Open AccessThe establishment of Soviet cosmonautics through the prism of its founders: historiography and sources
Author(s) -
Irina Viktorovna Grebenchenko
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
istoričeskij žurnal. naučnye issledovaniâ
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2454-0609
DOI - 10.7256/2454-0609.2021.6.36762
Subject(s) - memoir , documentation , historiography , state (computer science) , space (punctuation) , event (particle physics) , history , object (grammar) , work (physics) , comparative historical research , law , visual arts , sociology , art history , engineering , computer science , political science , archaeology , art , social science , mechanical engineering , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , programming language , operating system
History marks the events that can be truly called the scientific and technological breakthroughs. One of such achievements is the flight of the first man into space in 1961. However, the flight of the austranot in the spacecraft is just a small part of this event. Behind it are those who developed the spacecraft, launch vehicle, braking system, life support system, lodgment, spacesuit and many other systems. This reviews and systematizes the sources of personal origin, such as diaries, memoirs and correspondence of the scholars, who were the pioneers of the Soviet cosmonautics, as well as works on the history of space exploration. The object of this research is the circle of scholars and engineers, members of the Council of Chief Designers of 1946–1967. The article relies on the materials from the library of the Russian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation, Russian State Historical Library, as well as the collections of the Russian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation, collection of the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, and archive of the Academician S. P. Korolev Memorial House Museum. The analysis employs the sources of personal origin, such as correspondence, diaries and memoirs of the designers, which contain mentioning of their work, as well as give assessment of the activity and personality of their colleagues.