A team of test cosmonauts of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry. Igor Petrovich the wolf Igor the wolf cosmonaut
On July 29, 1984, the descent module of the Soyuz T-11 spacecraft landed in the Kazakh steppe near Dzhezkazgan with cosmonauts - ship commander Vladimir Dzhanibekov, cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya and cosmonaut-researcher Igor Volk. The duration of the visiting expedition and space flight of the orbital complex of the Salyut-7 station - Soyuz T-11 - Soyuz T-12 was 11 days 19 hours 14 minutes 36 seconds. Immediately after landing, Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Svetlana Savitskaya were successfully evacuated from the descent module by a rescue team. For some reason, it was not immediately possible to unscrew the metal box with the return cargo and Igor Volk had to hang upside down on the straps for 40 minutes. The astronaut had to slip out by exhaling. He asked everyone to leave, because the rescuers could not do anything, and he pulled himself out. The most important thing here was to hold on after slipping out, so as not to hit your head.
I.P. Volk, V.A. Dzhanibekov, S. Savitskaya after landing Soyuz T-11
After this, an official photograph was taken. Vladimir and Svetlana remained in the hands of doctors. And cosmonaut Igor Volk’s flight program continued. The wolf could not find his uniform, lost by those who met him in the turmoil, in order to change clothes. They say: “Time! Time!" In the end, they pulled out a tracksuit from the emergency supply, and where can you find boots in the Kazakh steppe? So I had to fly barefoot in socks without boots. With an unsteady gait, Igor Volk climbed into the cockpit of the Mi-8 helicopter on his own. Igor Petrovich piloted the helicopter under the control of the rotorcraft commander. The main goal of this part of his flight was to prove the cosmonaut’s ability to pilot the Buran after a long period of work in orbit, and he succeeded to the fullest. From Baikonur to Akhtubinsk, Volk flew on a flying laboratory simulator plane Tu154, the cabin of which completely recreated the cabin of the Buran space shuttle. The car was “driven” to 11 thousand and with the chassis extended at an angle of 20 degrees, the landing simulated the landing of Buran on a special runway in Baikonur. In Baikonur, again changing into a high-altitude suit and pressure helmet - and an overnight flight on a Mig-25 back to Akhtubinsk. Only after this did the Wolf join his crew...
And now I will tell you where a cosmonaut with the skills of a seasoned test pilot came from in the crew of a spaceship, Igor Petrovich Volk - Valery Chkalov of our time.
I will try to be as close as possible to his interviews given in recent years to various television channels and print publications.
Igor Petrovich Volk was born on April 12, 1937 in the city of Zmiev, Kharkov region, into the family of a student, future road engineer. After distribution, my father was assigned to work as a transport engineer in the Primorsky Territory in the city of Voroshilov (Ussuriysk). Igor studied at secondary school No. 14 in the city of Voroshilov.
In 1941, the family decided to return to the European part of the Union. We sent all household items and furniture by container. And then, like a bolt from the blue, terrible news came: June 22, 1941 - war. The family was left in Ussuriysk without personal belongings, without plates and a kettle, with bare beds, without a table or bedside table. The family endured the war hard.
Igor had to help his elders in everything, fishing, picking mushrooms and berries. Igor earned his living by collecting scrap metal and had to earn extra money by day labor. The boy had an ordinary Far Eastern “boyish” childhood. It left an imprint on the formation of his character.
After the war, the family moved to Kursk. If the agitators had not come in the 9th grade and said: “Come to the flying club, whoever is brave,” then it is unknown who he would have become. Probably a cook, because my mother was sick and the boy was in charge of the housework. Mom didn’t really want her son to choose the profession of a pilot. All her brothers were officers. Igor graduated from high school.
“I was strongly recommended to go to the Kharkov Artillery Radio Engineering Academy named after Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. We lived in a barracks. We were taken to the exam in formation. All I had to do was pass chemistry, and I would most likely be a rocket scientist. But then a plane flew over the barracks, and my friend and I jumped off the third floor and parted ways with this academy. In 1954, I graduated from the Kirovograd Flight School and went to serve in the Baku Air Defense District, where I flew Il-28 and Tu-16. One day, guys flew to our airfield to test, I think, a MiG-21 in a hot climate. They were flying to Mary, Turkmenistan, the city with the highest temperatures in the Soviet Union. That’s how I accidentally found out that there is a Flight Research Institute and a Test Pilot School.
Valentina Stepanovea Grizodubova (04/14/1909-04/28/1993) head of the Research Institute of Instrumentation
Valentina Stepanovna Grizodubova was then the head of the Instrument Engineering Research Institute and selected personnel - young pilots - for test work. And as soon as I received permission, I came to Moscow and at the first information kiosk I asked where Valentina Stepanovna Grizodubova lived. They give me a ticket with the address. It used to be simple. I come to Leningradsky Prospekt, 44. Her mother meets me. She gave me tea and fed her. Valentina Stepanovna arrives. I told her about myself. She immediately called the ministry's Flight Services Directorate. She had enormous authority, so they accepted me right away, but they said: I’m young, keep flying. I was 21 years old then. Several years have passed. The year 1963 arrived. Khrushchev decided that instead of aviation, everything could be done by missiles, and our military unit was being dispersed. I was ordered to take the regiment’s banner to the Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow, and I, naturally, again went to Valentina Stepanovna. But at this time the situation changed to the opposite: the pilots were expelled, and now it turned out that, it turns out, not all missiles can do it, and the pilots began to be recruited back, but were not allowed to demobilize. For more than a month, in the air defense personnel department, I observed all this leapfrog: there was a colonel named Vykidanets, he invited pilots to take them back into service, and it almost came to a massacre when they remembered old grievances, how people were thrown out two months before retirement . To enter the Test Pilot School, I had to leave military service, and on February 23, 1963, Marshal Savitsky, together with Grizodubova, persuaded my marshal (and the air defense forces were then commanded by Marshal Sudets) to demobilize me. This is how I ended up in LII.
Why did Grizodubova believe in you?
It's impossible to explain. I think a person with as much experience as she has can identify who she's talking to. And the rest, probably, would not have been difficult to check at that time through the competent authorities, but I don’t know that. She and I became friends, as close as a 20-year-old young man and a 70-year-old woman can be. Valentina Stepanovna always invited me to the evenings that she hosted at her place: she played music, invited poets and musicians. I met some interesting, big people from her.
Did Grizodubova really have a personal plane?
What's surprising here? And now the heads of serious structures have planes for official needs, and then this was practiced. She sent for me, I don’t remember exactly now, her IL-12 or IL-14, and Valentina, my wife, and I flew to Moscow.
At the Flight Research Institute (LII) they spoke about you as about Chkalov: an undoubted talent, but you messed up a lot of stuff. Please tell us about “firewood”.
Who knows why they said that. Somehow it always happened to me that no matter where I go, I become an enemy. It started with the Test Pilot School. One day I was invited by senior, experienced test pilots to a barbecue. They asked a question about school. I replied that it was certainly an unforgettable experience, but I would like to get more from the school. Unfortunately, these words were conveyed to my instructor. You can imagine what I got from him.
Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR Yuri Aleksandrovich Garnaev
I was lucky that I was tested by Yuri Aleksandrovich Garnaev (Honored Test Pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, died in 1967 while putting out a forest fire in France). Maybe that’s the only reason I stayed at LII, although I came to school from bomber aviation, which is unusual.
You wanted to get something more from the Test Pilot School. What did you mean?
When we started flying at school, I eventually finished my bomber program: flights on the Li-2, Il-14, Il-18, Il-28. And then I come to the head of the school and say: “Alexander Sergeevich (Rozanov, head of the School of Test Pilots from 1962 to 1969 - Ed.), I would like to fly fighter planes.” He told me: “Well, you understand, I have an order, how much money is allocated for flights.” I tell him: “Let’s do this: I’ll give twice as many flights on the Il-28 for flights on fighter jets.” I had to do some kind of business. Thus, at school I flew absolutely every type of aircraft that was there.
Without interruption from his main job in 1969, Igor Volk graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze.
How did you make enemies at LII?
When I started working at LII, I was always the first to arrive. There was a person, Bukreev, who was responsible for the planned test flight table. The first thing I asked him was: “Are there free flights?” That is, those flights for which the pilots were not paid. There were few hunters for this job. Some pilots fell asleep and attached a note to their boots: “Don’t wake up for less than 1,000 rubles per flight!” And I took these free flights for myself. I did what I was supposed to do according to the flight sheet, and then I worked on what I was missing. After some time, my boss begins to become interested in this question: “What is this? Something is suspicious! Something is wrong here. Ban! But by that time I had already learned a lot, and so that the matter would not suffer, I still tried to help Bukreev. Someone needs to fly, and we agreed with him: “Don’t tell anyone about this.” But there were many such flights when fellow pilots claimed that this was impossible to do. And I thought that it was possible, I waited until they either drank or had a runny nose, and at that moment I managed to do what they said was impossible.
