The Moon still beckons
Andrei Kislyakov Like 50 years ago, the Moon continues to attract the
world's leading space agencies. In 2009, an impatient NASA will move to
reinstate its Saturn V moon-rocket launch facility in order to repeat
the triumphant July 1969 lunar landing.
Objectively speaking, the Soviet Union was the first country to
launch an automated probe called Mechta (Dream) on January 2, 1959. The
probe flew 6,000 km above the lunar surface. On January 4, Mechta
overcame terrestrial gravity and later became the first man-made
spacecraft to circle the Sun.
It also attained escape velocity for the first time in history and
provided data on terrestrial and cosmic radiation belts. In September
1959, the U.S.S.R. launched its second lunar probe that delivered
pennants with the Soviet state emblem to the Moon. A month later, the
Luna-3 carrying a 500-kg instrument module relayed photos showing 50% of
the lunar surface. After scoring initial successes in the field of lunar
research, Moscow strove to accomplish even more ambitious objectives.
Unfortunately, the Soviet lunar program later faced major
setbacks.Moscow and Washington were divided on the significance of Yury
Gagarin's trailblazing April 12, 1961 space flight. The United States
realized that it had to implement a truly ambitious space program in
order to uphold its waning superiority.
On April 20, 1961, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy asked his
Vice-President Lyndon Baines Johnson whether the United States was
capable of defeating the U.S.S.R. in the Space Race in the foreseeable
future. Wernher von Braun, the father of the United States space
program, told Vice President Johnson that the U.S.S.R. had superior
launch vehicles, and that the United States could not hope to develop
the first manned orbiter in history.
Von Braun said the United States could exert every effort in order to
successfully vie with Moscow in the field of lunar programs, and that
its astronauts could try and fly around the Moon and land on its surface
in 1967-1968. However, Gagarin's epic flight persuaded Moscow that the
Soviet space program stipulating preparations for a manned lunar
expedition was far from perfect. In 1962, the design bureau of Sergei
Korolyov (1906-1966), then the main Soviet rocket engineer and designer,
proposed its own concept to explore the Moon.
The concept which was a response to the U.S. Apollo lunar program
called for developing a system of three spacecraft for orbiting the Moon
and landing on its surface.
The project seemed a mind-boggling task because the U.S.S.R. had so
far failed to launch a single spacecraft with several cosmonauts onboard
and to streamline orbital docking systems.
Vladimir Chelomei (1914-1984), another leading Soviet rocket
engineer, proposed launching a lunar mission atop a three-stage Proton-K
rocket.
In 1964, the United States successfully tested its legendary Saturn V
moon rocket after von Braun was placed in charge of the U.S. lunar
program. In response, the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee
issued a special resolution stipulating a manned lunar mission not later
than in 1968. This document virtually forced Korolyov and Chelomei to
work separately.
Korolyov dealt with the lunar fly-by program, while Chelomei began to
develop the heavy N-1 rocket for launching the lunar module. As it
turned out the split did not facilitate success.
The N-1 lunar rocket never became operational. Many analysts explain
this by Korolyov's untimely death during surgery in early 1966 and by
the mistakes of his successor, Vasily Mishin. The human factor
notwithstanding, the N-1 had a number of technical drawbacks.The N-1's
four abortive test launches were caused by its defective first stage. In
May 1974, the Soviet lunar program and N-1 project were scrapped, and
the remaining two rockets destroyed. The Soyuz spacecraft was initially
developed for the Soviet lunar program.However, the first three unmanned
Soyuz spacecraft were plagued by numerous problems. In December 1966,
fire started prior to the launch of the second unmanned Soyuz, nearly
destroying the entire launch facility.
Despite the aborted unmanned spacecraft tests, Soviet leaders decided
to launch two manned Soyuz spacecraft in April 1967 and to dock them in
orbit.
Vladimir Komarov (1927-1967) who flew Soyuz-1 with a malfunctioning
attitude-control system was killed during re-entry when its parachute
failed to open.
A decision not to launch Soyuz-2 with Valery Bykovsky, Alexei
Yeliseyev and Yevgeny Khrunov onboard saved their lives because the
three men were to have docked with Komarov's spacecraft for subsequent
re-entry.
Nonetheless, several cosmonauts wrote a letter to the Politburo of
the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, requesting permission to
fly to the Moon insisting that a manned spacecraft would prove
dependable.
However, Soviet leaders decided not to risk it. Although the Soviet
manned mission program fell behind that of the United States, Moscow
compensated for all the setbacks by launching unmanned lunar probes. In
February 1966, the Luna-9 became the first probe to achieve a soft
landing on another planetary body, namely, the Moon. In all, 24 lunar
probes gathered unique scientific data and delivered nearly 200 kg of
lunar soil to the Earth.It appears that the long-term Russian space
program will continue to stake its progress on heavy-duty automated
lunar probes. Sometime after January 20, Russia plans to launch a
remote-sensing spacecraft for studying the Moon's inner structure. The
probe will also search for mineral deposits.
Under a Russian-Indian project, a new generation Moon exploration
vehicle weighing 400 kg is scheduled to be launched in 2011. The Moon
continues to beckon as before.
(Courtesy: Novosti)
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