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The Academy of Sciences and Space: Historical Aspects

  • Scientific Session of the General Meeting of the RAS Members “The Contribution of Academic Science to the Development of the Space Industry”
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Abstract

This paper is focused on the activities of the USSR Academy of Sciences in space research: from the first steps in this area—the study of the upper layers of the atmosphere—through the first manned flight into space. Examples of assignments of the Academy of Sciences for high-altitude rockets before and during the Great Patriotic War are given. The history of the project of the first Soviet manned spaceflight, prepared by the group of M.K. Tikhonravov, but not implemented, the preparation of which was undertaken by the Academy of Sciences, is described. The significance of the meeting of President of the USSR Academy of Sciences S.I. Vavilov with S.P. Korolev is commemorated as the beginning of cooperation between academic science and the rocket industry of the Soviet Union. The “golden age of the Academy of Sciences” is described as a period when no significant event in space exploration was planned without its participation or instruction. The prelaunch preparation and flight progress of Yu.A. Gagarin’s spaceflight is analyzed in detail.

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Notes

  1. The cult of the goddess Vesta (Greek goddess Hestia)—a symbol of reliability and stability—was introduced in Rome by King Pompilius (reigned from 715 to 672 BC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Moscow, Russia

    Yu. M. Baturin

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Correspondence to Yu. M. Baturin.

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Translated by B. Alekseev

RAS Corresponding Member Yurii Mikhailovich Baturin is Chief Researcher at the Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology, RAS.

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Baturin, Y.M. The Academy of Sciences and Space: Historical Aspects. Her. Russ. Acad. Sci. 91, 611–619 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331621060010

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