rocket speed in space. Space velocity in the laboratory. Continuation

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The current speed record in space has been held for 46 years. The correspondent wondered when he would be beaten.

We humans are obsessed with speed. So, only in the last few months it became known that students in Germany set a speed record for an electric car, and the US Air Force plans to improve hypersonic aircraft in such a way that they develop speeds five times the speed of sound, i.e. over 6100 km/h.

Such planes will not have a crew, but not because people cannot move at such a high speed. In fact, people have already moved at speeds that are several times faster than the speed of sound.

However, is there a limit beyond which our rapidly rushing bodies will no longer be able to withstand overloads?

The current speed record is equally held by three astronauts who participated in the Apollo 10 space mission - Tom Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan.

In 1969, when the astronauts flew around the moon and returned back, the capsule they were in reached a speed that on Earth would be equal to 39.897 km / h.

"I think that a hundred years ago we could hardly have imagined that a person could travel in space at a speed of almost 40,000 kilometers per hour," says Jim Bray of the aerospace concern Lockheed Martin.

Bray is the director of the habitable module project for the promising Orion spacecraft, which is being developed by the US Space Agency NASA.

As conceived by the developers, the Orion spacecraft - multi-purpose and partially reusable - should take astronauts into low Earth orbit. It may well be that with its help it will be possible to break the speed record set for a person 46 years ago.

The new super-heavy rocket, part of the Space Launch System, is scheduled to make its first manned flight in 2021. This will be a flyby of an asteroid in lunar orbit.

The average person can handle about five G's before passing out.

Then months-long expeditions to Mars should follow. Now, according to the designers, the usual maximum speed of the Orion should be approximately 32,000 km/h. However, the speed that Apollo 10 has developed can be surpassed even if the basic configuration of the Orion spacecraft is maintained.

"The Orion is designed to fly to a variety of targets throughout its lifetime," says Bray. "It could be much faster than what we currently plan."

But even "Orion" will not represent the peak of human speed potential. "Basically, there is no other limit to the speed at which we can travel other than the speed of light," says Bray.

The speed of light is one billion km/h. Is there any hope that we will be able to bridge the gap between 40,000 km/h and these values?

Surprisingly, speed as a vector quantity indicating the speed of movement and the direction of movement is not a problem for people in the physical sense, as long as it is relatively constant and directed in one direction.

Therefore, people - theoretically - can move in space only slightly slower than the "velocity limit of the universe", i.e. the speed of light.

But even assuming that we overcome the significant technological hurdles associated with building fast spacecraft, our fragile, mostly water bodies will face new dangers from the effects of high speed.

There could be, for now, only imaginary dangers if humans could travel faster than the speed of light through exploiting loopholes in modern physics or through discoveries that break the pattern.

How to withstand overload

However, if we intend to travel at speeds in excess of 40,000 km/h, we will have to reach it and then slow down, slowly and with patience.

Rapid acceleration and equally rapid deceleration are fraught with mortal danger to the human body. This is evidenced by the severity of bodily injuries resulting from car accidents, in which the speed drops from several tens of kilometers per hour to zero.

What is the reason for this? In that property of the Universe, which is called inertia or the ability of a physical body with mass to resist a change in its state of rest or motion in the absence or compensation of external influences.

This idea is formulated in Newton's first law, which states: "Every body continues to be held in its state of rest or uniform and rectilinear motion, until and insofar as it is forced by applied forces to change this state."

We humans are able to endure enormous G-forces without serious injury, but only for a few moments.

"The state of rest and movement at a constant speed is normal for the human body, - explains Bray. - We should rather worry about the state of the person at the time of acceleration."

About a century ago, the development of durable aircraft that could maneuver at speed led pilots to report strange symptoms caused by changes in speed and direction of flight. These symptoms included temporary loss of vision and a feeling of either heaviness or weightlessness.

The reason is g-forces, measured in units of G, which are the ratio of linear acceleration to the acceleration of free fall on the surface of the Earth under the influence of attraction or gravity. These units reflect the effect of free fall acceleration on the mass of, for example, the human body.

An overload of 1 G is equal to the weight of a body that is in the Earth's gravity field and is attracted to the center of the planet at a speed of 9.8 m/sec (at sea level).

G-forces that a person experiences vertically from head to toe or vice versa are truly bad news for pilots and passengers.

With negative overloads, i.e. slowing down, blood rushes from the toes to the head, there is a feeling of oversaturation, as in a handstand.

"Red veil" (the feeling that a person experiences when blood rushes to the head) occurs when the blood-swollen, translucent lower eyelids rise and close the pupils of the eyes.

Conversely, during acceleration or positive g-forces, blood drains from the head to the legs, the eyes and brain begin to experience a lack of oxygen, as blood accumulates in the lower extremities.

At first, vision becomes cloudy, i.e. there is a loss of color vision and rolls, as they say, a "gray veil", then a complete loss of vision or a "black veil" occurs, but the person remains conscious.

Excessive overloads lead to complete loss of consciousness. This condition is called congestion-induced syncope. Many pilots died due to the fact that a "black veil" fell over their eyes - and they crashed.

The average person can handle about five G's before passing out.

Pilots, dressed in special anti-G overalls and trained in a special way to tense and relax the muscles of the torso so that the blood does not drain from the head, are able to control the aircraft with overloads of about nine Gs.

Upon reaching a steady cruising speed of 26,000 km/h in orbit, astronauts experience no more speed than commercial airline passengers.

“For short periods of time, the human body can withstand much higher g-forces than nine Gs,” says Jeff Sventek, executive director of the Aerospace Medicine Association, located in Alexandria, Va. few".

