On the other hand, manned space flight is an unprecedented, extremely large and complex activity with great exploration. Although it has been strictly demonstrated, designed and tested from the beginning, it has high safety and reliability, but there are inevitably some shortcomings. Therefore, since the United States and the Soviet Union launched their respective manned spaceflight projects, there have been major catastrophic accidents in ground test, training, launch, on-orbit operation and reentry, which cost 15 astronauts' lives and other huge political and economic costs. Eight astronauts died related to the experimental training of manned spacecraft, including ground simulation training 1, ground test 3, and then returned 4. As far as flight safety is concerned, at the end of 196 1- 1998, 268 astronauts set sail and 264 returned to the ground safely, with a safe survival rate of 98.9%.
Every launch of manned spacecraft is spectacular, every safe return of manned spacecraft is exciting, and every catastrophic accident makes millions of people fidget. The whole manned space flight is an epic and a masterpiece; Every flight is a beautiful poem and an unforgettable story. The following are the records of three important flight events.
First, the Oriental 1 spacecraft sent humans into space for the first time.
The demonstration of the Soviet Oriental manned spacecraft project began with 1957, and the design was completed in the spring of 1959. At the beginning of 1960, the launch vehicle and spacecraft were developed, and two unmanned suborbital flight tests were carried out in June of that year. 1 On May 5, 1960, the launch test of unmanned satellite spacecraft1was carried out for the first time at the Oriental launch station of Baikonur launch site to check the sealing performance of the spacecraft and the working conditions of its control system, life support system and communication system. When returning, due to the failure of the spacecraft attitude control system, the braking rocket ignited and pushed the return capsule to a higher orbit. 1September 5, 962, the spacecraft entered the atmosphere and burned.
1August, 960 19, the satellite spacecraft No.2 carrying two dogs, two mice, 40 mice and some other animals and plants was launched into orbit to carry out biological and space medical experiments to test the safety performance and return system of the spacecraft. After flying 18 laps, the return capsule landed successfully.
1 960,65438+February,1,the satellite spacecraft No.3 was launched again, with two puppies and some plants on it. After flying for 27 laps, I couldn't recover.
196 1 On March 9, 2008, the Soviet Union launched the satellite spacecraft No.4, which contained dummy, 1 guinea pig, 1 dog and some small animals and plants. The spacecraft and manned spacecraft were completely in the same state, and the result was a complete success, landing at the designated place according to the instructions.
At the same time, in the astronaut training center on the outskirts of Moscow, the first astronauts Titov, Gagarin, bondarenko, etc. Those who are preparing for the launch are carrying out a series of simulation training before the launch.
196 1 March 23rd,1the last day of ground training, bondarenko wiped the fixed part of the sensor with an alcohol cotton ball after training in an air pressure cabin filled with high concentration oxygen, then threw the cotton ball aside and landed on the hot electric heater, causing a fire immediately. He was badly burned and died after being rescued. This is the first astronaut who died in an accident. 196 1 On March 25th, 2008, the launch test of the satellite spacecraft No.5 was carried out again, and satisfactory results were obtained.
So far, the Soviet Union has carried out nine unmanned spacecraft tests, except for the satellite spacecraft 5 times and the satellite spacecraft 4 times. Of the 9 experiments, 4 failed and 5 succeeded, of which the last two succeeded in succession. The decision-making organs of the Soviet Union believe that they have fully possessed the launching capability of manned spacecraft. 1 961On April 8, the Soviet National Space Commission decided to launch the manned Oriental1spacecraft. 10 night, Gagarin was confirmed as the first astronaut in the sky, and Titov was the replacement astronaut.
At 2 o'clock on June 1 1 day, the horizontally docked launch vehicle and spacecraft were transported to the launch location, and then the rocket spacecraft was tested and refueled.
12 7: 10, Gagarin entered the cockpit of Dongfang 1 spacecraft, waiting for the arrival of the first space flight in human history.
Korolev, the father of the Soviet rocket and the chief designer of the Oriental rocket, took command of this historic launch.
At 9: 07, the Oriental Rocket was launched with the spacecraft from the Oriental Rocket Launch Station at the Baikonur launch site. Two minutes later, the four boosters tied to the Oriental rocket separated and fell off. After another 30 seconds, the satellite fairing was opened and thrown away. Five minutes after takeoff, the core engine was turned off and the second stage rocket was ignited. When the spacecraft reached the predetermined orbit, the rocket was turned off. Dongfang 1 spacecraft separated from the rocket according to the predetermined procedure and entered an elliptical orbit with perigee 18 1 km, apogee of 327 km and inclination of 65 degrees.
