For 30 years, the ships of the Russian fleet provided the reception of telemetry information and control of spacecraft for various purposes. On-duty shifts of research vessels participated in the control of spacecraft descents from orbit and their landing, in the work of cosmonauts in open space, control of the activation of upper stages of launch vehicles ... Today, there are two ships left that are still on space watch: "Marshal Krylov" - in the Pacific Fleet, "Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev" - in the Museum of the World Ocean in Kaliningrad.

Captain 1st rank V.G. BEZBORODOV - Commander of the Star Flotilla from 1963 to 1983

The successful launch on August 21, 1957 of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) showed that its head part had landed in a given area of ​​the Kamchatka Peninsula, in the east of the country, on the edge of the earth. And then there was the ocean. After the launch, it became obvious that the last stages of the rocket could splash down in the Pacific Ocean. It was then that Sergei Pavlovich Korolev suggested that NII-4 specialists develop methods and means for tracking missile warheads on the surface section of the trajectory in order to determine the time and coordinates of their splashdown. In 1960, the Atlantic group of floating (ship) measuring points was created. Initially, the group consisted of the ships of the Black Sea Shipping Company "Krasnodar", "Ilyichevsk" and the ship of the Baltic Shipping Company "Dolinsk". These ships, while in the Atlantic, on the descent route of the Vostok spacecraft, recorded and transmitted to the Center the time of turning on and off the spacecraft's brake engine and telemetry about the operation of the onboard system and the well-being of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

In 1962, in connection with the "lunar" and other programs for the study of deep space, the launches of new manned spacecraft, another ship, the Aksai tanker, came into operation. The ships kept a continuous watch until 1965, providing launches of manned spacecraft and automatic interplanetary stations. In 1965 - 1966 the ships "Krasnodar" and "Ilyichevsk" were replaced by the ships "Bezhitsa" and "Ristna". Officers V. Bonakh, Yu. Dulin, V. Zhurin, A. Minkin, G. Samokhin, V. Feoktistov, A. Shcheglov, V. Nikiforov, A. Kosygin, S. Masenkov, A. Maslennikov, S. Prusakov.

After the first successful work at sea, S.P. Korolev decided to create a "space fleet" that would ensure the fulfillment of tasks by spacecraft. For 20 years it was commanded by Captain 1st Rank V.G. Bezborodov. As Vitaly Georgievich recalls today, the history of the creation of the first ships was shrouded in mystery: they went to sea under the flags of merchant ships. Although the real potential enemy knew what these ships were actually doing, so their routes were sometimes tracked from the air.

On November 25, 1966, the Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On increasing the number of ships of the floating radio telemetry complex of the USSR Ministry of Defense" was adopted. At the Baltic Shipyard, the motor ship "Genichevsk" was converted into a floating control and measuring point - a scientific and test vessel "Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov". At the Vyborg Shipyard, the motor ships "Kegostrov" and "Morzhovets" were converted into telemetric measuring vessels with a set of technical means. At the shipyards of the Leningrad Shipbuilding Plant, the motor ships "Nevel" and "Borovichi" were also converted into radio telemetry ships. In March - June 1967, these floating vessels were put into operation. In the press, they were called research vessels of the USSR Academy of Sciences, so the pennant of the USSR Academy of Sciences was raised on the ships. Belonging to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was one of the features of the service of officers of the OM KIK and imposed increased responsibility on each employee of the expeditions. The ship commanders in different years were N. Burov, M. Vlasov, S. Prusakov, V. Rassodin, B. Samoilov, S. Serpikov, A. Suponov, N. Zharkov, V. Klyuchnikov, A. Maslennikov, A. Samoilenko, A. Vydrankov, A. Moskalets, V. Nikiforov, N. Remnev, V. Chudnov, A. Shcheglov.

In 1968, two more shipboard measuring systems, Akademik Sergei Korolev and Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, went into operation. According to Vitaly Bezborodov, the ship "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin" was unique. It had a displacement of 45 thousand tons and was one of the largest ships in the world.

These ships were to become the decoration of the entire marine space fleet, its flagships. They could be in autonomous navigation, without entering ports, up to 11 months and control the flights of any spacecraft.

