Vostok Cosmonauts


Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
I met Yuri Gagarin in 1961 in Florence at a space sciences meeting attended by a large Soviet delegation. They were the indisputable leaders in the space race at that time. Gagarin was an international hero following his single orbit mission in Vostok one and Titov had achieved a full day in orbit in Vostok two. Gagarin was a charming young man with a smiling face and warm, friendly eyes. He shook my hand and autographed a Russian book I had purchased for the occasion, titled `The First Cosmic Flight of Man'.

Vostok One
On 12 April 1961 Yuri Gagarin was launched into orbit aboard Vostok One. After one pass around the Earth he was safely recovered back in Russia using the land recovery system already tested twice by the single orbit flights of Chernushka and Zvezdochka several weeks earlier.

Like his canine predecessors, Gagarin had two electrcardiographic leads, one horizontal, recording from the right axilla to the left and the other, vertical, recording from the upper to the lower sternum. He also had the same rubber tubing pneumograph around his chest to record respirations and, over his sternum, the precordial vibrocardiogram transducer, about which western scientists were so curious.At this time the Soviets introduced the galvanic skin resistance (GSR) test into their biological tests to record stress reaction and autonomic nervous system function. The use of the GSR test continued throughout the Vostok program.

The Vostok Cabin Environment
Early in their program the Soviets selected a sea level equivalent cabin. This choice of cabin pressure and gas composition demanded a stronger cabin and the necessity for prolonged denitrogenation before any extra-vehicular operation. The advantages, however, were freedom from fire hazard and the availability of a more natural environment for their many biological studies.

Potassium superoxide met their oxygen needs and lithium hydroxide cannisters absorbed carbon dioxide dioxide and excess water vapor. Of interest is the fact that these systems continued to be used even into MIR, illustrating the step by step approach which has characterized the Soviet program, each step building on the one before. Space suits were worn by the cosmoauts throughout the Vostok phase of space flight as a precaution. Only in the later, multi-manned Voskhod vehicle were the cosmonauts to go `shirt sleeves'.

Cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Vostok two carrying Titov on his one day, seventeen orbit mission was launched 6 August 1961. The same pattern of bio-medical monitoring was used as with Gagarin. It was on his sixth orbit that I had the pleasure and honor of monitoring cosmonaut Titov's heart rate on a real time basis. This ability presented itself because of the Soviets' use of a twenty megacycle transmitter for biomedical monitoring.

The R spike of Titov's electrocardiogram was used to interrupt a carrier wave with every beat of the heart. A brilliant electrical engineer, Ed Correl, at the Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory called to my attention this repetitive signal he started to get on his high frequency receiver when Titov's sixth orbit brought him over Dayton, Ohio. We soon deduced that the curious,mildly variable signal was the cosmonauts heart rate. This use of a simple and inexpensive high frequency transmitter for biomedical monitoring of cosmonauts would continue throughout the Vostok into the Voskod program. Its use permitted continuous, real time assessment of cosmonaut status using only a few Earth based receivers since high frequency waves are not line of sight limited as are the more usual VHF abd UHF transmitters.


We monitored Titov's heart rate for forty-five minutes during that single pass. Later in the Voskhod missions this simple device wold be modified to switch from one cosmonaut to another and even to add respiration monitoring, all on a simple, reliable high frequency link. This device permitted the Soviets effective real time monitoring with only a few, simple Earth based sites. Their usual VHF and UHF biodata was stored onboard and dumped electronically when over mother Russia.Like Gagarin four months earlier, Titov was de-orbited over Russia using their land recovery system of parachute descent and rocket cushioning just before ground impact.

He admitted to motion sickness during hs mission and had to be assisted during removal from the vehicle because of weakness. Recovery was complee in a few hours. Following Titov's successful mission, Soviet scientists had accumulated in excess of seventy orbits of biodata concerning prolonged zero gravity exposure. With the flight of John Glenn still six months away, the Unted States had no information beyond that gleened from brief, sub-orbital flights.

Nickolayev, Popovich, Bykovsky and Tereshkova
Cosmonaut Nickolayev's mission of 11 August 1962 added 64 orbits of biomedical information. Popovich, launched one day later in this first paired flight, would add 48 more orbits. Bykovsky, launched on 14 June 1963 made 64 turns around he Earth and Tereshkova, the world's first female in space launched two days later, on 16 June 1963, would add 48 more. All had the same bio-instrumentation and telemetry systems. By the end of the very successful Vostok series of flights the Soviets had accumulated an impressive 300 orbits (200 hours) of biomedical information relating to prolonged weightlessness exposure. This far surpassed the United States. Clearly the Soviets were in the lead!

Duane Graveline MD MPH
Former USAF Flight Surgeon
Former NASA Astronaut
Retired Family Doctor

 

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