They lacked eight seconds ...
45 years ago the country was shocked by a space tragedy
Valery Burt
The crew of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft V.N. Volkov, V.I. Dobrovolsky and V.I. Patsaev on the gangway of the plane before flying to Baikonur, June 08, 1971 (Photo: V. Tereshkova and L. Putyatina / TASS)
On June 30, 1971, the crew of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft died tragically - George Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, Victor Patsaev. Death overtook these brave people when they had already completed a difficult, multi-day task.
"We saw Earth!”
There is a lump in your throat when you look at a photograph of three astronauts. They are in excellent spirits. They smile, maybe they throw jokes. Perhaps their faces shone with joy even a few minutes before landing. They looked forward to meeting with family and friends, returning to their home...Evening June 29th. Everything is ready to return to Earth. "Soyuz-11" received permission to "set sail" from the station. Earth - call sign "Dawn" - conducts a radio communication session with the crew - call sign "Yantar":
Zarya: How is orientation going?
Yantar-2 (Volkov): We saw the Earth, we saw it!
Zarya: Okay, take your time.
"Yantar-2": Started orientation. To the right is rain.
"Yantar-2": Great flies, beautiful!
"Yantar-3" (Patsaev): "Dawn", I'm the third. I can see the horizon at the bottom of the porthole.
"Dawn": "Amber", once again I remind you of the orientation - zero-one hundred and eighty degrees.
"Yantar-2": Zero-one hundred and eighty degrees.
"Dawn": Correctly understood.
"Yantar-2": The banner "Descent" is on.
Zarya: Let it burn. Everything is great. Burns correctly. The connection ends. Happily!
The last thing they heard from the cosmonauts from the ground was Volkov's joking wish: "We'll meet tomorrow, make cognac."
On the night of June 30, the braking propulsion system was turned on. The ship began to descend from orbit. After aerodynamic braking, a white-orange parachute dome opened in the atmosphere. The descent vehicle landed smoothly in the Kazakh steppe, west of Mount Munly.
The instruments recorded the duration of the space flight: 23 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes, 43 seconds. New world record! The greeters were waiting. Everyone has tense faces, ready to burst into smiles.
The ether exploded with a chorus of voices. However, none of the crews of the search service could contact the astronauts. But no worries yet. Maybe the "tired" technique simply refused?
The first near the landing site are doctors. Usually, when they open the hatch of the apparatus, they hear the voices of the crew members. And here is silence. A piercing, terrible silence...
Eighteen days in space
Drawing depicting the Soyuz-11 spacecraft and the Salyut orbital station, 1971 (Photo: TASS Newsreel)
On April 19, 1971, the world's first long-term orbital station Salyut-1 was launched into space. It was necessary to work out the technique of docking the station and the Soyuz transport spacecraft. The first such flight took place on April 23, 1971. Trio - Vladimir Shatalov, Alexey Eliseev and Nikolai Rukavishnikov on the Soyuz-10 ship, they moored to the Salyut, but they failed to board it. Prevented problems in the docking station station.
In 1971, another crew was preparing for the flight - Alexey Leonov, Valery Kubasov and Petr Kolodin. Their flight was supposed to break the record Andriyana Nikolaeva and Vitaly Sevastyanov, which in June 1970 stayed in space for eighteen days.
Three days before the launch, the astronauts underwent a medical examination. Everyone felt great, however ... Kubasov had a slight inflammation. And, despite the protests, he was suspended from the flight.
According to the rules, even if one cosmonaut could not fly, the entire crew was changed. “Leonov was furious and was ready to simply strangle Kubasov,” recalled the well-known journalist of Komsomolskaya Pravda. Yaroslav Golovanov. “He offered to replace him with Vladislav Volkov, but for some reason he categorically refused to enter the main crew.” As a result, it was decided to send understudies into space. In addition to Volkov, these were Dobrovolsky and Patsaev. As it turned out later, Kubasov had nothing to worry about - a mild allergy.
Widow Patsaev, Faith Alexandrovna, recalled that her husband was delighted to learn that he was going into space. And Volkov, even when he was an understudy, told her: “I am pleased that I will not fly to the first station. And he explained: “I was told that I would die.”
Leonov and Kubasov conquered the Universe even after the tragedy. Kolodin did not have a chance to become an astronaut. He, having served in Star City for twenty years, remained an understudy.
At some feast, one of the journalists proposed a toast: "Let's drink to the fact that you, Pyotr Ivanovich, are with us, and are not lying in the Kremlin wall." But Kolodin reacted sharply to this tactlessness: “It would be better if I lay in the Kremlin wall!” He was very worried that he did not fly then. And I felt guilty.
By the way, Kolodin was very friendly with Volkov. And he named his son after him.
"It was a shock"
Soyuz-11 launched on June 6, 1971. The main task - automatic rendezvous with the Salyut-1 station, docking and transfer of the crew to the orbital station - was completed. And the further flight proceeded without complications. The cosmonauts completed a program of various scientific, military, medical and technical experiments.
However, it was not without incident. At the orbital station, power cables caught fire, acrid smoke poured out. The astronauts managed to get into the descent vehicle and began to prepare for an emergency evacuation. However, Dobrovolsky and Patsaev still found the cause of the fire. Together, the flames were extinguished.
Let's go back to the fateful day - June 30, 1971.