Research vessels constituted a special class of ocean-going vessels. They were equipped with advanced radio systems for those times. Highly directional receiving and transmitting antennas (25-meter mirrors of the Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, 18-meter snow-white balls on the Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov) contributed to the achievement of large radio communication ranges. The number of laboratories increased significantly, the number of the expedition was 180-200 people. The expedition staff and crew were accommodated in single and double cabins with showers and air conditioning. The ships had lounges, gyms and swimming pools, libraries and cinemas. The medical unit consisted of an operating room, an infirmary, an outpatient clinic, X-ray, physiotherapy and dental rooms. During the expeditions, a workable, close-knit team was created. This was especially important in connection with the fact that mixed crews worked on the ships, subordinate to the shipping company and the expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Despite the space tasks, the officers of the OM KIK had to work in extreme conditions of the sea. So, on December 20, 1977, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (KYUG) was supposed to transmit commands from the MCC to the Salyut-6 orbital station to ensure the work of cosmonauts Yu. Romanenko and G. Grechko in outer space. But at this time a storm raged, which soon turned into a hurricane. The thousand-ton hulk-liner was thrown like a chip. It was not easy for the testers and scientists. Everything that could be fixed was fixed in laboratories and equipment rooms. But it was also necessary to monitor what was being done on the decks and platforms, whether the antennas were damaged. Their mirrors, according to the instructions, should immediately stop at a wind gust of 20 m / s, and weather forecasters reported: "40 m / s. Hurricane wind." The Center offered the KYUG to "turn off" for the duration of the hurricane, but the testers, confident in technology and in themselves, refused the offer, did not back down before the elements, and persevered, showing self-restraint, selflessness and purely test ingenuity. The control tasks for Salyut-6 were fulfilled.

In 1969, the "Space Research Service of the Department of Marine Expeditionary Works of the USSR Academy of Sciences" was established in Moscow to manage and manage the "Marine Space Fleet", which was headed by Doctor of Geographical Sciences, twice Hero of the Soviet Union I.D. Papanin is the former head of the first polar station "North Pole-1". The military unit, which included research vessels, was named the Ninth Separate Marine Command and Measurement Complex (OM KIK). Formally, it was subordinate to the Academy of Sciences, although it officially belonged to the Strategic Missile Forces.

In 1974-1978. were built and became part of the marine command and measuring complex of the court: "Cosmonaut Pavel Belyaev", "Cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov", "Cosmonaut Georgy Dobrovolsky", "Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev". The total number of new research vessels has reached eleven.

By the end of the 70s, it was first announced through the media that the Soviet Union had a naval flotilla that was carrying out a space program. A separate marine measuring complex had to work in all the oceans that are on the globe. But the main area of ​​work on manned objects is the Atlantic Ocean. They worked on military satellites mainly in the Indian Ocean. Since these ships sailed under the flag of the Academy of Sciences, they had the right to call at any ports in the world, where they replenished their food and fresh water supplies.

During its existence, the research vessels of the 9th OM KIK have performed a large number of complex tasks for the control of various spacecraft. The ship's measuring points carried out control over the performance of important operations in the oceans: the docking of spacecraft of the Soyuz and Progress types with the Salyut and Mir orbital stations. On-duty shifts of research vessels participated in the control of spacecraft descent from orbit and landing, in the work of cosmonauts in open space, control of the inclusion of booster stages of launch vehicles during launches of stationary satellites and satellites with highly elliptical orbits. They controlled the operation of the engines of the upper stages during the transfer of the interplanetary stations "Mars", "Venus", "Vega", "Vega-1", "Vega-2" and "Phobos" from an intermediate orbit to an interplanetary trajectory. During the first flight of the reusable orbiter "Buran" on November 15, 1988, telemetry control was performed by three spacecraft: "Cosmonaut Pavel Belyaev", "Cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov" and "Cosmonaut Georgy Dobrovolsky". Expeditions of the 9th MD KIK took part in all the most important technical experiments on the exploration of outer space by automatic and manned spacecraft and orbital stations. The ships of the Star Flotilla served in the ocean until the early nineties. From 1963 to 1995, the heads of the Marine KIK were V. Bezborodov, V. Feoktistov, S. Serpikov and S. Monakov.

The fate of the Separate Marine Command and Measurement Complex, which was part of the KIK, was dramatic. In 1989-1990 five of its KIPs (Control and Measuring Points) - Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, Kegostrov, Morzhovets, Borovichi and Nevel - were decommissioned, as their technical means had exhausted their resources and became morally obsolete. Marine instrumentation "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin" and "Academician Sergei Korolev", assigned to the port of Odessa, became the property of Ukraine. Subsequently, the unique research vessels there were savagely plundered and sold for next to nothing for scrap metal: $170 per ton!

The flagship of the scientific fleet "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin"

The sea points "Cosmonaut Vladimir Volkov", "Cosmonaut Georgy Dobrovolsky", "Cosmonaut Pavel Belyaev" and "Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev", from 1992 to mid-1993, were not used for their intended purpose. In March-June 1994, these four offshore instruments, having completed their last voyages, were decommissioned.