We humans are able to endure enormous G-forces without serious injury, but only for a few moments.

The short-term endurance record was set by US Air Force Captain Eli Bieding Jr. at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. In 1958, when braking on a special rocket-powered sled, after accelerating to 55 km / h in 0.1 second, he experienced an overload of 82.3 G.

This result was recorded by an accelerometer attached to his chest. Beeding's eyes were also covered with a "black veil", but he escaped with only bruises during this outstanding demonstration of the endurance of the human body. True, after the arrival, he spent three days in the hospital.

And now to space

Astronauts, depending on the vehicle, also experienced quite high g-forces - from three to five G - during takeoffs and during re-entry into the atmosphere, respectively.

These g-forces are relatively easy to bear, thanks to the clever idea of ​​strapping space travelers into seats in a prone position facing the direction of flight.

Once they reach a steady cruising speed of 26,000 km/h in orbit, astronauts experience no more speed than passengers on commercial flights.

If overloads will not be a problem for long-term expeditions on the Orion spacecraft, then with small space rocks - micrometeorites - everything is more difficult.

These particles the size of a grain of rice can reach impressive yet destructive speeds of up to 300,000 km/h. To ensure the integrity of the ship and the safety of its crew, Orion is equipped with an external protective layer, the thickness of which varies from 18 to 30 cm.

In addition, additional shielding shields are provided, as well as ingenious placement of equipment inside the ship.

"In order not to lose the flight systems that are vital to the entire spacecraft, we must accurately calculate the approach angles of micrometeorites," says Jim Bray.

Rest assured, micrometeorites are not the only hindrance to space missions, during which high human flight speeds in airless space will play an increasingly important role.

During the expedition to Mars, other practical tasks will also have to be solved, for example, to supply the crew with food and counteract the increased risk of cancer due to the effects of cosmic radiation on the human body.

Reducing travel time will reduce the severity of such problems, so the speed of travel will become more and more desirable.

Next generation spaceflight

This need for speed will put new obstacles in the way of space travelers.

New NASA spacecraft that threaten to break Apollo 10's speed record will still rely on time-tested chemical systems rocket engines used since the first space flights. But these systems have severe speed limits due to the release of small amounts of energy per unit of fuel.

The most preferred, albeit elusive, source of energy for a fast spacecraft is antimatter, a twin and antipode of ordinary matter.

Therefore, in order to significantly increase the speed of flight for people going to Mars and beyond, as scientists recognize, completely new approaches are needed.

"The systems that we have today are quite capable of getting us there," says Bray, "but we all would like to witness a revolution in engines."

Eric Davis, lead research physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Austin, Texas, and member of NASA's Motion Physics Breakthrough Program, six-year-old research project, which ended in 2002, identified the three most promising means, from the point of view of traditional physics, that can help humanity achieve speeds that are reasonably sufficient for interplanetary travel.

In short, we are talking about the phenomena of energy release during the splitting of matter, thermonuclear fusion and annihilation of antimatter.

The first method is atomic fission and is used in commercial nuclear reactors.

The second, thermonuclear fusion, is the creation of heavier atoms from simpler atoms, the kind of reactions that power the sun. This is a technology that fascinates, but is not given to the hands; until it is "always 50 years away" - and always will be, as the old motto of this industry says.

"This is very Hi-tech, says Davis, “but they are based on traditional physics and have been firmly established since the dawn of the Atomic Age.” Optimistically, propulsion systems based on the concepts of atomic fission and fusion are theoretically capable of accelerating a ship to 10% of the speed of light, i.e. up to a very worthy 100 million km / h.

The most preferred, albeit elusive, source of energy for a fast spacecraft is antimatter, the twin and antipode of ordinary matter.

When two kinds of matter come into contact, they annihilate each other, resulting in the release of pure energy.

The technologies to produce and store - so far extremely small - amounts of antimatter already exist today.

At the same time, the production of antimatter in useful quantities will require new next-generation special capacities, and engineering will have to enter into a competitive race to create an appropriate spacecraft.

But, as Davis says, a lot great ideas already being worked out on the drawing boards.

Spaceships propelled by antimatter energy will be able to accelerate for months and even years and reach greater percentages of the speed of light.

At the same time, overloads on board will remain acceptable for the inhabitants of the ships.

At the same time, such fantastic new speeds will be fraught with other dangers for the human body.

energy hail

At speeds of several hundred million kilometers per hour, any speck of dust in space, from dispersed hydrogen atoms to micrometeorites, inevitably becomes a high-energy bullet capable of piercing through a ship's hull.

"When you move at a very high speed, it means that the particles flying towards you are moving at the same speed," says Arthur Edelstein.

Together with his late father, William Edelstein, professor of radiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he worked on a scientific paper that examined the effects of cosmic hydrogen atoms (on people and equipment) during ultrafast space travel in space.

The hydrogen will begin to decompose into subatomic particles that will seep into the interior of the ship and expose both crew and equipment to radiation.

The Alcubierre engine will carry you like a surfer on a wave crest Eric Davies, research physicist

At 95% the speed of light, exposure to such radiation would mean almost instantaneous death.

The starship will heat up to melting temperatures that no conceivable material can resist, and the water contained in the crew members' bodies will immediately boil.

"These are all extremely nasty problems," remarks Edelstein with grim humor.

He and his father roughly calculated that in order to create some hypothetical magnetic shielding system capable of shielding the ship and its people from a deadly hydrogen rain, a starship could travel at no more than half the speed of light. Then the people on board have a chance to survive.