Can you give examples of such “impossible” flights?
During testing of the Tu-22M, it was necessary to fly up to it in a fighter plane with a cameraman and film it at close range. In one place, strange vibrations arose, and ribbons were glued to the skin of the Tu-22M. It was necessary to record in which direction they deviate under the influence of the flow. Nine flights were unsuccessful, but I did it on my first flight. Or, for example, they said that it is impossible to refuel in the air at supersonic speed. The refueling cone was dragged behind the Su-7, and for the tanker simulator they made the most unfortunate choice - the Su-15, which has minimal excess thrust in this mode. If we approached the cone slowly, then, of course, this was impossible. It was necessary to approach the cone very accurately, almost instantly. I did it. And why do you think they loved me?
“My whole life is a complete accident”
When they ask me why I received the star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, I answer: for pleasure. Because this award was given to me not for my work as a test pilot, but for my space flight. And given the work that I did every day, these 12 days in space were like a vacation at the expense of the state for me. (Yuri Gagarin’s pulse before launch into space was 180 beats per minute, which is not surprising, given that this was the first human launch into space. Igor Volk’s pulse at the time of launch on July 17, 1984 on the Soyuz-T-12 was... 56 beats per minute, although he was well aware of all the risks: shortly before his flight in 1983, the Soyuz rocket exploded at launch and the cosmonauts were rescued from the flames at the last second by an emergency rescue system).
As historians later found out, it turns out that I was nominated more than once for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but every time someone turned down the idea. If I received an award as a pilot for what I did in the sky, it would be my pride. As for “firewood” and mistakes, everyone has them. Because of one of these mistakes, I became an astronaut. This comes back to the question of randomness.
Tell me...
On a Su-9, in bad weather at the airfield and good weather in the flight zone, I tested the automatic control system in terrain following mode. When I entered the zone, I noticed at what distance from the airfield the weather became acceptable. I completed the flight mission, but when I gained altitude, I learned that the wind had blown these clouds 70 km away, and it turned out that I did not have enough fuel to reach the airfield. The engine stopped. I decided to sit down after all. Having fallen out of the clouds at an altitude of 300 meters at a vertical speed of 70 m/s, I took the stick and found that I was landing on the right wing of the Il-62. You should have seen the face of the pilot Yakov Ilyich Vernikov when he realized that there were three seconds left before the disaster. It's a pity there was no camera. I no longer have speed, I give the handle to the right, my foot to the right, I turn away from Il, go straight to the tower and see a soldier with a gun jumping from it. I turn left, there is no speed, I touch the emergency lane with my right wheel and roll on one wheel for more than 150 meters. Thank God, the plane landed on its second wheel. After the flight, pilot Ila kissed me, but I got what I was supposed to from my superiors, drank a glass of alcohol and said to myself: if you, weirdo, were able to land on such a plane and in such conditions without an engine, then you can do it deliberately.
Test pilots are scheduled to practice landing without an engine, but in clear weather when the runway is visible. And I did this in cloudy weather and checked the box that I had performed a simulated landing without an engine. I was immediately called to the party bureau: “How so, communist, pilot of the Flight Research Institute! Look what the weather is like, and he ticked the box!” I say: “Comrade members of the party bureau, we have aircraft with dual controls. Please choose the plane, choose the weather, I’m at your service!”
The boss flew with me and said: “It happened by accident.” But after that, due to the harmful nature of each test flight on any type of aircraft, I ended with a simulated landing without an engine. I didn’t turn off the engine, but it’s enough to do it at idle, it turns out almost the same thing. I forgot how to land planes according to instructions. I did this only during testing of piloting techniques. And when the decree was issued on the creation of a reusable space system, they remembered that there is an eccentric at LII who always lands without an engine. That's how I became an astronaut.
But before that, you went on a business trip to Iraq and made enemies there too.
I personally realized that things were bad in the Soviet Union in 1972. They called me to the Central Committee and set me the task: we need to understand the reasons for the Su-7 crashes in Iraq. The question was that the Iraqis could stop purchasing our military equipment. They told me: “We allow you to do everything, just come back alive.”
At this time, my senior comrades gave me two pieces of some light Japanese material and sent me to the studio where they sewed uniforms for the generals. They made two suits for me there. And I arrived in an apache shirt, in a light suit, looking so handsome, and in the morning they called me: “Why didn’t you come in a formal suit and without a tie!” Oh you, I think so! I bought myself a blue terry shirt and put on a black tie to the delight of the Iraqi children. Then there were many more problems, I was more and more surprised at what was going on, and sent all the managers and representatives of the companies to the address. Arrived in Mosul. I see a plane standing in the sun. All the rest are in caponiers. I ask: “Is this for me?” “Yes, mister, for yu.” I say: “Bring the documents, I’ll sign right away, without flying.” I immediately realized what was wrong: the air conditioner. Our air conditioners in fighter jets are designed for a maximum temperature of 27 degrees. And that day it was 56 degrees in the shade.
The Iraqis loaded all the hardpoints with everything they had in their arsenal. Representatives of the Sukhoi Design Bureau made a fuss: “You can’t take off with such weapons, the plane is unstable due to overload.” I say: “Show me a document that says you can’t hang such a load!” The Central Committee gave me permission.” They gave me a cup of coffee, about the size of a thimble, but the coffee was excellent. He put on silk underwear, a ventilation suit, gloves, a mask and a helmet. I calculated: there is not enough runway for takeoff at this temperature. I saw that all this audience in jeeps and Mercedes drove to the end of the strip to watch the boy bury himself in the sand. I went behind the plane. The ground there is dry, I drove off to the beginning of the strip, started running from there and broke away on the last slab.
The task on the flight sheet was to fly at an altitude of no higher than 100 meters and for at least 30 minutes. No higher than 100 meters? Fine! I turn around at a height of one meter and put this entire audience, who decided to see where I will be buried, in the sand in which the eggs are boiled at this temperature. The second time I came in and put them down again.
I flew for 47 minutes. The metal leg stop of the ejection system got so hot that I couldn’t touch it through my suit and underwear - it burned. I can’t hold onto the gas sector with a leather glove - it burns. There is a bathhouse at the Ramenskoye Mining and Processing Plant, where I experienced the maximum temperature - 140 degrees. So in the cabin, according to my estimates, the air temperature was over 160, because I could only breathe through my mouth and in small sips, like in a steam room. It's impossible to breathe. In 47 minutes of flight I lost 6 kg. The headset was leaking. After landing, the question was asked: “Tell me, could this cause a disaster?” I answer: “Yes, I told you that I am ready to sign documents without any flight.”
Air conditioning at 27 degrees! Yes, they don’t have such temperatures in winter! Well, other things surprised me: suddenly a secret accelerator appeared - and no descriptions of it. Graph of characteristics depending on temperature up to just plus 10 degrees. I ask the representatives of Aviaexport: “How did he get here? What speed should I set it to?” And when they arrived in Moscow, they said: “The deputy minister has little time, so only a representative of Aviaexport will report.” He began to chatter that, it turns out, everything is fine, everything is great, there are no problems. I say: “Stop, if we want our trade relations with Iraq to continue, at a minimum we need to do this and that. Goodbye!" And left.
Council of Chief Designers under the leadership of S.P. Korolev
Igor Volk also had the opportunity to fly on such an amazing aircraft as the MiG-105.11 - a flight analogue of the orbital aircraft created at the Mikoyan Design Bureau under the Spiral program. Il 95 and MiG-105.11
In 1976, you tested the MiG-105.11, a subsonic analogue of the orbital aircraft created as part of the Spiral program. Tell us about these tests.
Experienced is a strong word. It’s just that every aircraft of any company at that time passed through LII, and a test pilot was always appointed who had to fly it and express his opinion. I received the same task. I arrived in Aktyubinsk, where there was a dirt strip 12 km long. The task was to take off, and then land on the same runway and evaluate the behavior of the car during the approach. The plane flew well, there were no complaints about it, and it handled wonderfully. But mostly Fastovets was involved in his testing. He was thrown from the Tu-95. The only thing I can boast about, although it’s hardly possible to check it now, is that I set some kind of record during the flight at this distance of 12 km: either for the duration of my stay in the air or for speed. I don’t remember what exactly, but they told me then that of all those who tested this plane, I achieved the highest performance.
Did the Spiral program have advantages over the Energia-Buran program?
