I have a surprising admission to make - while I knew I wanted to go, somehow I never bothered to find out just what exactly the exhibition contained and so had no idea of what to expect, other than the Russian Space Story. They had various paintings and drawings from various early Russian space theorists, including Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) who did a lot to prove spaceflight was a practical proposition. There were models, photos and diagrams about the early forays into space - full-size models of Sputnik-1, the small ball that was the first object sent into space and scared the crap out of the American's with its "Beep Beep" as it whizzed around the globe; the dog Laika, the first living creature sent into space (on a one-way trip unfortunately); the actual engineering model (full-size prototype) of Sputnik-3, which was intended to be the first object sent up into space; full-size or scale models of various Moon and Venus landers, since the Russians were not only the first to send objects to the Moon and Venus but also land on them.
You weren't supposed to take photos, but lots of people were (even having their DSLR's out) and very obviously so and none of the many staff told them they couldn't. I had my DSLR in my bag, but wasn't game enough to pull it out in case I was the one person who got told off - in hindsight, I should have. But I did get some photos on my phone.
This one blew me away, and its a bit special - this is the actual Vostok 6. The Vostok spacecraft were what put the first Cosmonauts into space, starting with the first person in space Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1 - and what's more, they put the Cosmonauts into orbit (thanks to the powerful rocket) whereas the American's could only follow a month later by putting Alan Shepard into space (but not orbit), and nearly a year later finally put John Glenn into Orbit. One other record the Russians set was in this capsule by sending the first woman into Space, Valentina Tereshkova (June 1963). By comparison, the first American woman Astronaut in space was Sally Ride almost exactly 20 years later. To be fair, the Soviets only sent Valentina as a means of nabbing a "first" - the next Soviet woman in space wasn't until 1982. But here it is, the actual capsule of the last Vostok mission showing its re-entry char on the outside. This is the Russian equivalent of the Mercury capsule. Notably, the cosmonaut had to eject from the capsule once back into earth's atmosphere and parachute to the ground as the capsule parachutes weren't sufficient for a soft ground landing. The Mercury parachutes weren't much better - but they landed in water instead to cushion the blow. |
Right across from the real Vostok 6 was the real Voskhod 1. Voskhod 1 was the next space flight after Vostok 6 - so its rather special to have two sequential spacecraft in the same room. Voskhod 1, as can be seen from the photos looks like a Vostok capsule - and that's because it pretty much is. Having claimed as many firsts as they could with individual Cosmonauts, the next logical step for the Soviet space program was to send multiple people into space at a time. They were working on a much better, advanced spaceship (Soyuz) but the Soviet Leadership wanted quick gains and Soyuz wouldn't be ready in time. So, they took Vostok, removed the ejection seat, fitted two chairs and found a way found to make it land softly with people in it. But then came a spanner in the works - the Soviet Leadership learned the American's were designing Gemini to hold 2 Astronauts, so they demanded their own space program send 3 Cosmonauts before Gemini even launches. So Voskhod 1 went from carrying 2 Cosmonauts to carrying 3 by shoehorning in a 3rd chair into the already cramped space, becoming the first spacecraft to take multiple travellers into space. |
It was really good to go with someone who didn't know much about Russian space efforts or perhaps space exploration in general, but took an interest in what they saw. Sasha started asking me various questions, things that hadn't even occurred to me and had me thinking. Case and point, earlier we'd read that Cosmonauts had to be within a specific height range or else they wouldn't fit inside the spacecraft. When we came across Vostok 6, Sasha asked if they used a woman as a Cosmonaut because woman are generally smaller than men and therefore more likely to fit. That is an excellent question, her theory makes sense - but I knew the answer was no, they used a woman for that flight just to chalk up another "first". But I then had to think what the explanation was why didn't they use women more even though they were more likely to fit - what was the reason? how do I explain that? It had me wracking my brain to produce the answer (which was both space programs used fighter pilots initially as they had most of the skills and experience needed already - it was a race and no time to train people from scratch. The Air Forces of both countries just didn't have women pilots in them at that time for various reasons, hence the lack of women). As an aside, Valentina Tereshkova wasn't a pilot but a parachutist - a skill needed for exiting the spacecraft on its return, hence her selection.
The exhibition isn't much, but it sure is something when all is said and done. Also worth mention was the Exhibition gift shop - lots of interesting stuff for sale - replica prints of Soviet propaganda art; books on Space, Soviet Art, Soviet Architecture, and the Soviet Union in general; little soft toy dogs wearing silver jackets and hoods with "Laika" written on them; and lots of other souvenirs, including clothing - the one which most struck my eye was a replica jacket from the Soyuz 39 mission, but at £100 its a bit much! Well done to the Science Museum for putting on the exhibition and for securing some of the genuine articles from their various owners (Moscow Aviation Institute and Energia being the two principle ones) for display outside of Russia, which can't have been an easy feat. Probably the only place I'll get to see more Russian space stuff is in Russia itself - there's a rather good Space Museum in Moscow with Yuri Gagarin's Vostok 1 capsule on display. Yet another reason to visit Moscow...