Spaceship in space1/6/2024 ![]() Gemini capsules were designed to carry two astronauts, rather than just one, and their primary task was to teach engineers how to dock spacecraft in orbit, which NASA believed would be necessary to land humans on the moon. The larger capsule flew humans for the first time in March 1965, just a few days after the Voskhod 2 mission. Like the pair of Soviet vehicles, Gemini was at heart an adapted version of the Mercury capsule designed to let more astronauts tackle more advanced tasks. Related: In pictures: The most memorable spacewalks in history Gemini (US, 1965)Ī view of the Gemini 7 spacecraft in orbit, as seen from Gemini in 1965. ![]() ![]() One of those cosmonauts, Alexei Leonov, exited the inflatable airlock and spent about 12 minutes in space, clinching the accomplishment of first spacewalk. The USSR flew an uncrewed test mission for the vehicle, then in 1965 launched Voskhod 2, which carried two cosmonauts in pressure suits on a 26-hour flight. To accommodate the tight conditions, the trio did not wear space suits.Ī second version of the Voskhod capsule was adapted for a spacewalk, carrying an inflatable airlock. Voskhod first carried humans in 1964, launching with a crew of three: a pilot, a medical doctor and a spacecraft engineer. To accomplish that, spacecraft engineers ditched the ejection seat and replaced it with stable couches and a landing system, according to NASA. The Voskhod capsule was based heavily on the design of Vostok but adapted to carry more crewmembers, and later to facilitate spacewalking, the next milestone achievement the USSR had set its sights on.įirst, the USSR needed to squeeze multiple crewmembers into the small capsule. (Image credit: Vyacheslav Prokofyev\TASS via Getty Images) Retired cosmonaut Alexei Leonov stands with his painting of his historic first-ever spacewalk, during which he spent about 12 minutes outside the confines of the Voskhod 2 vehicle in 1965. Related: Project Mercury: NASA's 1st crewed spaceflights in photos Voskhod (USSR, 1964) The final crewed Mercury capsule flew in 1963. Unusually, Mercury capsules had individual names beyond the series itself others included Liberty Bell 7, Sigma 7 and Aurora 7. The capsule's heat shield was at the astronaut's back, along the circular base of the cone. When on the ground or atop a rocket, the cone stood upright and the astronaut lay on his back near the bottom in orbit, the capsule rotated to seat the astronaut upright with a window panel more or less at eye level. Mercury capsules were approximately conical, with a cylindrical segment interrupting the cone's sides. A crewed Mercury vehicle didn't reach orbit until John Glenn's flight in February 1962 aboard the Friendship 7 capsule. launched astronaut Alan Shepard on a suborbital flight aboard the Freedom 7 capsule. The Soviet Union met the milestone first with Gagarin's flight three weeks later, the U.S. strove to beat the Soviet Union's Vostok capsule with its own crewed vehicle in Project Mercury. (Image credit: NASA)ĭuring the Cold War space race, the U.S. NASA engineers inspect a test Mercury capsule. ![]() Related: Yuri Gagarin, first man in space (photo gallery) Mercury (US, 1961) Six Vostok capsules in all carried cosmonauts to orbit between 19 the capsule's final flight carried Valentina Tereshkova, who became the first woman in space. Vostok translates as "East " Gagarin's capsule went by the call sign Swallow, according to NASA. The capsule had no landing gear instead, Gagarin and his successors ejected from the capsule during the reentry process, although the Soviet Union hid that fact lest the mission not be considered a true spaceflight. A window near the astronaut's feet allowed them to observe Earth during flight. Vostok could carry just one astronaut in its main spherical cabin, which perched atop a belt of life-support gas tanks and a pyramidical instrument module that was jettisoned before the cabin reentered Earth's atmosphere. The Vostok capsule carried the first-ever human to make a spaceflight, the Soviet Union's cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who launched on Apand clocked in with just over one full orbit of Earth. A model of the Vostok 1 capsule in flight in 1961.
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