Kazakhstan. Baikonur. The launch of the launch vehicle with the Soyuz-11 spacecraft, June 6, 1971 (Photo: Nikolai Akimov / TASS Newsreel)
Among those who met the astronauts was Shatalov. Vladimir Alexandrovich, who had already been in space three times, was instructed to participate in a telecast about the meeting of Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsaev.
When the ship landed, the wife of one of the cosmonauts called, and Shatalov congratulated her on the successful completion of the flight. But the woman already felt trouble. "Why don't they show up for so long?!" Shatalov replied that doctors would come and help them get out. And then his deputy said that everything was very bad ...
“When they pulled them out, they were still warm,” Golovanov recalled. They were put on stretchers. I remember that Dobrovolsky's hand hung from this stretcher. Doctors blew into their mouths, tried to perform artificial respiration ... The astronauts were ruddy, and there were no grimaces of horror on their faces. They looked completely calm. It was a shock."
Seeing the lifeless bodies, the doctors immediately began to carry out artificial respiration, chest compressions. They continued to perform their duties until the appearance of absolute signs of the death of the astronauts ...
Suffocatingly hot day
Among other newspaper clippings, the author of these lines has an obituary from Pravda. There was a phrase that cut the ear: "... the crew landed without signs of life." Immediately there were rumors that the astronauts had suffocated. They were extremely sorry. In addition, the terrible death has not yet been forgotten. Vladimir Komarov in 1967. He also died at the end of the flight ...
I remember the day of the funeral of Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsaev. He was suffocatingly hot. It was quiet on the streets, mournful music was heard from the wide open windows - on TV there was a broadcast of farewell to the astronauts on Red Square.
Moscow. 30 June. The tragic news of the death of the crew of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft, pilot-cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev, caused deep sorrow among all Soviet people. In the picture: on the street on October 25, June 30, 1971 (Photo: Valentin Kuzmin / TASS Newsreel)
Funeral of pilot-cosmonauts of the CPSU members, commander of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft, Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant Colonel Georgy Timofeevich Dobrovolsky, flight engineer, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vladislav Nikolayevich Volkov, test engineer, Hero of the Soviet Union Viktor Ivanovich Patsaev. Pictured: a funeral cortege on Red Square, July 2, 1971 (Photo: TASS Newsreel)
Moscow. The funeral of the crew of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft D. Dobrovolsky, V. Volkov and V. Patsaev on Red Square, 1971 (Photo: TASS photo chronicle)
Moscow. The funeral of the tragically dead Soyuz-11 crew members Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladimir Volkov and Viktor Patsaev. The first female cosmonaut Valentina Nikolaeva-Tereshkova with the daughter of cosmonaut Georgy Dobrovolsky Maria at the Kremlin wall, 1971 (Photo: Valentin Sobolev / TASS Newsreel)
last moments
Government commission chaired by academician Mstislav Keldysh established that the cause of the death of the astronauts was the depressurization that occurred during the firing of the orbital compartment. The ball valve opened, and air instantly rushed out of the hole formed. After 22 seconds, the astronauts lost consciousness. Alas, the crew descended to earth without spacesuits, otherwise the astronauts would not fit in the cabin of the descent vehicle. This has been done since the time of the general designer Sergei Korolev.
However, during the investigation, a version of sabotage arose. Therefore, employees of the State Security Committee were involved in the case. But it soon became clear that there were no terrorists at all...
After the tragedy, a naive question arose: “Couldn’t it be possible to close the hole in the shell of the apparatus with ... a finger ?!” The answer was given by an imitation of a landing in a pressure chamber, in which Leonov and Rukavishnikov participated. They found that it took at least thirty seconds to unfasten the seat belts, get up from the chairs and close the hole the size of a five-kopeck coin. The astronauts lost consciousness eight seconds earlier. Dobrovolsky only managed to pull off the straps and tried to screw the valve...
P.S. After the death of Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsaev, the cosmonauts began to fly in special suits. Recommendations were developed to guarantee safety in the event of depressurization of the descent vehicle. And before my eyes there is a photograph that captures smiling, full of strength people. They paid with their lives for the salvation of those who went to the boundless distance after them.
On June 6, 1971, we witnessed the eighteenth launch of the Soyuz-11 manned spacecraft. It happened at 07:55 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Before the crew of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft, consisting of commander G. T. Dobrovolsky, flight engineer V. N. Volkov and test engineer V. I. Patsaev, the State Commission set a large and responsible task - to dock with the Salyut orbital scientific station , go to its premises and carry out the planned scientific and technical research and experiments for many days.
Scientists, engineers, technicians, working day and night, worked near these unique devices, preparing them to perform important work in space orbits.
For the first time in the history of active human space exploration, our scientists managed to solve a complex scientific and technical problem - to create an orbital manned station. This took years of hard, persistent work of many teams. We know that in January 1969, as a result of the docking of two manned multi-seat spacecraft Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5, an experimental space station was created for the first time in the world.
The successful space flight of Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5 made it possible to solve many scientific and technical problems of great importance. practical value to create future orbital stations.
We know that many factors act on the human body in space flight: overloads, vibrations, noises and, of course, weightlessness.
