For some rocket man

[Alex Him]

Published on July 18, 2018





0:45 - This is a hydro laboratory of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Here, training is conducted simulating the output to outer space. There is a feeling that it was here in this blue water that the concept of "sailing in weightlessness" arose.

1:33 - The decision to create a simulator to simulate weightlessness by means of water was taken after exit of Alexei Leonov into outer space. There was a possibility that the cosmonaut would not return to the spacecraft and die. The first test dive was on December 28, 1978.

1:55 - Being at the top, we can clearly see the structure of the hydro laboratory. As a basis for the construction of the basin was taken petroleum storage. Its dimensions corresponded to the dimensions of a model of the orbital station "Salyut".

Of 100 tons of stainless steel was made reservoir with:

diameter 23 meters;
depth of 12 meters;
volume of 5,000 cubic meters.


2:20 - Valery Kudryashov (head of the department): It is really an unique structure. It is the only place in the country where cosmonauts are trained to work in outer space. Here we use only the latest technologies and advanced equipment.

2:48 - On the platform of the laboratory in different years stood segments of the station "Salyut" and the complex "Mir". Now there are modules of the International Space Station.

3:00 - Alexander Kharlamov (diver specialist): In the laboratory, there were indeed all kinds of stations that flew: Salyut, Mir, ISS and even a fragment of a cabin of Buran.

3:17 - Every crew carries out their first exit "into outer space" here. Here even the aphorism arose "In order to successfully take off, it is necessary to dive deeper".

3:48 - Gennady Padalka (Cosmonaut): We train here to perform all the necessary actions. Therefore, it's easy and simple for us in outer space.

3:52 - Alexei Altunin (Deputy Head of the Cosmonaut Training Department): There are no more such pools where models could be lifted after work, serviced and prepared in the absence of water for the next workout. And the most important thing is that we have the opportunity to conduct a lesson with a cosmonaut without submerging. Before training, a cosmonaut can approach the model to look at its parts and touch it with his hands. This greatly reduces the time for training a cosmonaut and facilitates the learning process.

4:43 - The hydroanalog of the "Orlan" spacesuit is completely identical to it except that it is not autonomous. Water for the cooling water circuit, air for ventilation and breathing, all this is transmitted through the life support cable. It as an umbilical cord connects a cosmonaut with the laboratory.

5:01 - Peter Kosatikov (Lead Engineer): This is not a man pumping air through his breath. This ventilation does not enter the human lungs, it is the ventilation inside the spacesuit. Air enters the spacesuit and when breathing a person after work through the life-support cable goes into the atmosphere.

5:17 - At the beginning the air flow rate is 150 liters per minute. The air flow rate of an ordinary diver at such a depth is 40 liters per minute. Gradually, the air flow rate reaches 300 liters per minute as well as the deep-water diver. The reason for this is not depth, but mainly hard work.

5:56 - Inside the life-support cable there is telemetry and communication. All indicators are registered by the engineering department. This control is continuous.

6:05 - Irina Galkina (Head of the department): Our role in the hydro laboratory is the technical support. We understand that if we make a mistake or a malfunction in the work of technic, then we will break a great event. Therefore, our department performs its duties with great responsibility.

6:25 - Irina Galkina's father participated in the creation and design of the hydro laboratory. In the late 1970s when everything was built, he advised his daughter to continue his work.

6:37 - Irina Galkina (Head of the department): He said: "This is about the construction into which I put a huge piece of my life and my soul. And you, too, will be able to put your strength and your knowledge into this."

6:50 - Everything is shown on the monitors: temperature, oxygen consumption and well-being of astronauts from immersion to ascent.

6:59 - Irina Galkina (Head of the department): For me, the lines on the chart are not just lines. For me, these are the functional states of cosmonauts, their energy costs. For me this is not faceless information.

7:30 - Ivan Verba knows the parameters of each cosmonaut. In the first days of his stay in the hydro laboratory he personally tested the "Orlan" spacesuit here in the basin. Ivan Verba came to the hydro laboratory in the early 1980s. On the first day he saw an impressive immersion of cosmonauts.

7:59 - Ivan Verba (Lead Engineer): I remember all the crews that were here from the first dive of cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Boris Andreev and to the present crew.

