Histories of the Soviet / Russian Space Program - Volume 2: Soviet Space Programs 1971 - Kosmos, Lunokhod, Salyut, Soyuz, Zond, FOBS, Military Satellites, Mars Attempts, Tracking Ships by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Progressive Management
Published: 2013-05-19T00:00:00+00:00

4. The Kosmonavt Yuriy Gagarin

The main report included an account of the particulars of the new tracking ship Akademik Sergey Korolev which was completed late in 1970. But even this versatile ship is now surpassed by the world's largest tracking ship which was first described in mid-1971. The Kosmonavt Yuriy Gagarin late in the year reached operational status.

The ship looks as if it might have been adapted from a super-tanker hull. The first account spoke of its having over 120 laboratories. Its scientific instrumentation comes direct from scientific institutes rather than from industrial enterprises, and units can be easily installed and removed so that the ship should keep pace with changing technology. It is intended to be away from home base for as long as six months. It has a 19,000 horsepower turbine power plant. The library has 10,000 books. A theater has 300 seats. There are nine elevators. There are three swimming pools, and a sports hall big enough for a football match. There is an automatic telephone exchange.3

It was further described as having a displacement of 45,000 tons, a speed of 18 knots, with a length of 231 meters and a width of 31 meters.4

The ship was described as having over 100 antennas, and via Molniya satellites can reach almost any telephone in the Soviet Union around the clock. It can both receive high data rates from satellites and amplify weak signals at planetary distances. There are over 1,250 compartments in the ship.5

Late in December, 1971, this new ship of 45,000 tons displacement was anchored in Odessa getting ready for its first operations, near the 17,500 ton Kosmonavt Vladimir Komarov with its two 20-meter radomes, and the almost 22,000-ton Akademik Sergey Korolev. The new ship has 11 decks. The article compared this enormous capability with the limited work done at sea in 1957 by the Ilichevsk and the Krasnodar, long since retired. The antenna closest to the bridge is a regular Orbita ground station to create the tie to Molniya. The second big dish performs trajectory and orbital data-gather measurements. The two largest dishes are intended for deep space work. These must calculate automatically the precise location of the ship, the movement of the star field, and compensate for the angles of list and yaw in relation to the ship's course, and even distortions in the ship's hull caused by heavy seas. The ship is air conditioned throughout. This account gives slightly different statistics—8 elevators and 260 seats in the theater.6 Another report counts 130 antennas, not including the four big dishes, 19,500 horsepower. The ship is equipped with roll dampers and two ship maneuvering rudders in the bow, and a third in the stern.'

B. SOVIET SPACE PERSONALITIES

The Russians have continued their previous policy of withholding information on many key figures in their space program until after their death. During the year at least three important men died, and their obituaries told something of their past work.

Aleksey Isayev died on June 25, 1971. He was described as an

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