In memory of George Grechko
On April 7, the Soviet cosmonaut and science popularizer Georgy Grechko was hospitalized because of heart problems. April 8 at 6:40 in the morning he died. Three times he flew into orbit, where he spent more than 134 days and went into outer space for almost an hour and a half, and before that he calculated the trajectory of the launch of the first artificial satellite of the Earth that opened the space age.
The best thing about the astronaut will tell his flights. We will talk about them today.
Georgiy Grechko was born in Leningrad on May 25, 1931. His father was a junior researcher, and his mother was the chief engineer of the plant. Like Yuri Gagarin, during the war years, Grechko lived in the occupied territory for about two years - his parents sent him to his grandmother in Ukraine before the German offensive.
In 1943, after breaking through the blockade of Leningrad, he returned to the city.
In 1955, Grechko graduated from the Leningrad Order of the Red Banner Military Mechanical Institute (now BSTU "Voenmeh" them. DF Ustinov ) with a degree in mechanical engineering and went to work as an engineer in the OKB-1. In 1957, he participated in the launch of the First Satellite.
On October 4, 1957, the R-7 launch vehicle with the PS-1 satellite launched from Baikonur, 83.6-kilogram ball with a diameter of 58 centimeters. The launch of the “Simplest Satellite-1” demanded the enormous work of the employees of the OKB-1 under the leadership of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Engineer Grechko was responsible for calculating the trajectory of the device’s exit into orbit.
Before the spread of computers directly mathematical calculations were done by people. In OKB-1, in two shifts, calculators with electromechanical calculating machines worked, from nine in the morning until midnight they served as a computer. In the process of preparation, Grechko found out that the calculators use the Bradis tables with four signs to solve trigonometric functions, and that the fourth sign influences the correctness of the calculation in the trajectory in the homing area, which in these tables accounts for rounding. Therefore, the engineer brought Khrenov’s tables with eight decimal places and made the “girls” suffer. Toward the end of the preparation for the launch, the Big Electric Calculating Machine replaced the calculators .
The launch of the “Simplest Satellite” was a success, shaking in the USA the illusion that the immediate enemy is a technologically backward country. It was one of the victories in the space race . R-7
launch with PS-1
satellite News about the first satellite in Pravda
Satellite news in the New York Times
Unlike the members of the First Detachment, Grechko was not a military fighter pilot. He became one of the first civilian astronauts, the selection of which began in 1965 from the engineers of the OKB-1. Then they began to be invited in small groups for examination. Sergey Korolev began the fight for civilians in space, they trained, disguised as a football team, and the squad was formed only after the death of Sergei Pavlovich.
The first spacecraft was controlled by automatics. Yuri Gagarin could take control if necessary and successfully complete the mission. But who, other than fighter pilots, can manage the most complex technology? The engineers who built these very ships. Therefore, they formed a new squad. The military did not like new colleagues at first, but then accepted it. Pilots and civilians began to be sent into space in pairs.
So it was in the first flight of Grechko: the commander of the ship was Alexei Gubarev , who led a squadron of the 855th separate mine-torpedo air regiment of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force.
Grechko almost missed his chance. Sergey Korolev gathered young employees and said that they have a chance to become astronauts. The main thing is to pass a medical examination and say why they need it. At this moment, Georgy Grechko was watching the “Last Inch” movie in a children's session.
And the first flight of George could not take place, because he, like Pavel Belyaev, broke his leg during a parachute jump. Vladimir Komarov helped him : “His leg is overgrown, and his head is good.” Grechko on crutches returned to Star City.
At the end of 1974, the USSR put the Salyut-4 station into orbit . On January 11, 1975, the Soyuz-17 ship with a crew consisting of commander Alexei Gubarev and flight engineer Georgy Grechko set off for the station. For both astronauts it was the first flight. But Grechko was one of the most trained cosmonauts, because he had been waiting for him for ten years.
The flight lasted 29 days 13 hours 20 minutes. The astronauts investigated the Sun, planets and stars, studied the nature of solar active processes and various objects in the spectral regions inaccessible to ground-based equipment, studied the earth's surface and the atmosphere. Among the biomedical experiments were a survey of the state of the human body during exercise dosage.