Today, Vitaly Georgievich Bezborodov recalls with pain how veterans convinced the leadership of our country about the need to preserve unique ships and create a museum on their basis that would tell about domestic shipbuilders and the history of the Russian fleet. But their requests were not heard.

Only the research vessel "Cosmonaut Victor Patsaev" was saved. From 1979 to 1994, the ship made 14 voyages in the Central and South Atlantic. It provided communication with the crews of the Mir orbital station, the Soyuz, Progress, Molniya spacecraft, and also performed work on the Energia-Buran space complex. In 2000, the ship came from St. Petersburg to Kaliningrad, where since 2001 it has been moored at the pier of the Museum of the World Ocean on the Historical Fleet Embankment.

Today, the veteran of the space flotilla plays the role of a command and measurement complex designed to control and control satellites and interplanetary stations, to receive and process information and establish two-way communication with astronauts. The ship is equipped with a universal telemetry system, consisting of a parabolic reflector antenna equipment for receiving, direction finding, converting and recording scientific information. In 2006-2008, experimental design work was carried out on the ship to modernize the radio engineering complex, and a fiber-optic communication line was laid that connected the ship to the Mission Control Center in Korolev, near Moscow. Tatyana Komarova, the representative of the shipowner, FSUE NPO Measuring Equipment, head of the department for the operation, modernization and use of the Kosmonavt Viktor Patsaev vessel, said that last year Viktor Patsaev conducted 381 space object control sessions and the number of communication sessions will increase. In 2008, subsidies for the maintenance of the last ship of the space flotilla amounted to 11 million rubles, in 2009 - only 6 million rubles, which caused a significant reduction in the staff of the ship and complicated its maintenance. But, according to Tatyana Vladimirovna, there is a real hope that in 2010 the financing of the vessel and its staff will not only be restored, but also increased. All this indicates that the research vessel "Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev" will still serve the Russian cosmonautics for its intended purpose.

Today, the main part of the tasks of the marine flotilla is performed by the research vessel "Marshal Krylov" - the only one in its class that performs the tasks of providing flight design tests and processing new samples of rocket and space technology (spacecraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, launch vehicles, etc. .) This is the largest ship in the Pacific Fleet.

The memory of the Separate Marine Command and Measurement Complex is preserved by veterans in the Museum of the Naval Space Fleet, which contains photographs of all ships of the space flotilla and their commanders, operational forms saved by crew members during the destruction of ships, gifts brought from all ports of the world, pennant of the Academy of Sciences The USSR, under which ships sailed, books about the history of astronautics. Telegrams are stored in the museum, testifying to the constant interaction between the crews of spacecraft and research vessels: "Dear friends! The crew and expedition of the motor ship Akademik Korolev congratulate you on your new home. We wish you successful completion of the entire flight program. We will do our best, to contribute to the success of your flight. Sincerely happy for you. Proud of you." The answer of the crew of the Salyut station. "Many thanks to the whole crew. We are also proud of you. You work there in such a difficult environment. We are just uncomfortable that you congratulate us. We will fulfill the entire program that is entrusted to us, of course, with your help. Dobrovolsky. Patsaev. Volkov. Crew Soyuz-11 spacecraft, 1971. A few days remained before the death of the crew...

This museum, which occupies six halls on the ground floor of an ordinary high-rise building, has been very popular for 10 years both among professionals and among the younger generation interested in the unique history of the star fleet.

R/V Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin

At the dawn of the space age, the USSR faced a very serious problem. According to the calculations of ballisticians during orbital flights around the Earth, out of 16 daily orbits, 6 pass over the oceans and are "invisible" from the territory of our country. The USSR had neither its own islands nor leased territories in the other hemisphere. And therefore, in connection with the launches of the first automatic interplanetary stations "Mars" and "Venus", and then the manned spacecraft "Vostok", the question of equipping floating control and measuring stations has come to a head.

One of the antennas of the research vessel "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin"

And already in 1965-1966, a detachment of marine measuring points consisted of ships: " Dolinsk", "Aksai", "Ristna" and " Bezhitsa". This is how the Soviet Naval Space Fleet was born.

With the expansion of the program of research and exploration of outer space and, in particular, under the first program of lunar exploration of the USSR (including the flight of the Moon by Soviet cosmonauts), the first specialized research vessels were created. They were built in 1967, in Leningrad, in record time:

R/V space service "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin" on duty

* the first floating command and measurement complex - NIS " Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov;
* four floating telemetry stations, research vessels " Borovichi", "Nevel", "Kegostrov", "Morzhovets".

The new vessels were included in the scientific expeditionary fleet of the USSR Academy of Sciences. To manage the entire Marine Space Fleet (MKF), in October 1971, the "Comic Research Service of the Department of Marine Expeditionary Works of the USSR Academy of Sciences" was created in Moscow.

"Cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov"

The crews of the ships of the Atlantic complex consisted of sailors of the USSR Ministry of the Navy, and the expeditions were formed from among the research workers of the research institutes, civil engineers and technicians.

Under the second Soviet program of lunar exploration, in 1970, a research vessel entered the space fleet "Academician Sergei Korolev", built in Nikolaev. The vessel had the highest seaworthiness and had an unlimited navigation area.

But the true gem of the IFF was R/V Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, built at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad in 1971. It was not only a command and measurement complex, but also an independent floating flight control center for spacecraft that were out of sight from the territory of the USSR. Soviet cosmonautics received a unique vessel that embodies the latest achievements of domestic science and technology. It is no coincidence that he, unconditionally and unanimously, was recognized as the flagship of the space fleet.

research vessel Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin”was the largest and most advanced expedition vessel in terms of technical equipment, which has no analogues in the world.

Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov
The ship was absolutely fantastic. Four parabolic antennas, two of which are 25.5 meters in diameter, cover the 30-meter width of the decks like huge umbrellas. The length of the vessel is 232 meters. Eleven-deck turbo ship with a 19000 hp power plant. gave out a speed of 18 knots. To ensure reliable operation of the ship's radio equipment from anywhere in the World Ocean, under any hydro-meteorological conditions, a high-precision navigation system was installed on it. In addition to accurately determining the coordinates, the system of this complex took into account roll angles, yaw along the course, and even hull deformations, which reached ten centimeters during a storm. All these parameters were entered into the control computer to maintain the stabilization of the pointing of powerful antenna systems of ship complexes. And they, antennas, unlike ground ones, rotated not in two, but in three planes. Despite the high power of deep-space transmitters, the antenna beams were very “thin” and it was necessary to accurately keep pointing at the object in rough sea conditions. Rolling was reduced by a passive damper. Thrusters made it easier to control the vessel at low speeds and when mooring without the help of tugs.

The multifunctional unique radio-technical complex "Foton" made it possible to work simultaneously on two space objects, carrying out the transmission of commands and trajectory measurements, telemetry control and two-way communication with astronauts at a great distance from the Earth.

"Academician Sergei Korolev"
Two-way multi-channel communication with the Mission Control Center was carried out by the complex " Rumb» with a 16-meter diameter antenna mounted on top of the first superstructure. To connect the expedition of the ship and the cosmonauts with Moscow, satellites-relays were used " Lightning”, through them and the ship there was a complete exchange of all information in real time.

All control processes of the ship's radio-technical complexes were automated; there was a computer center with two computers on board.

Even with the current level of development of electronics and computer technology, the creation of such a complex would be a very difficult task. In those days, it bordered on a miracle.

There are 1,500 rooms on the ship with a total area of ​​20,000 square meters. To get around them, going into each for a couple of minutes, it would take two days.

The necessary comfort conditions were created on the ship, the air conditioning installation was three times more powerful than that installed in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. In the bow of the vessel, below the waterline, there was a beautiful cinema hall for 250 spectators, and under it - a well-equipped gym. There were three swimming pools, lounges, even a billiard room. All these benefits from the shipbuilders of Leningrad were fully justified. The ship went on 6 - 7-month voyages to work at different sea latitudes. The crew and members of the scientific expedition were constantly accompanied by heavy physical and psychological stress. The frequent change of working hours was especially annoying, during the flight it shifted three times into the night and back. It happened that during the current day, due to interruptions in flight control, they went to work twice. Often the total running time exceeded 10 hours.

From 1977 to 1979, the Marine Space Fleet included four more new telemetry vessels, on the sides of which the names of the heroes-cosmonauts were inscribed: "Cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov", "Cosmonaut Pavel Belyaev", "Cosmonaut Georgy Dobrovolsky" and " Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev.

By 1979, the Marine Space Fleet consisted of eleven specialized ships, comfortable, well-equipped with modern equipment exclusively of domestic production. The ships of the Naval Space Fleet were directly involved in the flight control of all Soviet orbital stations. Not a single landing of manned spacecraft, not a single launch from intermediate orbits towards the planets of the solar system could do without the IFF. It should be especially noted that in the entire history of its existence there has not been a single breakdown in management sessions.

The glorious history of the IFF ended with the collapse of the USSR. Officially the ships Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin”, “Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov”, “Academician Sergei Korolev” belonged to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and were serviced by the Black Sea Shipping Company. With the formation of the CIS, these organizations remained in different countries. Due to bureaucratic confusion, there were frequent defaults on both sides. The Black Sea Shipping Company, despite the hard times, tried to keep the ships “Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin” and “Academician Sergei Korolev” (“Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov” was transferred to the Baltic Shipping Company). But, in the end, the ships ended up in a roadstead near the port of Yuzhny, without proper supervision. Equipment disappeared from the laboratories, everything slowly rusted and fell into disrepair. In 1996, the ships were no longer good for anything.