Weightlessness is a big problem for scientists in many countries of the world. We have already said that the astronauts who flew into space and endured this unusual state felt differently. Some felt a pleasant lightness, others experienced the illusion of falling, turning upside down, loss of orientation in space, for some, weightlessness caused severe bouts of "seasickness". Therefore, it is no coincidence that a number of experiments were carried out in space in the Soviet Union and the United States, associated with a long stay of man and animals in a state of weightlessness.
For 14 days of flight on the Gemini-7 spacecraft in 1965, the American cosmonauts Borman and Lovell lost 4.3 and 2.7 kilograms in weight, respectively, as a result of some dehydration of the body. The cosmonauts experienced irritation of the mucous membrane of the nose and eyes and a short-term decrease in tone, one of them (Bormann) slept restlessly.
In 1966, in the Soviet Union, the Kosmos-110 satellite was launched into the orbit of an artificial satellite of the Earth with experimental animals, which, 22 days later, after completing the program, landed on the 330th orbit. It was found that at the beginning of the flight, the animals showed a decrease in volume muscle mass, impaired coordination of movements, rapid pulse, etc. The scientists also determined that at the beginning of the flight there was an increased excretion of calcium salts from the body, the animals lost weight due to a decrease in muscle mass and some dehydration. It is known that when a person loses 20% of salt, convulsions occur, and if the human body loses 15% of water, it can die.
Long before man's flight into space, different opinions were expressed about the effect of weightlessness on the state of the human body and on its mental activity. In the first flights, the cosmonauts confirmed that this phenomenon really brought a lot of unpleasant sensations to some of them.
If the world's first cosmonaut Yu. A. Gagarin, who was in weightlessness for about one hour, performed his functions without much difficulty, then G. S. Titov endured this state, as we have already said, with some unpleasant sensations (dizziness, illusions " swimming" with a sharp turn of the head, loss of appetite, etc.). In subsequent flights, the cosmonauts each endured the state of weightlessness in a different way. But basically all the flying astronauts endured it without any noticeable deterioration in well-being. True, A. G. Nikolaev and V. I. Sevastyanov, after completing an 18-day flight on the Soyuz-9 spacecraft, slowly adapted to earthly conditions. It took them a certain time to transition to the normal conditions of earthly life. For several days, the body of these cosmonauts adapted to the conditions of weightlessness, after which they were able to perform any operations as easily as on Earth.
From this we can conclude that the process of adaptation to weightlessness during the flight in space, as well as the process of readaptation on Earth, took place gradually in cosmonauts, in several stages, depending on the individual characteristics of the organism.
As a result of space flights, Soviet and American cosmonauts have now accumulated a large amount of scientific material on the effect of weightlessness on the psychophysiological functions of a person. However, it is too early to say that the problem has been solved.
But let us return to the flight of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft. On June 7, the cosmonauts had to carry out the most important stage of the flight - docking. In the morning, on the Soyuz-11 control panel, the crew turned on special program, with the help of which it was necessary to conduct a rendezvous with the Salyut station. At 7 hours 27 minutes 47 seconds, when the distance between the ship and the station was 6 kilometers, the engine turned on for 20 seconds, and the vehicles automatically approached each other up to 100 meters. Further, all the control of rendezvous and berthing was carried out by the crew manually. At 0858 hours, the docking of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft with the Salyut station was completed. The crew carefully checked the tightness of the connection between the ship and the station. After that, the pressure in their compartments was equalized. After making sure that everything was in order, test engineer Viktor Patsaev was the first to board the Salyut, followed by the rest of the crew. It happened on June 7 at 10:45.
For the first time, a crew was delivered aboard a scientific orbital station by a transport ship. Since that time, the first manned orbital scientific station began to operate in space. The station commander, Georgy Dobrovolsky, reported to Earth about the start of the work of the crew aboard the Salyut.
On the first day of their stay at the station, the crew inspected all its premises and carried out a re-preservation, and then a check of the scientific equipment. A manned scientific orbital station is a whole scientific laboratory. Its length is about 20 meters. The volume of all rooms is more than 100 cubic meters. Weight together with the Soyuz-11 spacecraft is about 25 tons. Structurally, the station is designed so that the crew can carry out scientific, technical and biomedical research and experiments for a long time. To correct the orbit, there are rocket propulsion systems on board.
At 1102 hours on June 8, the crew carried out the first correction, as a result of which the altitude increased by 22 kilometers at the apogee and by 29 kilometers at the perigee. The next day, the cosmonauts adjusted the onboard scientific equipment and mothballed some systems on the Soyuz-11 spacecraft. The VSHK (wide-angle cosmonaut's sight), which is designed for orientation to the Sun and planets, was successfully tested. In addition, the crew took measurements of the radiation level on board the station. Each of the cosmonauts put on a special suit "Penguin", which creates a certain load on the musculoskeletal organs of a person in a state of weightlessness.
So the Salyut scientific orbital station continued its flight in space, turn after turn. Communication between the station and the Mission Control Center was stable. The astronauts felt good. On June 10, the crew conducted biomedical studies of the state of the cardiovascular system under weightless conditions. With the help of a special multichannel amplifying-converting device, functional samples were taken from the cosmonauts to determine the density of bone tissues and blood composition.
The station's onboard systems and scientific equipment worked normally. According to the established schedule, the cosmonauts regularly made television reports from the station. Flight engineer Vladislav Volkov and test engineer Viktor Patsaev repeatedly carried out navigational measurements, the results of which were used to determine the parameters of the station's orbit using an onboard digital computer.
