Soyuz 2A
Encyclopedia
Soyuz 2A is the unofficial designation for a cancelled space flight of the Soyuz spacecraft
. It would have flown alongside the Soyuz 1
mission, except for a technical reasons the flight was cancelled, which resulted in saving the lives of the crew.
In the Soviet space program
it was usual only for successful launches to gain official designations, so this mission did not receive an official designation and is informally named Soyuz 2A to distinguish it from the official Soyuz 2
mission, which was launched in October 1968 as an unmanned docking target for Soyuz 3
.
flights the crew organization became under the control of several different departments, with on one side the director of cosmonaut training Nikolai Kamanin
and on the other Vasily Mishin
, director of the design engineering department OKB-1.
Since 1965 Kamanin had eight cosmonauts in training for Soyuz missions. Four had already been in space: Yuri Gagarin
, Andrian Nikolayev
, Valery Bykovsky, and Vladimir Komarov. Viktor Gorbatko
and Yevgeny Khrunov
had been with the program since 1960 but had not flown into space, while Anatoli Voronov and Pyotr Kolodin
also had no space experience and had been with the program since 1963.
Mishin decided to train suitable engineers in his own department as cosmonauts and then nominate them for Soyuz crews. In May 1966 Sergei Anokhin, Aleksei Yeliseyev
and Valeri Kubasov
, along with five additional engineers, where added to the group of cosmonauts.
A further candidate for mission commander was Georgi Beregovoi
, who became a cosmonaut in 1964 due to the promotion of Marshal Rudenko into the group of cosmonauts. Furthermore Beregovoi was an excellent text pilot, however, he was larger and heavier than the other cosmonauts and he also exceeded the maximum age.
The crew assignments were constantly changed. Poor organization also played a role, for in the case of Anokhin there was no spacesuit available for him.
In August 1966 it was decided that Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 2 would be commanded by Komarov and Bykovsky respectively, with Gagarin and Nikolayev as their backups. Two additional crew members would be selected from Anokhin, Yeliseyev, Khrunov and Gorbatko.
This decision was not final, however. The decision regarding the crew escalated to the Central Committee, and in November they issued a dispatch stating that Soyuz 1 should be flown by Komorov, with Gagarin as backup. Soyuz 2 should be commanded by Bykovsky with Nikolayev as backup. Therefore Beregovoi would not have a space flight until Soyuz 3. As for the two cosmonauts who would transfer after docking from Soyuz 2 to Soyuz 1, Khrunov and Yeliseyev where selected with Gorbatko and Kubasov as their backups. That meant three of the four spots were taken by experienced cosmonauts, while the fourth was taken by an engineer, and Khrunov had already served as a backup for Alexei Leonov during the Voskhod 2
mission.
Serious problems soon arose with Soyuz 1, however, particularly the failure of a solar panel to deploy, which caused the spacecraft's systems to become unstable. It was believed that the cosmonauts from Soyuz 2 could solve the Soyuz 1 solar panel problem via an EVA
. Ultimately, however, the Soyuz 2 launch could not proceed due to poor weather conditions at the launchpad, a situation which proved rather serendipitous for the latter crew as their spacecraft suffered from many of the same design defects as did Soyuz 1.
The Soyuz 1 mission was then aborted and Komarov was able to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. However both parachutes and the retro-rockets failed, and Komarov was killed on impact.
During the course of investigations regarding the accident, it was discovered that Soyuz 2 had the same errors with the parachutes as Soyuz 1. Had Soyuz 2 also been launched, Bykovsky, Khrunov and Yeliseyev would have been killed as well.
Khrunov and Yeliseyev eventually flew on Soyuz 5
, which along with Soyuz 4
, achieved the objectives of their Soyuz 2 flight in January 1969, while Bykovsky prepared for a manned moon flight, which the Soviets never accomplished.