On the "Salyut-4" there were about two tons of scientific equipment. Upon arrival at the station, astronauts noticed that the OST-1 solar telescope, developed by the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, was not working - the main mirror was damaged by direct sunlight due to a failure of the guidance system. Grechko started repairing at the expense of time for food and sleep, received a reprimand, but still repaired the equipment: “I even used medical equipment for this. It turns out - I did not fix it, but cured it. ”
February 9, 1975 the crew returned to Earth. “When the time came for the parachute to open, it did not open. Gone are the seconds to open the second. And the second did not open. There is no third parachute, no drive, which means there are a few left ... Five minutes, three minutes. It's very scary. Dying is scary, "- toldcosmonaut. In an extreme situation, instead of shouting “Mom!” Or swearing, he said to himself: “You are a test cosmonaut. It remains a few minutes of life. You should try to find out why, what is broken, what is not working, what a failure in the ship. ” Grechko began to look for the cause and report all the instrument readings to Earth.
Fortunately, the parachute opened. And as the sail made the ship bounce off the surface several times and fly some distance along the ground: “When we were pulled out of the ship and carried to the helicopter, I looked that such potholes were in the frozen virgin soil.” Grechko told later that on Gubarev's words "No shit for myself soft landing" replied: "It is called soft only because we get very hard blows to the soft spot."
Video link with "Salute-4"
Shooting from "Salyut-4"
In 1977, the long-term Salyut-6 station, more spacious and adapted for the life and work of astronauts, than the Salyut-4, was launched into orbit .
The ship " Soyuz-25 " with the first crew of the station on board was unable to dock with the front docking station. Vladimir Kovalyonok and Valery Ryumin returned to Earth, and the next crew had to find out what the problem was and eliminate the fault.
On December 10, 1977, the Soyuz-26 ship launched from Baikonur . The commander of the ship was Yuriy Romanenko., flight engineer - George Grechko. This was the first main expedition of the scientific station. To survey the front docking station, Romanenko and Grechko station went into outer space. The output lasted 1 hour 28 minutes, the docking station was in order.
For the first time, astronauts used a system that fixes astronauts' legs for work outside the station - the “anchor”. They made their way out of a docking station not equipped with handrails. Grechko and Romanenko strengthened soft hooks at the hatch.
While George Grechko was in space, his father died. MCC decided not to report this to the astronaut. According to Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Grechko himself asked him a direct question. George is having a dream. A story with a touch of mystery or coincidence.
On May 16, 1978, after 96 days and 10 hours at the station, Georgy Grechko and Yury Romanenko returned to Earth on the Soyuz-27 ship. At that time it was a record stay at the station.
George Grechko made his third flight into space at a mature age - in 1985 he was 54 years old. For 13 years he held an age record, until in 1998 he was not surpassed by Valery Ryumin .
Soyuz T-14 set off on September 17, 1985, to the Salyut-7 station. The commander of the ship was Vladimir Vasiutin , the research cosmonaut was Alexander Volkov, and Grechko became a flight engineer for the third time . The flight lasted several days, and Grechko and Vladimir Dzhanibekov returned to Earth on the Soyuz T-13 ship on September 26, 1985.
After this expedition, the astronaut was almost kicked out of the squad. He arbitrarily stopped the engines of the Soyuz T-13 ship for a few minutes. From MCC demanded to stop the disgrace, but he did not pay attention. “You are no longer an astronaut!” Shouted the operator.
At that time there was not a single photograph of the station against the background of the Earth - only against the blackness of space. Artists created collages and painted the station. Grechko decided to fix it, saw the desired angle, calculated that the ship and the station would not collide, and filmed the film. The general designer of the station on Earth asked the astronaut to sign photos of his brainchild against a blue planet. Grechko said "I am being kicked out of the astronauts for this shot." “No, no, this will not happen,” the general said.
The crew of the Soyuz T-14. From left to right: Georgy Grechko, Alexander Volkov, Vladimir Vasyutin
Georgy Grechko was an astronaut. Each of these people is able in an extreme situation to create heroic things, to serve science and space exploration to the last. Grechko was an engineer, not a military man, and put science above obedience to orders.
