Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
Founder: Joseph Barone
Contributors: crookedindifference, bumerangue, propagandery, rocketmagic, rostenbach
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
A group portrait of cosmonauts involved with the Interkosmos program from the first mission, Soyuz 28 (1978) to Soyuz T-11 (1984).
Top: Sigmund Jähn (East Germany), Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Georgi Ivanov (Bulgaria), Yuri Malyshev, Rakesh Sharma (India), Bertalan Farkas (Hungary), Leonid Popov, Boris Volynov and Valery Bykovsky. Bottom: Pham Tuân (Vietnam), Viktor Gorbatko, Vladimír Remek (Czechoslovakia), Alexei Gubarev, Dumitru Prunariu (Romania), Pyotr Klimuk, Alexei Leonov, Mirosław Hermaszewski (Poland), Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (Cuba), Anatoly Berezovoy.
(Source)
The space age was ushered in 55 years ago today (4 October 1957) with the launch of the satellite Sputnik-1. My favourite quote on Sputnik:
“Nobody back then was thinking about the magnitude of what was going on: everyone did his own job, living through its disappointments and joys.” -Oleg Ivanovsky, deputy designer for Sputnik
(Source)
First Look: Venus
Date: 22 Oct 1975
The Soviet Union’s Venera 9 lander snapped this photo of Venus during its 53-minute mission on the planet’s hellish surface. It is one of the first photos sent back from the surface of another planet.
The image is of the surface of Venus at about 32 S, 291 E. The lander touched down at 5:13 UT( with the sun near zenith) on 22 October 1975 and operated for 53 minutes, allowing return of this single image.
The white object at the bottom of the image is part of the lander. The distortion is caused by the Venera imaging system. Angular and partly weathered rocks, about 30 to 40 cm across, dominate the landscape, many partly buried in soil. The horizon is visible in the upper left and right corners.
Source: Solar System NASA.
Inside a russian rocketry plant. Photos: Lana Sator.
i am hyperventillating
The early years of the soviet space program on matchbox 7/16: The first artificial satellite. Soviet matchbox cover, c1970.
Historic soviet satellites gallery
Soviet space gear looked different to NASA space gear.
Above, Sputnik 1.
First launch of soviet Buran 1.01 spacecraft. November 15th, 1988 at 3:00 UTC, Baikonur Cosmodrome (Space Center), Launch Complex 37 left (110L), Site 110. It was lifted into orbit by Energia rocket. Full automated unmanned flight. Buran orbited the Earth twice in 206 minutes of flight. It was first and the only one flight of Energia-Buran program.
“Soviet nation, the pioneer of the cosmos! Glory!”
Motherland! In the race for the stars, you are the first which burns above the earth. Glory to science, glory to work ! Glory to the Soviet regime!
Source: Roscosmos Facebook page.
A plausible theory into the mysterious plane crash that killed renowned Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin has been put forward in a limited edition book by fellow-cosmonaut Alexander Kovalyov, who was with Gagarin shortly before the fated plane took off.Gagarin died on March 27, 1968, a little under seven years after becoming the first human to fly to space and orbit Earth. His death came during what should have been a routine practice flight in a MiG-15UTI fighter plane, which crashed near the town of Kirzhach, about 100 kilometers outside Moscow.
Kovalyov said the last report received from Gagarin’s plane was that the drill had been completed above the cloud level, at a height of four kilometers.The cosmonaut explains that Gagarin and flight commander Vladimir Seryogin were under pressure to complete the maneuver in good time because another pilot was scheduled to use the plane after them. They therefore chose to undertake a dive to take them down to the cloud level.
On coming out of the dive, Gagarin and Seryogin hung in the air for a couple of seconds and unexpectedly dropped into the layer of clouds, causing the plane to spiral out of control, Kovalyov said.According to official data, Gagarin’s plane fell from the clouds to the ground almost vertically at a speed of around 700 kilometers an hour.
Keep reading on Roscosmos Facebook page.