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
. It would have flown alongside the Soyuz 1
Soyuz 1
Soyuz 1 was a manned spaceflight of the Soviet space program. Launched into orbit on April 23, 1967 carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov, Soyuz 1 was the first flight of the Soyuz spacecraft...
mission, except for a technical reasons the flight was cancelled, which resulted in saving the lives of the crew.
In the Soviet space program
Soviet space program
The Soviet space program is the rocketry and space exploration programs conducted by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1930s until its dissolution in 1991...
it was usual only for successful launches to gain official designations, so this mission did not receive an official designation and is informally named Soyuz 2A to distinguish it from the official Soyuz 2
Soyuz 2
Soyuz 2 was an unpiloted spacecraft in the Soyuz family intended to perform a docking maneuver with Soyuz 3. Although the two craft approached closely, the docking did not take place.-Other uses of name:...
mission, which was launched in October 1968 as an unmanned docking target for Soyuz 3
Soyuz 3
Soyuz 3 was a spaceflight mission launched by the Soviet Union on October 26, 1968. For four consecutive days, Commander Georgy Beregovoy piloted the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft through eighty-one orbits of Earth.-Crew:-Backup crew:...
.
Situation
Over two years had passed since the last manned Soviet space flight. To introduce the new Soyuz spacecraft, the Soviets planned an ambitious double mission, which would see the two spacecraft dock and exchange passengers. This was despite the failure of unmanned tests of the Soyuz spacecraft, which still contained flaws. Political pressure from the Soviet leadership meant the launch of Soyuz 1 went ahead in spite of these problems.Crew
As with the VoshkodVoskhod programme
The Voskhod programme was the second Soviet human spaceflight project. Two manned missions were flown using the Voskhod spacecraft and rocket, one in 1964 and one in 1965....
flights the crew organization became under the control of several different departments, with on one side the director of cosmonaut training Nikolai Kamanin
Nikolai Kamanin
Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin was a Soviet aviator, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1934 for the rescue of SS Chelyuskin crew from an improvised airfield on the frozen surface of the Chukchi Sea near Kolyuchin Island.In World War II he successfully commanded air brigade, air division...
and on the other Vasily Mishin
Vasily Mishin
Vasily Pavlovich Mishin was a Soviet engineer and a prominent rocketry pioneer....
, director of the design engineering department OKB-1.
Since 1965 Kamanin had eight cosmonauts in training for Soyuz missions. Four had already been in space: Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....
, Andrian Nikolayev
Andrian Nikolayev
Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev , was a Soviet cosmonaut. He was an ethnic Chuvash.- History :...
, Valery Bykovsky, and Vladimir Komarov. Viktor Gorbatko
Viktor Gorbatko
Viktor Vasilyevich Gorbatko was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 7, Soyuz 24, and Soyuz 37 missions.After leaving the space program in 1982 he taught at the Air Force Engineering Academy in Moscow.-References:...
and Yevgeny Khrunov
Yevgeny Khrunov
Yevgeni Vassilyevich Khrunov was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 5/Soyuz 4 mission.He was born in Prudy.Yevgeni Khrunov was a colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union and Kandidat of Technical Sciences ....
had been with the program since 1960 but had not flown into space, while Anatoli Voronov and Pyotr Kolodin
Pyotr Kolodin
Pyotr Ivanovich Kolodin is a former Soviet cosmonaut. Although he retired in 1983 without flying in space, Kolodin served non-flying assignments on several spaceflights.-Biography:...
also had no space experience and had been with the program since 1963.
Mishin decided to train suitable engineers in his own department as cosmonauts and then nominate them for Soyuz crews. In May 1966 Sergei Anokhin, Aleksei Yeliseyev
Aleksei Yeliseyev
Aleksei Stanislavovich Yeliseyev is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew on three missions in the Soyuz programme as a flight engineer: Soyuz 5, Soyuz 8, and Soyuz 10....
and Valeri Kubasov
Valeri Kubasov
Valeri Nikolayevich Kubasov was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on two missions in the Soyuz programme as a flight engineer: Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 19 , and commanded Soyuz 36 in the Intercosmos programme. On 21 July 1975, Soviet Soyuz module landed in Kazakhstan at-5:51pm and Valeriy Kubasov was the first...
