Sep 05

Space Rocket History #28 – Vostok 2 With Gherman Titov

After Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom’s suborbital flights and less than four months after Gagarin’s became the first man in space, the soviet union stunned the world with yet another manned mission.

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Titov

PreLaunch

vostok-2_launch

is

space rocket history pic15

Aug 01

Space Rocket History #23 – Vostok 1 with Yuri Gagarin

“Dear friends, you who are close to me, and you whom I do not know, fellow Russians, and people of all countries and all continents: in a few minutes a powerful space vehicle will carry me into the distant realm of space. What can I tell you in these last minutes before the launch? My whole life appears to me as one beautiful moment. All that I previously lived through and did, was lived through and done for the sake of this moment.” Yuri Gagarin prior to launch of Vostok 1.

space rocket

ImageGen vostok 1 being prepared_500x409Yuri800px-Vostok_1_orbit Hint2

Jul 26

Space Rocket History #22 – The Vanguard Six

When the 20 Cosmonaut candidates were asked to anonymously vote for which candidate they would like to see fly first, all but three chose Gagarin.  The consensus was, Gagarin was very focused, and demanding of himself and others when necessary.

Gagarin_in_Sweden

Gagarin

436px-German_Titov

Titov

Andrian_Nikolaev

Nikolaev

160px-Ppopovic-2

Popovic

Bykovsky

Bykovsky

Treshkova

Tereshkova

Tereshkova & Nikolaev

Tereshkova & Nikolaev

Jul 18

Space Rocket History #21 – Cry Havoc and Launch the Dogs of Vostok!

For the Soviet Union, 1960 was a mixed bag of success and failure as it struggled for new achievements in space exploration.  The main driving force was to be the first nation to launch a man into space.  An achievement their adversary, the United States, also desperately wanted.

vostok on test stand at factory

Vostok on Test Stand

vostok_flight_plan

Vostok Flight Plan

From Space

Belka and Strelka

Belka and Strelka

Vostok With Third Stage

Vostok With Third Stage

Vostok Dog Capsule

Vostok Dog Capsule

Card From Dog Capsule

Card From Dog Capsule

Korable-Sputnik 1

Strelka With Pups

Strelka With Pups