At 07:55 on June 24, cosmonauts G. T. Dobrovolsky, V. N. Volkov, and V. I. Patsaev achieved the results in terms of the duration and range of space flight that were established in 18 days of flight by A. G. Nikolaev and V. I. Sevastyanov on the Soyuz-9 spacecraft.
Exactly two days later, that is, on June 26, when 20 days of flight expired, the crew of the manned orbital scientific station became the owner of absolute world record achievements in terms of duration and range of space flight. By this time Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev had by this time blocked the world achievements previously established by their friends Andrian Nikolaev and Vitaly Sevastyanov in the space flight June 1 - 19, 1970 on the Soyuz-9 spacecraft. The cosmonauts on the Soyuz-11 spacecraft and the Salyut station made a total of about 340 orbits around our planet, spent more than 480 hours in space and covered a distance of 13,440,000 kilometers. Less than four days remained before the end of the flight program. On June 27 and 28, the cosmonauts once again checked all the on-board systems of the station and the Soyuz-11 spacecraft and performed a number of biomedical experiments. According to the report of the cosmonauts, all onboard systems of the spacecraft and the station worked normally.
June 29, 1971 - the last day of the flight. On board the orbital scientific station from the Earth received an instruction to complete the flight and prepare for landing. The cosmonauts, having made sure that all the systems of the spacecraft and the station were working properly, prepared for landing. G. T. Dobrovolsky, V. N. Volkov, and V. I. Patsaev transferred the logbooks and other scientific research materials from the Salyut station to the Soyuz-11 spacecraft. The astronauts took their jobs, strapped themselves on, and then checked the operation of all onboard systems of the spacecraft. In the Soyuz-11 compartments, the pressure and temperature were normal. All equipment worked fine. Radio communication with the Earth was stable.
At 21:28, the Soyuz-11 was successfully undocked from the Salyut orbital station, and the crew reported back to Earth. The Soyuz-11 spacecraft began its independent flight without the Salyut station. All systems of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft functioned normally. The Soyuz-11 flight in outer space continued for about 4 hours until the automatic orientation system was turned on. At about 1 hour 10 minutes on June 30, 1971, the ship's attitude control system was turned on, and 25 minutes later, the braking propulsion system, which had worked for the estimated time, was turned on. The moment came for the descent vehicle to separate from the instrument and orbital compartments. Since that time, communication with the crew of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft has ceased. The descent vehicle, in which the cosmonauts Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsaev were, entered the dense layers of the atmosphere. At 02:02, the parachute system was put into action. At an altitude of 9000 meters, the parachute opened.
There is no communication with the astronauts. A group of search and rendezvous helicopters approached the ship's landing site. Planes circled in the air. From the Mi-6 helicopter in which we were, it was clearly visible how smoothly, slowly swaying under the canopy of a large parachute, the cabin of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft was descending. At the very ground, powder engines of soft landing turned on. The Soyuz-11 cabin hung for a moment and slowly sank to the ground.
I write down: “At 2 hours 15 minutes Moscow time, the Soyuz-11 descent vehicle landed with cosmonauts G. T. Dobrovolsky, V. N. Volkov and V. I. Patsaev.” We run to the landing site. The technical support group opens the hatch. We take out Georgy Timofeevich Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Nikolaevich Volkov and Viktor Ivanovich Patsaev from the cockpit of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft. Astronauts without signs of life. The doctors did everything they could, but it was too late.
According to the preliminary conclusion of the doctor Anatoly Alexandrovich Lebedev, it was established at the landing site that the crew died from a sharp drop in pressure in the cabin of the ship. As it turned out later, the Soyuz-11 crew died as a result of a violation of the ship's tightness. Pilot-cosmonauts of the USSR G. T. Dobrovolsky, V. N. Volkov and V. I. Patsaev fully completed the program of scientific research. They made a huge contribution to the development of orbital manned flights.
Entries made by cosmonauts in the logbooks, personal reports recorded on magnetic tape, a large number of film frames filmed in space were studied by scientists.
During the 24 days of the flight, the USSR pilot-cosmonauts G. T. Dobrovolsky, V. N. Volkov and V. I. Patsaev performed an extensive range of works of great scientific, technical and national economic practical importance. They carried out tests under the conditions of flight of the complex Salyut-Soyuz system, which are of promising importance for other ships and stations that, following the Soyuz-11, will enter the expanses of the Universe.
September 11, 2013 during the return of astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) of the Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft. Part of the way the astronauts "flyed to the touch." In particular, the crew did not receive parameters about their altitude and only learned from the reports of the rescue service at what altitude they were.
May 27, 2009 The Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. On board were Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk. Temperature control problems occurred inside the Soyuz TMA-15 manned spacecraft during flight, which were corrected with a thermal management system. The incident did not affect the well-being of the crew. On May 29, 2009, the spacecraft docked with the ISS.
August 14, 1997 during the landing of the Soyuz TM-25 with the crew of EO-23 (Vasily Tsibliyev and Alexander Lazutkin), the soft landing engines fired prematurely, at an altitude of 5.8 km. For this reason, the landing of the SA was hard (landing speed was 7.5 m/s), but the astronauts were not injured.
January 14, 1994 after the undocking of the Soyuz TM-17 with the crew of EO-14 (Vasily Tsibliyev and Alexander Serebrov), during a flyby of the Mir complex, an off-design rendezvous and collision of the spacecraft with the station occurred. The incident did not have serious consequences.
