Starman_ The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin - Jamie Doran [32]
The Soviets’ dread of weightlessness remained unconquered, at least for now. Calculations were made to fire Vostok’s braking rockets well within its first orbit, which would keep the period of weightlessness to a minimum. However, there was the remote possibility that the craft might be stuck in orbit for several more circuits, because of a failure in the retro-rockets. Andy Aldrin neatly sums up the risk faced by the world’s first space traveller: ‘In an orbital trajectory what happens is you go up and around the earth, and then the rocket that got you up there has to work again to slow you down and bring you back in. If that doesn’t work, you end up with a man orbiting the earth for ever and essentially dying . . . Korolev’s designers suggested a safer sub-orbital trajectory for the first manned attempt, but he made it clear he didn’t want to beat the Americans by such a little margin. He wanted to beat them by a lot.’
Vostok’s air supply (sixteen spherical gas tanks, alternating nitrogen and oxygen reservoirs wrapped in a ‘necklace’ around the join between the ball and the equipment module) would last for a maximum of ten days. The ship’s orbit was deliberately designed to skim the outermost layers of the earth’s atmosphere so that, in the event of a serious problem, natural atmospheric friction would slow the craft down within a few days. It was a gamble whether or not this would happen before the cosmonaut ran out of air, water and food.
With help from Academician Keldysh and his computers in Moscow, Mazzhorin calculated that Vostok’s re-entry ball could be recovered safely at the end of its first orbit, so long as the braking rockets in the rear equipment module functioned without incident. But even if these rockets were in good shape, there was a chance that the braking manoeuvre might have to be delayed while Vostok’s orientation was fine-tuned. In theory the retro-systems could be fired at any time, but there was no guarantee that they would bring the capsule down anywhere within Soviet-held territory.
Vostok’s orbit was inclined to the Equator by sixty-five degrees. Each orbit, west to east, took ninety minutes. Meanwhile the earth rotated at its own steady pace beneath the ship, once every twenty-four hours. As a consequence the craft did not fly the same path over the ground each time. The mathematics of the situation were clear. The best opportunities for a good homecoming occurred one hour into the first orbit, or else a whole day later, halfway through orbit seventeen. Firing the retro-rockets during any other orbit would risk bringing the craft down into the sea, or on foreigners’ land; in which case, the embarrassment could be severe. Secrets of technology might be revealed; corrupt capitalists might claim the glory for ‘rescuing’ a cosmonaut within their own borders.
Eventually the solutions to these potential propaganda problems were sealed within three envelopes, addressed to the official news agency TASS in Moscow. The various enclosed documents were prepared by Mazzhorin, doubling not just as a guidance mapper but also as a propaganda officer. He had such a detailed understanding of how and where the ball might come down, at the end of its flight, that it seemed appropriate for him to work out what measures should be taken if it actually did descend onto foreign soil. If this calamity occurred, then TASS would be instructed to tear open the appropriate envelope and broadcast its contents. Mazzhorin was also instructed to prepare for the very worst-case scenarios. If the capsule blew up in space, or the ball sprang a leak, then the press statements would have to be tailored accordingly to make the best of the situation. It seemed wise to consider all possibilities and prepare the various announcements in advance. ‘We prepared three envelopes for TASS, with different announcements,’ says Mazzhorin.