Must have been quite something to go where nobody had gone before, with no clear idea what the effect would be on the human body or if the return to Earth was survivable. The capsule was tiny and there wasn't much he could do if things went badly wrong.
Modded overrated huh? So someone doesn't think that taking that incredible risk, being the first human to experience weightlessness even though at the time the effects on humans were unknown, is overrated?
Are we still fighting the cold war or something? Oh wait, we actually are in the midst of communist panic again so maybe that's it...
Modded overrated huh? So someone doesn't think that taking that incredible risk, being the first human to experience weightlessness even though at the time the effects on humans were unknown, is overrated?
More to the point, there is a bond between those who have faced the same risks even if they are on opposite political sides due to geography, political systems, etc. even during the cold war.
This season of For All Mankind has more Soviet characters in it. They are portrayed in a very stereotypical way. Miserable, just doing their job like it's a coal mine or something with no interest in space or flight. Contrast with the Americans who are doing it for mankind, who were born to fly and explore.
They also portrayed the Buran as a knock-off of the Shuttle, when in fact it was quite different and the engineers were actually reluctant to have it look superficially so similar but in the end conceded
The intention was for Buran to be much closer to the STS that it ended up being. That they were forced to make technological changes because of being unable to replicate the US approach (such as huge solid boosters, for example) completely is an entirely different matter.
The plan was to re-use existing technology. "Forced" isn't the right word, and it wasn't done for technical reasons but rather for cost reasons.
There is actually a plot point in For All Mankind (spoiler alert) where NASA tips the Russians off about problems with the o-rings in cold weather, because the Russian design is a carbon copy. In reality the Russians used a version of the Proton rocket, the most successful heavy lift rocket in the world with nearly 400 successful launches since it's introduction in
If the plan was to reuse existing technology, how do RD-170 and RD-0120, both being completely new developments, fit into the picture? And what is it about Proton? Proton had nothing to do with Buran.
"Forced" isn't the right word, and it wasn't done for technical reasons but rather for cost reasons.
That's a distinction without a difference. You have to incur extra costs to overcome technical reasons.
The RD-170 was developed because they needed a heavy lift vehicle anyway and had given up on the N1 prematurely. The idea for such an engine had been around for a while but the N1 design was selected, so it was abandoned until N1 was abandoned. Of course it's possible that they saw the success of US liquid fuel heavy lift engines.
The RD-170 was not part of Buran though, it was part of Energia. Where as the US used solid boosters the Russians kept using liquid fuelled
...are you serious? They're two completely different LVs designed by two independent design bureaus! They have literally nothing in common except for both being USSR products. That's like saying that Atlas V was a development of the Delta II (it wasn't!).
The RD-170 was not part of Buran though, it was part of Energia.
Another distinction without meaning; despite earlier plans, Energia was developed specifically for Buran.
As I said the Russian boosters were capable of independent operation, having their own guidance and telemetry systems, the idea being that they could be used for things other than Buran. The US design relied on the Shuttle for everything and the boosters were controlled by it.
Except that wasn't the original plan for the OS-120 orbiter. As I said, they were forced to change it later to the OK-92 and then to Buran.
And as to whether Buran is "not a copy", why don't you compare it to the MTKVP spacecraft that was supposed to fly on the evolutionary ancestor to the actual Energia? People with functioning eyes will get it instantly.
Into the unknown (Score:5, Insightful)
Must have been quite something to go where nobody had gone before, with no clear idea what the effect would be on the human body or if the return to Earth was survivable. The capsule was tiny and there wasn't much he could do if things went badly wrong.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Modded overrated huh? So someone doesn't think that taking that incredible risk, being the first human to experience weightlessness even though at the time the effects on humans were unknown, is overrated?
Are we still fighting the cold war or something? Oh wait, we actually are in the midst of communist panic again so maybe that's it...
Re: (Score:2)
Modded overrated huh? So someone doesn't think that taking that incredible risk, being the first human to experience weightlessness even though at the time the effects on humans were unknown, is overrated?
More to the point, there is a bond between those who have faced the same risks even if they are on opposite political sides due to geography, political systems, etc. even during the cold war.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
This season of For All Mankind has more Soviet characters in it. They are portrayed in a very stereotypical way. Miserable, just doing their job like it's a coal mine or something with no interest in space or flight. Contrast with the Americans who are doing it for mankind, who were born to fly and explore.
They also portrayed the Buran as a knock-off of the Shuttle, when in fact it was quite different and the engineers were actually reluctant to have it look superficially so similar but in the end conceded
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The plan was to re-use existing technology. "Forced" isn't the right word, and it wasn't done for technical reasons but rather for cost reasons.
There is actually a plot point in For All Mankind (spoiler alert) where NASA tips the Russians off about problems with the o-rings in cold weather, because the Russian design is a carbon copy. In reality the Russians used a version of the Proton rocket, the most successful heavy lift rocket in the world with nearly 400 successful launches since it's introduction in
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
"Forced" isn't the right word, and it wasn't done for technical reasons but rather for cost reasons.
That's a distinction without a difference. You have to incur extra costs to overcome technical reasons.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Energia was a development of the Proton.
The RD-170 was developed because they needed a heavy lift vehicle anyway and had given up on the N1 prematurely. The idea for such an engine had been around for a while but the N1 design was selected, so it was abandoned until N1 was abandoned. Of course it's possible that they saw the success of US liquid fuel heavy lift engines.
The RD-170 was not part of Buran though, it was part of Energia. Where as the US used solid boosters the Russians kept using liquid fuelled
Re:Into the unknown (Score:2)
Energia was a development of the Proton.
...are you serious? They're two completely different LVs designed by two independent design bureaus! They have literally nothing in common except for both being USSR products. That's like saying that Atlas V was a development of the Delta II (it wasn't!).
The RD-170 was not part of Buran though, it was part of Energia.
Another distinction without meaning; despite earlier plans, Energia was developed specifically for Buran.
As I said the Russian boosters were capable of independent operation, having their own guidance and telemetry systems, the idea being that they could be used for things other than Buran. The US design relied on the Shuttle for everything and the boosters were controlled by it.
Except that wasn't the original plan for the OS-120 orbiter. As I said, they were forced to change it later to the OK-92 and then to Buran.
And as to whether Buran is "not a copy", why don't you compare it to the MTKVP spacecraft that was supposed to fly on the evolutionary ancestor to the actual Energia? People with functioning eyes will get it instantly.