HISTORY. Space projects: death before birth.

In the 20th century, the incredible space projects were born in the minds of the best engineers of the United States and the USSR. All of them pursued only one goal - to overtake their geopolitical opponent. Only a small part of these programs received the right to life.

Space fighter aircraft

Many have probably heard about the aerospace "Spiral" system, but far from everyone knows about the similar American project X-20. But it was the program X-20 Dyna Soar that formed the basis of the very concept of combat space complexes. Of course, projects to create such devices have been worked on before, but only Boeing specialists came close to realizing something like this.

Customers X-20 were the US Air Force. Plans for the creators were Napoleonic: a reusable orbital plane had to effectively intercept spacecraft, make reconnaissance and even deliver nuclear strikes on the ground. Looking ahead, we note that this project was just a tempting utopia: these tasks are better solved by highly specialized complexes. But the main reason for abandoning the program was its price - from 1957 to 1963 it was spent 410 million dollars. As a result, the project was canceled, and the funds were redirected to the Gemini program.

By this time, developers have managed to build several X-20 mock-ups, as well as conduct a number of studies. The reusable device was to be put into orbit by means of a Titan launch vehicle (depending on the specific task, it was intended to use different modifications of the missile). To accomplish one revolution, an additional engine was not required, but if necessary, the X-20 could be amplified by the third stage of the Martin Trans-Stage. It gave the X-20 the opportunity to make several turns around the planet and maneuver in space, carrying out operations to bring Soviet satellites closer together and neutralize them.

Project X-20 Dyna Soar / ©Depositphotos

The ship itself was a small single-seat orbiter plane. The length of the X-20 reached 10.7 m, the wingspan was 6.35 m. It could take 450 kg of useful cargo into orbit, and landed as an ordinary aircraft on the runway.

The Soviet leadership took Dyna Soar as a very real threat - and prepared its response. In the 1960s, under the guidance of the legendary designer Gleb Lozino-Lozinsky, the legendary aerospace system Spiral was being developed.

Even at the time of closing, the X-20 Dyna Soar program was still very far from practical implementation. But the seriousness of American plans was proved by the fact that for Kh-20 a volunteer squad was recruited - only seven people. Among these astronauts was Neil Armstrong, who later became the first person to step on the moon. By the way, for his outstanding endurance, he received the nickname "Ice Captain".

From its overseas competitor, "Spiral" was distinguished, mainly, by air horizontal take-off. The device was launched from the side of a special hypersonic airplane-racer. The separation was to take place at a speed of Mach 6 and a height of 30 km, and after the separation, the accelerator operating on hydrofluoric fuel entered the case.

The main purpose of the program was, of course, military. A small single-seat orbital aircraft (8 m long, wingspan-7.4) could be used to intercept enemy satellites, destroy naval targets with an air-to-surface missile, and also conduct reconnaissance. The total weight of the combat load could reach 2,000 kg. For maneuvering in orbit, it was planned to use liquid jet engines, and to make landing in airplane mode.

All these plans remained only in dreams. The result of a lot of work on the "Spiral" was the creation of an experimental (yet subsonic) MiG-105.11 aircraft - "Laptea", as they nicknamed him for an upturned blunt nose. In 1976, he first flew into the air, and in 1977 carried out a successful escape from the carrier - the Tu-95 bomber in flight. However, the subsonic analogue was very far from the planned orbital complex and represented only the first step on a long and complex path, the journey in which never happened.

The experimental MiG-105.11 / ©Depositphotos

The work on the complex was finally discontinued in 1979, when experiments were already underway on another promising project of a reusable ship. The Spiral program cost the USSR 75 million rubles, and the high cost along with the difficulty of implementation and the "lack of urgent tasks" has become one of the main reasons for its closure. Moreover, the Americans abandoned their project back in the 1960s.

But by the end of the 1970s, the United States had already prepared the ground on which new sprouts of concern for the Land of Soviets were to grow. With the new "space threat" associated with the Space Shuttle program, the USSR was dragged into yet another space race, the result of which was the creation of the Buran complex.

