The first flight into space of twice Hero of the Soviet Union Boris Volynov in January 1969 was difficult.
After three days in orbit, an abnormal situation arose during the descent: the instrument compartment did not separate from the Soyuz-5 descent vehicle.
Because of this, the overloads were three times higher than the standard ones.
As a result, the separation of the compartments nevertheless took place when the apparatus was already burning in the atmosphere.
However, due to the beginning of rotation, the descent capsule twisted the parachute lines, and the descent speed was much higher than the standard one.
On landing, Volynov was seriously injured.
But already at 10 am the next day, he, together with three other cosmonauts who returned to Earth in the capsule of the Soyuz-4 spacecraft, reported to the state commission on the results of the flight.
Volynov was suspended from flights for several years due to health problems, but he made it possible to go back into space.
On July 6, 1976, on the Soyuz-21 spacecraft, together with Vitaly Zholobov, they made the first flight to the Salyut-5 orbital station, where they worked for more than 49 days.
Volynov for many years was the commander of the cosmonaut corps of the Gagarin CTC, in which he served for 30 years.
- Which holiday is more important for you: New Year, Birthday or, after all, Cosmonautics Day?
- Good question.
When I joined the first cosmonaut corps, there were 20 of us, there was no cosmonaut training center, there was no Star City.
There was a forest.
There was barbed wire.
We came and prepared for the unknown.
When we asked questions, they remained unanswered.
But on the other hand, it was very interesting.
And there was a special person, a leader, who created the design bureau.
Nobody knew his name.
Nobody knew his surname.
Everything was secret.
And we were secret ... First, we passed a medical examination in Moscow, then we were quickly transferred to Chkalovskaya.
The flight crew was all fighter pilots.
For four years I have already flown to Moscow from Yaroslavl "on the ceiling", that is, at the maximum altitude of the MiG-17.
We were taught by older guys who had real combat experience.
The first detachment of Soviet cosmonauts on vacation in Sochi.
Boris Volynov in the second row
RIA News
- What kind of war are we talking about?
- Korean ... From the veterans of the Great Patriotic War there was no one, practically no one remained.
One deputy.
the regiment commander remained, twice a Hero.
He took me with him as a follower.
To better imagine, I will tell you one small episode.
The clouds took off, 300 meters.
I am a couple, I keep close to him.
I can only see its plane, the fuselage is almost invisible.
And so we "stomped" in this formation up to an altitude of 7000 meters.
Terrible business.
- At that time, did you already know what you were prepared for?
- We came to a new system, agreed.
And what this system will do - we did not know.
Then the chief came.
I put everything in its place.
And before that, we learned to jump with a parachute and eject.
After all, we flew in airplanes in zero gravity, everything could be.
Therefore, we had to be able to jump from any position, from any situation and stay alive.
This is the main thing.
We had a test - this is a delay, 50 seconds of free fall.
That is, you go out at an altitude of about five kilometers and deploy your parachute only 800 meters from the ground.
So you can feel the air.
You feel that the air has mass, has volume.
- Did you begin your stay in the detachment on March 7, 1960?
- Yes, that day we arrived at the Dynamo metro station.
We crossed the highway and ended up in a two-story house.
I go to the house, there is a guy worth the student's age.
His scooter won't start in any way.
I ask him: "Do you know where military unit 26266 is?"
He asked me a counter question: "Who are you?"
I answered.
He also worked there - as a laboratory assistant, or rather moonlighted while studying at the institute.
Then that guy ended up in my carriage.
Prepared with me.
But then the crews were changed, and he flew not with me, but with Komarov.
Komarov, Feoktistov, Egorov.
- You were one of 12 people who first started training.
- 12 of us came, and the next day the 13th came, Zhenya Khrunov.
He then flew with me.
- Was the preparation long? What was in your soul at that time?
- Not for a very long time.
It was the 60th year.
And in 61st already ...
There was competition.
But this was a new direction.
Whether you can or cannot, ask yourself a question.
We didn't have a higher education, we were pilots.
And there everything is built on engineering.
That is why we were sent to the Zhukovsky Academy.
Studied on the job.
It was very difficult.
But then on Saturday half of the day was work, half of the day off.
So there was little time.
For example, Yura Gagarin often studied with us at night ...
And then we were told the parameters, restrictions.
Height is not more than 170 cm. And I have 172. It was very disappointing.
I proved myself well in parachute jumping, helped Volodya Komarov as an instructor, taught him how to jump ... We chose a group of six people who were suitable in height and for medical reasons.
We were spun in a centrifuge.
Overloads of 10g, 12g were obligatory.
The sensors record how the heart works, how the blood supply system works, whether there is an eclipse in the head, how the eyes behave.
Yuri Gagarin congratulates Boris Volynov on the defense of his diploma at the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy
RIA News
© Alexander Mokletsov
- When was the decision about who would fly into space was made? When did you hear about this?
- Of course we knew.
We were even issued certificates.
Cosmonaut # 1.
Cosmonaut # 2.