April 20, 1983 Soyuz T-8 spacecraft with cosmonauts Vladimir Titov, Gennady Strekalov and Alexander Serebrov on board took off from the 1st site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. For the spacecraft commander Titov, this was the first trip to orbit. The crew had to work for several months on board the Salyut-7 station, to conduct a lot of research and experiments. However, the astronauts were in for a failure. Due to the non-disclosure of the antenna of the Igla rendezvous and docking system on the ship, the crew failed to dock the ship to the station, and on April 22 the Soyuz T-8 landed on Earth.
April 10, 1979 Soyuz-33 launched with a crew of Nikolai Rukavishnikov and Bulgarian Georgy Ivanov. When approaching the station, the ship's main engine failed. The cause of the accident was a gas generator that feeds the turbopump unit. It exploded, damaging the backup engine. When issuing (April 12) a braking impulse, the backup engine worked with a shortage of thrust, and the impulse was not completely issued. However, the SA landed safely, albeit with a significant overflight.
October 9, 1977 Soyuz-25 was launched, piloted by cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalenko and Valery Ryumin. The flight program provided for docking with the Salyut-6 DOS, which was launched into orbit on September 29, 1977. Due to an emergency situation, it was not possible to perform docking with the station the first time. The second attempt was also unsuccessful. And after the third attempt, the ship, having touched the station and pushed off by spring pushers, retreated 8-10 m and hovered. The fuel in the main system ran out completely, and it was no longer possible to move away with the help of engines. There was a possibility of a collision between the ship and the station, but after a few orbits they separated to a safe distance. The fuel for issuing the braking impulse was taken from the reserve tank for the first time. The true reason for the failure of the docking could not be established. Most likely, there was a defect in the Soyuz-25 docking station (the serviceability of the station's docking station was confirmed by subsequent dockings with the Soyuz spacecraft), but it burned out in the atmosphere.
October 15, 1976 during the flight of the Soyuz-23 spacecraft with the crew of Vyacheslav Zudov and Valery Rozhdestvensky, an attempt was made to dock with the Salyut-5 DOS. Due to the off-design mode of the rendezvous control system, the docking was canceled and a decision was made to return the cosmonauts to Earth ahead of schedule. On October 16, the ship's SA splashed down on the surface of Lake Tengiz, covered with pieces of ice at an ambient temperature of -20 degrees Celsius. Salty water got on the contacts of external connectors, some of which remained energized. This led to the formation of false chains and the passage of a command to shoot the cover of the container of the reserve parachute system. The parachute left the compartment, got wet and turned the ship over. The exit hatch was in the water, and the astronauts almost died. They were saved by the pilots of the search helicopter, who, in difficult weather conditions, were able to detect the SA and, having hooked it with a cable, dragged it to the shore.
April 5, 1975 The Soyuz spacecraft (7K-T No. 39) was launched with cosmonauts Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov on board. The flight program provided for docking with the Salyut-4 DOS and work on board for 30 days. However, due to an accident during the activation of the third stage of the rocket, the ship did not enter orbit. The Soyuz made a suborbital flight, landing on a mountain slope in a deserted region of Altai not far from the state border with China and Mongolia. On the morning of April 6, 1975, Lazarev and Makarov were evacuated from their landing site by helicopter.
June 30, 1971 During the return to Earth of the crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft, due to the premature opening of the respiratory ventilation valve, the descent vehicle was depressurized, which led to a sharp decrease in pressure in the crew module. As a result of the accident, all the astronauts on board died. The crew of the ship, which launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, consisted of three people: the commander of the ship Georgy Dobrovolsky, research engineer Viktor Patsaev and flight engineer Vladislav Volkov. During the flight, a new record was set at that time, the duration of the crew's stay in space was over 23 days.
April 19, 1971 the first Salyut orbital station was launched into orbit, and April 23, 1971 TPK Soyuz-10 launched to it with the first expedition consisting of Vladimir Shatalov, Alexei Eliseev and Nikolai Rukavishnikov. This expedition was supposed to work at the Salyut orbital station for 22-24 days. TPK "Soyuz-10" docked to the orbital station "Salyut", but due to damage to the docking unit of the manned spacecraft during the docking, the astronauts could not board the station and returned to Earth.
April 23, 1967 while returning to Earth, the parachute system of the Soyuz-1 spacecraft failed, resulting in the death of cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. The flight program planned the docking of the Soyuz-1 spacecraft with the Soyuz-2 spacecraft and the transition from ship to ship through the open space of Alexei Eliseev and Evgeny Khrunov, but due to the failure to open one of the panels solar panels on Soyuz-1, the launch of Soyuz-2 was cancelled. Soyuz-1 made an early landing, but at the final stage of the ship's descent to Earth, the parachute system failed and the descent vehicle crashed east of the city of Orsk, Orenburg Region, the cosmonaut died.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Warm June day in 1971. The descent vehicle of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft made the planned landing. In the mission control center, everyone applauded, looking forward to the crew going on the air. At that moment, no one suspected that the biggest tragedy in its history would soon shake the Soviet cosmonautics.
