User talk:68.60.68.203/space/soviet

SPUTNIK ERA - US VIEW

Development-ruskie 1st Mescherskii and Tsiolkovskii 19th century, Tsiolkovskii father of astronautics- Gov sponsored program - Germany 1930 Russia 1934 US 1942

Evolution from military

Cosmic Rays Sputnik III

SOVIET INTEREST IN SPACE FLIGHT began at the end of the 19th century with the works of I. V. Meshcherskii on the dynamics of bodies of variable mass and the publications of K. E. Tsiolkovskii on principles of rocket flight.

rocket developments in the Soviet Union were discussed freely until 1935

prewar testing Glushko, F. A. Tsander ORM (experimental rocket engine) series- Dushkin/ M. K. Tikhonravov -altitude of 6 miles in 1935--rocket plane Dushkin/S. P. Korolev 1940

1934, a Government-sponsored rocket-research program-only 5 years after Germany had embarked on its rocket program but 8 years before similar systematic Army-sponsored research began in the United States.

After World War II, the Russians exploited German rocket powerplants and guidance and control equipment-increased the thrust of the V-2 rocket engine from 55,000 to 77,000 pounds...developed a super-rocket engine with a thrust of 265,000 pounds.

more than an extension of previous German work; to all indications it is based on independent thinking and research.

1949 upper atmosphere research-rocket program May 1949) attained an altitude of 68 miles with an instrument payload of 264 to 286 pounds

official Soviet space-flight program

early acceptance of the science of space flight by the Soviet hierarchy

U. S. S. R. Academy of Sciences

Sixth International Astronautical Congress sponsored by the International Astronautical Federation convened in Copenhagen, Demark-Academician L. I. Sedov, Chairman of the U. S. S. R. Academy of Sciences Interdepartmental Commission on Interplanetary Communications-August 2 1955

February 1956, the Russians held a conference at Leningrad State University to discuss problems of the physics of the Moon and the planets

Conference on Rockets and Satellites, held on September 11, 1956 The U. S. S. R. intends to launch a satellite

September 26, TASS report These satellites will revolve around the Earth, making a complete revolution in less than one hour and a half. They will be relatively small, approximately the size of a soccer ball.

close to the vest

1956 the U. S. S. R. Academy of Sciences apply for membership in the International Astronautical Federation

December 1956, delegation of 13 scientists attended the First International Congress on Rockets and Guided Missiles in Paris There the Russians presented two papers which revealed the prodigality of their rocket-test program: In the Soviet experimental technique, the measuring instruments are not carried in the rocket itself but in automatically jettisoned containers, the results being recorded on film and the containers recovered by parachute.  The papers were entitled "Study of the Upper Atmosphere by Means of Rockets at the U. S. S. R. Academy of Sciences, ' by S. M. Poloskov and B. A. Mirtov, and "Study of the Vital Activity of Animals During Rocket Flights Into the Upper Atmosphere," by A. V. Pokrovskii, director of the U. S. S. R. Institute of Experimental Aeromedicine.

The paper by Poloskov and Mirtov describes an instrument container, 6.5 feet long and 15.75 inches in diameter, used for upper-atmosphere research.

Pokrovskii's paper describes a catapultable chassis used in studying the behavior of dogs during round-trip flights to altitudes of 68 miles. The dog is secured in a hermetically sealed space suit with a removable plastic helmet and is provided with a 2-hour supply of oxygen. The chassis is equipped with radio transmitter, oscillograph, thermometers, sphygmometer, camera, and parachute. Two such chassis are fitted in the rocket nose section, which separates from the body of the rocket at the apex of the trajectory. One chassis separates from the nose section at a height of 50 to 56 miles and parachutes to the ground from a height of 46 to 53 miles. The other chassis separates at a height of 28 to 31 miles and falls freely to a height of 2 to 2.5 miles before parachuting to the ground.
 * Probably the most comprehensive review was given by Academician Blagonravov himself in an article entitled reinvestigation of the Upper Layers of the Atmosphere by Means of High-Altitude Rockets," which appeared in Vestnik Akademii Nauk S. S. S. R. in June 1957. Besides mentioning by name the key personnel in the program, Blagonravov stated that cosmic-ray investigations by means of rockets were initiated in the Soviet Union in 1947, that atmospheric composition studies to altitudes of 60 miles began in 1949, and that systematic studies of the atmosphere-including the use of dogs-were conducted from 1951 to 1956.

British Society of Happy Dogs Tass dispatch Moscow, June 18, 1957

On June 1, 1957, Pravda quoted Nesmeyanov:soon, literally within the next months, our planet Earth will acquire another satellite ... The technical difficulties that stood in the way of the solution of this grandiose task have been overcome by our scientists. The apparatus by means of which this extremely bold experiment can be realized has already been created

Ignoring the Russians

page 1 in the astronomical journals Astronomicheskii Tsirkulyar, May 18, 1957, and Astronomicheskii Zhurnal, May-June, 1957

Two articles appeared in the June 1957, issue of the Russian amateur-radio magazine, Radio "Artificial Earth Satellite - Information for Radio Amateurs," gave a fairly comprehensive description not only of a satellite's orbit and how the subsequent appearances of a satellite can be predicted, but also of the satellite's radio transmitters, how the 20- and 40-megacycle frequency signals are to be used, and what information about the upper atmosphere can be derived from them.  "Artificial Earth Satellite - Information for Radio Amateurs," by V. Vakhnin, and "Observations of the Radio Signals From the Artificial Earth Satellite and Their Scientific Importance," by A. Kazantsev, gave a fairly comprehensive description not only of a satellite's orbit and how the subsequent appearances of a satellite can be predicted, but also of the satellite's radio transmitters, how the 20- and 40-megacycle frequency signals are to be used, and what information about the upper atmosphere can be derived from them.1

The July and August issues of Radio carried articles on how to build a recommended short-wave-radio receiver and a direction- finding attachment for tracking the Soviet sputniks. Moreover, to inform the Russian radio amateurs about developments in the United States, the July issue of the magazine carried an article based on material taken from the American amateur-radio magazine QST describing the Minitrack II system which would permit radio amateurs to track American satellites with comparatively inexpensive equipment. This item was followed immediately by a notice in bold-face type to Soviet radio amateurs to make preparations for tracking the Russian scientific earth satellites and contained detailed instructions on how to submit data on the signals received and recorded to Moskva-Sputnik for reduction and analysis by the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the U. S. S. R. Academy of Sciences.
 * 1) Radio is an organ of the U. S. S. R. Ministry of Communication and of DOSAAF (the All-Union Volunteer Society for the Promotion of the Army, Aviation, and Navy) and corresponds to the American amateur-radio magazine, QST, published by the American Radio Relay League.

August 27, 1957, TASS report in Pravda

successful tests of an intercontinental ballistic rocket and also explosions of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons have been carried out in conformity with the plan of scientific research work in the U. S. S. R. 

September 17,1957, the 100th anniversary of the birth of E. E. Tsiolkovskii, the founder of the science of astronautics. in Kaluga, a small town approximately 100 miles southwest of Moscow, where Tsiolkovskii had spent the greater part of his life. the Soviets erect a monument depicting Tsiolkovskii in flowing cape, looking into the sky, and standing on a pedestal in front of a long slender rocket poised in a vertical takeoff position.

October 4,1957, Sputnik I was established in its orbit