This is not the same thing, but my personal opinion is that “Spiral” was abandoned absolutely in vain. This aircraft could be launched into space on the “seven” (R-7, a launch vehicle developed by S.P. Korolev, on the basis of which all domestic manned systems are made: “Vostok”, “Voskhod” and “Soyuz”. - Approx. ed.), and it would be a ready-made tool for destroying satellites. As for the Buran, I personally don’t know what tasks the Ministry of Defense, its main customer, set during its development, but the Buran was created to deliver cargo into orbit and remove it from orbit. To be honest, I have not seen anyone making satellite cradle for Buran. I just want to say that the Americans decided that the more expensive the launch system, the more necessary the shuttle. There have been so many cases: they launched a satellite, but it failed. And when launched using Buran or the shuttle, it is possible to carry out verification in orbit. The Americans not only launched, but also repaired satellites directly in orbit. Actually, this is exactly what the shuttle was needed for.
How did you get involved in the Buran project?
The problems of astronautics did not interest me much; for me, space was foreign territory. I was proud and happy about the space successes of our country, but my job was that of a test pilot, and it suited me quite well. I became an astronaut because I once landed a Su-9 with a stopped engine, and in very bad weather. This happened due to my stupidity: the fuel ran out.
After receiving the required “portion of suggestions from the authorities,” I made a conclusion for myself: this can be done consciously, and I set myself the first “tick” in the training schedule “landing without an engine.” After that, I ended all test flights in such a way as to land with the engine running at idle.
After I had dozens of “landings without an engine” on any type of aircraft, I drew an algorithm for how a pilot could land a Buran. The programmers implemented all the ideas, and then we worked on the program with Lozinsky on a dynamic stand. I made 20 landings in zero visibility without an engine at a given point. After the stand, we had to land the Su-7 in real conditions. But the tests were covered up.
When the order came to appoint a lead pilot for the reusable space system, the head of the flight test center, Valentin Vasin, persuaded test pilot Vladislav Loychikov to agree to become the lead. And then I went into the office. Loychikov says: “Valentin Petrovich, why are you pestering me? Here is a pilot who lands on all types of aircraft without an engine.” That's how I ended up in the special contingent.
So you don’t consider yourself an astronaut?
An astronaut is a person who has always strived for space and dedicated his life to it. And I'm a pilot. I was sent into space to gain space flight experience. I was supposed to prove that a professional pilot after a space flight could successfully land the Buran. I confirmed this.
Do you remember how Buran was launched?
You had to see how the Buran was launched at the command post. Each group of specialists was responsible for their own area. Everyone sat in a trance. Now “Buran” passed the first section, and the group that was responsible for it hugged and kissed. And the rest sat on pins and needles, and so on until landing.
Unmanned landing of Buran - a miracle?
The miracle is that this flight and, consequently, the landing took place at all. After all, there were serious disagreements between the Ministry of Aviation Industry (MAP) and the Ministry of General Engineering (MOM). Disputes took place at the ministerial level: what should the future product be called - a spaceship or a spaceplane? This is because the level of requirements for a spacecraft or a spaceplane is different. If Buran were to be designated as a space plane, the maximum number of tests of various systems would have to be carried out, as is usually done before the aircraft is accepted for service. And in order to receive a spacecraft, only a couple of successful automatic launches are needed.
Photo of the Buran cabin
An even bigger fight happened when they were making a decision: what kind of control system should Buran have? The Ministry of Aviation Industry insisted that the ship be controlled by a professionally trained crew, and the Ministry of General Machinery relied on an automatic control system. The full machine won.
We proposed that the crew do the intellectual work, and give the automation everything that it does better. It would be, firstly, cheaper, and secondly, we would fly into space on a shuttle much earlier.
Therefore, it is a miracle that with such a difference in opinions, “Buran” flew and landed. There is no science fiction here, because landing an unmanned aircraft has long been no longer a problem. Then, however, it became a great achievement. There was no “digital” yet; everything worked on analog systems. Only after the Institute of Aviation Equipment (NIIAO) appeared did they begin to create a complex of digital flight and aviation equipment. But when they succeeded, the Buran project was already closed.
You told me that the ship could land at any airfield.
I could land Buran from a height of 40 kilometers on any airfield located within reach. IOM specialists guaranteed landing only if the Buran was brought into a designated zone with a radius of 13 kilometers. Already a couple of kilometers near this circle, landing was impossible. If he doesn't get there, it's a disaster.
Why don’t we know the chief designer of Buran? Why is Gleb Evgenievich Lozino-Lozinsky, the head of Molniya, where the ship was built, not considered its creator? Moreover, they say that a total of a million people were involved in the creation of “Buran”. And almost 1200-1300 enterprises. So who was the person on whom this whole colossal chain was closed?
Gleb Evgenievich Lozino-Lozinsky 12/25/1909 - 11/28/2001 General Director of NPO “Molniya”
Lozinsky and his “Molniya” did only the body and calculations of everything that had to do with the dynamics and aerodynamics of atmospheric flight. And the entire control system was made by the Ministry of General Machinery, “1001st Box,” as it was called. Then it was headed by Nikolai Alekseevich Pilyugin, who was later replaced by Vladimir Lavrentievich Lapygin. Therefore, talking only about Lozinsky as the creator of “Buran” is wrong. We had a special department at the Flight Research Institute (LII) that also did calculations. But Lozinsky often did not accept them. We argued, naturally, we had to go higher, to prove that we were right.
Nikolai Alekseevich Pilyugin 05/18/1908-08/02/1982 chief designer of autonomous control systems at NII885 - developer of the Burana control system
Lapygin Vladimir Lavrentievich 1905-2002 NPO Automation and Instrumentation
To this day the debate continues: was it the right decision to develop Buran?
From my point of view - correct. The most important result of the 12 years that were spent on the development of Buran is that we created an infrastructure that still cannot be consumed. This is his genius. But unfortunately, mistakes were also made. It started with the name: “Buran” was called a spaceship, not an airplane. At first I was shocked: academicians, ministers, generals argued almost to the point of fighting over what to call it. The thing is that the requirements for an airplane and a spacecraft are completely different. Before the first launch with people, the ship must make two unmanned flights. As a result, an automatic landing system had to be developed for the Buran, which made its creation extremely difficult and increased the development time.
What are the 1970s and 1980s? All systems on our planes were analog. If any of you remember what computers were like back then, their magnetic disk for loading data was the size of a truck wheel. We insisted that a trained professional pilot should land the Buran, like the Americans do on the shuttle. Let the automaton do what it can do better than a human, but there is no point in entrusting what a human does well to an automaton. But the supporters of a fully automatic system won. To this, Kazakov, the Minister of Aviation Industry, stood up at a commission meeting and said: “Well, to hell with you. I’ll make you a box, hook it up on an Mi-10, bring it, put it in a flowerbed, and do what you want with it.”
But we still had to split up. Because learning to land a Buran without an engine was not the main thing. The Buran analogue was no different in aerodynamic quality from the Su-9, and landing it was no problem for me. The main thing was to teach its automatic landing system. As a result of all my landings without an engine, which I made on all types, I developed an algorithm of actions. I sketched it out on a piece of paper, and specialists made software based on it. We worked on developing this program on an analogue of the Buran, and before that on flying laboratories based on the MiG-25 and Tu-154, which sometimes had to be manually pulled out of the ground when the automation failed.
I was appointed commander of the first crew. To develop the project, an analogue of the Buran was created - BTS-002, it could take off from a regular airfield. It was transferred to us at the Flight Research Institute, and I completed a number of flights before going into space.
Flying laboratory BTS002 – large transport system “Iron” (“Bird”) with four jet engines
I have already said that somehow it always worked out that I became an enemy wherever I went. This happened later with Glushko (Valentin Petrovich Glushko headed the USSR space program after the closure of the Soviet lunar program in 1974 - Ed.), because, you see, I have my own opinion. It turns out that it was not my Motherland who sent me on the flight, but he. When Levchenko was launched (one of the cosmonauts of the group that was preparing for the flight on Buran under the leadership of Igor Volk. - Ed.), he sent a car to bring me to Korolev’s house, 12 km away, and again he told me: “ Well, do you understand now? Have you changed your opinion?” I say: “Valentin Petrovich, I change my own opinion only if there is an intelligent person who convinces me that I am wrong.” He shouted: “I’m firing you from space!” Why is he firing me if my boss is the Minister of Aviation Industry. But we had to walk 12 km back.
When it came to being assigned to the crew for the first manned flight of the Buran, they began to give me double heroes as co-pilots. I ask Glushko: “Why?” He replies: “We will have the automatic control system worked out before the bell rings.” I say: “Valentin Petrovich, let’s do this: if it’s worked out before the bell rings, you put two twice-heroes in my place. But if something happens, it will definitely ring a bell all over the world.”
Levchenko Anatoly Semyonovich (05/21/1941-08/08/1988)
Some of the cosmonauts who held leadership positions at that time, before the first automatic flight of Buran, said: “Thank God, there will be an accident, we will at least close the program.” I answered: “You know, you’re out of luck, he’ll sit down.” And "Buran" sat down.
