MaxwellsDemon

Korolev sounds like he could be difficult to get along with at times, but largely that was because he was a very driven man. Kamanin, who seems to have been frequently at odds with him (principally over cosmonaut training and crewing issues) nevertheless almost instantly regretted Sergei Pavlovich's death, and Chertok (who was generally on much better terms with him) definitely mourns his loss. It seems to me that the triple-whammy of the loss of Korolev, Komarov, and Gagarin within less than two years really tore the heart out of the 60's Soviet space program. (I'm imagining if perhaps the U.S. lost von Braun, Shepard, and Glenn in similar ways during the time period of the Gemini program that it might have thrown a serious stumbling block in NASA's way, even with all the advantages the US clearly had in terms of resources and organization.) I read that von Braun, asked shortly before he died if he had any regrets, said that he regretted never having met Korolev.

By the way, the best ones on that list from a Kerbal standpoint are the Haynes Manuals ('Soyuz' and 'Rocket') and Furniss's 'History of Space Vehicles.' Lots of inspiration for Kerbal designs in those! From a reading point of view, it's one of the older titles on the list, but exceedingly well-written: Oberg's Red Star in Orbit. I can't recommend it enough; I finished it and started it right over again... Harford's Korolev is also quite excellent. Both Oberg and Harford are top-notch researchers and top-notch writers to boot. (Not to knock other authors on the list, but those two clearly stand out for me.)

Absolutely... and if you run across any others, I'd be happy to hear about them. And yup, Lego "Classic Space" Space Cruiser! I had two of them, plus most of the rest of the early space sets...

On 2/2/2018 at 10:05 AM, MaxwellsDemon said: Updated list below: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/166794-sovietrussian-spaceflight-bibliography-english/&do=findComment&comment=3227069 Capsule reviews at: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/166794-sovietrussian-spaceflight-bibliography-english/&do=findComment&comment=3325332

Reminds me of a funny moment in Boris Chertok's memoirs of the Soviet space program... when Luna 3 (Hail the probe!) sent back the first photos of the far side of the moon, the early ones didn't come through very clearly. When asked what the results were, Chertok responded, "We have determined that the moon is round." (Chertok frequently seems to have been a wise guy, which is one of the things that make his memoirs enjoyable.)

Wondering if it could be more detail about the water geysers on Europa.

This. I don't apply any formal limits, other than what all I personally can keep track of, which tends to keep it to 5-7 missions at a time at most. But if I launch a probe to Jool or somewhere, I (and my Kerbals) definitely am going to be doing something in the meantime other than sit and watch it coast.

Hm. Just noticed that the table lists 1KP as launching before it was ordered... the "order dates" I'm using are those of the decrees (usually issued by the VPK, the Military-Industrial Commission)... obviously that one is retrospective. Still a work in progress...

