The very personal tale of the First Woman in Space

[IgorRogov]

This is an essay I wrote recently, watching the world celebrating the birthday of Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, one of the most powerful feminist figures in history. My personal twist on her story is that I studied space flight in the university in Moscow and heard many stories about what actually happened during the first women's flight in space, and had a chance to visit a semi-secret museum and to study the first female toilet designed just to put women in space. 

The other personal twist is that my father was born the same year and the same month as that woman. 

So the tale begins back in the USSR and back in March 1937

http://tinyurl.com/jgnp8sm

 

Enjoy

Igor Rogov
Melbourne
Australia

[Torero]

Hi Igor, welcome.

 

Nice read, I skimmed through it.

 

I however missed the critical review that space travel in general is impossible. Do you really believe that Chaika went into space?

 

Please check out the topic about that, if you have time.

[IgorRogov]

Hi Torero

 

I could perhaps understand where you are coming from, and of course you may have gathered that I am convinced that the space flight was real, - for Chaika as well as for many other people; the orbital flight is now pretty much a boring routine and should be treated as such. Moon flights of the Americans were real as well, and Russians were about to perform human walk on the moon, it is just they lost the race to be there first, so the politicians lost an interest in this part of the program altogether and forced its closure. 

The irony is that the state propaganda machine that trumpeted about the achievements in space made it so loud and obnoxious, that the non-believers appeared all over the globe. Sort of natural behavior for a smart individual not to believe all the bullshit he is fed through the TV or radio, especially if it state-owned channel. This is natural, and I share that sort of intellectual dissent, but I don't share the extremely unsophisticated view that the space travel is impossible altogether, just because the state propaganda made it so unbelievably great.
Same fate somehow affected American moon program, and Russians actually were only happy to spread the malicious rumors about their competitors, so there is a lots of counter-propaganda or smear campaign still going on, from mister Putin agencies. Every bad photo is interpreted in a conspirological way, which of course doesn't add anything to overall credibility to anyone. And in the current political climate, when governments lost interest in space almost altogether it is just so easy to find holes in once so rich tapestry of space research. 

 

--------

 

But apart from all this bullshit - no, space flight for the human is very real, but it is also true that it is miserable experience, usually not particularly heroic, nor very intellectually stimulating, with a lots of indignities of crammed environment, bad smells, lousy food, isolation, loss of freedom etc etc etc. - much opposite of what the bright pictures would make you believe.

Again, I touched many of the things that actually flew in space, sat in the various space capsules and climbed into the stations etc. It is hugely disappointing experience to start with, but the major disappointment was when I found out that most of us, students, will be serving one or another military program, not scientific discoveries of the mysteries of the universe. 

 

So I firmly believe that the future belongs to the private companies, and bright individuals who are interested in true discovery and perhaps some commercial exploits of the entire space theme.
Governments just blew it and a lots of public resources were wasted. 

Cheers

 

IR  

[AccuTron]

Igor, that is a superb link.  Thanks for all that info, especially about the actual space flight, given in the second half of your article.  And thanks for photos.  

[Jake Danczyk]

Igor,

 

About halfway through at the moment, very much enjoying it. 

 

"The presentation was everything, the reality was thoroughly suppressed. The State was becoming increasingly theatrical with a highly decorated stage and increasingly messy backstage."

[IgorRogov]

Thanks, Jake and AccuTron. 

 

This was my first attempt to write something cohesive in English beyond short letters and notes; so the text is inevitably hideous with many grammatical errors and awkward phrasing. 

But it is truthful, albeit  incomplete account of my personal life experiences as well a research on the fascinating figure of the First Woman in space. 

 

Cheers all

 

IR

[rosencrantz]

The history of the Soviet space program is fascinating. I recently saw a documentary on Koroljov and was intrigued. Can you point me to other material?

[IgorRogov]

Do you read Russian? 

Some of the most reliable sources are linked at the end of my essay, the other to research are the diaries of Chertock

http://militera.lib.ru/explo/chertok_be/index.html

 

not sure what was properly translated though, but you may try Google translator, this would give you some ideas. Sure someone has yet to write a thorough research about Russian space programme, noting all the technical and political complexities around it. 

[rosencrantz]

I read Russian, so thanks

[Linus]

Igor, sorry to resurrect this thread but would it be possible for you to upload the essay again? The link is no longer working, unfortunately :/