After Gagarin flew the spacecraft for 44 minutes, the spacecraft began to adjust its attitude and prepare to return. In 78 minutes, the brake rocket ignited and the instrument cabin was separated from the cockpit. Seven kilometers from the ground, Gagarin was ejected together with the seat. At an altitude of 4 kilometers, he was ejected from his seat again and landed slowly in the village of Smelov Ka in Saratov State with a parachute.
This historical journey lasted 108 minutes from launch to landing.
Gagarin 1934 1934 was born on March 9, 1934 in Ruxiluo town, Satz region, Russian Federation. He was a carpenter. 1955 joined the air force and became an air force pilot. Later, he was elected as the first astronaut in the Soviet Union. 1On June 4th, 964, Gagarin was awarded the title of hero of the Soviet Union and later won the Lenin Medal. On March 27th, 1968, Gagarin, who had been promoted to colonel, and another flight instructor were killed in a drill flight due to bad weather. In order to commemorate him, the Soviet Union renamed his birthplace as Gagarin District, named the launch position of Dongfang 1 spacecraft as Gagarin Launch Position, built a statue of Gagarin next to the position, and named the astronaut training center outside Moscow as Gagarin Astronaut Training Center. A crater on the back of the moon is also named Gagarin Mountain after him. The International Aviation Federation has set up the Gagarin Gold Medal named after him to reward those aviation personnel who have made outstanding contributions.
Second, Apollo manned flight to the moon.
Apollo program is a large-scale space landing project organized and implemented by the United States from 1960s to early 1970s. On May 25th, 196 1 was officially announced for implementation. 1969 On May 8, Apollo 10 launched, rehearsed the whole process of landing on the moon and returned safely.
June 6th is the day when man first sailed to the moon. At the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Merritt Island on the east coast of Florida, people are busy preparing to send the first man to the moon.
Saturn V carrier rocket carrying Apollo 1 1 stands on launch pad 39A. The spacecraft carried commander N·A· Armstrong, lunar module pilot E·E· Aldrin and command module pilot Collins.
In the control room 5 kilometers away from the launch pad,1more than 300 computers and other equipment are running in an orderly way.
GMT 13: 32 (hereinafter referred to as GMT), the rocket was ignited and launched. Saturn V rocket blasted off in the volcanic air billow.
1 The rocket burns out and separates after working for 2 minutes and 42 seconds. At this time, the flight speed has reached 2.7 km/s and the altitude is 67 km.
3 minutes 17 seconds after launch, throw away the life-saving tower.
Nine minutes after launch, the speed increased to 6.8km/s, the distance from the launch point 1550km, and the flying altitude 182km. The second stage rocket was shut down and separated.
The third stage launch vehicle can be started many times. 1 time starts at 9 minutes and 5 seconds after launch and shuts down at 1 1 minute and 40 seconds after take-off. At this point, the spacecraft has accelerated to 7.7 km/s, and entered the perigee 180 km and apogee 185 km parking orbit.
Two hours and 44 minutes after launch, the third stage rocket ignited again and accelerated. After working for about 5 minutes, the third-stage rocket was shut down again. At this time, the altitude of the spacecraft from the earth is 328 kilometers, and the speed reaches 10.9 km/s, and the spacecraft enters the transition orbit of landing on the moon as planned.
16 July, 16: 40, the command module was separated from the third-stage rocket, circled 180 degrees, and then docked with the lunar module connected with the rocket. After re-docking, the spacecraft and the three-stage rocket were separated again.
Before take-off, the docking sequence of spacecraft is lunar module-service module-command module. After U-turn and docking, the sequence of flight cabin sections becomes service cabin-command ship-landing on the moon. The whole U-turn process didn't end until 14: 00 and 12: 00.
After the third stage rocket completes its mission, it ignites the remaining fuel and runs to orbit around the sun.
When the spacecraft flew away from the earth 1 .2000 km, and the distance from the earth was almost 1/3, the three astronauts had successfully completed the voyage on1.
The next day, at 17 and 16: 07, in the transition orbit to the moon, the spacecraft's small engine was ignited and the 1 th orbit correction was carried out.
On the third day, at 20: 40 on 18, the spacecraft was about 320,000 kilometers away from the earth. Armstrong and Aldrin entered the lunar module, inspected the equipment in the module, and filmed the live video of the lunar module for people on earth.
19 July, 1 1: 33, the spacecraft reached the demarcation point where the gravity between the earth and the moon is equal. At this time, the spacecraft is 370,000 kilometers away from the earth and only 28,000 kilometers away from the moon.
