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Into outer space - under water!
The hydrolaboratory in the Star City is a unique structure.
Here you can see the work of astronauts outside the station with the only difference that...
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Show the content separately Unique simulator The idea of using water to simulate weightlessness during spacewalk training came to the specialists of the Cosmonaut Training Center after the first manned space flights.
And on September 20, 1966, an author's certificate for the invention was registered under the name "A set of means for training astronauts in hydrogravity conditions".
But the construction of the hydrolaboratory was still far away, and for some time this idea remained only on paper.
The hydrolaboratory began to function normally only on February 23, 1980, when the tank was completely filled with water.
To date, the hydrolaboratory is a complex hydraulic engineering structure of several floors.
It includes a large number of technological systems and equipment, various objective control equipment, as well as specialized service communication systems, television, video recording, lighting, automated information processing, air and oxygen supply, lifting mechanisms, electrical equipment.
The diameter of the pool is 23 m, the depth is 12 m, the volume of water is 5000 cubic meters.
There are 45 portholes with a glass thickness of more than 4 cm around the entire perimeter of the pool.
Through them, everything that happens inside is perfectly visible.
Specialists maintain a constant chemical composition of water, its transparency and temperature about 30 degrees Celsius.
Depending on the tasks of entering the platform, real samples of Russian ISS modules are installed, as well as American and European equipment that is involved in the course of extravehicular activities.
Emergency situations in the hydro space There is a practical emergency situation that is currently occurring.
The spacesuit in which the cosmonaut trains in the water is adjusted to each according to size.
And if the parameters of the body have changed a little, then it is inconvenient for the operator to work, you have to make great efforts to perform each movement.
In this case, the training is interrupted, the astronaut is lifted to the surface, all errors are corrected and the work continues.
On the body of each cosmonaut, a belt with sensors is put on under the spacesuit, which are designed to monitor his condition.
The readings from them are displayed on the computer monitor.
If the indications of physiological parameters during training deviate from the norm, the doctor has the right to make recommendations about rest or even stopping the training to the head of the dive.
And he already transmits this directly to the cosmonaut.
But usually, when the pulse increases, a few minutes are enough to recover and continue training.
Although it happens (though rarely) that you have to interrupt the training.
The doctor can also give such recommendations when he sees that the psychological parameters of the cosmonaut do not correspond to the norm.
How do you hear?
Reception!
During the training, the cosmonaut, of course, needs to communicate with the head.
To do this, each cosmonaut is put on a headset with headphones and a microphone under the spacesuit.
Thanks to them, during the dive, you can hear commands "from the Ground" and negotiate.
The head of the dive through the portholes located in the walls of the pool, watches the progress of the training.
If visual contact is lost, when the operator goes out of sight, for example, if he is inside the station, the manager can see everything that is happening on his monitor.
The whole process of diving is recorded on a video camera.
The head communicates with the astronauts using radio communication.
He can tell them something in the process of work or give them some instructions, make comments, and also hears all their negotiations.
The language of numbers is impartial and accurate, you canot argue with it.
In the period from 1965 to 1979, 5 spacewalks were performed, from 1980 to 2001 (this is the period of operation of the Salyut 7 orbital station and the Mir orbital complex), more than 90 successful exits were carried out, then 30 exits to the ISS.
There is no doubt that the absolute merit of the successful implementation of the tasks is the impeccable and trouble free work of a highly professional team of employees of the hydrolaboratory and related organizations.
And now, as you are reading this article, another test and training work is being carried out in hydrogravity conditions, during which complex and important elements of the cyclogram of the upcoming next spacewalk of astronauts to the outer surface of the ISS are being worked out.
And this work is prepared and carried out by smart, experienced, highly professional employees of the unique hydrolaboratory of the Central Design Institute, which this year marked 30 years since its commissioning.
The head of the department of the hydrolaboratory of the CPC of the Cosmonaut Training Department, Major Nikita Viktorovich KHARCHENKO: "Working out the tasks to be solved during a spacewalk in the water gives the cosmonaut the skill to carry out such work and some experience.
The time of one training in the hydro environment for Russian cosmonauts is from 4 to 6 hours (for foreign astronauts, this time is equal to 3 hours and 10 minutes).
But the first team of divers is sent to hydrogravity.
Astronauts cannot do without their help.
When the suit is inflated, the movements of the arms and legs are difficult.
Therefore, it is very difficult for astronauts to get inside the station on their own.
