CHALLENGE TO APOLLO: - NASA's History Office

517 Pages·2008·10.14 MB·English

CHALLENGE TO APOLLO:
THE SOVIET UNION AND THE
SPACE RACE, 1945- 1974

NASA SP-2000-4408
CHALLENGE TO APOLLO:
THE SOVIET UNION AND THE
SP_CE R;_cE, ! 945- 1974
by
gsif _. Siddiqi
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA History Division
Office of Policy and Plans
Washington, DC 2000
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Siddiqi, Asif A,, 1966-
Challenge to Apollo: the Soviet Union and the space race, 1945-1974 1byAsif A. Siddiqi
p. cm.--(The NASA history series) NASA SP; 2000-4408
Includes bibliographical referencesand index.
I. Astronautics--Soviet Union--History. 2. Spacerace--History. I,Title. II. Series.III.
NASA SP: 4408.
TL789.8S65 $47 2000
629,4'0947-dc21 00-03868400031047
To my mother and my father,
who taught me the value o[ knowledge
History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten.
--_eorge Santayana
Youcan't crossthe sea merelyby standing and staring at the water.
--Rabindranath Tagore
¢ CHALLENGE TO APOLLO
..........
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ................................................... vii
Preface............................................................ ix
Glossary .......................................................... xiii
Chapter One: Presage .................................................. I
Chapter Two: FirstSteps................................................ 23
Chapter Three: Stalin and the Rocket....................................... 69
Chapter Four: Sputnik ................................................ II 9
Chapter Five: Designing the FirstSpaceship................................. I1I
Chapter Six: Organizing for the SpaceProgram ..... : ........................ 205
Chapter Seven: Gagarin ............................................... 243
Chapter Eight : Looking to the Future ..................................... 299
Chapter Nine: SpacePolitics ........................................... 35l
Chapter Ten: "There Are MoreThings in Heavenand Earth .. ." ,................. 409
Chapter Eleven:Three Stepsto the Moon .................................. 461
Chapter Twelve: A New Beginning ....................................... 517
Chapter Thirteen: Tragedy ............................................. 565
Chapter Fourteen: Getting Backon Track................................... 609
Chapter Fifteen: FinalLapto the Moon .................................... 653
Chapter Sixteen: Options .............................................. 699
Chapter Seventeen: DreamsUnfulfilled .................................... 745
Chapter Eighteen: Ashes to Ashes ....................................... 199
Chapter Nineteen: Tomorrow Never Knows................................. 839
Chapter Twenty: Coda ............................................... 855
vi
BibliograpEhsicsa..y................................................ 861
Tables
IA:
Orbital Launch l_ttempts in the Soviet Piloted Space Program, 1960-74 ...... 873
IB: Mission Parametersfor SelectedOrbital Flights ....................... 876
IC:
Nonorbital Launch Attempts Supporting the Soviet Piloted SpaceProgram,
1951-74 .................................................. 819
II: Cosmonaut Selection Groups, 1960-Z4 ............................ 881
III: Administrative Organizations in the Soviet Missile and Space Programs,
1945-91 .................................................. 889
IV: Major Contractor Organizations in the Soviet SpaceProgram, 1945-74 ...... 901
V: SpaceLaunch Vehicle Designations ............................... 917
Vl: Details of Launch Vehicles Used in the Soviet Piloted SpaceProgram, 1957-74 921
VII: Designations for Piloted SpaceVehicles............................. 925
VIII: Automated Launches Relatedto the Soviet Piloted SpaceProgram, 1957-76 . . 931
IX: Governmental Decreesin the Soviet Missile and Space Programs, 1945-76 .... 935
Appendices
A: Soviet Piloted SpaceProjects, 1945-74 ............................. 957
B: Dramatis Personae, 1945-74 .................................... 965
Index............................................................ 979
The NASA History Series............................................. I007
CHALLENGE TO _POLLO
ACKNO VLEDGMENTS
This book is,in essence,sixteen years in the making. Ifirst attempted to compile ahisto-
ry of theSoviet spaceprogram in 1982when, encouraged bymy mother, Iput together arough
chronology of the main events. P,decade later, while living on acouch in a college friend's
apartment, Ibegan writing what Ithought would be ashort history of the Soviet lunar landing
program. The first draft was sixty-nine pageslong. Latethe following year,Idecided to expand
thetopic to handle allearlySovietpiloted exploration programs. That work eventually grew into
what you areholding in your hand now. ]wrote most of it from 1994to 1997in Northampton
andAmherst, Massachusetts, andin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, andcompleted the manuscript
in December 1998.
It would have been difficult, if not impossible, to write this book without the generous
assistance of numerous individuals who havespent yearsand in some casesdecadestrying, to
understand and analyze the arcanaof the former Soviet spaceprogram. Writing this book was
asmuch an exploration into researchas itwas a longjourney making new acquaintances and
friends from allover theworld.
Iamindebted to thestaff atthe N_S_ History Office--in particular to LeeSaegesser,Steve