At July 19 16: 50, the braking engine of the service module was ignited, and the speed of the spacecraft kept decreasing. When the speed dropped to 2.57 km/s, the spacecraft was attracted by the moon and turned a corner, and then entered an elliptical orbit with perigee of 103 km and apogee of 3 12 km. After Apollo circled the moon 12 times, astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin entered the lunar module code-named "Eagle". After another 1 lap, the lunar module and the command module separated.
Collins stayed in the command module and continued to fly around the moon.
After the lunar module is separated, start the descent engine to reduce the speed to 3 1m/s, and then descend to the height of 15km from the lunar surface.
When the eagle descended to 9000 meters, the computer alarm light came on. This shows that there is something wrong with the computer. Within a few minutes from 9000m to 1900m, Armstrong, Aldrin and the people in Houston Space Center were very nervous. The commander in Houston judged that the computer might be overloaded, and the headquarters told the astronauts not to ask the computer everything. The two astronauts encouraged each other: "Calm down, calm down!" After the rendezvous and docking radar data input into the computer is turned off, the computer warning light will go out.
The lunar module continued to descend.
When the height from the moon exceeds 1000 meters, the astronauts found that the scheduled landing site was a grotesque phosphorus-containing crater. The astronauts changed to semi-automatic operation, crossed the crater and chose a relatively flat place to land. The actual landing point is 9.5 kilometers away from the center of the predetermined area.
The blue light in the cockpit of the lunar module flashes, indicating that the probe with a length of 1.5 meters has touched the lunar surface and the lunar module has stopped there.
At this time, it was 20: 00 GMT on July 20th1969, and the eagle landed in the southwest corner of the Moon's Jinghai. Two explorers sent by human beings successfully landed on the moon for the first time.
The two astronauts spent more than four hours preparing to go to the moon, and then excitedly and eagerly asked the ground command center to give up the planned five-hour meal break and go to the moon ahead of schedule.
At 2: 39 on July 2 1 July, the door of the lunar module was opened, and Armstrong, with the help of Aldrin, drilled the door backwards. Armstrong stood firmly on the gangway, and Aldrin prepared a video recorder and camera, taking precious shots of the first man who landed on the moon every minute. Armstrong climbed down the gangway step by step and reached the last floor. He thoughtfully put his left foot on the surface of the moon and rubbed it gently with his foot wearing moon boots. It's 2: 56 GMT on July 2 1 Sunday. Then, he stepped on it hard, neither slipping nor sinking, so his right foot also set foot on the moon.
He said excitedly, "This is just a small step for one person, but it is a big step for mankind."
19 minutes later, Aldrin also walked down the gangway. When the last two levels were left, I simply jumped.
They took out a thin metal commemorative card engraved with pictures of the eastern and western hemispheres of the earth and a message: "1In July, 969, people on the planet of the solar system left footprints on the moon for the first time. We came here for a peaceful journey on behalf of mankind. "
Then, they put up an American flag on the moon, and they stood next to it and received congratulations from President Nixon in the command hall in Houston.
Subsequently, they began intense scientific exploration, placing 1 laser mirrors, L lunar seismographs for measuring lunar earthquakes, and L aluminum foil sails for capturing solar wind particles. They also took photos of the moon and collected 22 kilograms of moon rocks and soil samples.
At 5: 10, two men put two boxes of lunar specimens into the lunar module, said hello to each other and got into the narrow hatch. In order to reduce the burden when they returned, they opened the hatch again, took off their backpacks, spacesuits, gloves and boots that had been used on the surface of the moon, and threw them all on the surface of the moon with other unnecessary items. After all the arrangements were made, they ate and slept for seven hours.
17: 54, they used the descent section as the launcher, turned on the automatic switch, ignited the explosion bolt, ignited the ascending engine with thrust of 15.6 kn, and the lunar module left the lunar surface at a speed of 10.8 m/s.
After flying 780 meters from the moon, they switched to manual operation. After flying for four minutes, it entered the orbit around the moon at the near moon point 19.2km and at the far moon point 83.3km, and gradually approached the command module.
At 2 1 15, the lunar module was firmly engaged with the command module with a bang. Collins, who was waiting in the command module, had already floated to the docking passage to welcome them back.
Armstrong and Aldrin, with moon samples, struggled to climb through the connecting passage and returned to the command module.
The lunar module, which carried two astronauts to the moon and successfully returned, was finally separated from the command module after completing its mission. It carries gloves, helmets and other items used by astronauts on the surface of the moon and continues to run in the lunar orbit.