Mark Millis, a translational physicist and former head of NASA's Breakthrough Motion Physics Program, warns that this potential speed limit for spaceflight remains a problem for the distant future.

“Based on the physical knowledge accumulated to date, we can say that it will be extremely difficult to develop a speed above 10% of the speed of light,” says Millis. “We are not in danger yet. A simple analogy: why worry that we can drown if We haven't even entered the water yet."

Faster than light?

If we assume that we, so to speak, have learned to swim, can we then learn to glide through space time - if we develop this analogy further - and fly at superluminal speed?

The hypothesis of an innate ability to survive in a superluminal environment, although doubtful, is not without certain glimpses of educated enlightenment in pitch darkness.

One such intriguing way to travel is based on technology, similar topics, which is used in the "warp drive" or "warp drive" from Star Trek.

Known as the "Alcubierre Engine"* (named after the Mexican theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre), this propulsion system works by allowing the ship to compress the normal space-time described by Albert Einstein in front of it and expand it behind myself.

In essence, the ship moves in a certain volume of space-time, a kind of "curvature bubble", which moves faster than the speed of light.

Thus, the ship remains stationary in normal space-time in this "bubble" without being deformed and avoiding violations of the universal speed limit of light.

"Instead of floating through the waters of normal space-time," says Davis, "the Alcubierre engine will carry you like a surfer on a board on the crest of a wave."

There is also a certain trick here. To implement this idea, an exotic form of matter is needed, which has a negative mass in order to compress and expand space-time.

"Physics does not contain any contraindications regarding negative mass," says Davis, "but there are no examples of it, and we have never seen it in nature."

There is another trick. In a paper published in 2012, researchers at the University of Sydney speculated that the "warp bubble" would accumulate high-energy cosmic particles as it inevitably began to interact with the contents of the universe.

Some of the particles will get inside the bubble itself and pump the ship with radiation.

Stuck at sub-light speeds?

Are we really doomed to get stuck at the stage of sub-light speeds because of our delicate biology?!

It's not so much about setting a new world (galactic?) speed record for a person, but about the prospect of turning humanity into an interstellar society.

At half the speed of light - which is the limit Edelstein's research suggests our bodies can withstand - a round-trip journey to the nearest star would take more than 16 years.

(The effects of time dilation, under which the crew of a starship in its coordinate system will pass less time than for people remaining on Earth in their coordinate system, will not lead to dramatic consequences at half the speed of light).

Mark Millis is full of hope. Considering that humanity has developed anti-g suits and protection against micrometeorites, allowing people to safely travel in the great blue distance and the star-studded blackness of space, he is confident that we can find ways to survive, no matter how fast we reach in the future.

"The same technologies that can help us achieve incredible new speeds of travel," Millis muses, "will provide us with new, as yet unknown, capabilities to protect crews."

Translator's notes:

*Miguel Alcubierre came up with the idea of ​​his "bubble" in 1994. And in 1995, Russian theoretical physicist Sergei Krasnikov proposed the concept of a device for space travel faster than the speed of light. The idea was called "Krasnikov's pipes".

This is an artificial curvature of space-time according to the principle of the so-called wormhole. Hypothetically, the ship will move in a straight line from the Earth to a given star through curved space-time, passing through other dimensions.

According to Krasnikov's theory, the space traveler will return back at the same time that he set off.

It began in 1957, when the first satellite, Sputnik-1, was launched in the USSR. Since then, people have managed to visit, and unmanned space probes have visited all the planets, with the exception of. Satellites orbiting the Earth have become part of our lives. Thanks to them, millions of people have the opportunity to watch TV (see the article ""). The figure shows how part of the spacecraft returns to Earth using a parachute.

rockets

The history of space exploration begins with rockets. The first rockets were used for bombing during the Second World War. In 1957, a rocket was created that delivered Sputnik-1 into space. Most of the rocket is occupied by fuel tanks. Only gets to orbit top part missiles called payload. The Ariane-4 rocket has three separate sections with fuel tanks. They are called rocket stages. Each stage pushes the rocket a certain distance, after which, when empty, it separates. As a result, only the payload remains from the rocket. The first stage carries 226 tons of liquid fuel. Fuel and two boosters create the huge mass necessary for takeoff. The second stage separates at an altitude of 135 km. The third stage of the rocket is hers, working on liquid and nitrogen. Fuel here burns out in about 12 minutes. As a result, only the payload remains from the European Space Agency's Ariane-4 rocket.

In the 1950s-1960s. The USSR and the USA competed in space exploration. Vostok was the first manned spacecraft. The Saturn V rocket carried humans to the moon for the first time.

Missiles of the 1950s-/960s:

1. "Satellite"

2. Vanguard

3. "Juno-1"

4. "East"

5. "Mercury-Atlant"

6. "Gemini-Titan-2"

8. "Saturn-1B"

9. "Saturn-5"

space speeds

To get into space, the rocket must go beyond. If its speed is insufficient, it will simply fall to the Earth, due to the action of the force. The speed required to go into space is called first cosmic speed. It is 40,000 km/h. In orbit, the spacecraft circles the Earth with orbital speed. The orbital speed of a ship depends on its distance from the Earth. When a spaceship flies in orbit, it essentially just falls, but it cannot fall, because it loses height just as much as the earth's surface goes down under it, rounding.

space probes

Probes are unmanned space vehicles sent over long distances. They have visited every planet except Pluto. The probe can fly to its destination for many years. When it flies up to the desired celestial body, it goes into orbit around it and sends the obtained information to Earth. Miriner-10, the only probe that has visited. Pioneer 10 became the first space probe to leave the solar system. It will reach the nearest star in more than a million years.

