| Voskhod 1 Восход-1 |
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| Mission name | Voskhod 1 Восход-1 |
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| Spacecraft type | Voskhod 3KV | ||||
| Spacecraft mass | 5,320 kg (11,700 lb) | ||||
| Crew size | 3 | ||||
| Call sign | Рубин (Rubin - "Ruby") | ||||
| Launch vehicle | Voskhod | ||||
| Launch pad | Gagarin's Start, Baikonur Cosmodrome[1] | ||||
| Launch date | 12 October 1964 07:30:01 UTC | ||||
| Landing | 13 October 1964 07:47:04 UTC | ||||
| Mission duration | 1d/00:17:03 | ||||
| Number of orbits | 16 | ||||
| Apogee | 336 km (209 mi) | ||||
| Perigee | 178 km (111 mi) | ||||
| Orbital period | 89.6 min | ||||
| Orbital inclination | 64.7° | ||||
| Crew photo | |||||
| Voskhod 1 crew after landing | |||||
| Related missions | |||||
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Voskhod 1 (Russian: Восход-1, Ascent 1 or Dawn 1) was the seventh manned Soviet space flight. It achieved a number of "firsts" in the history of manned spaceflight, being the first space flight to carry more than one crewman into orbit, the first flight without the use of spacesuits, and the first to carry either an engineer or a physician into outer space. It also set a manned spacecraft altitude record of 336 km (209 mi).
The three spacesuits for the Voskhod 1 cosmonauts were omitted; there was neither the room nor the payload capacity for the Voskhod to carry them. The original Voskhod had been designed to carry two cosmonauts, but Soviet politicians pushed the Soviet space program into squeezing three cosmonauts into Voskhod 1. The only other space flight in the short Voskhod program, Voskhod 2, carried two suited cosmonauts — of necessity, because it was the flight on which Alexei Leonov made the world's first walk in space.
As part of its payload Voskhod 1 carried a ribbon off a Communard banner from the Paris Commune of 1871 into orbit [2].
Contents |
| Position | Cosmonaut | |
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| Command Pilot | Vladimir Komarov First spaceflight |
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| Engineer | Konstantin Feoktistov First spaceflight |
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| Medical Doctor | Boris Yegorov First spaceflight |
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| Position | Cosmonaut | |
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| Command Pilot | Boris Volynov | |
| Engineer | Georgi Katys | |
| Medical Doctor | Aleksei Sorokin | |
| Position | Cosmonaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Medical Doctor | Vasili Lazarev | |
The original prime crew of cosmonauts for Voskhod 1, composed of Boris Volynov, Georgi Katys, and Boris Yegorov, was rejected just three days before the scheduled launch date for the space capsule, reportedly due to the State Commission's discovery that Volynov's mother was Jewish.[3]
Politics played a role in the crew's selection. Beyond Volynov's Jewish mother, Katys' father had been arrested (like Chief Designer Sergey Korolyov) and shot during the Great Purge. Various factions each supported their own representatives for the flight. Korolyov wanted his engineers to become cosmonauts, believing that spacecraft designers should fly in their own vehicles. The Soviet Air Force agreed to a crew composed of a military pilot, an engineer or scientist, and a doctor, but advocated for an all-military crew. Konstantin Feoktistov, who had been a design engineer for the Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz programs, was selected for this flight, becoming the only Soviet outer space designer to make a spaceflight. Yegorov, a medical doctor, used his political influence to get selected for the crew through his father's Politburo connections. The Soviet space program viewed its crews as passengers more than pilots; the new cosmonauts received only three to four months of training, perhaps the briefest in space history other than that received by the American politicians Jake Garn and Bill Nelson for Space Shuttle flights in the 1980s.[4]:413-414,416
The Voskhod spacecraft were basically Vostok spacecraft with a backup, solid-fuel retro-rocket added onto the top of the descent module. The ejection seat was removed and three crew couches were added to the interior at a 90-degree angle to that of the Vostok cosmonaut's position. There was no provision for escape for the crewmen in the event of a launch or landing emergency. A solid-fuel braking rocket was also added to the space capsule's parachute lines to provide for a softer landing at touchdown. This was necessary because, unlike the Vostok space capsule, no ejection seats were fitted in the Voskhod; the cosmonauts had to land inside the Voskhod descent module.
Much of the mission of Voskhod 1 was devoted to biomedical research, and to the study of how a multi-disciplinary team could work together in space. The mission was short, at only slightly over 24 hours. Incidentally, the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was removed from power during the spaceflight, and it has been speculated that this led to the mission being cut short.[5] However, the cramped conditions of the Voskhod space capsule has also been suggested as a factor ruling out a longer-duration spaceflight.
Happening as it did before the beginning of the Project Gemini two-man flights, Voskhod 1 had a significant, but temporary, international impact. The NASA Administrator, James E. Webb, called the flight of Voskhod 1 a "significant space accomplishment" adding that it was "a clear indication that the Russians are continuing a large space program for the achievement of national power and prestige."[6]
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