In addition, it is necessary to constantly monitor the condition and position of long life support halyards, consisting of hoses through which water and air are supplied, and electrical cables that provide communication and transmission of telemetric information about the physiological parameters of the cosmonaut (tester).
It is impossible to allow the halyards to get mixed up (this is a serious danger if the cosmonaut needs to be lifted urgently) and to break (the access of air and water is blocked).
Thus, divers not only insure and ensure the safety of astronauts, but also help them get inside the docking compartment, stay there, and then leave it.
Another of their tasks is to constantly maintain zero buoyancy of astronauts.
To "drown" an astronaut, you need to increase his weight.
For this purpose, lead weights are used.
They are fixed on different parts of the spacesuit.
Divers make sure that the cosmonaut does not start to float or sink, and in case of something, add or remove loads.
Naturally, during training, there are also small emergency situations for example, an astronaut begins to lose zero buoyancy.
The task of the divers is to eliminate this.
More serious emergency situations — loss of consciousness also happened, but only at the very beginning of the work of the hydrolaboratory.
And they were connected with the fact that the testers were not ready for the amount of work that they had to face.
This is not happening now.
Once in my memory there was a curious situation.
An American female astronaut somehow managed to tear off the handle of the exit hatch.
Whether the wear and tear of equipment, or excessive efforts of the weaker sex…
But the result, as they say, is obvious — the welded handle was in her hands.
It's funny to remember it now.
And then followed the "debriefing" to the fullest extent."
Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev holds the record for number of spacewalks on account of the astronaut 16!
"The main goal of training in hydro weightlessness — to make the astronaut going to work in open space, felt that he is what is called, in their environment, to let him know that you will cope with the task.
There should be no prerequisites for not completing this task.
It should not be because all the work is prepared and trained on Earth by colleagues, testers, operators and astronauts to such an extent that it becomes native to you, and the spacesuit is almost a sports suit.
And in this case, you are one hundred percent ready, you can, as they say, do any job from the sheet.
When you go into outer space for the first time, for the first time you feel weightlessness, it seems that you have already seen it.
All this abyss, blackness, of course, affects psychologically, but, nevertheless, all this is a little disappointing.
You realize that you are in your own environment.
And this can be achieved only thanks to training in the hydro lab.
Training in the hydrolaboratory is not only a good simulation of extravehicular activity for the crew in an environment ideally close to weightlessness, but also an excellent psychological training. "
Head of the Department of the 3rd Department of the CPC, Colonel Valery Vitalievich KUDRYASHOV: "I came to work at the hydrolaboratory in 1988 and, as an instructor, I trained about 30 crews.
What is the most important thing in the process of training astronauts and astronauts?
Probably, to find a common language with the crew.
It is also important for the instructor to understand the specifics of preparing for a specific spacewalk and convey this to the crew.
But the joint work does not end there.
The instructor and the crew always interact, find the necessary solutions during training, which are subsequently implemented.
Testing of new space technology has always entailed changes in the preparation process.
After all, everything that an astronaut does in outer space must be worked out to automatism here on Earth.
Of course, the training of each crew is individual.
But there are typical operations that everyone knows.
But the target tasks of extravehicular activity for each space flight and each crew are individual.
They consist of a set of typical operations and certain tasks assigned to this crew.
For example, the installation of scientific equipment (of different configurations and weights in different places).
Depending on this, the preparation also changes.
But the general practice remains unchanged — 2-3 training sessions under water are planned for each spacewalk (depending on the complexity).
But this is without taking into account the tests.
Thus, to date, it is impossible to go into outer space without preliminary preparation in the hydrolaboratory.
Although, of course, there are also unplanned exits.
The need for them does not occur often, but it does occur.
In this case, the instructors dive in spacesuits into the pool of the hydrolaboratory and work out all the actions.
Then the video is mounted and sent to the station."
For the creation of the hydrolaboratory, the staff of the Central Design Institute CPI 20 and the staff of the Cosmonaut Training Center G. V. Starodubtsev and V. M. Markovets were awarded the State Prize in 1980.
For 30 years of hydrolaboratory:
more than 140 Russian and international crews of space stations and 198 specialists were trained to work in the hydrosphere; more than 990 trainings were conducted on programs of external shipboard activity, more than 1040 scientific testing and experimental works were carried out; 3940 dives were performed in a spacesuit and 65,255 in diving equipment with a total operating time of more than 65 thousand hours; 17 people were awarded the title of honored space technology tester; 15 people were awarded orders and medals of the USSR and the Russian Federation for their huge contribution to the development of manned cosmonautics.
Yulia ANDREEVA
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