The unmanned orbital rocket-propelled rocket was created within the framework of the "Spiral" program, but did not take part in the tests. It was a model of an orbital plane, made on a scale of 1: 2. The flying experimental apparatus was launched already in the year of Buran tests, in 1982. BORs have made a significant contribution to the implementation of the Buran program.

In general, Dyna Soar and "Spiral" can be considered one of the most incredible space projects of all time: nothing like this was not before or after. And even then the prospects for their implementation were very vague, in our age the concept is experiencing an unexpected renaissance, and in the US, the development of new reusable ships, such as the Dream Chaser, is in full swing. Fortunately, they are no longer talking about their full-fledged military application.

MAS is not only an abbreviation of the aerospace salon, but also a designation of a prospective orbital ship. The Multipurpose Aerospace System (MAS) project was presented in the late 1980s. As in the Spiral, the orbital plane was to be withdrawn by air launch from the side of the heavy An-225 Mriya plane. The project was not implemented, and the development was canceled after the collapse of the USSR.

The Lunar Program of the USSR

While the results of the "lunar race" remained unclear, the Soviet Union hurried to the moon in all pairs. To send a manned expedition a super-powerful missile was required - what became the complex H-1, developed from the beginning of the 1960s. The giant "king-rocket" was created under the leadership of Sergei Korolev, and when he died, the work continued designer Vasily Mishin.

The missile consisted of five stages. Only the first of them was installed 30 liquid engines NK-33, collectively created a thrust of 5130 tons. In all, the H-1 had 44 engines of five different models. The dry weight of the H-1 reached 208 tons, and the starting weight could reach 2950 tons. For comparison, the dry mass of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle, with the help of which Progress spacecraft, is only 24 tons. But the low-Earth orbit H-1 was able to withdraw cargo weighing up to 100 tons, and to the moon - to deliver a payload of 34 tons.

Spacecraft L-3 / ©Depositphotos

For such a heavy missile and targets were appropriate. At first it was even planned to be used to bring the modules of an interplanetary ship into orbit, which would fly to Mars or Venus. But in the first half of the 1960s these ideas were replaced by a much more realistic flight to the natural satellite of the Earth. From 1969 to 1972, four H-1 test launches were carried out - the rocket was cursed: all the launches were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the Americans landed on the moon.

Of all the launch vehicles that went into orbit, the largest Saturn V was the largest and most powerful. The dry mass of the rocket was 235 tons, the starting weight was 2328 tons, and the payload was 120 tons. One of the developers was the legendary German Wernher von Braun , and the missile itself was eventually used for flights to the moon on the Apollo program.

The unsuccessful H-1 missile is sometimes called the main culprit for the defeat of the USSR in the lunar race, but this is only partially true. The reason for the backlog from the United States was a whole set of factors, including a lower technological level of production, and a lack of funding (in terms of the current exchange rate, the lunar program cost the Americans $ 135 billion - five times the cost of the USSR), and the country's lack of clear understanding their goals.

Launch Vehicle H-1 / ©Depositphotos

But there is another reason that is not always said. The fact is that between the groups of Soviet developers and scientists, there was often no proper coordination. Probably, in the defeat played a role long-standing rivalry between the Royal OKB-1 and OKB-52 academician Chelomey. Undoubtedly one thing: the main reason for the termination of the Soviet lunar program was the landing in 1969 on the moon of astronauts from the United States. The project has lost its relevance.

By the way, in the same OKB-1 was developed a manned spacecraft LZ, which was to become one of the main characters of the national lunar program. The 15-ton complex consisted of the lunar landing and lunar orbital apparatus. It was planned that when the ship reaches the lunar orbit, the landing and orbital modules will separate. One astronaut will stay in orbit, and the other will land on the surface of the Moon with the help of a landing module. Then the lunar landing module will lift the cosmonaut back, dock with the orbital module - and the cosmonauts will go home.

The Soviet mooncraft and the American module of Apollo / ©Depositphotos

Many Soviet experts borrowed many technical solutions from the United States, but the H1-L3 project was inferior to the Apollo program. So, instead of three astronauts (as on an American ship), only two could be on board the L3. Even the size of the American lunar module is almost twice that of the Soviet one. As a result, the spacecraft L3 was built and was not, and the tests conducted within the framework of the H1-L3 program were limited to the launch of mock-ups and prototypes.