You, of course, know about the persistent rumor that some kind of doom hangs over the Buran crew, that most of them died? Indeed, Anatoly Levchenko left, Rimantas Stankevicius died, Alexander Shchukin died.
Several people actually died, but they had nothing to do with Buran or our group at all.
The rumors are inspired by the plot of the film “Wolf Constellation” about the work of my group. So, 90 percent of the film is a lie. But people died, that's true. The first of the group to die was Oleg Kononenko. He could have refused a test flight on a new product - the Yak-38 in the South China Sea, where take-off was carried out from the deck of a ship, but he did not refuse. Unlike a regular test pilot. He felt that there would be a pipe - that was it... And the rest of the guys in the group died after the Buran project was curtailed.
Test pilot Kanoneko O.G., who died while testing the Yak-38 vertical take-off aircraft on the aircraft carrier “Minsk”
I think the reason for these speculations is black envy. Of course, there was a special attitude towards the Buran crew. For example, I ensured that our tables had white tablecloths, nickel silver cutlery, and decent dishes. And no matter how much I tried to convince the management: let’s do this for all pilots, it was all to no avail. Moreover, Silaev (then deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers) gave the command that my detachment should have the prerogative during testing. And then there is terrible envy. Although we did not do anything illegal, except to raise the prestige of our own institute. But when we were closed, that’s when it started...
The death of Anatoly Levchenko, of course, was an accident. It was winter. He, as I was told, slipped somewhere on the steps and hit himself hard. And then at the May 1st parade he carried the banner, and it was grabbed. It turned out that he had a tumor in his brain.
Stankevicius Rimantas Antanas-Antano (07/26/1944-09/09/1990), tragically died during Su-27 demonstration flights in Italy
Rimantas Stankevicius died during demonstration flights at an air show in Italy because of people, to put it mildly, dishonest. They dragged him out for “showing off” and argued with him the whole night. They didn't even let me sleep before the flight.
Sasha Shchukin died in a test flight. By the way, with the most dangerous type of testing - inertial interaction. This is the most difficult type of test that exists. I remember, when I had just been accepted into the institute, I saw two employees leading Oleg Gudkov after a flight on the MiG-21 to inertial interaction. So instead of eyes he had two rubies. It was filled with blood, such were the negative overloads. He didn’t see anything, and he was led out of the plane by the arms. This is what Sasha did.
Shchukin Alexander Vladimirovich 01/19/1946-08/18/1988
– The universe is infinite, there is no finish line. For such flights as on the American Shuttles, truly stable skills are required. And the longer a person’s absence from earth’s gravity, the better prepared the pilot should be.
Volk was supposed to become the crew commander of the first space flight of the Buran spacecraft, together with co-pilot Rimantas Stankevicius, however, due to complex political intrigues in the highest circles of the space and aviation industry, the first and only flight of the space shuttle took place only in automatic mode. After this, the project remained in limbo for several years.
As for the series of mystical deaths, it all ended in 2002. When... the only copy of the Buran, which had been in space a decade and a half earlier, died.
Actually, another tragedy occurred. During a technical accident, a multi-storey test complex collapsed, eight workers upstairs fell and died. Along with them and along with the last Soviet rocket plane, several Energia launch vehicles, actually ready to take off into space, perished in the burning wreckage.
This is the sad result of many years of efforts of tens of thousands of people, engineers, scientists and workers, this is the price of the billions of rubles spent on the last space program of the USSR! On June 21, 2011, the American Atlantis made its last orbital flight.
And yet “Buran” played some role in the development of astronautics?
Undoubtedly. While working on Buran, we raised the technological level of the country. We bought and imported a huge amount of new equipment into the country. Who already remembers what kind of computers there were at that time? But what they brought! If we had not done this, we would not have had flights into space a long time ago. We still use what was created during that period of the Buran era. This is his greatness. This was his need. The most important result of the 12 years that were spent on the development of Buran is that we created an infrastructure that still cannot be consumed...
Seriously speaking... The shuttle was launched into orbit using gunpowder. And we took out Buran with five missiles. That is, launching a shuttle costs a ruble, and launching Buran costs a million rubles. There is a difference?
Buran in the assembly and filling complex
How did it happen that the Buran project was frozen?
– The fact is that at that time there was no clear program for the exploration of near-Earth space for Buran. It was created as a counterweight to its American counterpart. But its trouble is that it was called a spaceship, not an airplane. That's why they placed strict demands on him. As a result, in 1984, at the machine plant in Tushino, a device was created that made one unmanned orbital flight on November 15, 1988. But the second could not take place due to the lack of digital systems capable of solving complex problems. And the fact that they managed to land him in automatic mode was a miracle.
In 1990, the Ministry of Defense abandoned the idea and the Energia-Buran program was curtailed, and in 1993 the project was closed. The shuttle flying into space was destroyed in 2002 when the assembly and testing building in Baikonur, where it was stored with a launch vehicle, collapsed.
– It turns out that “Buran” was doomed?
– It was initially expensive because of the disposable Energia rocket. If it had been developed like an airplane, then the control system would have been different: simpler and more reliable - the one that the Ministry of General Engineering insisted on. And the option required less money. If it had been approved, the shuttle would still be flying.
– Is it possible to revive the reusable space shuttle project?
- It’s even necessary. With current computers, the revival of Buran or the creation of a better project is quite possible. There are already new aerospace systems that do not require the Energia launch vehicle to launch the orbital compartment. It takes off from a regular airfield and into orbit. There are also more serious developments that use fundamentally new engines. A whole new era lies ahead. It’s a pity that the attention of the country’s leadership is still focused on more mundane matters...
– What about the conversations at the highest level about the Mars program?
– At the present stage of development of the space industry, these are just the fantasies of our leaders. I once told one of the activists of this idea that if they send people on a flight, the device will return empty. Is this not clear? There is no equipment capable of realizing the plan; you cannot take with you enough fuel for engines and food to feed the crew.
Today the Americans abandoned the shuttle.
He fulfilled his functions, and they abandoned him. Now they are making “Dragon”. This could be the end of our space flights. I mean manned flights. Because, I think so, they simply will not let us onto the ISS when they themselves can fly there.
Was the gap in space related to the economic failure of the 1990s?
I wouldn't say we were that far behind. If everything remained unchanged, we would still be ahead in some ways, at least in automatic devices. Therefore this question is open.
Go!…
You taught the Buran, a Soviet reusable ship, to fly. It is difficult, but one can imagine how much energy and human material was spent on this work. But the shuttle did not fly. Perhaps this is a sore subject in Soviet cosmonautics?
Of course, she's sick. What can I say? Only I would clarify that it is not a sore page in astronautics, but a sore page in the history of the leadership of the USSR. It turned out to be head and shoulders below the scientists and engineers who were ready to launch the Buran into flight.
By the way, if he had gone into space in a timely manner, many of today’s problems would have been solved easier. For example, the problem of space debris will grow and grow. Systems such as Buran could become garbage trucks. Because if you don’t take away the trash from orbits, then it will be a tragedy of space and the Earth.
During the creation of Buran, ecology was the last item on the program. However, today it can be argued that the “shuttle” was designed, among other things, for this menial task.
How do you feel about the fact that the astronaut profession has become commonplace? The cosmonaut corps is growing, the names are not remembered. I’m afraid that hardly any non-specialist knows exactly how many people have already been in space...
The phenomenon is abnormal. There is a lack of public attention. Meanwhile, in the table of ranks, the profession of an astronaut is much higher than any profession on Earth. Here the intellectual level of tasks is higher, as well as physical activity. There are tasks that can only be completed in space - hence the uniqueness of the profession.
Therefore, from my point of view, underestimation of astronauts is a huge gap in the work of the state.
Igor Petrovich, (returning to the past) you first made the famous cobra on the Su-27, and it happened by accident. Tell us about that flight. Why did the Su-27 suddenly become uncontrollable?
We did spin tests. This type of test is considered one of the most difficult, but it is mandatory. It is necessary to check how the plane behaves when entering a spin and how it comes out of it. Moreover, the entire range of alignments is being studied, which vary depending on the amount of fuel on board and the suspension of weapons. They start with the front alignment - this is the simplest case, and finish with the rear. That flight was one of the last and was carried out with rear alignment. I put the plane into a spin, but when I tried to recover it, no movements of the control surfaces resulted in any changes. I put the plane into a spin at an altitude of 11 km, while according to the instructions I was supposed to eject at an altitude of 4 km. But I have my own method for calculating the moment when I should leave the plane. I take the maximum rate of descent in meters per second, multiply it by six - that is how many seconds before hitting the ground you need to leave the car - I get the ejection altitude and hammer this figure into my head. Up to this height I fight for the plane. That time nothing helped, and then, as they say, a heavenly angel pulled my hand to the toggle switch for the stability enhancement system, although this toggle switch is strictly forbidden to be touched during the flight. I turned off the system, and this allowed the plane to be brought out of the spin. In my joy that I didn’t have to eject, I forgot to turn the system back on. When an airplane comes out of a spin, its horizontal speed is practically zero, and there is only a vertical component. To make the car controllable, you need to lower the nose. The plane then goes into a dive. As soon as it picked up speed, I took the stick, and with the stabilization system turned off, the plane did what would later be called Pugachev’s cobra.