8:20 - Dmitry Verba (head of the department): For me, the hydro laboratory is the largest part of my life. Each employee puts his soul into work and tries to do his job very qualitatively. It is here under water that cosmonauts begin their path to the outer space. And we try to make it safe for them.

8:43 - Dmitry Verba was born in Severomorsk. Like his father, he was a diver and he served in the army on a submarine. Then he transferred to the cosmonaut training center for the post of senior officer and stayed here forever.

8:57 - Ivan Verba (Lead Engineer): It is very good. I'm proud of my son. We solve the same problem. And my wife also works here on another simulator. And when we get together with the whole family, we usually talk about our work. So we are talking about work at work and we are talking about work at home.

9:33 - Dmitry Verba (head of the department): Here everything is thought out and tested. Each screw and every thing under water are tested. So when I come to work I understand that I know everything here. And it's good when you know everything about your work and can correctly tell about all things to the cosmonauts.

10:00 - A cosmonaut in a spacesuit weighs 200 kilograms. In the water, the mass of the spacesuit is not felt by the cosmonauts. A spacesuit "Orlan" is weighed to neutral buoyancy. And here begins a new world of hydro weightlessness.

10:15 - Alexei Altunin (Deputy Head of the Cosmonaut Training Department): A spacesuit itself is a small submarine. Divers hang lead things on a spacesuit. They are trying to achieve neutral buoyancy of a spacesuit. After that, a cosmonaut in a spacesuit hangs in the water. This is very difficult to achieve because the shells of the arms and legs of a spacesuit are soft. And because of the change in geometry, the place of application of force changes and the spacesuit tilts to the right or to the left. This can not be avoided completely, but we still need to strive for neutral buoyancy.

10:52 - Alexei Altunin has been working in the hydro laboratory for over 30 years. He was an instructor scuba diver for 20 years. Then he was the head of the divers. He believes that "Orlan" is the best spacesuit in the world of cosmonautics.

11:06 - Alexei Altunin (Deputy Head of the Cosmonaut Training Department): Work in the spacesuit is interesting from the point of view of managing it under water. It is in a state of neutral buoyancy. A person in the spacesuit experiences the sensations which he can not experience anywhere else on Earth. During the movement, only the hands are usually involved. This state of weightlessness is very exciting and I always want to come to be in it again. Now I do not fit in the spacesuit for different reasons. But I still want to wear it. And maybe someday I'll lose weight.

11:46 - On training, divers help a cosmonaut to move. They give him cargo, tools and equipment. In a real situation, a crew will be one on one with the space environment.

12:00 - Dmitry Verba (head of the department): Many cosmonauts after opening the hatch in space ask: "Where are the divers?" And of course they are a bit scared that there are no divers that can help them.

12:14 - Alexander Kharlamov (diver specialist): Cosmonauts who first flew into space positively responded to the experience that they received here. Some of them say that it is more difficult to work in space, others say that it is more difficult to work under water.

12:39 - Each enter of cosmonauts in the hydro cosmos is accompanied by about 100 specialists of different professions.

12:48 - Alexei Altunin (Deputy Head of the Cosmonaut Training Department): In the brigade that accompanies cosmonauts there are always 3 scuba divers. Still there is a specialist under water who carries out general supervision. Also there are specialists under water who are engaged in photography and video shooting. And there are scuba divers who observe the work of the equipment and pass instruments to cosmonauts. The minimum number is 7 people under water, but usually 10-12 people under water.

13:24 - In memory there is every dive especially the first dive.

13:30 - Alexander Krasnov (doctor of diving medicine): During the first training, about 6 meters of unpurified water was poured. It was cold and the room was cold too. So it was because we were freshly entering the mode of functioning and besides, we had to hurry. The duration of the training was 6 hours.

13:50 - Training became mandatory for the crews after the exit of Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin in outer space in 1979. On the eve of the landing they left the station Salyut-6 to manually detach the antenna of the radio telescope.