Let's say that Grigory Nelyubov was Cosmonaut No. 3, but then he flew out of the squadron ...
We need to start from the moment when Korolev gathered us all, each got up and said: I am such and such, flew so many.
And he looked at everyone, appreciated who spoke as.
He understood well the character of a person.
Even when a person was talking, he already understood who he was dealing with.
He had a lot of experience ...
During the day we found out who was going to fly.
The State Commission determines: here, you are the first, you are the second.
But there is one rule.
The main one sits in the spaceship for no more than two hours.
If more - there is a replacement, the understudy sits down.
- I would like to ask you exactly about April 12, 1961.
- We did not fully know who would fly, Yuri Gagarin or German Titov.
Different opinions came to us all the time.
But I understood that, in theory, Yura.
We knew each other well.
We played volleyball together.
He was a passer, since he was shorter, and I was an attacker.
We had a lot in common.
They played basketball, he did not play hockey very much ... When we parachuted, then when the installation was complete, I put on the harness, and it is necessary for someone to look from behind how you have this whole system built.
You pull the ring and the whole "envelope" opens.
Then only the dome will come out correctly, there will be no crossings.
And Yura came up to me: "Look."
Confidence.
This is valuable.
Before the flight of Yuri Gagarin, a group was created, there were only a few people in it.
And I was among them Alexei Leonov.
We flew east with him.
We figured out where the projection of the spacecraft trajectory will pass through the territory of the USSR: Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk and Elizovo.
I got Khabarovsk.
Then I was the captain.
With us was a colonel who was in charge of the organization, and two representatives from the Institute of Communications.
In general, we ended up in Khabarovsk, trying to be invisible.
Because we were a secret group with a secret mission.
Nothing was advertised anywhere.
We were assigned a room with equipment: microphones, tape recorders for recording.
Everything is stationary.
And when I heard for the first time a voice: "Cedar" ... everything became clear.
And now the communication session comes to us.
He knows where what sessions of communication are, they were in minutes.
Gagarin told us that everything is fine with him there.
And then he told us a phrase that we could not understand then.
We played it several times on a tape recorder before reporting to Moscow, trying to understand this.
"Entering the shadow of the Earth."
It was very difficult for a person at that time to understand how to enter the shadow of the Earth.
In the end, we figured it out, sent the data.
Everything went well.
They announced that he sat down.
This means we can fly to Moscow.
And there the whole city is celebrating.
Flowers, smiles, hugs.
The whole city is a participant in this event.
For the first time in the world, a man took off into space.
After landing on Yura, so many things flooded right away ... Psychologists thought: a man takes off into space, and what will happen to his psyche?
After all, he can, looking through the window, become crazy.
Or there will be some anomalies.
Can he be allowed to control the ship or not.
Therefore, they came up with a logical lock.
Many do not know anymore, it was a long time ago.
But nevertheless, he was: at first it was necessary to solve a logical problem, and then only the spacecraft would allow you to control.
If you haven't decided, it will fly autonomously.
Pilot-cosmonaut Boris Volynov and RT correspondent Roman Kosarev
RT
- How soon did you manage to meet with Gagarin after his return to Earth?
- Almost immediately.
We were both at receptions in the Kremlin and at the celebration.
He kept sharing with us all the time, telling us what happened, about weightlessness.
He also faced this for the first time.
He saw the Earth.
To see the Earth from above is such a feeling, there are a lot of emotions.
This is the first time you see it.
Horizon.
Moreover, the horizon is layered, layers of different colors.
The clouds are huge.
And Yura talked about this emotionally ... he told all the details, how and what.
Especially about weightlessness, an unusual state for us.
- Is it true that Yuri Alekseevich liked to give nicknames to his loved ones? Did you have a nickname?
- Well, of course.
Elephant.
Because it was big enough.
I was still engaged in sambo as a pilot.
He was strong, strong ... We had a Bykovsky Bull, each had his own nicknames.
I will not reveal our secrets.
And Yura, here he came, for example, to the workshop where the ship is being assembled.
Stands on the stocks, assemblers run, fasten, twist, twist ... He comes to the shop - in 5-10 minutes he becomes their own.
He's his own.
They approach him, just like everyone else.
He is his own, he is no different from anyone else.
And he talks to everyone normally, finds words.
And according to knowledge, he fits.
Comes to the Academy of Sciences, scientists.
In ten minutes he is his own there.
Fair.
This is his natural quality.
He quickly finds a key to people.
He communicates with them, with everyone.
Let's say there was a powerful centrifuge at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine.
Everyone is tired.
We go by bus.
He sees that everyone is tired and comes up with some kind of joke.
We look out the window: "Look, what kind of girl is walking, guys."
And he starts to wind everyone up.
And everyone starts laughing.
- After the first flight, when he became the face of the Soviet Union, he became a star. How did he feel about this?
- There were many trips.
He visited, in my opinion, more than 30 countries.
He had a friendly relationship with Fidel Castro.
He came to us.