Some probes are designed to land on the surface of another planet, or they are equipped with landers that are dropped onto the planet. The descent vehicle can collect soil samples and deliver them to Earth for research. In 1966, for the first time, a spacecraft, the Luna-9 probe, landed on the surface of the Moon. After landing, it opened up like a flower and started filming.

satellites

A satellite is an unmanned vehicle that is placed into orbit, usually the earth. The satellite has a specific task - for example, to monitor, transmit a television image, explore mineral deposits: there are even spy satellites. The satellite moves in orbit at orbital speed. In the picture you see a picture of the mouth of the Humber River (England), taken by Landset from Earth orbit. "Landset" can "consider areas on Earth with an area of ​​​​as little as 1 square. m.

The station is the same satellite, but designed for the work of people on board. A spacecraft with a crew and cargo can dock to the station. So far, only three long-term stations have been operating in space: the American Skylab and the Russian Salyut and Mir. Skylab was launched into orbit in 1973. Three crews worked in succession on its board. The station ceased to exist in 1979.

Orbital stations play a huge role in studying the effect of weightlessness on the human body. Stations of the future, such as Freedom, which the Americans are now building with contributions from Europe, Japan, and Canada, will be used for very long-term experiments or for industrial production in space.

When an astronaut leaves a station or spacecraft for outer space, he puts on space suit. Inside the spacesuit is artificially created, equal to atmospheric. The inner layers of the suit are cooled by liquid. Devices monitor the pressure and oxygen content inside. The glass of the helmet is very durable, it can withstand the impact of small stones - micrometeorites.

Space exploration has long been a common thing for mankind. But flights to near-Earth orbit and to other stars are unthinkable without devices that allow you to overcome the earth's gravity - rockets. How many of us know: how the launch vehicle is arranged and functions, where the launch comes from and what is its speed, which allows to overcome the gravity of the planet even in airless space. Let's take a closer look at these issues.

Device

To understand how a launch vehicle works, you need to understand its structure. Let's start the description of nodes from top to bottom.

CAC

An apparatus that puts a satellite into orbit or a cargo compartment always differs from the carrier, which is intended for transporting the crew, by its configuration. The latter has a special emergency rescue system at the very top, which serves to evacuate the compartment from astronauts in the event of a failure of the launch vehicle. This non-standard shape the turret, located at the very top, is a miniature rocket that allows you to "pull" the capsule with people up under extraordinary circumstances and move it to a safe distance from the point of failure. This is relevant at the initial stage of the flight, where it is still possible to carry out a parachute descent of the capsule. In space, the role of the SAS becomes less important.In near-Earth space, the function that makes it possible to separate the descent vehicle from the launch vehicle will allow astronauts to be saved.

cargo compartment

Below the SAS there is a compartment carrying the payload: a manned vehicle, a satellite, a cargo compartment. Based on the type and class of the launch vehicle, the mass of the cargo put into orbit can range from 1.95 to 22.4 tons. All cargo transported by the ship is protected by a head fairing, which is dropped after passing through the atmospheric layers.

sustainer engine

Far from outer space, people think that if the rocket was in a vacuum, at an altitude of one hundred kilometers, where weightlessness begins, then its mission is over. In fact, depending on the task, the target orbit of the cargo being launched into space can be much further. For example, telecommunications satellites need to be transported to an orbit located at an altitude of more than 35 thousand kilometers. To achieve the necessary removal, a sustainer engine is needed, or, as it is called in another way, an accelerating unit. To enter the planned interplanetary or departure trajectory, one should change the flight speed more than once, performing certain actions, therefore this engine must be started and turned off repeatedly, this is its dissimilarity with other similar rocket components.

Multistage

In a launch vehicle, only a small fraction of its mass is occupied by the transported payload, everything else is engines and fuel tanks, which are located in different stages of the vehicle. Design feature of these nodes is the possibility of their separation after the development of fuel. Then they burn up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground. True, according to the reactor.space news portal, in last years a technology was developed that allows returning the separated steps unharmed to the point allotted for this and re-launching them into space. In rocket science, when creating multi-stage ships, two schemes are used:

• The first one, longitudinal, allows you to place several identical engines with fuel around the hull, which are simultaneously switched on and synchronously reset after use.


• The second - transverse, makes it possible to arrange steps in ascending order, one above the other. In this case, their inclusion occurs only after resetting the lower, exhausted stage.

But often designers prefer a combination of a transverse-longitudinal pattern. A rocket can have many stages, but increasing their number is rational up to a certain limit. Their growth entails an increase in the mass of engines and adapters that operate only at a certain stage of flight. Therefore, modern launch vehicles are not equipped with more than four stages. Basically, the fuel tanks of the stages consist of reservoirs in which various components are pumped: an oxidizer (liquid oxygen, nitrogen tetroxide) and fuel (liquid hydrogen, heptyl). Only with their interaction can the rocket be accelerated to the desired speed.

How fast does a rocket fly in space?

Depending on the tasks that the launch vehicle must perform, its speed may vary, subdivided into four values:

• First space. It allows you to rise into orbit where it becomes a satellite of the Earth. If translated into the usual values, it is equal to 8 km / s.


• Second space. Speed ​​at 11.2 km / s. makes it possible for the ship to overcome gravity for the study of the planets of our solar system.


• Third space. Adhering to the speed of 16.650 km/s. it is possible to overcome the gravity of the solar system and leave its limits.


• Fourth space. Having developed a speed of 550 km / s. the rocket is capable of flying out of the galaxy.