The State Property Fund of Ukraine decided to sell them to the Austrian company "Zuyd Merkur" at a price of 170 US dollars per ton. The most unique vessel, which has not been and still is not in the world, a real hymn to the scientific genius of the Soviet man, went under the hammer at the price of scrap metal.

So ingloriously and sadly ended the history of the ships that the whole world once admired. The new, independent Ukraine did not need space, and hence the Marine Space Fleet. And, frankly, the maintenance of such a ship as "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin" is beyond the means of the Ukrainian state. Both financially and scientifically. We could hardly recruit enough scientists and technicians for even one flight. In modern Ukraine, there is no time to dream about the stars, too much energy is spent on the struggle for survival.

But I want to believe that everything will return. And spaceships with red stars on board will again start from Baikonur and carry the Soviet people into the unknown. And communication with them will be kept by the rebuilt spacecraft "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin".


When you saw the title, you might think that we will talk about spaceships rushing to distant objects in the solar system, but today we will talk about the navy, which has become part of the space program.

The ships of the measuring complex provided flight control for manned spacecraft and orbital stations, communication with crews and satellites, trajectory and telemetry measurements, and participated in the testing of ballistic missiles.

17 research vessels worked in the Space Research Service of the Marine Expeditionary Works Department of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The fleet participated in all the most significant events of the USSR space program and even partially survived to this day. Yes, there are almost no such ships left, but the technology of using the ships of the measuring complex is not outdated and remains relevant.

Creation of the space fleet

By the end of the 1950s. 13 ground measuring points were built on the territory of the USSR, which controlled the test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and the flights of the first artificial satellites. They could fully control the "main launch" - the launch from the site, but turned out to be "blind" during the "second launch", when the upper stage was turned on and the spacecraft was brought to a given trajectory.

In addition, it was possible to “see” a spacecraft in orbit only at the moment when it was over the territory of the USSR. The country had neither its own islands nor leased territories in the other hemisphere, and the North Atlantic zone was considered the only convenient place to control the second launch of interplanetary space stations.

In 1959, Sergei Korolev suggested using ships to communicate with spacecraft and control their flight. In the near future, the first launches to Venus and Mars were to take place, which required the development of the project of the ships of the measuring complex (CMC) in the shortest possible time.

Instead of building KIK from scratch (they simply would not have had time to build them on time), several dry cargo ships were equipped with telemetry equipment. By May 1959, three ships had acquired an unusual appearance: an uneven superstructure with three stabilized posts, two powerful U-shaped masts with antennas for radio engineering and telemetry stations.
The refurbishment was completed on time. The expedition went "Siberia", "Suchan" and "Sakhalin" - the first ship's command and measurement points.

"Sakhalin"

"Suchan"

In early 1960, in the Pacific Ocean, they took part in the testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles. In 1961, these ships were already serving the first space flight around the Earth with a man on board.

"Chazhma"

"Chumikan"

In 1963, the fleet was replenished with the ships Chumikan and Chazhma. However, simply re-equipping dry cargo ships was not enough. A space communications ship could not remain an ordinary ship, albeit a re-equipped one - many specific problems had to be solved in it. How to place different types of radio stations on a ship so as not to cause mutual interference? Where can you find so much energy to power new technology, which also has special requirements for current parameters? All these issues were resolved with the construction of a new class of ships.

In 1967, Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, Borovichi, Nevel, Kegostrov, Morzhovets were built, and the space fleet itself was transferred to the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov

Many will read about the Marine Space Fleet of the USSR for the first time. It has long been sold out and scrapped, like almost all the space pride of our country, and the memory of the great scientific ships that provided Soviet cosmonautics is gradually ...

Many will read about the Marine Space Fleet of the USSR for the first time. It has long been sold out and scrapped, like almost all the space pride of our country, and the memory of the great scientific ships that provided Soviet cosmonautics was gradually erased from the history of the star race, and unique ships turned into ghost ships.

A whole detachment of expedition ships provided testing of rockets, participated in the flight control of manned spacecraft and orbital stations, and controlled the launches of distant spacecraft to the planets of the solar system. Starting from the first steps of the domestic cosmonautics until the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Marine Space Fleet did not disrupt a single task.