Long flight preparation
In the period from 1957 to 1975, there was a tense rivalry between the USSR and the USA in the field of space exploration. After three unsuccessful launches of the N-1 rocket, it became clear: Soviet Union lost to the Americans in the lunar race. Work in this direction was quietly covered up, concentrating on the construction of orbital stations.
The first Salyut spacecraft was successfully launched into orbit in the winter of 1971. The next goal was divided into four stages: to prepare the crew, send it to the station, successfully dock with it, and then conduct a series of studies in outer space for several weeks.
The docking of the first Soyuz 10 was unsuccessful due to malfunctions in the docking port. Nevertheless, the astronauts managed to return to Earth, and their task fell on the shoulders of the next crew.
Its commander, Alexei Leonov, visited every day design office and looking forward to the launch. However, fate decreed otherwise. Three days before the flight, flight engineer Valery Kubasov's doctors discovered a strange spot on a lung scan. There was no time left to clarify the diagnosis, and it was necessary to urgently look for a replacement.
The question of who will now fly into space was decided in power circles. The State Commission made its choice at the very last moment, only 11 hours before the launch. Her decision was extremely unexpected: the crew was completely changed, and now Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev were sent into space.
Life on "Salyut-1": what awaited the astronauts on the OKS "Salyut"
The Soyuz 11 was launched on June 6, 1971 from the Baikonur cosmodrome. At that time, pilots went into space in conventional flight suits, because the design of the ship did not involve the use of spacesuits. With any leakage of oxygen, the crew was doomed.
The next day after the launch, a difficult stage of docking began. On the morning of June 7, the program responsible for approaching the Salyut station turned on on the remote control. When it was no more than 100 meters away, the crew switched to manual control of the ship and an hour later successfully docked with the OKS.
"Soyuz-11 crew.
After that, a new stage of space exploration began - now there was a full-fledged scientific station in orbit. Dobrovolsky relayed the news of the successful docking to Earth, and his team proceeded to reopen the premises.
The schedule of the astronauts was detailed. Every day they conducted research and biomedical experiments. Television reports were regularly made with the Earth directly from the station.
On June 26 (that is, exactly 20 days later), the Soyuz 11 crew became a new record holder in terms of flight range and duration of stay in space. There are 4 days left until the end of their mission. Communication with the Control Center was stable, and nothing boded trouble.
The way home and the tragic death of the crew
On June 29, the order came to end the mission. The crew transferred all research records to the Soyuz 11 and took their places. The undocking was successful, as Dobrovolsky reported to the Control Center. Everyone was in high spirits. Vladislav Volkov even joked on the air: "See you on Earth, and prepare cognac."
After disconnection, the flight went according to plan. The braking unit was launched in time, and the descent vehicle separated from the main compartment. After that, communication with the crew stopped.
Those who were expecting astronauts on Earth were not particularly alarmed by this. When the ship enters the atmosphere, a wave of plasma rolls over its skin and the communication antennas burn. Just a regular situation, communication should resume soon.
The parachute opened strictly on schedule, but "Yantari" (this is the call sign of the crew) was still silent. The silence on the air began to strain. After the landing apparatus landed, rescuers and doctors almost immediately ran up to it. There was no reaction to the knock on the skin, so the hatch had to be opened in emergency mode.
A terrible picture appeared before my eyes: Dobrovolsky, Patsaev and Volkov were sitting dead in their chairs. The tragedy shocked everyone with its inexplicability. After all, the landing went according to plan, and until recently the astronauts got in touch. Death occurred from an almost instantaneous air leak. However, what caused it was not yet known.
A special commission restored literally in seconds what actually happened. It turned out that during landing, the crew discovered an air leak through the ventilation valve above the commander's seat.
They didn’t have time to close it: it took 55 seconds for a healthy person, and there were no spacesuits and even oxygen masks in the equipment.
The medical commission found traces of cerebral hemorrhage and damage to the eardrums in all the dead. The air dissolved in the blood literally boiled and clogged the vessels, even getting into the chambers of the heart.
To search for a technical malfunction that caused the valve to depressurize, the commission conducted more than 1000 experiments with the involvement of the manufacturer. In parallel, the KGB worked out a variant of deliberate sabotage.
However, none of these versions has been confirmed. Elementary negligence in production played its role here. Checking the condition of the Soyuz, it turned out that many nuts were simply not tightened in the right way, which led to valve failure.
The day after the tragedy, all the newspapers of the USSR came out with black mourning frames, and any space flights were stopped for 28 months. Now spacesuits were included in the mandatory equipment of astronauts, but at the cost of this were the lives of three pilots who never saw the bright summer sun on their native Earth.
The Soviet and American space programs operated in a highly competitive environment. Each of the parties sought to get ahead of the competitor at all costs and become the first. At first, the palm belonged to the USSR: the first launch of an artificial satellite of the Earth, the first launch of a man into space, the first manned spacewalk, the first flight of a woman astronaut remained with the Soviet Union.
The Americans focused on the moon race and won. Although the USSR had a theoretical opportunity to be the first to be in time, the program was too unreliable and the probability of a catastrophe was too high, so the Soviet leadership did not dare to risk the lives of their astronauts. The Soviet lunar detachment of cosmonauts was transferred to training under the Docking program for the first flight to the orbital station.
Having safely landed on the Moon, the Americans proved to themselves that they can also do something, after which they became overly carried away by the Earth's satellite. The USSR at that time was already developing a project for a manned orbital station and won another victory in this area by launching its orbital station two years earlier than the United States did.