The best thing about the astronaut will tell his flights. We will talk about them today.
First satellite
Georgiy Grechko was born in Leningrad on May 25, 1931. His father was a junior researcher, and his mother was the chief engineer of the plant. Like Yuri Gagarin, during the war years, Grechko lived in the occupied territory for about two years - his parents sent him to his grandmother in Ukraine before the German offensive.
In 1943, after breaking through the blockade of Leningrad, he returned to the city.
In 1955, Grechko graduated from the Leningrad Order of the Red Banner Military Mechanical Institute (now BSTU "Voenmeh" them. DF Ustinov ) with a degree in mechanical engineering and went to work as an engineer in the OKB-1. In 1957, he participated in the launch of the First Satellite.
On October 4, 1957, the R-7 launch vehicle with the PS-1 satellite launched from Baikonur, 83.6-kilogram ball with a diameter of 58 centimeters. The launch of the “Simplest Satellite-1” demanded the enormous work of the employees of the OKB-1 under the leadership of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Engineer Grechko was responsible for calculating the trajectory of the device’s exit into orbit.
Before the spread of computers directly mathematical calculations were done by people. In OKB-1, in two shifts, calculators with electromechanical calculating machines worked, from nine in the morning until midnight they served as a computer. In the process of preparation, Grechko found out that the calculators use the Bradis tables with four signs to solve trigonometric functions, and that the fourth sign influences the correctness of the calculation in the trajectory in the homing area, which in these tables accounts for rounding. Therefore, the engineer brought Khrenov’s tables with eight decimal places and made the “girls” suffer. Toward the end of the preparation for the launch, the Big Electric Calculating Machine replaced the calculators .
The launch of the “Simplest Satellite” was a success, shaking in the USA the illusion that the immediate enemy is a technologically backward country. It was one of the victories in the space race . R-7
launch with PS-1
satellite News about the first satellite in Pravda
Satellite news in the New York Times
Civil Astronaut
Unlike the members of the First Detachment, Grechko was not a military fighter pilot. He became one of the first civilian astronauts, the selection of which began in 1965 from the engineers of the OKB-1. Then they began to be invited in small groups for examination. Sergey Korolev began the fight for civilians in space, they trained, disguised as a football team, and the squad was formed only after the death of Sergei Pavlovich.
The first spacecraft was controlled by automatics. Yuri Gagarin could take control if necessary and successfully complete the mission. But who, other than fighter pilots, can manage the most complex technology? The engineers who built these very ships. Therefore, they formed a new squad. The military did not like new colleagues at first, but then accepted it. Pilots and civilians began to be sent into space in pairs.
So it was in the first flight of Grechko: the commander of the ship was Alexei Gubarev , who led a squadron of the 855th separate mine-torpedo air regiment of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force.
Grechko almost missed his chance. Sergey Korolev gathered young employees and said that they have a chance to become astronauts. The main thing is to pass a medical examination and say why they need it. At this moment, Georgy Grechko was watching the “Last Inch” movie in a children's session.
And the first flight of George could not take place, because he, like Pavel Belyaev, broke his leg during a parachute jump. Vladimir Komarov helped him : “His leg is overgrown, and his head is good.” Grechko on crutches returned to Star City.
"Soyuz-17"
At the end of 1974, the USSR put the Salyut-4 station into orbit . On January 11, 1975, the Soyuz-17 ship with a crew consisting of commander Alexei Gubarev and flight engineer Georgy Grechko set off for the station. For both astronauts it was the first flight. But Grechko was one of the most trained cosmonauts, because he had been waiting for him for ten years.
The flight lasted 29 days 13 hours 20 minutes. The astronauts investigated the Sun, planets and stars, studied the nature of solar active processes and various objects in the spectral regions inaccessible to ground-based equipment, studied the earth's surface and the atmosphere. Among the biomedical experiments were a survey of the state of the human body during exercise dosage.
