Voices of the Soviet Space Program

Abram Krayzman was among the group of Soviet military officers who played a key role in the transfer of rocket technology and know-how from Germany to the Soviet Union in the wake of World War II, and he took an active part in the formation of the Soviet Missile Forces. His story vividly illustrates the origins of the Soviet space program in postwar missile developments and gives a glimpse of close interactions between the military and the early rocket engineers who would become well-known Soviet designers of space launchers and spacecraft.

As a military construction officer at Tyuratam (Baykonur), Sergey Safro provides a ground-level perspective on everyday life at the main Soviet spaceport and rocket testing site in the early 1960s. Boredom, harsh life conditions, and all-pervasive secrecy dominated the daily experiences of the military personnel at the launching pad of Soviet space triumphs.

Anatoliy Daron, a brilliant engineer and the mind behind the most famous Soviet rocket engine, gives a firsthand account of the transition of Soviet rocketry from the learning and imitation of German technology to new, innovative designs. Daron’s account of numerous challenges of rocket engine design and testing provides a rare insight into the engineering culture of Soviet rocketry. His analysis of the failings of the Soviet N1 lunar rocket’s design is a crucial addition to the history of the Soviet piloted lunar program. Daron, who worked for Chief Designer Valentin Glushko, also discusses the notorious dispute between Glushko and Chief Designer Sergey Korolev from the perspective of the Glushko camp, adding complexity to the conventional accounts told by the Korolev side. Daron also offers some provocative ideas about the future of human spaceflight.

Sergei Khrushchev has a unique insight into the inner workings of the Soviet space program. A control systems designer at Vladimir Chelomey’s design bureau, a major competitor of Sergey Korolev’s OKB-1, he also participated in discussions and business travels with his father, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. While Sergei Khrushchev’s published memoirs focus on high-level deliberations involving his father and the leadership of the Soviet space program, the interview included in this collection reveals the organizational and engineering culture of Chelomey’s firm and its complex relationships with the rest of the Soviet rocket-space industry. Sergei Khrushchev’s account suggests that behind the rivalry over space projects between Chelomey and Korolev was not merely institutional competition for resources but a clash of two engineering cultures, one coming from aviation and the other from rocketry.

Georgiy Priss, a leading designer of control systems for rocketry, explains the engineering philosophy professed by Chief Designer Nikolay Pilyugin. Pilyugin’s organization developed onboard guidance systems that give rockets “autonomy” from ground control and freed rocketry from the vulnerability of interference-prone radio communications. Pilyugin strove for similar autonomy in his design principles: all components of the control systems were to be designed at his own organization, rather than outsourced to other companies. Priss further discusses the role of onboard computing and its impact on the division of function between human and machine in spacecraft control. The twists and turns in the collaboration between Pilyugin and Chief Designer Sergey Korolev are also presented from the perspective of Pilyugin’s organization.

As a leading specialist in space radio communications, Felix Meschansky was involved in the preparation and implementation of a number of lunar probe missions, and in the development of scientific and engineering foundations for deep space communication. This interview explains several incidents of communication failure during space missions, discusses the different personalities and management styles of the chief designers Korolev and Ryazanskiy, and tells a remarkable story of Meschansky putting his personal career on the line by violating an established procedure in order to implement an ingenious engineering solution of a serious problem.

Yuriy Tyapchenko’s long-term career as a designer of information display systems for Soviet piloted spacecraft has placed him at the center of debates over the role of the cosmonaut on board, the division of function between human and machine, and the ways to integrate a cosmonaut into the technological system of spacecraft. In this interview, Tyapchenko discusses factors that shaped the design of control panels and hand controllers, the input of cosmonauts in the design process, and the institutional context of Soviet information display engineering.

Online supplement: Information display systems for piloted Soviet spacecraft 

Viktor Przhiyalkovskiy led the design of onboard computers for Soviet piloted spacecraft and space stations. He discusses the technical challenges of designing computers for space, the organizational and economic issues in the Soviet computer industry, and the barriers for innovation in the conservative, risk-averse culture of space technology. According to his account, production of computers for the military always took priority over space computing, and this led to the proliferation of different models of onboard computers of varying quality. He also explains the engineering philosophy of onboard computer designers. This philosophy is technology centered: the computer serves as an autonomous decision maker, while the cosmonaut only monitors its operations.

Online supplement: Soviet on-board computers for spacecraft 

Vladimir Shatalov was the first man in space to perform a demanding and risky operation of orbital docking of two piloted spacecraft. After two more challenging flights, he became the top Air Force official in charge of cosmonaut selection and training—the position he occupied for 20 years. His interview provides vivid details of cosmonaut daily life and training, crew selection, and mission operations. His account of the failed docking during his Soyuz 10 mission illustrates the degree of miscommunication and mutual distrust between the engineers and the cosmonauts, in post-flight investigations. Describing his work as assistant chief of the Air Force for spaceflight, Shatalov reveals a complex web of informal relationships among Party officials, chief designers, and the military, which often interfered with formal hierarchies and blurred the division of responsibility. Shatalov also discusses the impact of secrecy requirements on his family life and on international collaboration.

Despite his thorough cosmonaut training and superb qualifications, Mikhail Burdayev did not get a chance to fly in space. His background as a military researcher set him apart from the military pilots, who comprised the majority in the cosmonaut corps, and gave him a distinct perspective on the organization of cosmonaut selection and training. In this interview, he discusses the grueling process of cosmonaut training, the politics of crew selection, and the relations among different professional groups composing the cosmonaut corps. Burdayev also recalls episodes from his later career as a shift leader of the mission control group, discusses the problem of human spaceflight versus automatic probes, and reflects on his career shift from training as a cosmonaut to being a space scientist.

An astrophysicist and polar explorer, Ordinard Kolomiytsev trained to become one of the first Soviet academic scientists in space, but Soviet space officials eventually changed their mind and disbanded the cosmonaut group of the Academy of Sciences. Kolomiytsev offers an account of his polar exploits, cosmonaut training, and the subsequent successful academic career, suggesting that the exclusion of scientists from the cosmonaut corps damaged the Soviet space program by closing an opportunity to integrate cutting-edge research into cosmonaut activities.

Valentina Ponomareva trained to fly the first woman’s space mission and later to be the commander of the first all-women group mission, but the shifting priorities of the Soviet space program eventually prevented her from flying into space. She became a historian of cosmonautics, and in this interview she offers both personal recollections of her training and a historical analysis of fundamental flaws in the philosophy of Soviet space engineering and Soviet space policy, involving an excessive emphasis on automation and the subordination of cosmonauts’ initiative to the logic of automatic systems.

Ada Ordyanskaya, a psychiatrist specializing in stress-induced pathology, served as a consultant for the Soviet space program on several occasions when Mission Control became seriously concerned about the psychological state of the crew. In this interview, without disclosing sensitive details, she discusses several such cases. Her account lifts the veil of silence over instances of psychological disadaptation during Soviet space missions and provides a glimpse into the suppressed tensions in the military-dominated culture of the Soviet cosmonaut corps.

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