But no matter how great the speed of spacecraft, they are too small for interplanetary travel. With such values, it will take 18,000 years to get to the nearest star.

What is the name of the place where rockets are launched into space?

For the successful conquest of space, special launch pads are needed, from where rockets can be launched into outer space. In everyday use they are called spaceports. But this simple name includes a whole complex of buildings that occupies vast territories: the launch pad, the premises for the final test and assembly of the rocket, the buildings of related services. All this is located at a distance from each other, so that other structures of the cosmodrome would not be damaged in the event of an accident.

Conclusion

The more space technologies improve, the more complex the structure and operation of the rocket becomes. Maybe in a few years, new devices will be created to overcome the gravity of the Earth. And the next article will be devoted to the principles of operation of a more advanced rocket.

Space is a mysterious and most unfavorable space. Nevertheless, Tsiolkovsky believed that the future of mankind lies precisely in space. There is no reason to argue with this great scientist. Space means unlimited prospects for the development of the entire human civilization and the expansion of living space. In addition, he hides the answers to many questions. Today, man actively uses outer space. And our future depends on how rockets take off. Equally important is people's understanding of this process.

space race

Not so long ago, two powerful superpowers were in a state of cold war. It was like an endless competition. Many prefer to describe this period of time as an ordinary arms race, but this is absolutely not the case. This is the race of science. It is to her that we owe many gadgets and the benefits of civilization to which we are so accustomed.

The space race was just one of the most important elements of the Cold War. In just a few decades, man has moved from conventional atmospheric flight to landing on the moon. This is an incredible progress when compared with other achievements. At that wonderful time, people thought that the exploration of Mars was a much closer and real challenge than the reconciliation of the USSR and the USA. It was then that people were most passionate about space. Almost every student or schoolboy understood how a rocket takes off. It was not complex knowledge, on the contrary. Such information was simple and very interesting. Astronomy has become extremely important among other sciences. In those days, no one could say that the Earth was flat. Affordable education has eliminated ignorance everywhere. However, those days are long gone, and today everything is completely different.

Decadence

With the collapse of the USSR, competition also ended. The reason for overfinancing of space programs is gone. Many promising and breakthrough projects have not been implemented. The time of striving for the stars was replaced by real decadence. Which, as you know, means decline, regression and a certain degree of degradation. It doesn't take a genius to understand this. It is enough to pay attention to media networks. Sect flat earth actively promotes. People don't know basic things. AT Russian Federation astronomy is not taught at all in schools. If you approach a passerby and ask how rockets take off, he will not answer this simple question.

People don't even know about the trajectory of the rockets. Under such conditions, there is no point in asking about orbital mechanics. Lack of proper education, "Hollywood" and video games - all this has created a false idea about space as such and about flying to the stars.

This is not vertical flight.

The earth is not flat, and this is an undeniable fact. The earth is not even a sphere, because it is slightly flattened at the poles. How do rockets take off in such conditions? Step by step, in several stages and not vertically.

The biggest misconception of our time is that rockets take off vertically. It's not like that at all. Such a scheme for entering orbit is possible, but very inefficient. Rocket fuel runs out very quickly. Sometimes - less than 10 minutes. There is simply not enough fuel for such a takeoff. Modern rockets take off vertically only at the initial stage of flight. Then the automation begins to give the rocket a slight roll. Moreover, the higher the flight altitude, the more noticeable the roll angle of the space rocket. Thus, the apogee and perigee of the orbit are formed in a balanced way. Thus, the most comfortable ratio between efficiency and fuel consumption is achieved. The orbit is close to a perfect circle. She will never be perfect.

If the rocket takes off vertically upwards, you get an incredibly huge apogee. The fuel will run out before perigee appears. In other words, not only will the rocket not fly into orbit, but because of the lack of fuel, it will fly in a parabola back to the planet.

It's all about the engine

Any body is not able to move by itself. There must be something that makes him do it. In this case, it's a rocket engine. A rocket, taking off into space, does not lose its ability to move. For many, this is incomprehensible, because in a vacuum the combustion reaction is impossible. The answer is as simple as possible: a little different.

So, the rocket flies in. There are two components in its tanks. It is a fuel and an oxidizer. Their mixing ensures the ignition of the mixture. However, it is not fire that escapes from the nozzles, but hot gas. In this case, there is no contradiction. This setup works great in a vacuum.

Rocket engines come in several types. These are liquid, solid propellant, ionic, electroreactive and nuclear. The first two types are used most often, as they are able to give the greatest traction. Liquid ones are used in space rockets, solid propellant ones - in intercontinental ballistic missiles with a nuclear charge. Electrojet and nuclear are designed for the most efficient movement in a vacuum, and it is on them that they place the maximum hope. Currently, they are not used outside of test benches.

However, Roscosmos recently placed an order for the development of a nuclear-powered orbital tug. This gives reason to hope for the development of technology.

A narrow group of orbital maneuvering engines stands apart. They are intended for control. However, they are not used in rockets, but in spacecraft. They are not enough for flights, but enough for maneuvering.

Speed

Unfortunately, nowadays people equate space flights with basic units of measurement. How fast does the rocket take off? This question is not entirely correct in relation to It does not matter at what speed they take off.

There are quite a few rockets, and all of them have different speeds. Those designed to put astronauts into orbit fly slower than cargo ones. Man, unlike cargo, is limited by overloads. Cargo rockets, such as the super-heavy Falcon Heavy, take off too quickly.

