Vostok 2
| Vostok 2 Восток-2 |
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Mission insignia |
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| Mission statistics | |||||
| Mission name | Vostok 2 Восток-2 |
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| Spacecraft type | Vostok 3KA | ||||
| Spacecraft mass | 4,731 kg (10,430 lb)[1] | ||||
| Crew size | 1 | ||||
| Call sign | Орёл (Oryol - "Eagle") | ||||
| Booster | Vostok 8K72K | ||||
| Launch pad | Gagarin's Start, Baikonur Cosmodrome[2] | ||||
| Launch date | August 6, 1961 06:00 UTC | ||||
| Landing site | , near Krasny Kut |
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| Landing | August 7, 1961 07:18 UTC | ||||
| Mission duration | 1d/01:18 | ||||
| Number of orbits | 17.5 | ||||
| Apogee | 244 km (152 mi)[3] | ||||
| Perigee | 183 km (114 mi) | ||||
| Orbital period | 88.46 minutes | ||||
| Orbital inclination | 64.93° | ||||
| Crew photo | |||||
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Vostok 2 (Russian: Восток-2, Orient 2 or East 2) was a Soviet space mission which carried cosmonaut Gherman Titov into orbit for a full day in order to study the effects of a more prolonged period of weightlessness on the human body[1]. Titov orbited the earth over 17 times, exceeding the single orbit of Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1 − as well as the suborbital spaceflights of American astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom aboard their respective Mercury-Redstone 3 and 4 missions.
The flight was an almost complete success, marred only by a heater that had inadvertently been turned off prior to liftoff and that allowed the inside temperature to drop to 50 °F (10 °C),[4]:113 a bout of space sickness, and a troublesome re-entry when the reentry module failed to separate cleanly from its service module.[5]
Unlike Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1, Titov took manual control of the spacecraft for a short while. Another change came when the Soviets admitted that Titov did not land with his spacecraft. Titov would claim in an interview that he ejected from his capsule as a test of an alternative landing system; it is now known that all Vostok program landings were performed this way.[1][6]
The re-entry capsule was destroyed during development of the Voskhod spacecraft.[4]:117
As of 2008, Titov remains the youngest person to reach space. He was a month short of 26 years old at launch.[7]
Contents |
Crew
| Position | Cosmonaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot | Gherman Titov First spaceflight |
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Backup crew
| Position | Cosmonaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot | Andrian G. Nikolayev | |
Reserve crew
| Position | Cosmonaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot | Grigori Nelyubov | |
Mission parameters
- Mass: 4,731 kg (10,430 lb)[1]
- Perigee: 183 km (114 mi)[3]
- Apogee: 244 km (152 mi)
- Inclination: 64.93°
- Period: 88.46 minutes
Mission highlights
Gherman Titov launched from Gagarin's Start at Baikonur Cosmodrome on 6 August 1961 at 0600 UTC aboard the Vostok 2 spacecraft. Radio personality Yuri Levitan interrupted Radio Moscow programming with an announcement of the flight at 0745 UTC.[5]
Nausea set in as Titov escaped Earth's gravity, which would cause him to vomit when he tried to eat one of his planned meals. Soviet space program officials suspected disturbance of Titov's vestibular system was to blame, leading them to begin early investigations into what is now known as space adaptation syndrome, or space sickness. Titov is believed to be the first spacefarer to experience the condition.[5][8][9]
Titov took manual control of the spacecraft's attitude for a time as he passed over Africa on his first orbit and would again at the end of the seventh orbit; the controls were reported to function well. Titov exchanged greetings with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev as he passed over the Soviet Union at the end of his first orbit, replicating Gagarin's feat.[1][5]
A camera aboard the spacecraft transmitted smiling pictures of Titov to the ground as he passed over Soviet territory on the fifth orbit. Titov settled down to sleep during the seventh orbit; he awoke over eight hours later, 37 minutes after the scheduled end of his sleep period.[1]
Detailed information about the radio frequencies used by the spacecraft were made public before Titov's flight; listening posts around the world picked up voice and telemetry signals from Vostok 2, allaying suspicions that the spaceflight might have been faked.[5]
As on Vostok 1, the Vostok 2 service module failed to detach from the reentry module when commanded and reentry began with the former still attached; the conjoined modules gyrated violently until aerodynamic heating burned through the straps still holding them together. Titov ejected from the capsule as planned and parachuted separately to land at 0718 UTC on 7 August 1961, near Krasny Kut, Saratov Oblast.[5]
In 1964, the Vostok 2 spacecraft was reused as a ballast weight in a test of an experimental parachute system planned for the Voskhod spacecraft. The protoype malfunctioned, shattering Vostok 2 into tiny pieces.[4]:117
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "The First Day In Orbit" (PDF). Flight (London: Iliffe Transport Publications) 80 (2736): 208. 17 August 1961. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1961/1961%20-%201106.html. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
- ↑ "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. http://www.astronautix.com/sites/baiurlc1.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Missiles and Spaceflight" (PDF). Flight (London: Iliffe Transport Publications) 80 (2741): 467. 21 September 1961. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1961/1961%20-%201363.html. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Francis French; Colin Burgess (2007). Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965. Lincoln, Nebr.: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803211469. OCLC 71210133.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Grahn, Sven. "The flight of Vostok-2". Sven's Space Place. http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/histind/Vostok2/vostok2.html. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
- ↑ Ezell, Edward Clinton; Ezell, Linda Neuman (1978). "The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project". NASA History Series (NASA) (NASA Special Publication-4209). http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4209/ch3-4.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ↑ Wade, Mark. "Astronaut Statistics". Encyclopedia Astronautica. http://www.astronautix.com/articles/aststics.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
- ↑ "“Group Space Flight” Described − Part 2" (PDF). Flight (London: Iliffe Transport Publications) 82 (2791): 389–391. 6 September 1962. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1962/1962%20-%201887.html. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ↑ Oman, Charles M.; Lichtenburg, Byron K.; Money, Kenneth E. (17 January 1990). "Symptoms and Signs of Space Motion Sickness on SPACELAB-1". In Crampton, George. Motion and Space Sickness (illustrated ed.). CRC Press. p. 218. ISBN 0849347033.
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