Roscosmos (Роскосмос), formerly called the Soviet Space Program (Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR), is the national space program of the Soviet Union. It was formed in 1955.
By 1987, the Soviet Space Program was renamed to Roscosmos.[1]
History[]
Soviet space program[]
The Soviet space program achieved a lot of firsts in the early Space Race in the 50s and up to the 70s. It was leading the way in rocketry and space flight for many years during the early missile race, the race to orbit and the following race to the Moon, with their biggest victory being the first manned landing on the Moon in June 1969.[2]
Roscosmos[]
At some point, probably due to the changes happening under new Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, the former space program was concentrated and renamed to Roscosmos. Roscosmos was first mentioned in 1987 during a news report about nuclear fusion.[1]
In 1987, Gorbachev announced a partnership between Roscosmos and the energy conglomerate Kuragin to mine Helium-3 on the Moon. Kuragin was also given a contract to build a fleet of shuttles to bring the mined isotope back to Earth.[1]
In 1992, Roscosmos' director was Sergei Nikulov.[3]
By 1995, its director was Lenara Catiche. During the race to Mars, Catiche accused the United States of playing "dirty tricks" on Soviet state television, after the US spacecraft Sojourner had gained advantage in the race by deploying a huge solar sail.[4]
In 1997, Roscosmos became a member of the newly founded Mars-7 Alliance (M-7), after Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ellen Wilson signed a treaty to end the competition in the Space Race in Brussels, along with India, Japan, North Korea, the European Space Agency, and the Coalition of Communist Countries for Spaceflight.[5]
In late 2003, after a coup d'état against the government of Mikhail Gorbachev, the new Soviet president Fyodor Korzhenko assigned Irina Morozova as the new director of Roscosmos. Subsequently, Morozova recruited Margo Madison to work for her, who was living in the Soviet Union under the pseudonym "Margaret Reynolds" at that time.[6]
Known personnel[]
- Directors
- Irina Morozova, Director of Roscosmos
- Lenara Catiche, Director of Roscosmos (former)
- Sergei Nikulov, aerospace engineer, Director of Roscosmos (former)
- Engineers
- Margaret Reynolds, Aerospace engineer (2003)
- Kirill Semenov, Aerospace engineer (former)
- Sergei Korolev, Chief engineer (former)
- Cosmonauts
- Alexei Leonov (first man on the Moon)
- Anastasia Belikova (first woman on the Moon)
- Stepan Petrovich Alexseev (Soyuz-Apollo commander)
- Radislav Semenovich Orlov (Soyuz-Apollo)
- Mikhail Vasiliev (Zvezda Moon base)
- Rolan Baranov (Zvezda Moon base (former), defected to US)
- Viktor Tsukanov (Zvezda Moon base commander 1983)
- Grigory Kuznetsov † (Mars-94 commander)
- Dr. Dimitri Mayakovsky (Zvezda, Mars-94, Happy Valley 2003)
- Isabel Castillo † (Mars-94, Cuban)
- Alexei Poletov † (Mars-94)
- Svetlana Zakharova (Happy Valley 2003)
Infrastructure[]
- Sites
- Tsentr Upravlyeniya Polyotom (TsUP) (Mission Control Moscow), in Korolyov
- Star City (Cosmonaut training center, research center)
- Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (Launch complex)
- Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Soviet Union (Launch complex)
- Outposts
- Zvezda Moon base
- Happy Valley (as part of M-7)
Notable achievements[]
- First satellite launched to space
- First mammal sent to space
- First human sent to space
- First woman sent to space
- First man on the Moon
- First woman on the Moon
Gallery[]
1990s[]
2000s[]
Irina Morozova, 2003
Logos & patches[]
.png "Roscosmos patch (emb).png (1.29 MB)")
Behind the scenes[]
- In the OTL, Roscosmos emerged from the Soviet space program following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
- Like with other logos from space agencies, the show's logo is different from the one used in reality:
Left: Real world logos
Right Logos & patches from the show
See also[]
External links[]
Roscosmos on Wikipedia- Soviet space program on Wikipedia
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bonus Video: Another Giant Leap: 1984-1992 - Clean Nuclear Energy (1987)
- ↑ For All Mankind TV series, season 1, episode 1, "Red Moon"
- ↑ For All Mankind TV series, season 3, episode 1, "Polaris"
- ↑ For All Mankind TV series, season 3, episode 4, "Happy Valley"
- ↑ Bonus Video: Leap Into a New Millenium: 1996-2001 - The Mars-7 Alliance (1997)
- ↑ For All Mankind TV series, season 4, episode 3, "The Bear Hug"