It is difficult to calculate the exact units of speed. First of all, because they depend on the payload of the launch vehicle. It is quite logical that a fully loaded launch vehicle takes off much more slowly than a half-empty launch vehicle. However, there is a common value that all rockets strive to achieve. This is called space velocity.

There is the first, second and, accordingly, the third cosmic velocity.

The first is the necessary speed, which will allow you to move in orbit and not fall on the planet. It is 7.9 km per second.

The second is needed in order to leave the earth's orbit and go to the orbit of another celestial body.

The third will allow the device to overcome the attraction of the solar system and leave it. Currently, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are flying at this speed. However, contrary to media reports, they still have not left the boundaries of the solar system. From an astronomical point of view, it will take them at least 30,000 years to reach the Horta cloud. The heliopause is not the boundary of a star system. It's just a place where sunny wind collides with the intersystem environment.

Height

How high does the rocket take off? For the one you need. After reaching the hypothetical boundary of space and atmosphere, it is incorrect to measure the distance between the ship and the surface of the planet. After entering orbit, the ship is in a different environment, and the distance is measured in distance units.

Duration of continuous human stay in space flight conditions:

During the operation of the Mir station, absolute world records were set for the duration of a continuous stay of a person in space flight conditions:
1987 - Yuri Romanenko (326 days 11 hours 38 minutes);
1988 - Vladimir Titov, Musa Manarov (365 days 22 hours 39 minutes);
1995 - Valery Polyakov (437 days 17 hours 58 minutes).

The total time spent by a person in space flight conditions:

Absolute world records were set for the duration of the total time spent by a person in space flight conditions at the Mir station:
1995 - Valery Polyakov - 678 days 16 hours 33 minutes (for 2 flights);
1999 - Sergey Avdeev - 747 days 14 hours 12 minutes (for 3 flights).

Space walks:

On the Mir OS, 78 EVAs (including three EVAs to the depressurized Spektr module) were performed with a total duration of 359 hours and 12 minutes. The exits were attended by: 29 Russian cosmonauts, 3 US astronauts, 2 French astronauts, 1 ESA astronaut (German citizen). Sunita Williams is a NASA astronaut who holds the world record for the longest work in outer space among women. The American worked on the ISS for more than half a year (November 9, 2007) together with two crews and made four spacewalks.

Space Survivor:

According to the authoritative scientific digest New Scientist, Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev, as of Wednesday, August 17, 2005, spent 748 days in orbit, thereby breaking the previous record set by Sergei Avdeev during his three flights to the Mir station (747 days 14 hours 12 min). The various physical and mental loads endured by Krikalev characterize him as one of the most enduring and successfully adapting astronauts in the history of astronautics. Krikalev's candidacy has been repeatedly elected to carry out rather difficult missions. Texas State University physician and psychologist David Masson describes the astronaut as the best you can find.

Duration of space flight among women:

Among women, world records for the duration of a space flight under the Mir program were set by:
1995 - Elena Kondakova (169 days 05 hours 1 min); 1996 - Shannon Lucid, USA (188 days 04 hours 00 minutes, including at the Mir station - 183 days 23 hours 00 minutes).

The longest space flights of foreign citizens:

Of the foreign citizens, the longest flights under the Mir program were made by:
Jean-Pierre Haignere (France) - 188 days 20 hours 16 minutes;
Shannon Lucid (USA) - 188 days 04 hours 00 minutes;
Thomas Reiter (ESA, Germany) - 179 days 01 hours 42 minutes

Cosmonauts who made six or more spacewalks on the Mir station:

Anatoly Solovyov - 16 (77 hours 46 minutes),
Sergey Avdeev - 10 (41 hours 59 minutes),
Alexander Serebrov - 10 (31 hours 48 minutes),
Nikolai Budarin - 8 (44 hours 00 minutes),
Talgat Musabaev - 7 (41 hours 18 minutes),
Victor Afanasiev - 7 (38 hours 33 minutes),
Sergey Krikalev - 7 (36 hours 29 minutes),
Musa Manarov - 7 (34 hours 32 minutes),
Anatoly Artsebarsky - 6 (32 hours 17 minutes),
Yuri Onufrienko - 6 (30 hours 30 minutes),
Yuri Usachev - 6 (30 hours 30 minutes),
Gennady Strekalov - 6 (21 hours 54 minutes),
Alexander Viktorenko - 6 (19 hours 39 minutes),
Vasily Tsibliyev - 6 (19:11).

First manned spacecraft:

The first manned space flight registered by the International Federation of Aeronautics (IFA was founded in 1905) was made on the Vostok spacecraft on April 12, 1961 by the USSR pilot cosmonaut Major of the USSR Air Force Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin (1934 ... 1968). It follows from the official documents of the IFA that the spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 06:07 GMT and landed near the village of Smelovka, Ternovsky District, Saratov Region. USSR in 108 min. The maximum flight altitude of the Vostok spacecraft with a length of 40868.6 km was 327 km with a maximum speed of 28260 km/h.

First woman in space:

The first woman to circle the earth space orbit was a junior lieutenant of the USSR Air Force (now lieutenant colonel engineer pilot cosmonaut of the USSR) Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (born March 6, 1937), who launched on the Vostok 6 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome Kazakhstan of the USSR, at 9:30 GMT on June 16, 1963 and landed at 8:16 on June 19 after a flight that lasted 70:50. During this time, she made more than 48 complete revolutions around the Earth (1971000 km).

The oldest and youngest astronauts:

The oldest among the 228 cosmonauts of the Earth was Karl Gordon Henitz (USA), who at the age of 58 took part in the 19th flight of the Challenger shuttle on July 29, 1985. The youngest was a major of the USSR Air Force (currently lieutenant general pilot USSR cosmonaut) German Stepanovich Titov (born September 11, 1935) who was launched on the Vostok 2 spacecraft on August 6, 1961 at the age of 25 years 329 days.