Vessels for sailors…

To control the flight of spacecraft (SC), a command and measurement complex was created, which includes a Mission Control Center (MCC) and a large network of ground measuring points (NIPs). But to ensure good communication between spacecraft and the Earth at any time of the day, the territory of the country was not enough. After the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, ballistics calculations showed that out of 16 orbits that a spacecraft makes per day, 6 pass over the oceans. They were called "deaf points", they were "invisible" from the territory of the USSR, which means that the flight took place blindly, without the possibility of control. We did not have islands and bases in the other hemisphere in order to equip NPCs there. The solution to the problem was scientific vessels capable of connecting the Earth with space almost anywhere in the ocean. Subsequently, thanks to the use of the space fleet, all 6 hard-to-reach turns became visible.

The birth of the space fleet - 1960. According to the plans of S.P. Korolev in October of this year, the first launches of distant spacecraft to Venus and Mars were to take place. On his initiative, three dry-cargo ships Dolinsk, Krasnodar and Voroshilov (later renamed Ilyichevsk) are urgently equipped with telemetric equipment. On August 1, "Krasnodar" and "Voroshilov" from Odessa, and then "Dolinsk" from Leningrad go to the Atlantic to control the second launches (when the object accelerates from the first space velocity to the second one in order to fly to distant planets). In 1961, all three ships worked on the first manned flight around the Earth.

Each of the ships was equipped with two sets of Tral radio telemetry stations capable of receiving and recording dozens of parameters from onboard space objects, recalls Vasily Vasilyevich Bystrushkin (a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. In 1961, he was the head of the expedition of a floating telemetry station in the Atlantic, equipped on a ship Krasnodar, a direct participant in the support of Gagarin's flight, the main representative of the customer for the construction of specialized ships of the Marine Space Fleet, laureate of the USSR State Prize). - Until that time, these stations were made only in the automotive version, and for marine conditions they did not have time to finalize them in time. Therefore, car bodies with equipment placed in them, but, of course, without a chassis, were lowered into the holds of motor ships and fastened there like a sea. The ships received the coordinates of the operating points in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea of ​​the Atlantic and had to track the operation of the on-board systems in the landing area. "Krasnodar", on which I was the head of the expedition, was appointed the main one in the complex, since the most experienced specialists were on board. To the south along the highway, one and a half thousand kilometers, the motor ship "Ilyichevsk" received a working point. The point of work of "Ilyichevsk" allowed him to be the first to fix the reception of telemetry, if suddenly the landing program on board turned on ahead of schedule. The ship "Dolinsk" took its workplace north of the island of Fernando Po (near Cameroon). Its radio visibility zone made it possible to fix the operation of on-board telemetry in the event of a delay in the turn-on time of the braking propulsion system (TDU). Such an arrangement of ships made it possible to receive telemetry with a margin of time from the start of switching on the onboard attitude control system to the end of the TDU operation when the spacecraft entered the dense layers of the atmosphere. Until April 12, daily training of operators took place, and only the antenna devices of the Tral stations, due to the requirements of the secrecy regime, continued to be disassembled and covered with a tarpaulin. The weather in the work area on this day (April 12) did not differ from other days of the year at the equator, a bright sunny day, calm. The ship is moving slowly to the south-west, the antennas are set according to target designations. An hour after the start from the "Vostok" received a steady signal. The spacecraft's landing orientation system (SC) worked normally. The operators of the Tral station accurately recorded the duration of the braking propulsion system. Telegrams of operational reports were urgently transferred to Moscow, two or three minutes after the start of receiving telemetry, they were at the MCC. The landing of the Vostok proceeded according to a given program, and from our reports it was clear that the ship should land at the calculated point. But work was in full swing in the stuffy hold of the ship for a long time: in the photo laboratory they continued developing multi-meter sections of film. The decoders looked at the still damp, not completely dry tape on the tables, analyzed the operation parameters of the ship's on-board systems for transmission to the MCC of the second stream of telemetric measurements. An atmosphere of joy and pride for the new success in space exploration reigned on the ship. By this time, the captain's first assistant had hung out a huge banner: "Long live the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin!" - and solemnly held an impromptu rally.

In the conditions of secrecy and the race for superiority in space, the IFF vessels went on voyages under the flag of Sovtransflot with the legend of "supplying containers for Soviet fishing vessels." This aroused the suspicions of the authorities of foreign ports, where the expeditions went to replenish water, food and fuel. Critical situations arose, our "space" ships were often captured at sea, in ports. Nowhere was it officially stated that they were scientific, that they were engaged in measurements, and this could lead to serious problems. Therefore, in 1967, in a TASS report, our ships were declared to belong to the Academy of Sciences and began to sail under the pennants of the academic fleet. Now their calls to foreign ports were processed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It was in 1967 that the first specialized vessels of the Marine Space Fleet appeared: a floating command and measuring complex, a research vessel (RV) "Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov" and four telemetry points - R/V "Borovichi", "Nevel", "Kegostrov", " Morzhovets". All were built and equipped in Leningrad in connection with the expansion of lunar exploration programs, including flybys of the Moon by Soviet cosmonauts. We have already participated in the lunar race, we wanted to be the first here too.

