The spaceship is perhaps the most significant invention in the history of mankind. This is a real scientific and technological breakthrough that allowed us to touch the secrets of the Universe and learn about the world beyond the borders of our home planet. Throughout its history, human civilization had to go a long and thorny path full of mistakes and failures, the crown of which was the overcoming of gravity and access to near-Earth space. The spaceship has become a symbol and apex of the technological genius of earthlings.
In addition, these aircraft are a kind of "vanity fair" of the most advanced and developed powers in the world. When creating any spacecraft, all the best achievements of mankind are used - the most progressive developments, technologies and materials. The on-board equipment of such devices is always the latest. Often a spaceship is a testing ground for the latest discoveries and inventions.
Not so long ago, during the Cold War, space exploration was an arena of fierce competition, intense rivalry and even military-political confrontation between the two world superpowers - the United States and the Soviet Union. And it is very symbolic that it was the Russian man who became the first conqueror of outer space hostile to man. The significance of this event for the general history of mankind cannot be overestimated.
In a very short time we are separated from the golden date that marked the beginning of a new era in the development of mankind - on April 12, 1961, when the legendary spaceship Vostok, piloted by Yuri Gagarin, stormed near-Earth space. And although since then, dozens of manned vehicles have been in space, but it was the first flight that became the harbinger of a new era of mankind.
A modern spaceship is a device that is designed to deliver astronauts into outer space with their subsequent return back to Earth. Therefore, the technical requirements for spacecraft are much more stringent than for unmanned research vehicles. The main task of designers here is to create such flight conditions that will be safe for people.
The apparatus, which is to become the home of astronauts for several hours or days, must have perfect systems not only for navigation and control, but also for life support. All this was fully inherent in the "East", which launched into orbit a launch vehicle of the same name. The total prelaunch mass of the complex was 287 tons.
Structurally, this apparatus consisted of two modules - a descent capsule and an instrument compartment. The first had a spherical streamlined shape, which significantly reduced overload during the passage of dense layers of the atmosphere. The ship’s sealed hull was made of high-strength aluminum alloy. Inside the descent capsule, where the astronauts had to spend the entire flight, the designers placed only the most necessary life support and control systems. Everything else was in the instrument compartment. The internal volume of the descent module was 1.6 m 3 . There was also a thermoregulation system containing a liquid-air heat exchanger. "East" was the most advanced technique of its time. It concentrated all the advanced Soviet engineering and design ideas and used a lot of secret developments.
The Soyuz spacecraft, which replaced the legendary Vostok and the first multi-seat vehicle, Voskhod, was even more technically advanced. In all respects, it significantly exceeded similar aircraft of the “probable adversary” (but actually quite specific).
On ships of this type for the first time such complicated technical operations as maneuvering in outer space, manual docking, testing the latest system of guided launches were carried out, the technology of exchanging astronauts between ships and many other equally complex events was first tested.
The Soyuz, which already numbered three autonomous modules — the instrument-aggregate compartment, the orbital part, and the traditional descent capsule — made a tremendous contribution to the exploration and conquest of space. With all the diversity and perfection of modern space technology, one should not forget that humanity is only at the beginning of a long journey to the stars.