First spacewalk:

On March 18, 1965, Lieutenant Colonel of the USSR Air Force (now Major General, pilot cosmonaut of the USSR) Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov (born May 20, 1934) was the first to go into open space from the Voskhod 2 spacecraft. He retired from the ship at a distance of up to 5 m and spent 12 min 9 s in open space outside the lock chamber.

First spacewalk by a woman:

In 1984, Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman to go into outer space, having worked outside the Salyut-7 station for 3 hours and 35 minutes. Before becoming an astronaut, Svetlana set three world records in parachuting in group jumps from the stratosphere and 18 aviation records in jet aircraft.

Record duration of spacewalks by a woman:

NASA astronaut Sunita Lyn Williams has set the record for the longest spacewalk for a woman. She spent 22 hours 27 minutes outside the station, exceeding the previous achievement by more than 21 hours. The record was set during work on the outer part of the ISS on January 31 and February 4, 2007. Williams oversaw the preparation of the station to continue construction along with Michael Lopez-Alegria.

First autonomous spacewalk:

U.S. Navy Captain Bruce McCandles II (born June 8, 1937) was the first man to operate in open space without a tether. propulsion plant. The development of this space suit cost $15 million.

Longest manned flight:

Colonel of the USSR Air Force Vladimir Georgievich Titov (born January 1, 1951) and flight engineer Musa Hiramanovich Manarov (born March 22, 1951) launched on the Soyuz-M4 spacecraft on December 21, 1987 to space station"Mir" and landed on the Soyuz-TM6 spacecraft (together with the French cosmonaut Jean Lou Chretien) at an alternate landing site near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, USSR, on December 21, 1988, having spent 365 days in space 22 hours 39 minutes 47 seconds.

The furthest journey in space:

Soviet cosmonaut Valery Ryumin spent almost a whole year in a spacecraft that made 5,750 revolutions around the Earth in those 362 days. At the same time, Ryumin traveled 241 million kilometers. This is equal to the distance from Earth to Mars and back to Earth.

Most Experienced Space Traveler:

The most experienced space traveler is Colonel of the USSR Air Force, USSR pilot-cosmonaut Yuri Viktorovich Romanenko (born in 1944), who spent 430 days 18 hours and 20 minutes in space in 3 flights in 1977 ... 1978, in 1980 and in 1987 gg.

Largest Crew:

The largest crew consisted of 8 cosmonauts (it included 1 woman), who launched on October 30, 1985 on the Challenger reusable spacecraft.

Most people in space:

The largest number of astronauts ever in space at the same time is 11: 5 Americans aboard the Challenger, 5 Russians and 1 Indian aboard the Salyut 7 orbital station in April 1984, 8 Americans aboard the Challenger and 3 Russians aboard the Salyut 7 orbital station in October 1985, 5 Americans aboard the space shuttle, 5 Russians and 1 French aboard the Mir orbital station in December 1988.

The highest speed:

The highest speed at which a person has ever moved (39897 km / h) was developed by the main module of Apollo 10 at an altitude of 121.9 km from the Earth's surface during the return of the expedition on May 26, 1969. On board the spacecraft were the crew commander Colonel US Air Force (now Brigadier General) Thomas Patten Stafford (b. Weatherford, Oklahoma, USA, September 17, 1930), US Navy Captain 3rd Rank Eugene Andrew Cernan (b. Chicago, Illinois, USA, 14 March 1934) and US Navy Captain 3rd Rank (now retired Captain 1st Rank) John Watt Young (born in San Francisco, California, USA, September 24, 1930).
Of the women, the highest speed (28115 km / h) was reached by the junior lieutenant of the USSR Air Force (now lieutenant colonel-engineer, pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR) Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (born March 6, 1937) on the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963.

The youngest astronaut:

The youngest astronaut today is Stephanie Wilson. She was born on September 27, 1966 and is 15 days younger than Anyusha Ansari.

First creature who has been in space:

The dog Laika, which was put into orbit around the Earth on the second Soviet satellite on November 3, 1957, was the first living creature in space. Laika died in agony from suffocation when the oxygen ran out.

Record time spent on the moon:

The crew of Apollo 17 collected a record weight (114.8 kg) of rock samples and pounds during a 22 hour and 5 minute job outside the spacecraft. The crew included Captain 3rd Rank US Navy Eugene Andrew Cernan (b. Chicago, Illinois, USA, March 14, 1934) and Dr. Harrison Schmitt (b. Saita Rose, New Mexico, USA, July 3 1935), who became the 12th person to walk on the moon. The astronauts were on the lunar surface for 74 hours 59 minutes during the longest lunar expedition, which lasted 12 days 13 hours 51 minutes from December 7 to 19, 1972.

First person to walk on the moon:

Neil Alden Armstrong (b. Wapakoneta, Ohio, USA, August 5, 1930, ancestors of Scottish and German descent), commander of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, became the first person to walk on the surface of the Moon in the Sea of ​​Tranquility region at 2 a.m. 56 min 15 s GMT July 21, 1969. He was followed from the Eagle lunar module by US Air Force Colonel Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr. (born in Montclair, New Jersey, USA, January 20, 1930.