Garber,and Nadine Andreassen--for assisting meinmy researchdespite their own busy sched-
ules. Louise _Istork, Jonathan Friedman, PatriciaTalbert, andJohn Edison Betts,Jr.,were espe-
cially patient in proofreading the entire manuscript, making chani_eswhere necessary, and
helping with the layout and final production. I_ most special note of gratitude to NI_SP,Chief
Historian Roger Launius, whose comments, encouragement, and i_uidancewere indispensable
to the completion of this book. This bookwould not haveexisted without hisuntiring support.
Of allthe individuals who helped mewith this book, Iwould particularly liketo acknowl-
edge the contributions of Peter Gorin, a recent Guggenheim Fellow at the Smithsonian's
National l_ir and SpaceMuseum. Hegenerously shared notes, books, articles, comments, and
his encyclopedic knowledge on any andevery topic relatedto the Sovietspaceprogram. Healso
provided alion's shareof the illustrations and drawings used in this book.
Iwould also mention U.S.Air ForceLt. Colonel William P.Barry.Our countless exchanges
viae-mail orletters were invaluable to coming to some understanding of the political and insti-
tutional processes that drove the early Soviet space program. Iwould have found it virtually
impossible to write this book without the useof hisremarkableanalysesof the institutional his-
tory of the Soviet spaceprogram.
Dwayne Day at the Space Policy Institute at The George Washington University was an
invaluablesourcefor recentlydeclassified LI.S.government documents relatingto Sovietprograms.
His insightful comments allowed meto frame many of my arguments inamore cogent manner.
My exchanges overe-mail with Bart Hendrickx and Mark Hillyer wereessential to reexam-
ining old events in anew light and eliminating many errors. Bartwas very generous in sharing
any materials that passed hisway--a rarequality that set him apart from many other scholars
in the field. Mark's vast knowledge about the sometimes mind-boggling and confusing histo-
ries of Soviet-era design bureaus helped mewith my own studies on this arcanetopic.
Iwant to give special thanks to T._. Heppenheimer far hissupport throughout the project.
His exhaustive knowledge of the history of spacetechnology was useful in framing many of the
main arguments of this work.
vii
viii
IgorLissoovfVideoCosminoMsoscowwarranstspeciamlentionH.egraciousalnyswered
manyofmyquestions.
AveryspeciathlankyougoestoDenniNsewkirkth,eRussiaanerospaacnealysfto,rhis
never-endeinffgorttsoprovidmeewithmateriaulssefufol rmyworkH. ewasoneofthefirst
Sovie"tspacweatchersw"ithwhomIcommunicataendd,itwaspartiallbyecausoefhis
encouragemtheantt
Ibeganwriting this book in the first place.
I would like to thank Glen Swanson, the founding editor of _uest: The History of
Spaceflight Magazine, for his constant material and moral support during the writing of this
book, Glen also graciously shared his complete database of remarkable photographs, many of
which Iused in the book.
Iwould liketo acknowledge thetirelesscontributions of the late Maxim Tarasenkofor kind-
ly facilitating my contacts with the RKK Energiyaarchivist Georgiy Vetrov. Maxim was one of
the most brilliant spacehistorians of his generation, and hewill be sorely missed.
A very special note of thanks goesto SergeyVoevodin of Kostroma, Russia,who was an
excellent sourceof information on the Sovietcosmonaut team.
Specialthanks goout to Dr.SergeyKhrushchev, thelate Dr.GeorgiyVetrov, and Dr.Gerbert
Yefremov. all of whom graciously agreed to answer questions relating to the history of the
Soviet space program and their own role in itsearly years. Their comments were invaluable in
ferreting out details of previously hidden events in Soviet spacehistory.
In addition to those named above, Iwould liketo acknowledge the following for not only
providing me with Russian-language material and photographs but also in many cases for
answering detailed questions on various topics. They are: Igor Afanasyev, Vladimir Agapov,
Michael Cassutt, Andrew Chaikin, Phillip Clark, James Harford, Christian Lardier,Jonathan
McDowell, PeterPesavento, andJoel Powell. Iwould also like to thank the following for pro-
viding many of the diagrams orphotographs for thework: R.F.Gibbons, Dietrich Haeseler,Don
Pealer,Charles rick, Mark Wade, David Woods, and Steven Zaloga.
On apersonal note, Iwould like to thank my mentor in Bangladesh, Fazlul Huq, and also
PaulThompson, FredRuppel, Inji, Sabina, Munmun, Karin Bell, Nadeem, Rahita, Bill Sparks,
Rika,DaveParnell, Pat,Jacqueline, the late musician Greg Black,Becky (who inspires), Heather,
Karen Barth, Jill, and Danny. Thanks to the amazing Mandar Jayawant in the hope that he will
one day forgive me for not sharing my lunch with him. Thanks also to Paul,Iggy. Kurt, and
Maynard.
Avery special thank you to gnoo for being herwonderful self and for being so interested.
g very special note of love to my mother, who always told me that I could achieve any-
thing aslong asIworked hardenough for it: to my father, who bought me my first encyclope-
dia on spaceflight when I was twelve years old: to my sister Rochona, who endured yearsof
my uncontrollable excitement over Soyuzes and Salyuts asan adolescent: and to her husband
David, who graciously offered mean abode in which Icould finish the book. Finally,aspecial
thank you to Karen for being my best friend through all of this. Icould not have written this
book without her love and friendship.
CHALLENGE TO _POLLO