And I remember it quite clearly ... He also traveled all over the European countries.
This was a person who treated a person kindly.
But he was very demanding.
I would not say that he was a shirt-guy.
Not.
He was the first commander of the cosmonaut corps.
He was demanding.
You can't be late.
What you have instructed you need to do.
It is absolutely perfect.
But also to laugh, to joke, to help someone - that was Yuri Gagarin.
60 years have passed, and I have the impression that quite recently.
- You were very young people at that time. What did you talk about, what did you dream about?
- Yura and I were the same age.
He, too, is 34 years old.
Several people were older, but everyone else ... We wanted to actively participate as cosmonauts and researchers.
There was something new in every flight.
For example, German Titov first encountered the effect of weightlessness on the vestibular apparatus.
He first encountered this, no one warned him on Earth.
These were completely new things, with which then each of us who have been in space, encountered.
And such things were very interesting.
When it was necessary to look and do the right thing, not to make a mistake - that was the main thing.
But let's say I had enough of everything.
In 1969, it exploded during landing.
From the calculated landing point 600 km is short.
Winter, minus 38 degrees ...
Pilot-cosmonauts Boris Volynov, Yevgeny Khrunov, Alexey Eliseev and Vladimir Shatalov head to the Kremlin to honor the crews of Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5
RIA News
© Lev Polikashin
On the second flight, I had a powerful accident.
We have already worked on the 42nd day, we have been flying for more than a month.
Suddenly bam - and it's dark.
And not a single sound.
I still remember this silence.
Zero gravity, you don't know if it's a ceiling, a floor or a wall.
You can't see anything, there is no analyzer, the vestibular is not working.
And an ominous silence.
What to do?
You understand that you are in an emergency situation.
Nobody taught how to get out of it.
We began to listen: where, what.
Maybe a breakdown - a millimeter meteorite hit the station, and it will be depressurized already.
So, either go to the transport ship, or somehow repair it.
Something needs to be done.
We were at the back of the station.
By touch, in the dark, so as not to be cut into a metal corner, we went to the central control panel.
The emergency lighting was turned on.
There is no depressurization.
And the oxygen supply is only in this station.
You breathe, oxygen goes for it.
This means that it is becoming less and less.
What to do when it ends.
That means we need to restore electricity.
Then the fans will start.
Then the air will be blown through the regeneration device, and there will be CO2 absorption and oxygen reduction.
- It turns out, 1961, the first man in space, and literally eight years later you are already carrying out the first docking of two spaceships ...
- They tried before me.
Vladimir Komarov in 1967.
He died.
Do you know what happened?
1966 ... Korolev died.
Buried.
Meeting, Red Square, Kremlin Wall.
1967th.
Komarov dies.
Meeting, Red Square ... 1968.
Yuri Gagarin dies.
Again a rally, again the Kremlin wall.
1969th.
Belyaev was taken to the hospital.
It seems to have been pumped out, but in January 1970 it still dies.
Funeral again.
1971st.
Crew: Dobrovolsky, Volkov, Patsaev.
We flew without spacesuits.
Depressurization was still in orbit ... But after 1971 everything was fine.
- Has humanity's impression of space and the Universe changed very much since the first manned flight?
- Now they are calmer.
The audience is different.
Some schoolchildren know very little about space.
Gagarin is still remembered, but few people know the others.
We work little with schoolchildren, and schoolgirls too.
And now women come to the detachment too.
They are trying.
Americans have many women flying.
There, too, it happens in different ways.
The first they had was a shuttle.
Banged - seven people no.
- Surely such tragedies have always been perceived very close to our hearts, what do we have, what do they have?
- It's professional yet.
This is a lesson.
I am preparing for the flight, naturally, I look closely at what one crew had, the other, what troubles they had, what can I expect approximately, what to prepare for ... It seems simple, but I still remember that silence.
Sometimes I dream about it.
Still.
And I'm 86.
Pilot-cosmonaut Boris Volynov and RT correspondent Roman Kosarev
RT
- You led the cosmonaut corps for a long time. When newcomers came to your detachment, did they torment you with questions about Gagarin, did they try to find out something else, or were there no such conversations at all?
- No, we were engaged in business.
Outside of class, when there were some solemn events, they were interested in Gagarin, and German Titov, and how it was in the first detachment.
Business is business, especially in the early years.
There were a lot of secrets.
Let's say our station, which I flew to, was completely secret.
It is still not fully disclosed.
I myself graduated from the Zhukovsky Academy.
Not everyone who entered the detachment graduated from it.
We defended ourselves together with Valentina Tereshkova.
There were only 13 people, 13 diplomas.
What qualification - it is written in the diploma: pilot - engineer - cosmonaut.
There are 13 of them.
I'm also the first honorary citizen of Star City.
I would like to congratulate everyone on the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight.
Happy Cosmonautics Day.
I was lucky that I did not die on the first flight.
And the situation with the explosion was desperate.
This is luck.
Therefore, I want to wish everyone good health and good luck in space.