If not for this accident, the cobra might not have been discovered at all?
Yes, they might not have opened it. I also did not prepare for this, did not calculate this regime, especially since such things are strictly prohibited. That's why I said about the heavenly angel. Only later, after the flight, in a calm atmosphere, I began to analyze everything and realized that I had simply taken away part of the steering wheels from the machine, and this allowed me to get out of the tailspin. No one thinks of such things in advance.
Why is it possible to make a cobra on the Su-27, but not on most other aircraft?
The Su-27 is made unstable due to overload. That is why this aircraft and its modifications still have no equal in maneuverability. It has the highest rate of change in pitch angle. But without an automatic stability improvement system, it is very difficult for a person to control such an aircraft, which is why it is forbidden to turn it off. The human reaction speed is less than the automatic reaction speed. Without this system, the pilot can rock the plane, causing self-oscillations. A specially trained pilot can fly such an aircraft, but this requires very precise control and very smooth movement of the rudders. A combat pilot cannot do this under any circumstances. You took control and made the plane a cobra, but if you don’t do anything, it might go into a tailspin. Therefore, the Cobra remained only a spectacular demonstration of the unique capabilities of the Su-27, but in practice it is very difficult to use this mode. This issue has been addressed, but I do not know that this maneuver has been brought to the point of use in real combat. Theoretically, in an oncoming battle, the aircraft can make launches in this mode, but I personally have not heard of this being actually done.
Do you ever feel offended that the most famous aerobatic maneuver after the loop was first performed by you, and it was named after another pilot?
What's the offense here? It was not Victor himself who called it Pugachev’s cobra, but journalists. Who should I argue with? I never even had such a thought. Since the aircraft during spin tests is equipped with systems that record all flight parameters, my only merit is that I repeated this maneuver in the same flight, but this time deliberately. After this, Mikhail Petrovich Simonov, general designer of the Mikoyan Design Bureau, asked me to prepare Viktor Pugachev, test pilot of the Mikoyan Design Bureau, for flights at high angles of attack and spin.
– You are a Russian with Ukrainian roots. How do you assess the relations between our countries?
“It’s a pity that not only the rulers of the countries turned out to be short-sighted, but also the people betrayed themselves. It’s a pity for the former mighty country that was cut to the quick. There is no greater mixture than Ukrainian and Russian blood anywhere in the world. How many families have suffered! Maybe everything will work out, I want to believe. We are from the same cradle.
“Tsiolkovsky presciently mentioned reusable systems; in the 20s, Friedrich Zander, our wonderful romantic engineer, drew up drawings of a jet space plane. In the 60s, the founder of practical cosmonautics S.P. spoke about the prospects of reusable spacecraft. Korolev. With Sergei Pavlovich, as you know, words were invariably followed by action, but he had no time... Finally, a little-known fact that looks like a sad allegory: in 1967, the first cosmonaut of the planet, Yuri Gagarin, defended his graduation project on reusable spacecraft at the Air Force Academy ships. By the way, the idea of American shuttles - later, naturally, transformed - was taken out of post-war Europe. A symbiosis of the V-2 ballistic missile of the famous Wernher von Braun and the “antipodean” bomber of Eigen Zenger and Irena Bredt, which, after being launched to high altitudes, was supposed to move by ricochets from dense layers of the atmosphere. Both projects ended up in the hands of the allies...
With the exception of the outlines of space planes, the Soviet Buran-Energia system and the American Space Shuttle system are built on completely different principles. First of all, the Space Shuttle is a single unit; it is not suitable for anything other than lifting the space shuttle. The universal rocket and space “Energia” can launch into space not only “Buran”, but also other large objects for various purposes. Please note: all our engines are liquid fuel. The Americans have a solid fuel first stage. At launch, the first and second stages work alternately, only at an altitude of 160 kilometers do the Buran propulsion engines turn on. For Americans, everything goes up in flames from the first second. Even such a small thing, which is actually not a small thing: we carry the shuttle to the starting position in a horizontal position, and the Americans in a vertical position. Finally, our “Buran” can fly in an unmanned version, even landing, an eternal stumbling block for aviators, according to computer commands. Americans cannot manage without the participation of pilots. I can’t remember another case where our computers turned out to be smarter than American ones.”
Wolf flew all types of fighters, transports and bombers. He tested the aerospace aircraft developed under the Spiral project, tested the machines for a spin, for inertial interaction and aerodynamics. He was the first to refuel the fighter in the air. He took into the sky an analogue of Buran - BTS-002, and made 12 difficult flights on it in 1986-87 without entering orbit. He considers the aces - Kokkinaki, Anokhin, Amet Khan and Gudkov - to be his teachers.
Igor Volk was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor, Friendship of Peoples, and “For Services to the Fatherland.” The colonel lives in Moscow and heads the Russian National Aero Club. In collaboration with Vasily Anisimov, he published the book “The Goal is 2001. Aviation and space technology of the world”, and the fantastic detective story “Space Cap”. Together with his wife Valentina, they raised two daughters. Passionate swimmer and skier.
Throughout his entire life, Igor Petrovich Volk is a man with an active civic position.
He believes that the abolition of the Ministry of Aviation Industry in our country is a strategic mistake; the aviation industry in our country is being consistently killed. Pogosyan's UAC took on a civil regional aircraft without experience in civil aircraft construction, pushing Superjets due to budget funding. Moreover, the machines have up to 80% imported components. Our officials lobbied for the purchase of Boeings, Airbuses, and Canadian Bombardiers. Over 85% of the volume of transportation in the country is carried out on imported aircraft; a significant part of the fleet of imported aircraft is outright aviation junk. The government of our country and figures from the Higher School of Economics often express quite a lot of criticism towards the USSR, but no one has done better. Medvedev zeroed out the duty on imported regional aircraft. A striking example of a prudent attitude towards its industry is Brazil with its Embraer, which the United States is trying to fight through the WTO. If the aviation industry is not restored, the next victim of “effective” managers will be the space industry of our country. The country has reached the point where we not only buy imported aircraft, but are forced to buy and invite foreign pilots to our market. By ceasing to produce aircraft of the An-2, An-24, An-26, Yak-40, Yak-42, Tu-134, Tu-154, Il-18 class, we artificially deprived the people of the Russian hinterland of communication. Twenty years ago, from almost any regional center, Siberian, Far Eastern, northern outback, residents of the outback had the opportunity to travel by such aircraft for a small fee to the regional or regional center, and then further. And now?
There is a personnel shortage in industry. Finding a qualified turner, milling machine operator, carousel operator, or welder is a real problem! Often these are gray-haired men of respectable age, well over 60 years old... The centralized system of vocational education has been lost... If a country stops engaging in aircraft construction, it will lose up to 20% of advanced technologies in a short time.
We only have 5% on the ISS. As soon as the Americans launch their Dragon, they will simply be thrown out of the ISS. And how events are unfolding now - this may turn out to be a completely realistic scenario in the near future...
The entire system of public administration is built topsy-turvy. The Russian government is governed by “effective managers”, as Igor Petrovich puts it – “not like a sovereign”! Putin is unlucky - he clearly lacks his L.P. Beria.
Modern youth know little about who Gagarin is; a good half is convinced that the Americans were the first in space and on the Moon... schools, children's and youth libraries are full of books published at the behest of the Soros Foundation and similar “virtues” of Russia. Young people know Natasha Korolev better than Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Where is the state propaganda of heroism and patriotism? There is no system for educating young people. There are no boys who would like to become pilots, test pilots, cosmonauts... Cosmonauts are dying, twice Heroes of the Soviet Union - in the newspapers, at best, a modest obituary in industry newspapers. A famous popular artist dies, a kingpin is killed - news in prime time... Absurd, just something through the looking glass!...
The unified industrial complex, sectoral cooperation with Ukraine, Georgia, Uzbekistan, the Baltic countries, not to mention the former CMEA countries, has been completely destroyed...
We, citizens of Russia, need to harshly ask our rulers for such a state, shake the Security Council!
The people betrayed themselves, fell for the shameless scam of oligarchs, liberal-democratic demagogues and talkers...
Igor Petrovich wants to see young people in aviation and astronautics. But young people don’t go into aviation and space. It’s fashionable to be a banker, financier, lawyer, artist, showman...
