Soyuz 1 Totally Explained

Everything about Soyuz 1 totally explained

Soyuz 1 (Russian Союз 1, Union 1) was part of the Soviet Union's space program and was launched into orbit on April 23, 1967, carrying a single cosmonaut, Colonel Vladimir Komarov, who was killed when the spacecraft crashed during its return to Earth. This was the first in-flight fatality in the history of spaceflight. Launched at 03:35 local time, this was also the first night launch of a human space vehicle.

Crew

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.

Vladimir Komarov (2)

Backup crew

Yuri Gagarin

Mission highlights

Mission planners originally intended to launch a second Soyuz spacecraft into orbit on the next day carrying three cosmonauts - Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky, Yevgeny Vassilyevich Khrunov, and Aleksei Stanislavovich Yeliseyev - and two of those were scheduled to do an EVA over to Soyuz 1.
   Problems began shortly after launch when one solar panel on Soyuz 1 failed to unfold, leading to a shortage of power for the spacecraft's systems. Further problems with the orientation detectors complicated maneuvering the craft. By orbit 13, the automatic stabilization system was completely dead, and the manual system was only partially effective. By this time, the crew of the second Soyuz had modified their mission goals, preparing themselves for a launch that would include fixing the solar panel of Soyuz 1. Heavy rain at Baikonur is reported to have made the launch impossible. It is believed that, in reality, Soyuz 2 never launched because of the severity of problems with Soyuz 1 in orbit.
   As a result of Komarov's orbit 13 report, the flight control director decided to abort the mission and ordered a re-entry attempt. Valentina, Komarov's wife and mother of their two children, was brought in and seated at a private console for a few moments. Vladimir Komarov, who was ill from the violent motions of his ship, remained calm and was able to say good-bye.
   After 18 orbits, Soyuz 1 fired retro-rockets and was deorbited as soon as it passed above the USSR again, although the pilot had little control. Despite all of the technical difficulties up to that point, Komarov might still have landed safely. However, the main parachute didn't unfold due to a faulty pressure sensor which hadn't been detected during manufacture. Komarov tried to activate the manually deployed reserve chute, but it became tangled with the drogue chute, which deployed but didn't release. As a result, it fell to Earth (in Orenburg Oblast of Russia) nearly unbraked, at about 40 meters per second (145 km/h). Large retro-rockets should have fired to further slow the descent. Instead, at impact, there was an explosion and an intense fire that surrounded the capsule. Local farmers rushed to try to put it out. However, Komarov had already died on impact.
   According to some (very speculative) reports, Komarov cursed the engineers and flight staff as he descended. An inspection of the second Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz 2, showed the same problem with the parachute, which might have doomed all four cosmonauts if the launch had proceeded. The original mission of Soyuz 1 and 2 was later carried out by Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5.
   Komarov was given a state funeral, and his ashes were inurned in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis at Red Square, Moscow. Some reports suggest that flight controllers told him before his re-entry attempt that he'd receive that honour.

Legacy of technical difficulties

Unlike other manned spacecraft of the time, the Soyuz craft had never been successfully flown on an unmanned testflight - all the previous flights had encountered some problem. Yuri Gagarin was the backup pilot for Soyuz 1, and was aware of the design problems and the pressures from the Politburo to proceed with the flight. He attempted to "bump" Komarov from the mission, knowing that the Soviet leadership wouldn't risk a national hero on the flight.
Prior to launch, Soyuz 1 engineers are said to have reported 200 design faults to party leaders, but their concerns "were overruled by political pressures for a series of space feats to mark the anniversary of Lenin's birthday." It isn't clear how much of this pressure resulted from the need to continue beating the United States in the Space Race and have Soviets first on the Moon, or to take advantage of the recent setbacks in the U.S. space program with the Apollo 1 disaster. The Soyuz 1 tragedy delayed the launch of Soyuz 2 and Soyuz 3 until October 25, 1968. This eighteen-month gap, plus the explosion of an unmanned N-1 booster on July 3, 1969 scuttled Soviet plans of landing a cosmonaut on the Moon.
A much improved Soyuz program emerged from this eighteen month delay, mirroring, in many ways, the improvements made in Project Apollo after the Apollo 1 tragedy. Although it failed to reach the Moon, Soyuz would go on to be repurposed from the centerpiece of a lunar program to the centerpiece of a space station program.

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