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This module will take you on a journey through some of the highlights
and lowlights of the Soviet/Russian space program, beginning with the launch of SPUTNIK, the world's first artificial Earth satellite искусственный спутник Земли, in 1957. The 25 texts are arranged in chronological order,
with the first 5 cuts providing a basic linguistic and historical background.
The Space Age, and the Space Race between the U.S. and the USSR, began on that fateful day in October 1957 when SPUTNIK was launched. A month later, the Soviets launched the first living creature into space - a small stray dog named Layka. Layka's flight underlined Moscow's intention to put a human being into space.
The Soviets continued to rack up quite an impressive string of space "firsts:"
- 1959 - launch of the first unmanned interplanetary probe, LUNA-1.
- 1961 - launch of the first man, Yuri Gagarin, into space.
- 1962 - first group orbital flight орбитальный полет by two cosmonauts, each in his own spacecraft космический корабль.
- 1963 - launch of the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, into space.
- 1965 - the first space walk выход, performed by Aleksey Leonov
This string came to an end in 1969 when the Eagle landed and U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the Moon. The Soviets had lost the race to put a man on the Moon. Although it wasn't known at the time, they had been working towards that goal, in direct competition with the U.S. Apollo program. A series of booster носитель failures derailed their plans and their program never got off the ground.
The Soviets then directed their efforts to establishing an orbital manned space station пилотируемая космическая станция. SALYuT-1 was launched in 1971. Its first visitors arrived in the SOYuZ-11 manned ferry vehicle транспортный корабль. Unfortunately, they didn't make it back to Earth alive. Due to a pressure leak in the descent vehicle спускаемый аппарат and the fact that they weren't wearing spacesuits скафандры, they were found dead when the hatch люк was opened.
From 1973 to 1976, two varieties of Soviet space stations were put into
orbit: those with a military program (SALYuTs 2, 3 and 5) and those with a civilian program (SALYuTs 1 and 4). These were considered by the Soviets as their "first generation" space stations. The "second generation" consisted of the SALYuT-6 and SALYuT-7, launched in 1977 and 1982. These stations were modified to include a docking port стыковочный узел, making them capable of supporting longer, more complex missions.
In the midst of all this space station activity, the Soviets took time
to participate in the first meeting of Americans and Russians in space: the Apollo-SOYuZ Test Project (ASTP) in 1975. After this program, American manned space operations effectively ceased until the first Space Shuttle launch in 1981.
The launch of the MIR core module in 1986 marked the beginning of
construction of the Soviet "third generation" space station. MIR's original design life was about 5 years, but it is still in operation today. As we shall see, it has endured power problems, computer problems, oxygen generation problems, docking problems, coolant leaks, a fire, a collision - and it just keeps on ticking! It has hosted numerous foreign cosmonauts, including 7 Americans.
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been involved in the International Space Station (ISS) project, along with partners in Europe, Japan and Canada. Congress mandated that NASA include Russia as a partner to take advantage of Russian space station expertise and to permit American astronauts to spend longer periods of time in space on board the MIR space station. In March 1995, the MIR-Shuttle Program began with the launch from Baykonur of Dr. Norman Thagard. He remained on MIR for 110 days. In June 1995, 20 years after the first American-Russian docking in space, the Space Shuttle Atlantis docked to MIR. This was a first for MIR - there were 10 people on board the station at the same time!
Under the ISS program, Russia is responsible for the first two segments
under the construction phase: the Functional Cargo Block функциональный грузовой блок and the service module. The FGB was launched 20 November 1998. The service module, which is already a year behind schedule, will probably be launched in 1999.
Did you know that satellites could be launched from submerged submarines? In July 1998, the Russians launched two microsatellites from a submarine in the Barents Sea. Could this become the "wave" of the future? Will the ISS become a reality? Will the Russians deorbit the MIR space station in 1999? Will people one day travel to Mars and beyond? Carefully study the materials that follow, then stay tuned for future developments (and updates to this module)![The Russian Language Mentor is pleased to note that this introduction as well as the technical annotations throughout the current module were produced by a "guest subject matter expert." My guest SME also provided the illustrations, edited the technical translations and helped out with some of the questions. Thank you, S.DiP.!]
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