Highest space flight altitude:

most high altitude reached the Apollo 13 crew, being in a settlement (i.e., at the farthest point of its trajectory) 254 km from the lunar surface at a distance of 400187 km from the Earth's surface at 1 hour 21 minutes GMT on April 15, 1970. As part of the crew were US Navy Captain James Arthur Lovell, Jr. (b. Cleveland, Ohio, USA, March 25, 1928), Fred Wallace Hayes, Jr. (b. Biloxi, Missouri, USA, November 14, 1933) and John L. Swigert (1931...1982). The altitude record for women (531 km) was set by American astronaut Katherine Sullivan (born in Paterson, New Jersey, USA, October 3, 1951) during a shuttle flight on April 24, 1990.

The highest spacecraft speed:

Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to reach space velocity 3, which allows it to go beyond the solar system. The carrier rocket "Atlas-SLV ZS" with the modified 2nd stage "Tsentavr-D" and the 3rd stage "Tiokol-Te-364-4" on March 2, 1972 left the Earth with an unprecedented speed for that time 51682 km / h. The spacecraft speed record (240 km/h) was set by the American-German solar probe Helios-B, launched on January 15, 1976.

The maximum approach of the spacecraft to the Sun:

On April 16, 1976, the Helios-B research automatic station (USA-FRG) approached the Sun at a distance of 43.4 million km.

First artificial satellite Lands:

The first artificial Earth satellite was successfully launched on the night of October 4, 1957 into an orbit with a height of 228.5/946 km and a speed of more than 28565 km/h from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, north of Tyuratam, Kazakhstan, USSR (275 km east of the Aral Sea). The spherical satellite was officially registered as an object "1957 alpha 2", weighed 83.6 kg, had a diameter of 58 cm and, having existed for 92 days, burned down on January 4, 1958. The launch vehicle, modified R 7, 29.5 m long, was developed under the direction of Chief designer S.P. Korolev (1907 ... 1966), who also led the entire project for launching the IS3.

The most distant man-made object:

Pioneer 10 launched from Cape Canaveral, Space Center. Kennedy, Florida, USA, on October 17, 1986, crossed the orbit of Pluto, 5.9 billion km from the Earth. By April 1989 it was located beyond the farthest point of Pluto's orbit and continues to recede into space at a speed of 49 km / h. In 1934 n. e. it will approach the minimum distance to the star Ross-248, which is 10.3 light years away from us. Even before 1991, the faster Voyager 1 spacecraft will be further away than Pioneer 10.

One of the two space "Travelers" Voyager, launched from Earth in 1977, has moved away from the Sun by 97 AU in 28 years of flight. e. (14.5 billion km) and is today the most remote artificial object. Voyager 1 crossed the heliosphere, the region where the solar wind meets the interstellar medium, in 2005. Now the path of an apparatus flying at a speed of 17 km/s lies in the zone of the shock wave. Voyager-1 will be operational until 2020. However, it is very likely that information from Voyager-1 will stop coming to Earth at the end of 2006. The fact is that NASA is scheduled to cut by 30% of the budget in terms of research on the Earth and the solar system.

The heaviest and largest space object:

The heaviest object launched into near-Earth orbit was the 3rd stage of the American Saturn 5 rocket with the Apollo 15 spacecraft, which weighed 140512 kg before entering the intermediate selenocentric orbit. The American radio astronomy satellite Explorer 49, launched on June 10, 1973, weighed only 200 kg, but its antenna span was 415 m.

Most Powerful Rocket:

The Soviet space transport system Energia, first launched on May 15, 1987 from the Baikonur cosmodrome, has a weight at full load of 2400 tons and develops a thrust of more than 4 thousand tons. The rocket is capable of delivering a payload weighing up to 140 m, the maximum diameter - 16 m. Basically a modular installation used in the USSR. 4 accelerators are attached to the main module, each of which has 1 RD 170 engine running on liquid oxygen and kerosene. A modification of the rocket with 6 boosters and an upper stage is capable of launching a payload weighing up to 180 tons into near-Earth orbit, delivering a load of 32 tons to the Moon and 27 tons to Venus or Mars.

Flight range record among solar-powered research vehicles:

The Stardust space probe has set a kind of record for the flight range of all solar-powered research vehicles - it is currently at a distance of 407 million kilometers from the Sun. primary goal automatic apparatus- approaching a comet, collecting dust.

The first self-propelled vehicle on extraterrestrial space objects:

The first self-propelled vehicle designed to work on other planets and their satellites in automatic mode, - Soviet "Lunokhod 1" (weight - 756 kg, length with open lid- 4.42 m, width - 2.15 m, height - 1.92 m), delivered to the Moon by the Luna 17 spacecraft and started moving in the Sea of ​​Rains on command from the Earth on November 17, 1970. In total, he traveled 10 km 540 m, overcoming slopes up to 30 °, until it stopped on October 4, 1971, having worked 301 days 6 hours 37 minutes. The cessation of work was caused by the depletion of the resources of its isotopic heat source "Lunokhod-1" examined in detail the lunar surface with an area of ​​80 thousand m2, transmitted to Earth more than 20 thousand of its photographs and 200 telepanoramas.

Record speed and range of movement on the moon:

The record for the speed and range of movement on the moon was set by the American wheeled lunar rover Rover, delivered there by the Apollo 16 spacecraft. He developed a speed of 18 km / h down the slope and traveled a distance of 33.8 km.

Most Expensive Space Project:

The total cost of the US human spaceflight program, including the latest Apollo 17 mission to the moon, was about $25,541,400,000. The first 15 years of the USSR space program, from 1958 to September 1973, Western estimates, cost $ 45 billion. The cost of the NASA Shuttle program (launch of reusable spacecraft) before the launch of Columbia on April 12, 1981 amounted to $ 9.9 billion.