At 5: 30 on July 22, the main engine of the service module was started, and the spacecraft left the orbit around the moon at a speed of 2.4 km/s and entered the transition orbit between the moon and the earth.
On 22nd 17: 39, Apollo 1 1 passed the boundary point of gravity between the moon and the earth again.
On July 24th 16: 20: 8, the spacecraft flew back to the altitude of 1500 km from the earth, and the command module flew into the return corridor. Before this 15 minutes, the service module that relied on three astronauts during the flight was also thrown away.
On 24th 16: 35: 8, the command module rushed into the atmosphere at the speed of11km/s. Due to high-speed reentry, the air temperature around the spacecraft rose to 2700 "C, and the bottom of the command module and its surroundings burned into a big fireball. When the altitude drops to 60 kilometers, the command module flies forward at a 45-degree angle, with a circular bottom, and constantly adjusts its attitude and uses air resistance to slow down.
At an altitude of 20 kilometers, the jet plane on surveillance mission has seen the fireball. The aircraft carrier Hornet, which is carrying out the recovery mission, also found the target.
At an altitude of 8 kilometers, the parachute of the command module opened, and then three large main umbrellas were opened.
On 24th 16: 50: 22, the command module of the spacecraft splashed down in the scheduled sea area-the southwest Pacific Ocean of Hawaii.
Armstrong shouted, "We splashed down." The people in the Houston control center all stood up and thunderous applause lasted for a long time. The big head of the command module sank into the sea, and three round lifebuoys floated it to the surface.
Three people waved into the isolation room of Bumblebee with warm applause. President Nixon, who was waiting here, congratulated them through the glass. On the 25th, they returned to Houston Air Force Base and met their families through the glass. Because they want to go to the lunar data institute for physical epidemic prevention inspection 1 month with the moon samples they brought back.
August 10, after careful inspection, no abnormal phenomenon was found.
On August 1 1, they left the lunar data institute early and returned to their warm and lovely home.
Armstrong, the first American astronaut to land on the moon, was born in Wapaknita, Ohio on August 5, 1930. 1962 was a pilot before he was elected as an astronaut. On March 6th, 1966, 16 and D. R. Scott went into space in a Gemini spaceship. Because of his great contribution to space activities, Armstrong was awarded the American Medal of Freedom, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Distinguished Service Medal and the International Air Federation Gold Medal.
Third, Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft jointly docked.
1962 In June, shortly after Soviet and American manned spacecraft went into space, the Soviet Academy of Sciences and NASA signed the first space cooperation agreement. From 65438 to 0969, the two sides took the safety and mutual rescue in manned space flight as the first choice for cooperation, and brewed the feasibility of docking two spacecraft. 1970 to 10, the two countries set up a joint working group to specifically study the technical ways and funds needed to realize the docking of spacecraft between the two countries.
1972 On May 24th, US President Nixon and Chairman of the Soviet Council of Ministers kosygin signed an agreement on joint manned space flight between the United States and the Soviet Union. The agreement said: "Develop a compatible rendezvous and docking system between the Soviet Union and the United States manned spacecraft and the space station to improve the safety of manned space flight and provide opportunities for future joint scientific experiments." The agreement is scheduled for 1975 to arrange the joint flight of Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft, so that the astronauts of the two countries can visit each other's spacecraft.
Since then, space experts from the two countries have solved a series of problems for docking, such as distance measurement, communication, insertion and positioning of docking mechanism, different air pressures and components, launch window and so on. Among these problems, the most difficult one is that the life support systems of the two spacecraft are different. Apollo spacecraft is a pure oxygen environment, and the air pressure is about 1/3 on the ground. Soyuz spacecraft uses 2 1% oxygen and 79% nitrogen, and the mixed atmospheric pressure is about 1. When Soyuz astronauts enter Apollo spacecraft directly at low pressure, it will cause decompression sickness, and the liquid in the body will form nitrogen bubbles. In order to solve this problem, after repeated consultations between the two sides, it was finally decided to design a docking transition cabin between the two ships. The transition cabin is 3. 15m in length and 1.42m in diameter, and two spaceships can be docked at both ends. At the same time, a claw-shaped docking mechanism is designed, and both spacecraft can actively dock. Other problems have been solved through coordination.
1975 July 15 GMT 12: 20, Soyuz19 was launched from the Gagarin launch site of Baikonur launch site on time (the error was less than 5 milliseconds). The two astronauts on the spaceship are the commander Colonel leonov and the engineer Wa Kubasov on board. Leonov was awarded the title of hero of the Soviet Union. He was the first person to walk in space in the spaceship Ascension. Kubasov conducted the first space welding experiment on Soyuz-6 spacecraft, and won the title of Soviet hero.