These are the serious questions our hero raises in his active social and educational activities.
I will cite an open letter to President V.V. Putin, published in No. 45 (387) “Arguments of the Week” dated November 21, 2013, which has not lost its relevance today...
Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!
Another plane crash occurred at the Kazan airport with a large number of casualties. A used American-made aircraft crashed during landing. This forces us to turn to you again as the guarantor of the constitutional rights of citizens of the Russian Federation. In particular, the right to life. For many years now, it has been clearly ignored by senior government officials, whose direct responsibility is to provide Russian airlines with reliable new domestically produced aircraft.
For this purpose, in particular, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and OJSC Ilyushin Finance Co. were created. The first included the majority of aircraft design bureaus and aircraft factories. The charter of the second states that it is being created to assist in the production and implementation of Russian civil airliners.
Unfortunately, the UAC, led by M.A. Pogosyan, not only failed to establish the production of civilian airliners. Through his efforts, the production of the short-medium-haul Tu-334 aircraft, which received all the necessary documents for its operation back in 2005, was criminally disrupted. They ignored the order of the government and yours personally to begin mass production. Instead, according to various estimates, many tens of billions of rubles were spent on the design and production of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft. It never found a place for itself in the Russian sky due to shortcomings known to experts. One Superjet crashed in Indonesia with foreign customers on board. Another one lay destroyed near the runway of Reykjavik Airport (Iceland), like a tombstone.
Meanwhile, in addition to the Tu-334, which has been ready for flight operation for 10 years now, the medium-range Tu-204 SM aircraft has just received all airworthiness certificates. Its reliability is evidenced by the fact that aircraft of this type are used in the presidential flight squad and in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry. But this aircraft, the Ulyanovsk Aviastar aircraft plant is ready for mass production, remains inaccessible to Russian airlines thanks to Pogosyan’s efforts. The UAC, led by him, imposes a 30% markup. The same cannot be said about foreign-made aircraft, including flight junk, like the Boeing 737 that crashed in Kazan.
A few words about CJSC Ilyushin Finance. This eloquent fact characterizes him. At the beginning of this year, the management of Ilyushin Finance was forced to conclude a contract in Canada for the purchase and operation in Russia of 32 Canadian Bombardier CS300 aircraft, although they had not even undergone flight tests. The deal took place in the presence of the Minister of Industry and Trade D. Manturov.
Against this background, a severe crisis continues to develop in the civil aircraft industry of the Russian Federation. Its main reason is that the industry is run by people who either have obviously criminal intentions or who do not understand anything about the subject. For example, the head of the UAC M. Poghosyan was previously involved only in military aviation. Civil airliners were clearly beyond his capabilities. He created an almost family structure, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC), which spent hundreds of billions of rubles to no avail. At the same time, the world-famous design bureaus of Tupolev and Ilyushin, which launched hundreds and thousands of civil aircraft into the sky, were simply humiliated, if not destroyed. Appeals to you from the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, whose son Irek died in this terrible disaster, also did not help. Like his predecessor Mintimer Shaimiev, he insisted on mass production of new civil Tu aircraft at the idle facilities of the Kazan aircraft plant.
Thus, there might not have been a crash in Kazan and earlier in Perm of the same type of American aircraft. It would have been enough to launch new domestic airliners into mass production 10 years ago. This never happened. There are up to 750 used foreign-made aircraft flying in Russian skies today, and their number continues to grow. At the same time, it is known that almost nothing reaches us directly from American and European assembly lines. The same applies to spare parts. These are often refurbished parts. This fact speaks volumes. To maintain the airworthiness of these aircraft, Russian airlines spend about $200 million a month. Therefore, the price of air tickets in Russia is the highest in the world.
Unfortunately, being already prime minister, and D.A. Medvedev failed to understand the real state of affairs in the civil aircraft industry. Messrs. Pogosyan and Manturov received his signature on the program for the development of the civil aircraft industry, which does not take into account anything that could still save both the industry and thousands of human lives. There was no place in it for either the Design Bureau named after. Tupolev, nor Design Bureau named after. Ilyushin. Only phantoms, more than half consisting of foreign components, like the same Superjet.
Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich! We still have time to fix everything. It is enough to listen to expert opinion, which can be developed in the shortest possible time, and restore order in the industry. If you are consulting with political parties about candidacy for governor or mayor, then why can’t you listen to professional aircraft designers and manufacturers of civil aircraft by appointing a professional specialist as head of the UAC. Otherwise, you will continue to be deceived by professional “thimbles from the aviation industry,” whose goal is to “master the budget,” get rich, and blame all failures on the global crisis. But there has not been a crisis in the global aircraft industry, there is no crisis and there never will be! There is a huge queue of aircraft buyers lined up from global manufacturers for years to come. Why do the Pogosyan-Manturovs, to the delight of their competitors, deprive our country of such a privilege?
If urgent and necessary measures, primarily personnel ones, are not taken, then the blame for all future plane crashes and human casualties will fall on the country’s leadership. Only it has the power to stop the planned murder of people.
Hero of the Soviet Union, cosmonaut
Volk Igor Petrovich;
Heroes of Russia, Honored Test Pilots of the Russian Federation:
Yesayan Ruben Tatevosovich,
Knyshov Anatoly Nikolaevich,
Matveev Vladimir Nikolaevich,
Tolboev Magomed Omarovich,
Shchepetkov Oleg Adolfovich;
Hero of Russia, aerospace systems tester
Kiryushin Evgeniy Alexandrovich
Igor Petrovich Volk still shows us all with his life, with his active life position, an example of a citizen’s true service to his homeland!
Igor Petrovich Volk.
(April 12, 1937, Zmiev, Kharkov region, Ukrainian SSR, USSR - January 3, 2017, Plovdiv, Bulgaria)
Igor Petrovich Volk on Maria Karpinskaya’s program “Direct Dialogue”.
An irreparable loss of peace and humanity.
Pilot-cosmonaut Igor Petrovich Volk left this world.
This departure of the USSR pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, President of the International Earth and Cosmonautics Association, Reserve Colonel is such an unthinkable loss for Russia and for the whole world that it is indescribable. People of the stars descend to Earth with their own special energies of souls, and each such person brings with them their own worldview, their kindness, and their unearthly knowledge and skills. This was Igor Petrovich Volk.
His departure from the earthly plane is equal to the loss of an entire continent, and this is such a bad sign for us that it is simply difficult to comprehend everything at once.
I am writing about him on my own behalf, because I communicated and was friends with him, and respected him as a real man, with an incredible brain and at the same time without any egoism or selfishness. He was such an transcendental, cosmic person and so easy to communicate with, kind and too open to all people.
For me, his departure sounded like thunder, the beginning of a future thunderstorm, and maybe something even more dangerous. It was not for nothing that his device was called Buran, and all his friends mysteriously died one after another. And he was the only one left at his post. He told me that the appearance of Buran marked the beginning of many mystical events. And with some seventh sense he understood that heaven did not forgive the creation of this apparatus, and the apparatus itself was destroyed by the hands of people and invisible forces destroyed its team.
He had more than one heart attack, and his legs hurt and were paralyzed. I talked to him once about his health, and he said that he was aware that some people, or forces through people, were delivering energy blows to him, but it was impossible to understand who was doing this, because too many people were going through him. soul and many simply use his name and do their business. And then I realized that it was no longer possible to help him.
His kindness is endless, his openness is complete, cosmic, and everyone who is not too lazy did not fail to take advantage of this. Behind his back, various people did their business and affairs and hid behind his name. They deceived him and put lies on his ears.
Sorry to have to write about this. But this is my pain and my grief, because I learned it from Igor Petrovich the Wolf himself.
Today I don’t want to name the names of those who used it for their own purposes; I know that they will all soon get what they deserve. Since Igor Petrovich came to us from the stars, I know this for sure, his consciousness is incomprehensible to earthlings, and everyone had their own thoughts about him. And everyone understood it according to their ignorance.
Russia and our modern government did not appreciate the significance of this man. And for many years he struggled with his projects and ideas like fish against ice. I was a member of his organization “Union of Technologies 21st Century”. Now she is for me like Memory and I will never forget this bright little head, this kind and open heart, Wolf Igor Petrovich. He is one of the few people from whom I felt real warm and heartfelt Kindness when meeting.
His departure to the stars orphaned us, and if such energy and such a soul left Russia and the world, I sprinkle ashes on my head and understand that there will be many difficulties ahead, and we did not live up to the hopes of the stars. And if the stars turn away from us, you yourself understand what can happen.
I don’t want to consider him to have completely left the Earth, and I will always keep in my heart every word he said, and his kind and simple smile. Like in Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince", this man tamed me. And now I'm in pain. But I will look at the stars more often to see in one of the stars the smile of this beautiful eternal youth, the smile of an astronaut, a pilot, a man with a capital M, Igor Petrovich Volk.
