeling that we have been there - in the cramped Voskhod, in the narrow airlock for access to space, in the descent module engulfed in flames. In the most literal sense of the word, we have been in the skin of an astronaut and become one with it.

Another layer - behind the scenes of the feat, our cosmic triumph, our fantastic leap into the future. It, this behind the scenes, is known to few people. To retell the collisions that arose every second in space, and then on their native land, putting the heroes on the brink of death, means robbing the audience of the opportunity to squeeze the arms of their chairs themselves, to suffocate in a sagging spacesuit, to freeze in the taiga themselves, maintaining a smoldering wick of hope within themselves. . The team of playwrights (the handwriting of Oleg Pogodin is most recognizable) had the risky task of avoiding, on the one hand, official stiltedness, and on the other, making a believable film about implausible circumstances.

This is the thriller where everything is on the edge, and salvation comes at the last moment every time. This usually happens in bad thrillers - ironists have coined the term “deus ex machina” for poorly conceived plots, which, who knows how, will help out the heroes. But here the plot was constructed by life itself, and its ending is known from the story, where both cosmonauts, alive and happy, cheerfully walked along the red carpet to report to the Secretary General. Everything will end well - what's there to worry about? But we don’t just worry, take it higher. The tension in the hall reaches a point that is rare in cinema and is called the effect of our complete immersion in what is happening and identifying ourselves with the characters.

Cameraman Vladimir Bashta’s camera is subjective and moving, like a gaze, it perfectly conveys the state of the characters: either delight in the opening of the universe, then a nerve clenched in a fist, or cold, frost-covered despair... “There are moments in the film when even I am scared,” the cosmonaut admits Alexey Leonov. And he adds: “In my life I have carried out a task without thinking much about the danger.” This addition contains the answer to many things that are considered ascetic: a person who is completely devoted to a task does not feel the threat so keenly; it fades into the background. Otherwise, we would not have professions that always involve risks to life, from test pilots to fire services and front-line operators. The feeling and passion of duty is the driving force behind both real events and the film about them. Such work. Such a calling. Before this, all the reports and red carpets are tinsel.

In the most literal sense, we have been in the skin of an astronaut and become one with it

And here is the main thing that you take away from the viewing. This strange feeling of the incredibleness of everything that happened in 1965. Boundless admiration for human courage. But also an awareness of the complete absence of a humanitarian element in this story. In other words, understanding the inhumanity of the motives that required such heroism is a thought, wittingly or unwittingly, embedded in the film. Even the solemn name “Time of the First” becomes ambiguous: on the one hand, glory to the first, on the other – in the name of what is the race?

And details come into play that the jubilant people did not know about before the film. We see the test ship shatter into fragments. And how dear Leonid Ilyich, contrary to the admonitions of scientists, demands the impossible - at all costs to compress three years of preparation into one, otherwise the Americans will skip ahead. And how many inevitable, and therefore programmed, accidents arose from haste, when the flight turned into an extreme and almost hopeless struggle for survival. And when all the equipment on board fails and the situation becomes a crisis, the homeland is ready to sacrifice heroes, just so as not to land “with the enemies, somewhere in Europe” - a prospect that horrifies the army general overseeing the mission control center.

The constant contrast between the victorious reports in the TV box and reality is one of the dramaturgical cores of the film. Everything, including human lives, is thrown in order to wipe someone’s nose and show ours: as they sang in one song, “we will not stand the price.” But there, in the song, there is a holy war, but here it is just ambition, window dressing, the desire to put on a jubilant face at a bad performance. Although, if we think about it, space is the business of all mankind, and any breakthrough is our common victory. Not a hippodrome, not football - space! An idea that erases boundaries and unites the planet.

But the ambitions are stronger, and miraculously the crew that did not die reports victory. The film sings a song to the madness of the brave, but invites you to think. This is rare in our cinema today.