Live broadcast from the Soviet Union, more than 1 100 million people watched this spectacular scene. The American ambassador to the Soviet Union, the deputy director of NASA and other officials went to the Baikonur launch site to watch the launch.
After flying for 530 seconds, the last stage engine of the launch vehicle was turned off and the spacecraft was separated from the rocket. The spacecraft entered the initial orbit with perigee 180 km, apogee 228 km and inclination angle of 5l.8 degrees.
Soyuz 19 made two maneuvers in the apogee of lap 4 and lap 17, respectively, which made the spacecraft enter a circular orbit of 225 kilometers and wait for docking with the American Apollo spacecraft. Both exercises were very successful. The design requires that the maximum deviation of the track is1500m, and the maximum deviation of the track arrival time is allowed to be 90 seconds. However, the actual maximum deviation of the track is only 250m, and the time difference is only 7.5s. ..
Seven hours and 30 minutes after the launch of Soyuz 19, the American Saturn 1B rocket launched Apollo 18 spacecraft from launch position 39 of Kennedy Space Center. The spaceship is carrying three astronauts. The commander is Brigadier General Stamford of the United States Air Force. He participated in three space flights, including Apollo/KOOC-0/8 spacecraft/KOOC-0/May, 969/KOOC-0/August-26th, and won three service medals from NASA. Slaton, the pilot of the lunar module, and Brand, the pilot of the command module, participated in the 1 th space flight.
Apollo spacecraft entered orbit with perigee 149 km, apogee 167 km and inclination of 5 1.8 degrees.
After flying 1 hour, Apollo separated from Saturn's 1B launch vehicle, made a U-turn flight, pulled the docking module out of the launch vehicle, and then completed the evasive maneuver that might collide with the rocket to adjust the attitude for docking.
On the third pass through apogee, Apollo maneuvered to make the spacecraft enter the circular orbit of 169 km. After that, five maneuvers were made.
After Soyuz 19 flew to lap 36 and Apollo flew to lap 29, that is, 49 minutes after Soyuz launched at 5 1 hour, the two ships docked. The docking was completed very smoothly, a few minutes ahead of schedule. Then astronauts exchange visits. The commander of Apollo spacecraft, Stamford, and the docking pilot, slaton, first entered the docking transition cabin, then closed the hatch leading to Apollo spacecraft, filled the docking spacecraft with a mixed atmosphere of oxygen and nitrogen, and adjusted the cabin pressure. After the pressure of Soyuz is balanced, open the inspection doors of docking ship and Soyuz.
Two astronauts of the Apollo spacecraft entered Soyuz.
Stamford held leonov's hand tightly.
Leonov smiled and said in English, "Nice to meet you!"
The two embraced and were very excited.
Tens of thousands of viewers around the world witnessed this important historical scene through TV broadcast.
During the meeting, US President Ford telephoned the astronauts. Brezhnev, general secretary of the Soviet Union, sent a congratulatory message to the astronauts of the two countries.
During the meeting, astronauts of the two countries exchanged national flags, dined together and did gymnastics together, and also jointly held a TV program to answer reporters' questions in space, answering questions from Soviet and American journalists. The first meeting lasted 10 hour.
After the meeting, the American astronauts returned to the Apollo spacecraft.
The next day, the commander of Soyuz spacecraft paid a return visit to Apollo spacecraft.
In the docking state, * * * flew for two days.
After separation, 32 scientific experiments were carried out on July 19, 2009, including 5 joint experiments. Of these five items, 1 is a famous artificial solar eclipse experiment. After the two spacecraft docked and separated, the Apollo spacecraft was used as a cover to keep out the sun. Soyuz astronauts observed and photographed the corona and reported the beautiful corona. In addition, the experiments of biological rhythm, microbial exchange and ultraviolet absorption with bacteria were carried out, and all of them achieved satisfactory results.
After the separation, Soyuz 19 flew for another 43 hours and landed safely 87 kilometers northeast of Kazakhstan on July 20.
After the separation of Apollo 18 spacecraft, it continued to fly for 6 days, returned on July 24th, and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 434 kilometers west of Hawaii. When returning, due to the switch failure of the recovery system, toxic nitrogen tetroxide gas leaked into the return cabin, and the astronauts' eyes were stimulated and burned, causing pneumonia.
The joint docking flight of Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft has attracted great attention all over the world and has been welcomed by all countries. In the meantime, China is preparing to launch a satellite. At the request of the United States, the launch was postponed to July 26th. (Dongfang Ping)