Goodbye, dear Friend. You held Buran with you, now we are left alone, without protection. Don’t leave those you tamed, Igor Petrovich! We will remember you. And don't forget us!
With love, Maria Karpinskaya and the NPTM team
January 6, 2017
Test cosmonaut of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry
Igor Petrovich Volk tells
about some pages of the history of creation
OK "Buran", including:
On the role of the Ministry of Aviation
industry of the USSR, 12 Main
management and leadership of the Ministry;
On the principles of decision-making on Buran;
On the participation of LII test pilots,
members of the test cosmonaut corps
Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR.
The recording was made at his home on April 24, 2010.
E.V.Kopylov.
History of the creation of a team of test cosmonauts of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry (on the topic of the ISS "Buran"):
1. 1977 - created A group of test pilots of the Flight Research Institute named after. M.M. Gromova(LII)
for work on the topic “Buran” by order of the head of LII dated July 12, 1977 No. 630, consisting of:
Volk Igor Petrovich
Kononenko Oleg Grigorievich
Levchenko Anatoly Semenovich
Sadovnikov Nikolay Fedorovich
Shchukin Alexander Vladimirovich
2. 1981 - the industry was created Test cosmonaut squad of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry by order of the Minister
aviation industry of the USSR dated June 23, 1981 No. 263 (order of the head of LII dated August 10
1981 No. 26) consisting of (first set):
Volk Igor Petrovich- squad leader
Levchenko Anatoly Semenovich
Stankevicius Rimantas Antanas-Antano
Shchukin Alexander Vladimirovich
3. 1983 - by order of the Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR dated April 25, 1983 No. 213 to the Detachment
s: Sultanov Ural Nazibovich And
Tolboev Magomed Omarovich.
4. 1984 - by order of the Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR dated April 12, 1984 No. 177 to the Detachment
test cosmonauts of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry enlisted Zabolotsky Viktor Vasilievich.
5. 1985 - by order of the Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR dated November 21, 1985 No. 537 to the Detachment
Tresvyatsky Sergey Nikolaevich And
Sheffer Yuri Petrovich.
6. 1987 - by order of the Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR dated February 3, 1987 No. 7 in LII
them. MM. Gromov created Industry complex for training test cosmonauts MAP (OKPKI MAP)
- Chief Volk I.P., consisting of the following: a detachment of test cosmonauts, medical department, engineering
department, film and video department. The staff of OKPKI MAP was established at 60 people.
7. 1989 - by order of the Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR dated March 22, 1989 No. 126 to the Detachment
test cosmonauts of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry enlisted Prikhodko Yuri Viktorovich.
In 1956, he graduated early (in two years) from the Kirovograd Military Aviation School of Pilots (KVAUL).
In 1969 he graduated from the Zhukovsky branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute. Sergo Ordzhonikidze.
In 1965 he graduated from the Test Pilot School of the Flight Research Institute. M.M.Gromova (LII) Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR.
Since 1965, on flight test work at the Flight Test Center (FITs) of the Flight Research Institute of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry.
He has flown all types of modern domestic fighter, military transport and bomber aircraft and helicopters.
Total flight time is more than 7,000 hours, including test flight time of more than 3,500 hours.
He was the first in the world to conduct flight studies of the behavior of the Su-27 aircraft at supercritical angles of attack
(up to 100°), for the first time performing and subsequently describing the aerobatic maneuver “Cobra” (later, due to a misunderstanding, called “Pugachev’s Cobra”).
According to the training program for piloting the Buran spacecraft, from July 17 to July 29, 1984, he participated in the space visiting expedition on the Soyuz T-12 spacecraft and the Salyut-7 orbital station as a research cosmonaut.
The duration of the space flight was 11 days 19 hours.
The main purpose of this flight was to confirm the possibility of piloting Tu-154 and MiG-25 aircraft by an astronaut immediately after a multi-day stay in outer space.
On November 10, 1985, together with R.A. Stankyavichus, he made the first atmospheric
flight on an analogue of Buran (machine 002 GLI) under the horizontal flight test program.
In total, he performed 13 atmospheric test flights on the 002 GLI machine, including:
10 flights as commander and 3 as co-pilot.
In February 1987, he was appointed head of the Branch Test Cosmonaut Training Complex LII - OKPKI (analogous to the Cosmonaut Training Center of the Ministry of Defense), created by the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry.
From 1995 to 1997 he worked as the head of the Flight Test Center of the LII. He worked as deputy head of LII until 2002.
First Vice-President of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation in 2003-2005.
Volk Igor Petrovich
-
commander of the test cosmonaut squadMinistry of Aviation Industry of the USSR
Honored Test Pilot of the USSR (1983).
Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR (1984).
Hero of the Soviet Union (1984).
Honored Test Pilot of the USSR (1986),
Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR (1987),
Hero of the Soviet Union (1987).
Born on May 21, 1941 in the city of Krasnokutsk, Kharkov region, Ukrainian SSR.
Died suddenly on August 6, 1988.
Levchenko Anatoly Semenovich
In 1964 he graduated from the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots (ChVVAUL).
In 1971 he graduated from the Test Pilot School of the Flight Research Institute. M.M.Gromova (LII) Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR.
Since 1971, on flight test work at the Flight Test Center (FIT) of the Flight Research Institute of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry.
Total flight time is more than 3,600 hours, including test flight time of more than 1,900 hours.
According to the training program for piloting the Buran spacecraft, from December 21 to December 29, 1987, he participated in the space visiting expedition on the Soyuz TM-4 spacecraft and the Mir orbital station as a research cosmonaut. The flight duration was 7 days 21 hours.
In 1986 - 1987, together with A.V. Shchukin made 4 test flights on an analogue of Buran (machine 002 GLI) under the horizontal flight test program.
Stankevicius Rimantas Antanas - Antano
Honored Test Pilot of the USSR (1989).
Born on July 26, 1944 in the city of Marijampole, Lithuanian SSR.
He died on September 9, 1990 during a demonstration flight on a Su-27 at the international air show in Salgareda, Italy.
In 1966 he graduated from the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots (CHVVAUL).
In 1975 he graduated from the Test Pilot School of the Flight Research Institute. M.M.Gromova (LII) Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR.
Since 1975, on flight test work at the Flight Test Center (FITs) of the Flight Research Institute of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry.
He flew on many types of domestic fighter, military transport and bomber aircraft.
Total flight time is more than 4,000 hours, including test flight time of more than 2,000 hours. Mastered 57 types of aircraft.
Since September 1984, as part of the training program for space flight at the Buran Space Center, he has been testing manual control and automatic landing systems on Tu-154 and MiG-25 laboratory aircraft equipped with the Buran control system.
November 10, 1985, together with I.P. Volkom, made the first atmospheric flight on an analogue of Buran (machine 002 GLI) under the horizontal flight test program.
The flight duration was 12 minutes, altitude - 1500 meters.
In total, he performed 14 atmospheric test flights on the 002 GLI machine.
Shchukin Alexander Vladimirovich
Test pilot 1st class (1984).
Born on January 19, 1946 in Vienna, Austria, in the family of a military man.
Died on August 18, 1988 during a training flight on a Su-26M sports aircraft.
In 1970 he graduated from the Kachin Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots (KVVAUL).
In 1980 he graduated from the evening department of the Zhukovsky branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute. Sergo Ordzhonikidze.
In 1977 he graduated from the Test Pilot School of the Flight Research Institute. M.M.Gromova (LII) Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR.
Since 1977, on flight test work at the Flight Test Center (FITs) of the Flight Research Institute of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry.
He flew on many types of domestic fighter, military transport and bomber aircraft.
Total flight time is more than 3,000 hours, including test flight time of more than 1,200 hours. Mastered 50 types of aircraft.
Since 1984, as part of the training program for space flight at the Buran Space Center, he has been testing manual control and automatic landing systems on Tu-154 and MiG-25 laboratory aircraft equipped with the Buran control system.
In 1986 - 1988, together with I.P. Volkom, A.S. Levchenko and R.A.A. Stankevičius made 7 test flights on an analogue of Buran (machine 002 GLI) under the horizontal flight test program.
In February 1987, he was appointed deputy commander of the test cosmonaut squad of the Ministry of Aviation Industry.
TEST COSMONAUT SQUAD OF THE USSR MINAVIAPROM (composition of 1989)
Sitting (from left to right):Yu.P. Schaeffer, W.N. Sultanov, I.P. Volk, M.O. Tolboev
Standing (from left to right): Yu.V. Prikhodko, S.N. Tresvyatsky, R.A.A. Stankevichyus, V.V. Zabolotsky
Conversation by V.V. Volokonsky (MAP USSR) with a test cosmonaut from the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry
Igor Petrovich VOLKOM
about the history of the creation of a team of test cosmonauts in the aviation industry:
About testing aircraft for engineless
landing;
On the selection and preparation of the first team
a team of test cosmonauts;
Memories of members of the cosmonaut corps -
testers of the first set.