Roscosmos has received new unknown photos of Yury Gagarin for the web’s section which publishes materials devoted to Yury Gagarin himself, or anything linked with the birth of the human space exploration era.The photos were sent from a small town of Bernau, not far from Berlin, with a letter signed Andreas Veize.The photos were made by his father (who has passed away) during the visit of Gagarin and Tereshkova to Germany in 1963.
Source: Roscosmos Facebook page.
![In this image Yuri Gagarin, pilot of the Vostok 1, is on the bus on the way to the launch. The cosmonaut behind Gagarin is German Titov, the back-up pilot whobecame pilot of Vostok 2.”Triumphant music blared across the land. Russia’s radios saluted the morning with the slow, stirring beat of the patriotic song, ‘How Spacious Is My Country.’ Then came the simple announcement that shattered forever man’s ancient isolation on earth: ‘The world’s first spaceship, Vostok [East], with a man on board, has been launched on April 12 in the Soviet Union on a round-the-world orbit.’ wrote TIME magazine in their cover story of the event.”
After the historical flight that lasted 108 minutes, he was no longer Senior Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin; he was Yuri Gagarin, hero and icon. During the flight, he was not allowed to operate the controls because the effects of weightlessness had only been tested on dogs so far. The mission was instead controlled by ground crews, and an override key was provided in case of emergency.
Because of his popularity, the government would not allow him another trip into space. It was too dangerous and they did not want to lose their icon. Frustrated, Yuri went back to training in the MiGs. On March 27, 1968, Gagarin and his instructor, Vladimir Seryogin, took off in a MiG-15 fighter plane under poor weather conditions, which crash landed. He was just 34.
Image Credit: NASA/Roscosmos & Public domain
Source: Roscosmos Facebook page.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljeu1oVpnf1qzvby8o1_500.jpg)
In this image Yuri Gagarin, pilot of the Vostok 1, is on the bus on the way to the launch. The cosmonaut behind Gagarin is German Titov, the back-up pilot whobecame pilot of Vostok 2.”Triumphant music blared across the land. Russia’s radios saluted the morning with the slow, stirring beat of the patriotic song, ‘How Spacious Is My Country.’ Then came the simple announcement that shattered forever man’s ancient isolation on earth: ‘The world’s first spaceship, Vostok [East], with a man on board, has been launched on April 12 in the Soviet Union on a round-the-world orbit.’ wrote TIME magazine in their cover story of the event.”
After the historical flight that lasted 108 minutes, he was no longer Senior Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin; he was Yuri Gagarin, hero and icon. During the flight, he was not allowed to operate the controls because the effects of weightlessness had only been tested on dogs so far. The mission was instead controlled by ground crews, and an override key was provided in case of emergency.
Because of his popularity, the government would not allow him another trip into space. It was too dangerous and they did not want to lose their icon. Frustrated, Yuri went back to training in the MiGs. On March 27, 1968, Gagarin and his instructor, Vladimir Seryogin, took off in a MiG-15 fighter plane under poor weather conditions, which crash landed. He was just 34.
Image Credit: NASA/Roscosmos & Public domain
Source: Roscosmos Facebook page.
London statue to celebrate Gagarin
A statue is to be erected in London to mark the achievements of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.
The zinc-alloy figure will sit just off The Mall, next to Admiralty Arch.
Gagarin made history on 12 April 1961 when he circled the Earth in 108 minutes in his Vostok capsule.
He subsequently went on a world tour, which included the UK.
Admiralty Arch was where he met the then Prime Minister Harold MacMillan.
It is also very near to a statue that celebrates one of Britain’s greatest explorers and circumnavigator of the globe - Captain James Cook.
The 3.5m (12ft) statue is a gift from the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) to the British Council, the organisation which represents the UK culturally abroad.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968), Hero of the Soviet Union, was a Soviet cosmonaut. On 12 April 1961, he became the first human in outer space and the first to orbit the Earth. He received medals from around the world for his pioneering tour in space.
Credit photo S.P. Korolev Rocket And Space Corporation ” ENERGIA”.
Source: Roscosmos Facebook page.