14:09 - Ivan Verba (Lead Engineer): We do not have guarantees that the need to go into outer space will not be required for cosmonauts. You rememberl the episode when Lyakhov and Ryumin on 178 days of their flight were forced to go into outer space. They had to go out and unhook the antenna to save the station. But this their exit in a outer space was not planned. You remember another similar case. Repair of the combined propulsion system at Salyut-7 station. Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov made 5 exits in outer space and each of them lasted more than 5 hours. So there can be a variety of incidents. Therefore, all cosmonauts are trained here and receive the necessary skills.

15:12 - Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman to perform training in a hydro laboratory. She was prepared for welding in outer space.

15:22 - Ivan Verba (Lead Engineer): It was in 1981 or in 1982. Savitskaya was the first and in her preparation there was some feature. According to the labor legislation, a woman was forbidden to lift a load of more than 18 kilograms, but the diving equipment weighed about 30 kilograms. This issue was solved very simply. I approached Grigory Beregovoi [In 1972-1987 he was the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center] with this question. He replied: "She is not a woman. She is a cosmonaut. So the requirements for her are the same as for all cosmonauts."

16:13 - Alexander Krasnov (doctor of diving medicine): Savitskaya is a woman with a strong character. Moreover, she has a masculine character. Therefore, she overcomes the resistance of other deputies in the State Duma. Training here she showed an example of perseverance and courage. She is a very worthy person. With all due respect to other cosmonauts, she is number one.

17:11 - Elena Serova, like all cosmonauts, also completed training in the hydro laboratory. She is the fourth woman cosmonaut of Russia.

17:26 - Ivan Verba (Lead Engineer): Serova also trained here. But it was very hard for her to train here because she has a low stature. A spacesuit is not very well suited for such a figure. Nevertheless, she completed the training for output to outer space.

18:00 - Valery Kudryashov (head of the department): When cosmonauts understand that in their flight is not planned the exit in outer space then they are often upset.

18:33 - The divers worked under the water repeating all the actions of the cosmonauts in orbit. This was called "simultaneous accompaniment of works."

18:47 - Valery Kudryashov (head of the department): Our specialists worked here simultaneously with cosmonauts in orbit. In the event of dangerous situations in orbit, our specialists could give recommendations directly to the Flight Control Center.

19:16 - Alexander Krasnov (doctor of diving medicine): We and our divers work simultaneously with the cosmonauts in orbit, even if this happens at night.

19:32 - Irina Galkina (Head of the department): These works began usually late in the evening and ended early in the morning. And all our team went to work, i.e. we at night watched all the indicators. These works were interesting because they were synchronized. Because we felt ourselves necessary for the cosmonauts.

20:21 - The underwater training is closely monitored by the doctors. Chief for diving medicine, Alexander Krasnov remembers all the crews and medical indicators of each cosmonaut.

20:33 - Alexander Krasnov (doctor of diving medicine): They are good fellows. Nobody of them the pulse above 100 impacts in a minute does not rise.

20:38 - Alexander Krasnov recalls how cosmonaut Leonid Kizim fatigue broke the dynamometers that measure the muscle tone of the hands.

20:51 - Alexander Krasnov (doctor of diving medicine): Among other things, we also measured the strength of them hands before training. For example, if a cosmonaut presses 100 kilograms without a glove, then in a glove he presses 45 kilograms. And after training, he can presses only 9 kilograms. He can not presses anything.

21:13 - Since the first days of the hydro laboratory, all systems have been tested by test divers. Checking of spacesuits was carried out continuously. The hero of Russia and the instructor of the center Victor Ren during each dive lost up to 5 kilograms of weight.

21:29 - Victor Ren (Hero of Russia, Deputy Head of the Cosmonaut Training Center): During the various experiments, our health, our condition, the strength of our muscles, muscle mass, etc. were checked. I squeezed 80 kilograms with my right hand, and squeezed 85 kilograms with my left hand. And after training, I could squeeze 2-3 kilograms with my right hand and I could squeeze 5 kilograms with my left hand. After training, we were all exhausted. But it was very interesting experiments due to which the system is now working brilliantly.

22:02 - The hydro laboratory is one of the serious tests for the beginners from the cosmonaut detachment. Diving preparation is a compulsory subject of study for all. There were cases when it was here that the fate of the candidate for cosmonauts was decided. It was here that it became clear whether he could work in outer space.