The Salyut station was planned to be put into orbit by the beginning of the 24th Congress of the CPSU, but it was a little late. The station was put into orbit only on April 19, 1971, ten days after the closing of the congress.
Soyuz-10
Almost immediately, the first crew was sent to the orbital station. On April 24, five days after the station entered orbit, the Soyuz-10 spacecraft launched from Baikonur. On board were the ship's commander Vladimir Shatalov, flight engineer Alexei Eliseev and test engineer Nikolai Rukavishnikov.It was a very experienced crew. Shatalov and Eliseev have already made two flights on the Soyuz spacecraft, only Rukavishnikov was a newcomer to space. It was planned that Soyuz-10 would successfully dock with the orbital station, after which the astronauts would stay on it for three weeks.
But things didn't go as planned. The ship safely reached the station and began docking, but then failures began. The docking port pin interlocked with the station, but the automation failed and the corrective engines started working, causing the Soyuz to sway and the docking port to break.
Docking was out of the question. Moreover, the entire program of the Salyut station was in jeopardy, since the astronauts did not know how to get rid of the docking port pin. It could have been “shooted off”, but this would have made it impossible for any other ship to dock with the Salyut and meant the collapse of the entire program. The design engineers who were on Earth got involved, who advised to install a jumper and use it to open the lock and remove the Soyuz pin. After several hours, this was finally done - and the astronauts went home.
Crew change
Preparations for the Soyuz-11 flight began. This crew was slightly less experienced than the previous one. None of the astronauts has been in space more than once. But the crew commander was Alexei Leonov - the first person to make a spacewalk. In addition to him, the crew included flight engineer Valery Kubasov and engineer Pyotr Kolodin.For several months they trained in docking both in manual and automatic modes, because it was impossible for the second time in a row to lose face and return from flight without docking.
In early June, the departure date was determined. At a meeting of the Politburo, the date was approved, as was the composition of the crew, which everyone unequivocally certified as the most skillful. But the unthinkable happened. Two days before the launch from Baikonur, sensational news came: during a standard pre-flight medical examination, doctors took an X-ray of Kubasov and found a slight blackout in one of his lungs. Everything pointed to an acute tuberculosis process. True, it remained unclear how it could be viewed, because such a process does not develop in one day, and the astronauts underwent thorough and regular medical examinations. One way or another, it was impossible for Kubasov to fly into space.
But the State Commission and the Politburo have already approved the composition of the crew. What to do? After all, in the Soviet program, cosmonauts prepared for flights in triplets, and if one dropped out, it was necessary to change the entire trio, since it was believed that the triplets had already worked together, and replacing one crew member would lead to a violation of consistency.
But, on the other hand, no one before in the history of astronautics has changed the crew less than two days before departure. How to choose the right solution in such a situation? There was a heated argument between the curators of the space program. Nikolai Kamanin, assistant commander-in-chief of the Air Force for space, insisted that Leonov's crew was experienced, and if Volkov, who also had experience in space flights, was replaced by the retired Kubasov, then there would be nothing terrible and the coordination of actions would not be disturbed.
However, the designer Mishin, one of the developers of Salyut and Soyuz, advocated a complete change of the troika. He believed that the backup team would be much better prepared and worked together than the main one, but subjected to a change in composition on the eve of the flight. In the end, Mishin's point of view won out. Leonov's crew was removed, replaced by a backup crew, consisting of commander Georgy Dobrovolsky, flight engineer Vladislav Volkov and research engineer Viktor Patsaev. None of them had been in space, with the exception of Volkov, who had already flown on one of the Soyuz.
Leonov's crew took the suspension from the flight very painfully. Boris Chertok later recalled the words of designer Mishin: “Oh, what a difficult conversation I had with Leonov and Kolodin! he told us. - Leonov accused me of allegedly consciously not wanting to replace Kubasov with Volynov in order to once again drag Volkov into space. Kolodin said that he felt until the last day that he would not be allowed into space under any pretext. Kolodin says: “I am their white crow. They are all pilots, and I am a rocket scientist.”
None of the angry cosmonauts could even imagine that an erroneous x-ray (Kubasov did not have any tuberculosis and later he successfully flew into space) saved their lives. But then the situation escalated to the limit. Chertok personally observed this picture: “At the State Commission, I was next to Kolodin. He sat with his head bowed low, nervously clenching his fists and unclenching his fingers, his face played with jaws. He wasn't the only one who was nervous. Both crews felt unwell. The first was shocked by the suspension from the flight, the second by the sudden change in fate. After the flight, the second crew had to climb the marble stairs of the Kremlin Palace to the fanfare, Glinka's music, and receive the stars of heroes. But there was no joy on their faces.
Flight
The Soyuz-11 spacecraft launched from Baikonur on June 6, 1971. The cosmonauts were worried not only because two of them had not been in space before, but also because of the lush wires: the day before departure, the mourners staged a real rally at which they made speeches.Nevertheless, the launch of the ship took place in the normal mode and without any failures. The astronauts successfully and without problems docked with the orbital station. It was an exciting moment, because they were to become the first earthlings aboard the space station.
The cosmonauts settled safely on the orbital station, which, although small, seemed huge to them after the incredibly cramped Soyuz. The first week they got used to the new environment. Among other things, the astronauts on the Salyut had a television connection with the Earth.