Well, assuming case #3 from above... here's what I've got so far. Hope this formats sensibly. Spaceframe Ordered Launch Landing Mission Notes Vostok 1KP 4-Jun-60 15-May-60 -- Korabl-Sputnik 1 / Sputnik 4 Unmanned orbital test (reentered 5-Sep-62 or 15-Oct-65) Vostok 1KP-2 4-Jun-60 -- -- -- (Not built.) Vostok 1K-3 4-Jun-60 28-Jul-60 -- Korabl-Sputnik 2-1 Failed to reach orbit, dogs "Chayka" and "Lisichka" not recovered. Unreported and missed by Western analysts. Vostok 1K-4 4-Jun-60 19-Aug-60 19-Aug-60 Korabl-Sputnik 2 / Sputnik 5 Orbital test, dogs "Strelka" and "Belka" safely recovered. Vostok 1K-5 4-Jun-60 1-Dec-60 -- Korabl-Sputnik 3 / Sputnik 6 Self-destruct on reentry, dogs "Pchelka" and "Mushka" lost. Vostok 1K-6 4-Jun-60 22-Dec-60 -- Korabl-Sputnik 4-1 AKA 4A Failed to reach orbit; dogs "Kometa" and "Shutka" recovered. Vostok 3KA-1 4-Jun-60 9-Mar-61 9-Mar-61 Korabl-Sputnik 4 / Sputnik 9 Orbital test, mannequin and dog "Chernushka" recovered. Vostok 3KA-2 4-Jun-60 25-Mar-61 25-Mar-61 Korabl-Sputnik 5 / Sputnik 10 Orbital test, mannequin and dog "Zvezdochka" recovered. Vostok 3KA-3 4-Jun-60 12-Apr-61 12-Apr-61 Vostok 1 Orbital flight: 1 orbit. First manned spaceflight. Vostok 3KA-4 6-Aug-61 7-Aug-61 Vostok 2 Orbital flight: 17 orbits. Vostok 3KA-5 11-Aug-62 14-Aug-62 Vostok 3 Orbital flight: 64 orbits. Vostok 3KA-6 12-Aug-62 14-Aug-62 Vostok 4 Orbital flight: 48 orbits. Vostok 3KA-7 14-Jun-63 18-Jun-63 Vostok 5 Orbital flight: 81 orbits. Vostok 3KA-8 16-Jun-63 18-Jun-63 Vostok 6 Orbital flight: 48 orbits. Vostok 3KA-9 Spring-63 (Winter-63) -- (Vostok 7) Flight cancelled. Spaceframe converted to Voskhod 3KV-2. Vostok 3KA-10 Spring-63 -- -- -- Spaceframe converted to Voskhod 3KV-3. Vostok 3KA-11 Spring-63 -- -- -- Spaceframe converted to Voskhod (Vykhod) 3KD-1. Vostok 3KA-12 Spring-63 -- -- -- Spaceframe converted to Voskhod (Vykhod) 3KD-4. Vostok "Voskhod" 3KV-2 4-Feb-64 6-Oct-64 7-Oct-64 Kosmos 47 Unmanned Voskhod test, spacecraft recovered. Vostok "Voskhod" 3KV-3 4-Feb-64 12-Oct-64 13-Oct-64 Voskhod 1 Orbital flight: 17 orbits. Vostok "Vykhod" 3KD-1 4-Feb-64 22-Feb-65 -- Kosmos 57 Unmanned Voskhod + airlock test. Entered wrong orbit and self-destructed. Vostok "Vykhod" 3KD-4 4-Feb-64 18-Mar-65 19-Mar-65 Voskhod 2 Orbital flight: 18 orbits + EVA. Vostok "Voskhod" 3KV-5 13-Apr-64 22-Feb-66 15-Mar-66 Kosmos 110 Endurance mission, dogs "Veterok" and "Ugolek" recovered. Vostok "Voskhod" 3KV-6 13-Apr-64 (20-Mar-66) (12-Apr-66) (Voskhod 3) Postponed to late April, then May 22, then July, then cancelled sometime after October. Vostok "Voskhod" 3KV-7 13-Apr-64 -- -- (Voskhod 4) Construction not completed. Vostok "Vykhod" 3KD-8 13-Apr-64 -- -- (Voskhod 5) (Not built.) Vostok "Vykhod" 3KD-9 13-Apr-64 -- -- (Voskhod 6) (Not built.)

Fiddling around with Russian spacecraft history... was trying to come up with a list of all known Vostok (non-Zenit) spaceframes and what happened to them. I'm coming up with two missing. To summarize: Firstly, there were two 1KP originally authorized, but Korolev elected not to build the second of these. 1KP(-1) was launched as Korabl-Sputnik 1 on 15 May 1960. There were either four or six 1K craft authorized before moving on to the 3KA version (the man-rated Vostok). 1K-1, carrying dogs Lisichka and Chayka was lost in a launch failure on 28 Jul 1960. 1K-2, carrying dogs Strelka and Belka, flew as Korabl-Sputnik 2 on 20 Aug 1960. 1K-5, carrying dogs Pchelka and Mushka, was launched 1 Dec 1960 and announced as Korabl-Sputnik 3, but was lost upon reentry. 1K-6, carrying dogs Kometka and Shutka, failed to orbit on 22 Dec 1960 (the dogs survived). Korabl-Sputniks 4 and 5, each carrying a mannequin and a dog (Chernushka and Zvezdochka, respectively) followed in early 1961, but these were Vostok 3KA craft. In Chertok's memoirs, Volume 3, he clearly identifies the third and fourth 1K canine flights (1 Dec 60 and 22 Dec 60) as craft numbers 5 and 6. So what happened to spaceframes 1K-3 and 1K-4? If there were unreported launch failures in the September-October 1960 timeframe, that would be right for these two craft (I presume there's not time after the Nedelin disaster that temporarily halted operations, and that the next launch after that was 1K-5), but I haven't seen anything to indicate two failed launches from Baikonur in that timeframe. I see this as leaving three possibilities: 1) There are two unreported launch failures between August and December 1960 that are unaccounted for; or 2) The 1K-3 and 1K-4 craft were Zenit photoreconnaissance precursors and therefore "deeply" buried. (They may not in fact have been launched, if there were technical difficulties, but they still may have been in the Zenit line of development.) or 3) Chertok's numbers "5 and 6" include the two 1KPs (including the never-built one) in the count. Any other possibilities?