22:20 - Alexander Krasnov (doctor of diving medicine): Guys, take care of yourself! Rock your hands and your shoulders. Because the legs in space are not needed (I'm kidding of course). There you need hands, arms and shoulders because all movement in space is due to the strength of hands.

22:38 - The main task of divers is to ensure the safety of cosmonauts during training under the water. During training, they constantly change the depth. In this mode of lifting and immersion, they work for hours.

22:51 - Ivan Verba (Lead Engineer): During the work of the hydro laboratory 262 people were trained here. And we know that all cosmonauts without exception have the qualification of a diver. To work underwater you need to know first of all the physiology and safety rules. I keep repeating one phrase: "Water does not like to forgive your mistakes."

23:31 - Each action of cosmonauts is according to the cyclogram. What the astronauts will learn under water, they will use during the spacewalk.

24:00 - Today, the head of training is Maxim Zaitsev. Before taking the position, he was a diver instructor.

24:12 - Maxim Zaitsev (Lead Engineer): We also put on spacesuits, we sink into the water and we carry out tasks in order to understand all this. After all, in order to be able to explain it is necessary to understand very well what is going on. It's one thing to know something in theory and it's quite another matter to have an idea of how this happens in practice.

24:28 - For the first time, Maxim visited the laboratory more than 25 years ago. He still preserved in his heart the romance of the two elements of water and space.

24:37 - Maxim Zaitsev (Lead Engineer): I stood upstairs and I as a tourist watched what was happening in the water. Then it seemed to me that there is something out of the reach for me that was like a fantastic movie.

24:54 - At depth, cosmonauts fasten handrails for movement, change the antenna, pull cables for scientific equipment.

25:10 - The training is completed. The head of the training gave the order to rise. One of the most experienced cosmonauts Gennady Padalka trained like all other cosmonauts. He believes that during the exits to outer space, records are not important, and that the shorter the time the cosmonaut is in outer space, the better, but the main thing is to execute the program.

25:30 - Victor Ren (Hero of Russia, Deputy Head of the Cosmonaut Training Center): He spent only 31 hours during nine exits in outer space. It is an indicator of his high skill. This is because he does not hesitate to immerse himself in the water environment. If he have to dive under water 10 times, then he will make 10 dives.

25:47 - Gennady Padalka (Cosmonaut): The thing that took me 31 hours, other cosmonauts would take 9 * 6, this is 54 hours. Water is the environment closest to zero gravity where we can provide neutral buoyancy for a spacesuit.

26:16 - In March 1965, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first among earthmen to see our planet not in the porthole of a spaceship, but through the glass of his spacesuit.

26:30 - Alexei Leonov (Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, cosmonaut): And when I broke away from the spacecraft I took a step into the abyss I was feeling some pressure inside of me. The stars were both to the left and to the right and above and below from me. And I was among the stars. Gradually, everything in me calmed down and I realized that I am a part of this gigantic world.

27:00 - 19 years after Alexei Leonov in July 1984, Svetlana Savitskaya was the first a woman cosmonaut, who exit in outer space. Anatoly Soloviev has performed 16 exits in outer space. His record is still not surpassed. In the winter of 2018, cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Anton Shkaplerov performed the longest exit in outer space. They worked more than 8 hours. No expedition to the ISS can do without activities in outer space. A repair, further construction of the ISS and scientific experiments require the participation of people clad in spacesuits.

27:50 - Fedor Yurchikhin (Hero of Russia, cosmonaut): This is the hydro space. Work under water is harder than working in outer space. It's harder because here we learn, but in outer space we use our experience. In addition, there is no hydro resistance in space, but here it is exist. In space, you can rotate your spacesuit the way you want, but here there are some features for rotating a spacesuit in the water. But I repeat: "After hard trainings, we easily feel in battle." [This is a quote from Alexander Suvorov Generalissimo of Russia]

28:20 - Scientists believe that even in our solar system, the satellites of Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn are covered with ice and water. And if scientific forecasts are confirmed then the trainings in the hydro cosmos here on Earth will become necessary for the development of deep space.

Immersion in weightlessness

Immersion in weightlessness