In memoriam of Boris Rauschenbach by Yury Birukov.

Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Boris Rauschenbach passed away on the 27 of March 2001. Boris Rauschenbach was one of the pioneers of the USSR rocketry development and close friend and colleague of Sergey Korolyov. He was born on the 18-th of January 1915 in St-Petersburg in the family of Germans who historically lived in Russia (Germans moved to Russia in the times of Peter the Great). In 1936, during his last years of studies in the Leningrad Institute of Civilian Air Engineers, he joined Korolyov’s team of RNII who was working at that time on the problem of stabilization of guided missiles 212 at TsAGI, Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute. Later he got a position of the leading engineer in Korolyov team in RNII . After arrest of Korolyov all research themes with stabilization of guided missiles were closed by Boris managed to publish in 1940 in RNII paper with results of this work. This paper became the first theoretical paper on the stability of apparatus with autopilot.

After starting of the war with Germany Rauschenbach was arrested too, as all historical Germans who lived on the territory of the Soviet Union. He was working until end of the war in the special camps where arrested scientists were doing research.

In 1954 he was assigned as a Leader on the research on the dynamics and control of flight of the intercontinental ballistic missiles "Burya" and "Buran" developed by aviation industry as competitor to ICBM R-7. In the framework of these research theme Boris Rauschenbach started new theme – orientation of spacecrafts in free space. In 1956 report on this theme was published. In 1956 Boris joined OKB-1 with Sergey Korolyov as the Leader and was designer of onboard systems of various manned and unmanned spacecrafts starting with Luna-3. In the Russian history of space technology design of the orientation systems for first spy satellite Zenit-2 and communication satellite Molniya-1 considered unique as design of separation system of ICBM R-7. In 1978 Rauschenbach left NPO Energiya and became head of Mechanics Department at the Moscow Physical Technical Institute.



The road to space is thorny and dangerous. 40 years since the death of Valentin Bondarenko. Boris Esin

Forty years ago, on the 23-d of March 1961, only twenty days before historical Yuri Gagarin’s flight, the drama happened in the Star City, the youngest member of the first cosmonaut group Valentin Bondarenko died while finishing his training in a vacuum chamber. He was only 24 years old. For twenty- five years the information about this accident was top secret. Only in May 1986, first article was written in Soviet press by space history journalist and writer Yaroslav Golovanov in "Izvestiya" newspaper.

Valentin Bondarenko was born on the 16-th of February 1937 in Kharkov, Ukraine. During Second World War, called in the USSR as Great Patriotic War, he lived for two years with his mother and elder brother under a German occupation. Valentin was grown in the time of admiration of aviation pilots, national Heroes of the USSR, such as Valery Chkalov who made the first non stop flight to the USA and pilots Alexander Pokrushkin and Ivan Kozhedub, USSR Heroes of the Great Patriotic War. In last years of secondary school Valentin took classes in air club in Kharkov. In 1955 he entered Air Force college in Grozny, year later he moved to the Air Force college in Armavir. He graduated from Armavir military college in 1957 with Cum Laude. Then he was on military service in the Air Force wings in USSR Baltic region. He started his cosmonaut training in 1960 in Star City.

The 23 of March 1961 was the tenth day of Valentin training in vacuum chamber. In the NII-7 VVS (called now as Air Force Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine) in Moscow. The test considered special reverse conditions of activities – during light day Valentin supposed to sleep and during night he supposed to work. During the day, four times medical measurements were taken. Every day, Valentin need to put on medical sensors and then to take them out, four times per day. After routine record of electrophysiological data, Bondarenko usually cleaned by spirit tampon those parts of his body where medical sensors were attached. Because he lived in the chamber he has electrical oven to cook the food. On the 23-d of March Valentin after finishing measurements threw tampon, theoretically it should go into trash been, practically it fall down on the electrical oven which was switched on. Fire started immediately and Valentin was in fire too. Because he was in vacuum chamber doctors could not open a chamber immediately, time was needed to equalized internal and external pressure. Doctors were fighting during seven hours to save Valentin but failed to save him. He was buried at cemetery in Ukraine in Kharkov. For many years, no any single word on his monument was indicating that he was member of the first cosmonaut group. Only in eighties his colleagues and friends made a special additional signature on his monument "In memory of our Friend, from the USSR pilot-cosmonauts."