Voskhod programme
Encyclopedia
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
human spaceflight
Human spaceflight
Human spaceflight is spaceflight with humans on the spacecraft. When a spacecraft is manned, it can be piloted directly, as opposed to machine or robotic space probes and remotely-controlled satellites....
project. Two manned missions were flown using the Voskhod spacecraft
Voskhod spacecraft
The Voskhod was a spacecraft built by the Soviet Union's space program for human spaceflight as part of the Voskhod programme. It was a development of and a follow-on to the Vostok spacecraft...
and rocket
Voskhod rocket
The Voskhod rocket was a derivative of the Soviet R-7 ICBM designed for the human spaceflight programme but later used for launching Zenit reconnaissance satellites. It combined the R-7 with an upper stage that had been originally designed to launch interplanetary probes.There was only one main...
, one in 1964 and one in 1965.
Voskhod development was both a follow-on to the Vostok programme
Vostok programme
The Vostok programme was a Soviet human spaceflight project that succeeded in putting a person into Earth's orbit for the first time. The programme developed the Vostok spacecraft from the Zenit spy satellite project and adapted the Vostok rocket from an existing ICBM design...
and a recycling of components left over from that programme's cancellation following its first six flights. The Voskhod programme was superseded by the Soyuz programme
Soyuz programme
The Soyuz programme is a human spaceflight programme that was initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon...
.
Design
The Voskhod spacecraft was basically a Vostok spacecraft that had a backup, solid fuel retrorocket added to the top of the descent module. The heavier weight of the craft was made possible by improvements to the R-7 SemyorkaR-7 Semyorka
The R-7 was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961, but was never deployed operationally. A derivative, the R-7A, was deployed from 1960 to 1968...
-derived booster. The ejection seat was removed and two or three crew couches were added to the interior at a 90-degree angle to that of the Vostok crew position. However, the position of the in-flight controls was not changed, so the crew had to crane their heads 90 degrees to see the instruments.
In the case of Voskhod 2, an inflatable exterior airlock was also added to the descent module opposite the entry hatch. The airlock was jettisoned after use. This apparatus was needed because the vehicle avionics and environmental systems were air-cooled, and depressurization in orbit would cause overheating. There was no provision for crew escape in the event of a launch or landing emergency. A solid fuel braking rocket was also added to the parachute lines to provide for a softer landing at touchdown. This was necessary because, unlike the Vostok, the Voskhod descent module landed with the crew still inside.
Comparison with Gemini
After the first-generation spacecraft Vostok and MercuryProject Mercury
In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...
had proved the technical feasibility of manned spaceflight, NASA proceeded to build its second-generation capsule, Gemini
Project Gemini
Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, with ten manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966....
, which was a completely new design which retained the successful features of Mercury such as the conical shape with a heat shield at the bottom while adding several new features for example engines strong enough to significantly alter orbit, docking and rendezvous facilities, and provisions for EVA
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
, all of which were essential for practical applications of spaceflight, namely a manned Moon mission.
In comparison to that, Voskhod capsules were simply modified Vostok craft, retaining most of Vostoks limitations. In the end, Voskhod turned out to be a dead end and was abandoned after only two manned missions. It was superseded by the much more capable Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
.
Unmanned
- Kosmos 47Kosmos 47Kosmos 47 is the designation of an unmanned test-flight of a prototype Soviet Voskhod spacecraft, the first multiple-occupant spacecraft. Launched on the 6 October 1964, the successful flight paved the way for the first manned mission, Voskhod 1, which occurred just 6 days later on the 12...
- Unmanned test flight of the Voskhod hardware. - Kosmos 57 - Unmanned test flight, unsuccessful.
- Kosmos 110 - Unmanned, sent two dogs, Veterok and Ugolyok, on 22-day flight, launched 22 February 1966.
Manned
| Order | Mission | Launch | Duration | Landing | Crew | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Voskhod 1 Voskhod 1 Voskhod 1 was the seventh manned Soviet space flight. It achieved a number of "firsts" in the history of manned spaceflight, being the first space flight to carry more than one crewman into orbit, the first flight without the use of spacesuits, and the first to carry either an engineer or a... |
12 October 1964 | 1 d 0 h 17 m 3 s | 13 October 1964 | V. Komarov | K. Feoktistov Konstantin Feoktistov Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov was a Soviet cosmonaut and an eminent space engineer. Feoktistov also wrote several books on space technology and exploration... |
B. Yegorov Boris Yegorov Boris Borisovich Yegorov was a Soviet physician-cosmonaut and he became the first physician to make a space flight.Yegorov came from a medical background, with his father a prominent heart surgeon, and his mother an ophthalmologist. He also selected medicine as a career and graduated from the... |
First multi-person spacecraft. |
| 2 | Voskhod 2 Voskhod 2 Voskhod 2 was a Soviet manned space mission in March 1965. Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable airlock... |
18 March 1965 | 1 d 2 h 2 m 17 s | 19 March 1965 | P. Belyayev Pavel Belyayev Pavel Ivanovich Belyayev , , was a Soviet fighter pilot with extensive experience in piloting different types of aircraft... |
A. Leonov | First spacewalk Extra-vehicular activity Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon... . |
|
Cancelled
- Voskhod 3 - 19-days two-crewed mission to study long-term weightlessness with artificial gravity, medical, military and other experiments http://www.astronautix.com/flights/voskhod3.htm
- Voskhod 4 - 20-days single-crewed mission to study long-term weightlessness with artificial gravity, medical, military and other experiments http://www.astronautix.com/flights/voskhod4.htm
- Voskhod 5 - 10-days all-female two-crewed mission with medical and other experiments and first female EVA-spacewalk http://www.astronautix.com/flights/voskhod5.htm
- Voskhod 6 - 15-days two-crewed mission with military and other experiments and multiple spacewalks to test new EVA jet belt http://www.astronautix.com/flights/voskhod6.htm
Results
While the Vostok programme was dedicated more towards understanding the effects of space travel and microgravity on the human body, Voskhod's two flights were more aimed towards spectacular "firsts". Although achieving the first EVAExtra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
("spacewalk") became the main success of the programme, beating the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Project Gemini
Project Gemini
Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, with ten manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966....
to put the first multi-person crew in orbit was the objective that initially motivated the programme. Once both goals were realised, the programme was abandoned. This followed the change in Soviet leadership, which was less concerned about stunt and prestige flights, and allowed the Soviet designers to concentrate on the Soyuz programme
Soyuz programme
The Soyuz programme is a human spaceflight programme that was initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon...
.