Losing a pet is a lot harder than many people realize. I think it's because there's often a special bond between the pet and the human-- one that people without pets don't really experience. It's been a year since we lost our "little old lady dog" and I still get sniffly about it at times. I wish you peace and comfort.

There is this at the good ol' Encyclopedia Astronautica: http://www.astronautix.com/k/kamanindiaries.html Pretty extensive summary, though not an actual translation.

So far, I've only found four articles by Bart Hendrickx from the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society summarizing (albeit at some length) the Kamanin diaries. Did he publish a full translation as well?

:: grumble :: It's annoying that "Red Star in Orbit: The Russian Right Stuff" doesn't seem to be available anywhere for purchase. Parts 2 and 3 are on Youtube, but you also have to be careful to avoid a version of Part 2 that's been altered by wingnuts. I bought the DVD of "The Red Stuff" (including "Starman," the Gagarin bio) and it's pretty good, but I think "Red Star in Orbit" was much better-- the two parts I've seen, anyway. Episode 3 in particular follows Soyuz TM-9 (Mir EO-6) from training through their mission and recovery back on Earth, and is a great profile of a space flight in the heyday of Mir (Kvant 2 having been recently added and Kristall being added during their mission). Episode 1: ? Episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y31EeHap44g Episode 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29xi4QFeZ04 (links current as of 9/24/17) (Despite the title and despite James Oberg's popping up in it in a couple of places, the series is not just a filming of his book of the same name.)

Finished volume 4... Chertok wraps up with some interesting observations on the current state of affairs, demonstrating that he was still very mentally sharp right up to the end of his days. His description of the movie "Taming of the Fire," fictionalizing the early Soviet space program, was very interesting; unfortunately, if there's an English-dubbed or -subtitled version anywhere, I haven't yet been able to find it. And we'll never know if the next N1 would have successfully flown or not. All in all, a good read, and a vitally important memoir for the understanding of the Soviet space program from the beginning through the mid 1970s.

Beginning volume 4. Volume 3 was a more difficult read than volumes 1 or 2. For one thing, it's longer (the longest of the four), but also it's not as chronologically organized-- there are extended chapter-length digressions on particular topics, which, interesting and useful as many of them are, tend to break up the narrative flow. It's also a rather depressing read at times due to the actual events (i.e., the deaths of Korelev, Komarov, and Gagarin). Still, I value the chance to read Chertok's story of his experiences.

Excerpt (full story at http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20170907 ) Tombaugh Regio honors Clyde Tombaugh (1906–1997), the U.S. astronomer who discovered Pluto in 1930 from Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Burney crater honors Venetia Burney (1918-2009), who as an 11-year-old schoolgirl suggested the name "Pluto" for Clyde Tombaugh's newly discovered planet. Later in life she taught mathematics and economics. Sputnik Planitia is a large plain named for Sputnik 1, the first space satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957. Tenzing Montes and Hillary Montes are mountain ranges honoring Tenzing Norgay (1914–1986) and Sir Edmund Hillary (1919–2008), the Indian/Nepali Sherpa and New Zealand mountaineer were the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest and return safely. Al-Idrisi Montes honors Ash-Sharif al-Idrisi (1100–1165/66), a noted Arab mapmaker and geographer whose landmark work of medieval geography is sometimes translated as "The Pleasure of Him Who Longs to Cross the Horizons." Djanggawul Fossae defines a network of long, narrow depressions named for the Djanggawuls, three ancestral beings in indigenous Australian mythology who traveled between the island of the dead and Australia, creating the landscape and filling it with vegetation. Sleipnir Fossa is named for the powerful, eight-legged horse of Norse mythology that carried the god Odin into the underworld. Virgil Fossae honors Virgil, one of the greatest Roman poets and Dante's fictional guide through hell and purgatory in the Divine Comedy. Adlivun Cavus is a deep depression named for Adlivun, the underworld in Inuit mythology. Hayabusa Terra is a large land mass saluting the Japanese spacecraft and mission (2003-2010) that performed the first asteroid sample return. Voyager Terra honors the pair of NASA spacecraft, launched in 1977, that performed the first "grand tour" of all four giant planets. The Voyager spacecraft are now probing the boundary between the Sun and interstellar space. Tartarus Dorsa is a ridge named for Tartarus, the deepest, darkest pit of the underworld in Greek mythology. Elliot crater recognizes James Elliot (1943-2011), an MIT researcher who pioneered the use of stellar occultations to study the solar system – leading to discoveries such as the rings of Uranus and the first detection of Pluto's thin atmosphere.