On the "Salyut-4" there were about two tons of scientific equipment. Upon arrival at the station, astronauts noticed that the OST-1 solar telescope, developed by the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, was not working - the main mirror was damaged by direct sunlight due to a failure of the guidance system. Grechko started repairing at the expense of time for food and sleep, received a reprimand, but still repaired the equipment: “I even used medical equipment for this. It turns out - I did not fix it, but cured it. ”
February 9, 1975 the crew returned to Earth. “When the time came for the parachute to open, it did not open. Gone are the seconds to open the second. And the second did not open. There is no third parachute, no drive, which means there are a few left ... Five minutes, three minutes. It's very scary. Dying is scary, "- toldcosmonaut. In an extreme situation, instead of shouting “Mom!” Or swearing, he said to himself: “You are a test cosmonaut. It remains a few minutes of life. You should try to find out why, what is broken, what is not working, what a failure in the ship. ” Grechko began to look for the cause and report all the instrument readings to Earth.
Fortunately, the parachute opened. And as the sail made the ship bounce off the surface several times and fly some distance along the ground: “When we were pulled out of the ship and carried to the helicopter, I looked that such potholes were in the frozen virgin soil.” Grechko told later that on Gubarev's words "No shit for myself soft landing" replied: "It is called soft only because we get very hard blows to the soft spot."
Video link with "Salute-4"
Shooting from "Salyut-4"
"Soyuz-26"
In 1977, the long-term Salyut-6 station, more spacious and adapted for the life and work of astronauts, than the Salyut-4, was launched into orbit .
The ship " Soyuz-25 " with the first crew of the station on board was unable to dock with the front docking station. Vladimir Kovalyonok and Valery Ryumin returned to Earth, and the next crew had to find out what the problem was and eliminate the fault.
On December 10, 1977, the Soyuz-26 ship launched from Baikonur . The commander of the ship was Yuriy Romanenko., flight engineer - George Grechko. This was the first main expedition of the scientific station. To survey the front docking station, Romanenko and Grechko station went into outer space. The output lasted 1 hour 28 minutes, the docking station was in order.
For the first time, astronauts used a system that fixes astronauts' legs for work outside the station - the “anchor”. They made their way out of a docking station not equipped with handrails. Grechko and Romanenko strengthened soft hooks at the hatch.
While George Grechko was in space, his father died. MCC decided not to report this to the astronaut. According to Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Grechko himself asked him a direct question. George is having a dream. A story with a touch of mystery or coincidence.
On May 16, 1978, after 96 days and 10 hours at the station, Georgy Grechko and Yury Romanenko returned to Earth on the Soyuz-27 ship. At that time it was a record stay at the station.
Soyuz T-14
George Grechko made his third flight into space at a mature age - in 1985 he was 54 years old. For 13 years he held an age record, until in 1998 he was not surpassed by Valery Ryumin .
Soyuz T-14 set off on September 17, 1985, to the Salyut-7 station. The commander of the ship was Vladimir Vasiutin , the research cosmonaut was Alexander Volkov, and Grechko became a flight engineer for the third time . The flight lasted several days, and Grechko and Vladimir Dzhanibekov returned to Earth on the Soyuz T-13 ship on September 26, 1985.
After this expedition, the astronaut was almost kicked out of the squad. He arbitrarily stopped the engines of the Soyuz T-13 ship for a few minutes. From MCC demanded to stop the disgrace, but he did not pay attention. “You are no longer an astronaut!” Shouted the operator.
At that time there was not a single photograph of the station against the background of the Earth - only against the blackness of space. Artists created collages and painted the station. Grechko decided to fix it, saw the desired angle, calculated that the ship and the station would not collide, and filmed the film. The general designer of the station on Earth asked the astronaut to sign photos of his brainchild against a blue planet. Grechko said "I am being kicked out of the astronauts for this shot." “No, no, this will not happen,” the general said.
The crew of the Soyuz T-14. From left to right: Georgy Grechko, Alexander Volkov, Vladimir Vasyutin
Georgy Grechko was an astronaut. Each of these people is able in an extreme situation to create heroic things, to serve science and space exploration to the last. Grechko was an engineer, not a military man, and put science above obedience to orders.