Giants

Under the second program of lunar exploration (the landing of Soviet cosmonauts on the moon), in 1970, a ship entered the space fleet, outwardly similar to a passenger liner. It was the R/V Akademik Sergei Korolev, a 180-meter vessel with a displacement of 22 thousand tons and a power plant with a capacity of 12,000 hp. The vessel had an unlimited navigation area. Soon the second great ship of science appeared, recognized as the flagship of the USSR space fleet, the world's largest research ship, the Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. It was built at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad in 1971. It was a real floating mission control center. Both ships are unique. The equipment specially designed for them had no analogues. It was created by our designers on the basis of domestic technology: complex radio-technical complexes capable of issuing the necessary commands on board spacecraft, receiving telemetric information about the state of on-board systems, conducting radio conversations with astronauts, and much more. On board each ship were the expedition and the crew. The expedition - those who controlled the flight, provided communication sessions (engineers and technicians), and the crew - the attendants: navigators, captain and assistant navigators, deck crew, engine room. The ships went on voyages for 6-7 months, sometimes more. For example, the third flight of the "Queen" was 9.5 months. The space service ships were remarkable for their amazing architecture. Snow-white, with openwork antennas, some of colossal size, they became a vivid symbol of the growing space power of the USSR. Only the mirrors of the antennas of "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin" in 25 meters or 18-meter balls of radio-transparent antenna shelters on the "Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov" struck with truly cosmic scales. The FCI vessels had excellent seaworthiness, they operated in all areas of the World Ocean, at any time of the year and in any weather. "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin", for example, could travel 20,000 miles without entering a port - this is almost a round-the-world trip. From 1977 to 1979, the fleet was replenished with four more telemetry ships: Cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov, Cosmonaut Pavel Belyaev, Cosmonaut Georgy Dobrovolsky and Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev. By 1979, the IFF consisted of 11 specialized ships that participated in the management of manned flights, docking and undocking of spacecraft over the ocean. Not a single landing of manned spacecraft and launches to distant planets could do without them.

ship eater

The main point of operation of the large vessels of the space fleet was the area off the east coast of Canada, not far from the treacherous Sable Island. Barely visible in the morning mist, a small island, which has a strange change in size and coordinates, has been moving across the ocean for many years, as if animated. Slowly but menacingly, the island is creeping towards the Atlantic, moving an average of 230 meters per year. In winter, the storm almost does not subside here, and in summer thick fog hangs forever. Woven from quicksand, the island has captured and dragged ships into its dunes for centuries, for which it was nicknamed the "ship-eater" and the "graveyard of the North Atlantic." It was here, near the island with notoriety, that our “Komarovites”, “Queens” and “Gagarins” stood, replacing each other, on duty on “invisible” coils.

Starfish

"Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin" is striking even in photographs. It was twice the size of the Titanic. The ship's displacement was 45,000 tons (for comparison, the Titanic had a displacement of 28,000 tons). The vessel is 232 meters long, 64 meters high. The width of the deck was about 30 meters. Four parabolic antennas towered above it, two of which were 25.5 meters in diameter, together with the foundations, their total weight was about 1000 tons. Unique antennas rotated in three planes. Eleven-deck turbo ship with a power plant of 19,000 hp had a speed of 18 knots. Despite the high power of the deep-space transmitters, the antenna beams were very "thin" and it was necessary to accurately keep pointing at the object in pitching conditions. Thanks to the multifunctional radio-technical complex "Photon", the ship could work simultaneously with two space objects. For the connection of the R/V and the cosmonauts with Moscow, the Molniya relay satellites were used, thus, the complete exchange of all information took place in real time. The ship had 1,500 rooms with a total area of ​​20,000 sq. meters. It would take two days to get around them all. More than a hundred laboratories were equipped here. The total number of crew on board reached 330 people. “Unlike the first-born of the space fleet, all the necessary conditions for comfort were created on the Gagarin,” says Anatoly Kapitanov, veteran of the IFF. - In the bow of the flagship, a modern (for those years) cinema hall for 250 spectators was located, and under it - a gym. There were three swimming pools, recreation areas with a billiard room. The power of ship air conditioners was three times higher than the air conditioning system installed in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. All these benefits from the Leningrad shipbuilders were fully justified. We went on 6-7-month voyages to work at different sea latitudes. We were accompanied by heavy physical and psychological stress. The frequent change of working hours was especially annoying, during the flight it shifted three times into the night and back. Sometimes, during the day, due to interruptions in flight control, they went to work twice. Often the total running time exceeded 10 hours. It’s good, of course, that, unlike the land-based lifestyle, you don’t have to “go” to work by transport, worry about some purchases, everything was on schedule and for free.”