In the Soviet/Russian program, they tended to try to keep crews together, too-- even sometimes bumping an entire crew if one member was unready for flight for some reason (e.g., sick). That's what happened with Soyuz 11, in a notable instance-- the three cosmonauts that flew to Salyut were the backup team. It wasn't a written-in-stone rule, though, just an intention.

My personal library on the topic (thus far): Baker, David. Soyuz Owners' Workshop Manual: 1967 Onwards (All Models) : an Insight into Russia's Flagship Spacecraft from Moon Missions to the International Space Station. 2014. Chertok, Boris Ye. (Siddiqi, Asif. ed.) Rockets and People. (4 vols.) Washington, D.C.: NASA, 2005. Clark, Phillip. The Soviet Manned Space Programme: An Illustrated History of the Men, the Missions, and the Spacecraft. London: Salamander, 1988. Harford, James J. Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon. New York: Wiley, 1997. Johnson, Nicholas L. Handbook of Soviet Manned Space Flight. San Diego, Calif: Univelt, 1988. Johnson, Nicholas L. The Soviet Reach for the Moon: The L-1 and L-3 Manned Lunar Programs and the Story of the N-1 "Moon Rocket". [Washington, D.C.]: Cosmos Books, 1995. Matson, Wayne R. Cosmonautics, A Colorful History. Cosmos Books, 1994. Newkirk, Dennis. Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight. Houston: Gulf Publishing, 1990. Oberg, James Edward. Red Star in Orbit. New York: Random House, 1981. Portree, David S. F. Mir Hardware Heritage. [Washington, DC]: [National Aeronautics and Space Administration], 1995. Siddiqi, Asif A. Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge. Gainesville, Fla: University Press of Florida, 2003. Siddiqi, Asif A. The Soviet Space Race with Apollo. Gainesville, Fla: University Press of Florida, 2003. Zak, Anatoly. Russia in Space: The Past Explained, the Future Explored. 2014. Closely related/relevant: Baker, David. Rocket, 1942 Onwards: An Insight into the Development and Technology of Space Rockets and Satellite Launchers. 2015. Ezell, Edward Clinton, and Linda Neuman Ezell. The Partnership: A NASA History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Newburyport: Dover Publications, 2013. Furniss, Tim. The History of Space Vehicles. San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press, 2001. Launius, Roger D., and Andrew K. Johnston. Smithsonian Atlas of Space Exploration. Piermont, N.H.: Bunker Hill, 2009. Now maintaining this list at https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/166794-sovietrussian-spaceflight-bibliography-english/

Indeed. Into Volume 3! Poyekhali! ETA: I'm becoming a real fan of the Soviet/Russian space program. There's a story that an American general, when hearing about early Soviet space achievements, declared, "We got the wrong Germans!" Whereas in reality, it was because they didn't have the right Russians, as it were... if the Soviet Union had followed America's course, their rockets would have been designed by Göttrup's people instead of Korolëv's. The supreme irony of the 60's "space race" is that the U.S. "won" it by creating a government agency (NASA) with complete control over astronautics, whereas in Russia, destructive competition between companies (design bureaus) wrecked most of the good chances they had. (Just don't dare call what the US did "socialistic"-- horrors!)

Beginning Volume 2. Very detailed, still good and very interesting, though he mentions so many other people I'm grateful for Asif Siddiqi's footnotes helping to identify them...

Just received a set of used hardcopies-- because my old eyes can't stand to read a .pdf for long, but the beginning material of the .pdf indicated I was almost certainly going to be interested in the contents. I'm only into his schoolboy days yet, but I can already tell I am going to like these books. I can't help but mentally compare him to my grandpa, who was born not quite two years earlier than Chertok, seems to have had very similar experiences and interests growing up (I still remember him telling me about a group of friends that gathered together to make and operate a crystal radio set, and how his own grandmother didn't believe in radio waves), though in Ohio rather than Russia.

Possible. More research is indicated. (dives back into books)

Hm. This New Ocean appears to indicate, contra the 'Field Guide,' that the boilerplate expended on MR-BD was the one from Little Joe 1B, rather than Little Joe 1A. Which still leaves one unaccounted for.

Yeah, I have to draw the line somewhere. I didn't want to try to start tracking nonflying test articles like trainers or wooden mockups, at least not for my present purposes!