The project of an interplanetary ship was born in the USSR back in the first half of the 1960s, when Mars was considered one of the purposes of the flight. Then the development of two projects was carried out in parallel. Designer Gleb Maksimov's team was working on a small ship to fly around Mars with a crew of up to three people. A completely different scale was in the group of Doctor of Technical Sciences, cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov: his engineers planned to assemble a large ship in near-earth orbit. Such a device could be useful for very long travel.

Laser installation "Skif"

Work on Skif was started in the late 1970s at NPO Energy (already known to us OKB-1), and in 1981 they were picked up at the Salyut Design Bureau. The orbital platform was intended for laser damage to space objects, including American ships and satellites.

A complex and expensive program was often attacked, and in 1983 it was completely curtailed. However, soon it was revived through the fault of the Americans themselves, who announced the launch of the "Strategic Defense Initiative" project. The USSR could not let things go by itself, and it was decided to resume work on the "Scythian".

The experimental sample of the complex, named "Polyus" ("Skif-DM") weighed 77 tons at a length of 34 meters. The station consisted of the service and target blocks. In the engine compartment there were four marching engines, engines of orientation and stabilization, fuel tanks and other equipment. The complex was planned to be equipped with a gas-dynamic laser of 100 kW, which by the time of launch had already passed a long path of testing.

May 15, 1987 installation was sent into space with the help of the ultra-heavy carrier rocket "Energia". However, after its separation, a failure occurred, and the Skif-DM complex fell into the Pacific Ocean, never reaching the orbit. It was the final, and the final is tragic.

The launch vehicle Energia and the Skif-DM complex / ©Depositphotos

The cost of the program "Scythian" is for certain unknown, but it often appears among the most expensive space projects of the USSR. Problems in the country's economy, combined with technical miscalculations, led to the completion of research.

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

The beginning of this program was laid in 1983, when Reagan promised to create a fantastic "umbrella" to protect the US and its allies from Soviet missiles. However, the defense character of SDI many experts call into question, since this program could be used for offensive purposes.

In order to disassemble SDI in detail, a multivolume work will be required, so we only note the main points. Understand the scale of the project can be one figure: $ 21 billion - just as much was spent only on basic research within the SDI. How much the program would cost in the case of implementation, it remains only to guess.

Project Homing Overlay Experiment / ©Depositphotos

The most "simple" element of SDI was the anti-missile system. Specially for SOI Lockheed Martin presented the project HOE (Homing Overlay Experiment): the interceptor acted due to the kinetic interception of the target - the target was not amazed by the blast wave, but by the shock elements that unfolded in the manner of the screw. But this innovative ideas of kinetic interception are not limited.

Specialists put forward the idea of Brilliant Pebbles - compact satellites that would rotate in orbit, and at the time of X would have already been pointed at Soviet ballistic missiles, and could be covered with heavy tungsten impact blocks in sizes from watermelon. It was planned that in space there would be a fleet of nearly 4,000 such mini satellites instantly ready for action.

In addition, the Americans wanted to have in-orbit stations with laser systems for interception. To deliver NASA's orbital lasers, it was planned to use the famous Space Shuttle ships. It was planned that the power of a cosmic chemical laser would reach 20 MW, which is sufficient to neutralize ballistic targets.

Among the incredible developments of the SOI program are the Prometheus and CHECMATE projects. The first of them provided for the destruction of missiles in something like a grapnel, formed as a result of a nuclear explosion of a huge "space plate." And CHECMATE meant placing electromagnetic weapons at the orbital stations ...

Even now, there is still debate about whether the SOI program was an attempt to defend itself against Soviet missiles, or pursued entirely different goals - for example, to draw the USSR into another senseless and super-expensive space race, inflicting a severe blow to the Soviet economy. If we consider the program on this side, then it certainly fulfilled its task.

The SOI program was closed in the early 1990s, when it was finally clear that it would not be able to solve the whole spectrum of missile defense problems. Naturally, the "cosmic" price of the project, and the collapse of the USSR, also played a role. But if almost all the Soviet developments of the late 1980s have sunk into oblivion, many of the SDI developments have been embodied in other defense projects.