, along with five additional engineers, where added to the group of cosmonauts.
A further candidate for mission commander was Georgi Beregovoi
Georgi Beregovoi
Georgy Timofeyevich Beregovoy was a Soviet cosmonaut who commanded the space mission Soyuz 3 in 1968. At the time of his flight, Beregovoy was 47 years of age: he was the oldest human to go into space , three months and three days older than the second earliest-born astronaut, American John...
, who became a cosmonaut in 1964 due to the promotion of Marshal Rudenko into the group of cosmonauts. Furthermore Beregovoi was an excellent text pilot, however, he was larger and heavier than the other cosmonauts and he also exceeded the maximum age.
The crew assignments were constantly changed. Poor organization also played a role, for in the case of Anokhin there was no spacesuit available for him.
In August 1966 it was decided that Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 2 would be commanded by Komarov and Bykovsky respectively, with Gagarin and Nikolayev as their backups. Two additional crew members would be selected from Anokhin, Yeliseyev, Khrunov and Gorbatko.
This decision was not final, however. The decision regarding the crew escalated to the Central Committee, and in November they issued a dispatch stating that Soyuz 1 should be flown by Komorov, with Gagarin as backup. Soyuz 2 should be commanded by Bykovsky with Nikolayev as backup. Therefore Beregovoi would not have a space flight until Soyuz 3. As for the two cosmonauts who would transfer after docking from Soyuz 2 to Soyuz 1, Khrunov and Yeliseyev where selected with Gorbatko and Kubasov as their backups. That meant three of the four spots were taken by experienced cosmonauts, while the fourth was taken by an engineer, and Khrunov had already served as a backup for Alexei Leonov during the Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2 was a Soviet manned space mission in March 1965. Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable airlock...
mission.
The misfortune of Soyuz 1
Soyuz 1, with Komarov on board, was launched on 23 April 1967. Soyuz 2 was to be launched the following day, with both spacecraft spending four days in orbit.Serious problems soon arose with Soyuz 1, however, particularly the failure of a solar panel to deploy, which caused the spacecraft's systems to become unstable. It was believed that the cosmonauts from Soyuz 2 could solve the Soyuz 1 solar panel problem via an EVA
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
. Ultimately, however, the Soyuz 2 launch could not proceed due to poor weather conditions at the launchpad, a situation which proved rather serendipitous for the latter crew as their spacecraft suffered from many of the same design defects as did Soyuz 1.
The Soyuz 1 mission was then aborted and Komarov was able to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. However both parachutes and the retro-rockets failed, and Komarov was killed on impact.
During the course of investigations regarding the accident, it was discovered that Soyuz 2 had the same errors with the parachutes as Soyuz 1. Had Soyuz 2 also been launched, Bykovsky, Khrunov and Yeliseyev would have been killed as well.
Effects
The Soyuz 1 disaster set the Soviet space program back 18 months. It was not until October 1968 that the next manned Soyuz mission was launched, which was flown by Beregovoi.Khrunov and Yeliseyev eventually flew on Soyuz 5
Soyuz 5
Soyuz 5 was a Soyuz mission using the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union on January 15, 1969, which docked with Soyuz 4 in orbit...
, which along with Soyuz 4
Soyuz 4
Soyuz 4 was launched on January 14, 1969. On board the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft was cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov on his first flight. The aim of the mission was to dock with Soyuz 5, transfer two crew members from that spacecraft, and return to Earth...
, achieved the objectives of their Soyuz 2 flight in January 1969, while Bykovsky prepared for a manned moon flight, which the Soviets never accomplished.