On June 16, an emergency occurred at the station. The astronauts felt a strong smell of burning. Volkov contacted Earth and reported the fire. The issue of urgent evacuation from the station was being decided, but Dobrovolsky decided not to rush and turn off some devices, after which the smell of burning disappeared.
In total, the astronauts spent 23 days in orbit. They had a fairly rich program of research and experimentation. In addition, they had to mothball the station for the next crews.
Catastrophe
In general, the flight went well - no one expected any emergency. The crew got in touch and carried out orientation. As it turned out, this was the last communication session with the crew. As expected, at 1:35 a.m. the braking propulsion system was activated. At 01:47, the descent vehicle separated from the instrument and utility compartments. At 01:49 the crew was supposed to get in touch and report on the successful separation of the descent vehicle. The descent vehicle did not have a telemetry system, and no one on Earth knew what was happening to the astronauts. It was planned that immediately after the separation, Dobrovolsky would get in touch. The silence on the radio very surprised the experts, because the crew was very talkative and sometimes spoke to the Earth much more than the situation required.The return to Earth took place as planned, without excesses, so at first there was no reason to believe that something had happened to the crew. The most likely version was a malfunction of the radio equipment.
At 01:54, air defense systems spotted the descent vehicle. At an altitude of 7 thousand meters, the main parachute of the descent vehicle opened, which was equipped with an antenna. The astronauts were required to contact either HF or VHF channels and report on the situation. But they were silent, not answering requests from the Earth. This was already alarming, none of the successfully returned Soyuz had communication problems at this stage.
At about 2:05 am, the helicopters meeting the descent vehicle discovered it and reported it to the Mission Control Center. Ten minutes later, the craft landed safely. Externally, the device did not have any damage, but the crew still did not get in touch and showed no signs of life. It was already clear that some kind of emergency had occurred, but there was still hope that the astronauts might have lost consciousness, but still alive.
Immediately after landing, a meeting helicopter landed next to the device, and two minutes later the rescuers were already opening the hatch of the device. Chertok recalled: “The descent vehicle was lying on its side. Externally, there was no damage. They knocked on the wall, no one answered. The hatch was quickly opened. All three sit in armchairs in calm poses. There are blue spots on the faces. Bleeding from nose and ears. Pulled them out of SA. Dobrovolsky was still warm. Doctors continue artificial respiration.
Attempts by doctors to resuscitate the crew by artificial respiration and heart massage were unsuccessful. An autopsy revealed that the crew died from decompression sickness caused by a sudden drop in pressure in the descent module.
Investigation
The circumstances of the death clearly indicated the depressurization of the ship. The very next day, studies of the descent vehicle began, but all attempts to detect a leak failed. Kamanin recalled: “We closed the hatch and all other regular openings in the ship’s hull, created a pressure in the cabin that exceeded atmospheric pressure by 100 millimeters, and ... did not find the slightest sign of leakage. They increased the overpressure to 150 and then to 200 millimeters. Having withstood the ship under such pressure for an hour and a half, we were finally convinced of the complete sealing of the cabin.But, if the apparatus was completely sealed, then how could depressurization occur? There was only one option left. The leak may have come from one of the vent valves. But this valve opened only after the parachute opened to equalize the pressure, how could it open when the descent vehicle separated?
The only theoretical option: the shock wave and the explosions of the squibs during the separation of the descent vehicle forced the squib to open the valve prematurely. But the Soyuz never had such problems (and indeed there was not a single case of depressurization both on manned and unmanned spacecraft). Moreover, after the disaster, experiments were repeatedly carried out simulating this situation, but there was never an abnormal opening of the valve due to a shock wave or undermining squibs. No experiment has reproduced this situation. But, since there were no other explanations, it was this version that was adopted as the official one. It was stipulated that this event belongs to the category of extremely unlikely, since it could not be reproduced under experimental conditions.
The commission was able to approximately reconstruct the events that took place inside the descent vehicle. After the regular compartment of the apparatus, the astronauts discovered a depressurization, as the pressure dropped rapidly. They had less than a minute to find and eliminate her. The crew commander Dobrovolsky checks the hatch, but it is airtight. Trying to detect a leak by sound, astronauts turn off radio transmitters and equipment. Most likely, they managed to detect a leak, but no longer had the strength to close the valve. The pressure drop was too strong, and within a minute the astronauts lost consciousness, and after about two minutes they were dead.
Everything would be different if the crew had a spacesuit. But the Soviet cosmonauts returned in the descent vehicle without them. Both Korolev and Mishin opposed this. The suits were very bulky, as were the life-support equipment they needed, and the ships were already too cramped. Therefore, I had to choose: either an additional crew member, or spacesuits, or a radical reorganization of the ship and the descent vehicle.
Results
The dead cosmonauts were buried in the Kremlin wall. At that time, it was the largest catastrophe in space in terms of the number of victims. For the first time, an entire crew was killed. The tragedy of Soyuz-11 led to the fact that flights under this program were frozen for more than two years.During this time, the program itself was radically revised. Since then, astronauts have been required to return back in protective space suits. In order to get more space in the descent vehicle, it was decided to abandon the third crew member. The layout of the controls was changed so that the astronaut, without getting up, could reach all the most important buttons and levers.
After making improvements, the Soyuz program has established itself as one of the most reliable and is still operating successfully.