Shipwreck

1996 In Odessa, in the port of Yuzhny, an unusual ship stood alone at the pier. On its side was the strange name "AGAR", meaning nothing to those who first saw the steel giant, who had arrived from somewhere in the great past. It was our flagship, the best scientific ship in the country and, perhaps, in the world. How did it get here? In 1991, the main expedition left the Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. After the collapse of the Union, the reduction of space programs, astronautics experienced a difficult time - it was out of work. One of the main symbols of the R/V Gagarin space flotilla was now a terrible sight: rusted, desecrated by vandals, littered and looted. The Marine Space Fleet was completely disbanded in 1995. In 1991, Gagarin was privatized by Ukraine, and soon titanium was beyond the reach of the Black Sea Shipping Company. It is still unknown what happened to the ship's library and museum, where the portrait of Y. Gagarin, presented to the crew by Anna Timofeevna Gagarina, disappeared. In 1996, "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin" was sold at a price of $170 per ton. It was a shame to sell scientific pride for scrap, so the name of the ship was smeared with paint, leaving only the letters "AGAR". "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin", who made 22 expeditionary flights, set off on his last journey, to India. There, in the port of Alang, in a matter of days it was cut into large, shapeless pieces. Perhaps this metal will return to us in the form of pots or souvenir badges, or in the form of other ships, but no one will know about this. Today, only one ship remains from the entire IFF - "Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev", it stands in the port of Kaliningrad, at the pier of the "Museum of the World Ocean". Sometimes it is involved in work on the ISS - it conducts periodic communication sessions. But it does not go out to sea, it is "on a leash".

Today, many countries around the world have ships built to track space. The United States and France have several, China is constantly expanding its space fleet: our eastern neighbors already have 5 specialized ships equipped with systems for receiving telemetry and controlling spacecraft. Lacking a large network of NPCs and foreign bases, the Chinese are well aware that for the development of astronautics, they are vital to the ships of the IFF.

The first one was related to modifications, the need for which arose after the death in June 1971 of the crew of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft (cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev). The equipment of the complex of means of rescue in case of depressurization of the descent vehicle (including spacesuits) was introduced into the ship's systems. To compensate for the massive costs, the number of crew members was reduced from three to two people, and solar panels were excluded from the ship's power supply system.

The second modification of the Soyuz spacecraft was carried out in connection with the first international experimental flight under the Soyuz-Apollo program. The Soyuz was equipped with new compatible rendezvous and docking facilities, improved life support system units, upgraded traffic control devices, a new command radio link and radio telemetry, a television system with a color camera, and again solar panels. As a result, in July 1975, a joint flight of the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz-19 and the American spacecraft Apollo was successfully completed.

In the future, the Soyuz T transport vehicle was created to replace the Soyuz spacecraft. It was distinguished by significantly improved systems (digital computer (DCM), new control system, integrated propulsion system). Due to the modification of the descent vehicle, the Soyuz-T crew could include up to three people in space suits.

The improved transport ship ensured the delivery of Soviet and international crews to the Salyut-6 and Salyut-7 orbital stations. Soyuz T spacecraft were launched in 1979-1986.

In the 1980s, the Soyuz T was modernized and received the name Soyuz TM ("Soyuz" - modernized transport). A new Kurs rendezvous and docking system was installed on the Soyuz TM spacecraft, the propulsion system, radio communication system, emergency rescue system, parachute system, soft landing engines, onboard computer, and more were improved. The new modification of the ship went into operation after the launch on May 21, 1986 in an unmanned version to the Mir station.

Manned spacecraft flights, which began in February 1987, ensured not only the successful operation of the Mir orbital complex, but also the initial stage of the work of the International Space Station (ISS). Soyuz TM spacecraft were launched in 1986-2002.

The next modification of the ship was created for operation in international missions. Its development began in 1995 by order of NASA to expand the range of anthropometric parameters of its crew, since only Russian Soyuz TM vehicles were technically capable of performing the function of a rescue ship on the ISS, and very many American astronauts could not fit in them. The new modification of the ship received the designation "Soyuz TMA". The letter "A" in the title stood for "Anthropometric modification".

When creating the Soyuz TMA spacecraft, unique innovative solutions were developed and implemented: design improvements to its descent vehicle made it possible to accommodate cosmonauts with an extended range of anthropometric parameters (weight from 50 to 95 kilograms and height from 150 to 190 centimeters), as well as improve ship control in manual mode.