Documentary film from the studio "Wings of Russia"
"Test pilot Igor Volk"
From the series “More expensive than gold”, 2008.
The film talks about life and flight work
.great test pilot of our time,
"Chkalova of our days" -
Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored
USSR test pilot,
Test cosmonaut of the Ministry of Aviation Industry
Igor Petrovich VOLK
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| The order of Lenin | Order of the Red Banner of Labor | Order of Friendship of Peoples | Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" |
| Jubilee medal “For valiant labor (For military valor). In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" | 40px | 40px | 40px |
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Igor Petrovich Volk(born April 12, Zmiev) - pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, President of the International Association "Earth and Cosmonautics", Reserve Colonel (since).
Biography
Childhood and youth
He studied at secondary school No. 2 in the city of Zmiev and secondary school No. 14 in the city of Ussuriysk (formerly Voroshilov), Primorsky Territory. In the city he graduated from secondary school No. 5 in the city of Kursk. He studied at the Kursk flying club and made his first flight in April.
Military service
Since 1954 - in active service. He graduated from the Kirovograd Military Aviation School of Pilots (KVAUL) ahead of schedule (in two years). Since then he served as a pilot in the Baku Air Defense District, Azerbaijan SSR, and flew Il-28 and Tu-16 aircraft. He retired to the reserve in the city with the rank of senior lieutenant, and since 1987 - reserve colonel.
Coolness
The total flight time is more than 7,000 hours, of which more than 3,500 hours were in test flights. From 4th class test pilot, from July 22, 1966 3rd class test pilot, from 1969 2nd class test pilot, from November 16, 1971 1st class test pilot . Since 1984 3rd class cosmonaut.
Tester's work
In 1963-1965. underwent training at the School of Test Pilots (LII), and since 1965 he has been doing flight test work at the Flight Test Center (FTC) of LII. In 1995-1997 worked as the head of this center, deputy head of the LII. Resigned from LII on February 26, 2002.
Over the years, he flew on all types of domestic fighters, bombers and transport aircraft. He showed particular skill in difficult spin tests of various aircraft. He was the first in the world to test the behavior of aircraft at large supercritical angles of attack (up to 90°), performing the “cobra” aerobatics maneuver.
Without interruption from his main job, he graduated from Sergo Ordzhonikidze in 1969.
Space programs
On July 12, 1977, he was enrolled in a special training group under the Buran program, and on August 3, 1978, he received a positive conclusion from the Main Medical Commission (GMC). At the end of 1978, he was appointed commander of the newly created detachment of test pilots No. 1 of complex “A” of the LITS PERSONS.
By order of the Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR dated June 23, 1981 No. 263 (order of the head of the LII dated August 10, 1981 No. 26) at the LII named after. M. M. Gromov created an industry-specific Detachment of test cosmonauts of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry, consisting of test pilots: I. P. Volk - commander, A. S. Levchenko, R. A. Stankevichus and A. V. Shchukin (first set).
From April 1979 to December 1980, he underwent general space training at the TsPK im. Yu. A. Gagarin, on February 12, 1982 he was awarded the qualification of test cosmonaut.
From September 1982 to May 1983, he trained for space flight as part of the main crew together with Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov, but due to a change in the flight program of the Salyut-7 station, he was removed from the crew.
He was trained as a crew commander together with Alexander Ivanchenkov. Until 1995 he remained part of the cosmonaut corps.
Social work
- Deputy of the City Council of Zhukovsky in 1984-1987.
- President of the All-Union Tennis Federation of the USSR in 1986-1990.
- President of the Federation of Aviation Enthusiasts since 1988
- Member of the Executive Committee of the Green Movement since 1989.
- First Vice-President of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation, Chairman of the FKR Executive Committee in 2003-2005.
Since April 1990, he has been a member of the editorial board of the Wings of the Motherland magazine.
On November 21, 2013, he signed an open letter to the president demanding support for the production of domestic aircraft.
In May 2016, he supported the program of environmentalists in the elections and primaries of United Russia in the Moscow region.
Awards
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Notes
see also
Literature
- Vasin V. P., Simonov A. A. LII testers. - Zhukovsky: Aviation Printing Yard, 2001. - P. 81. - ISBN 5-93705-008-8.
- Simonov A. A. Honored Testers of the USSR. - Moscow: Aviamir, 2009. - pp. 49-50. - ISBN 978-5-904399-05-4.
Links
- (website of veterans of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry, 2 video interviews with I.P. Volk about the history of the creation of the Buran spacecraft and the history of the creation of the cosmonaut corps of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry)
- http://city.tomsk.net/~space/volk.htm
- . Video encyclopedia "Cosmonauts". Roscosmos TV studio
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Excerpt characterizing the Wolf, Igor Petrovich
- Oh no, my joy, there is no place for Karaffa here. I've heard people like him go into a terrible world, but I haven't been there yet. They say this is what they deserve!.. I wanted to see it, but I haven’t had time yet. Don't worry, daughter, he'll get what he deserves when he gets here.“Can you help me from there, father?” I asked with hidden hope.
– I don’t know, dear... I haven’t understood this world yet. I am like a child taking its first steps... I have to first “learn to walk” before I can answer you... And now I have to go. Sorry, honey. First I must learn to live between our two worlds. And then I will come to you more often. Take courage, Isidora, and never give in to Karaffa. He will definitely get what he deserves, believe me.
My father’s voice became quieter until it became completely thin and disappeared... My soul calmed down. It really was HIM!.. And he lived again, only now in his own, still unfamiliar to me, posthumous world... But he still thought and felt, as he himself had just said - even much brighter than when he lived on Earth. I could no longer be afraid that I would never know about him... That he had left me forever.
But my feminine soul, in spite of everything, still grieved for him... About the fact that I couldn’t just hug him like a human being when I felt lonely... That I couldn’t hide my melancholy and fear on his wide chest, wanting peace... That his strong, gentle palm could no longer stroke my tired head, as if saying that everything would work out and everything would definitely be fine... I desperately missed these small and seemingly insignificant, but such dear, purely “human” joys, and the soul was hungry for them, unable to find peace. Yes, I was a warrior... But I was also a woman. His only daughter, who used to always know that even if the worst happened, my father would always be there, would always be with me... And I painfully missed all this...
Somehow shaking off the surging sadness, I forced myself to think about Karaffa. Such thoughts immediately sobered me up and forced me to gather myself internally, since I perfectly understood that this “peace” was just a temporary respite...
But to my greatest surprise, Caraffa still did not appear...
Days passed and anxiety grew. I tried to come up with some explanation for his absence, but, unfortunately, nothing serious came to mind... I felt that he was preparing something, but I couldn’t guess what. Exhausted nerves gave way. And in order not to completely go crazy from waiting, I started walking around the palace every day. I was not forbidden to go out, but it was also not approved, therefore, not wanting to continue being locked up, I decided for myself that I would go for a walk... despite the fact that perhaps someone would not like it. The palace turned out to be huge and unusually rich. The beauty of the rooms amazed the imagination, but personally I could never live in such eye-catching luxury... The gilding of the walls and ceilings was oppressive, infringing on the craftsmanship of the amazing frescoes, suffocating in the sparkling environment of golden tones. I paid tribute with pleasure to the talent of the artists who painted this wonderful home, admiring their creations for hours and sincerely admiring the finest craftsmanship. So far no one has bothered me, no one has ever stopped me. Although there were always some people who, having met, bowed respectfully and moved on, each rushing about his own business. Despite such false “freedom,” all this was alarming, and each new day brought more and more anxiety. This “calm” could not last forever. And I was almost sure that it would definitely “give birth” to some terrible and painful misfortune for me...
In order to think as little as possible about the bad, every day I forced myself to explore the stunning Papal Palace more deeply and carefully. I was interested in the limits of my capabilities... There must have been a “forbidden” place somewhere, where “strangers” were not allowed to enter?.. But, strangely enough, so far it has not been possible to provoke any “reaction” from the guards... I was freely allowed to walk wherever I wanted, of course, without leaving the palace itself.
So, completely freely walking around the home of the Holy Pope, I racked my brains, not imagining what this inexplicable, long “break” meant. I knew for sure that Caraffa was very often in his chambers. Which meant only one thing: he had not yet gone on long trips. But for some reason he still didn’t bother me, as if he had sincerely forgotten that I was in his captivity and that I was still alive...
During my “walks” I met many different, wonderful visitors who came to visit the Holy Pope. These were cardinals and some very high-ranking persons unfamiliar to me (which I judged by their clothes and how proudly and independently they behaved with the others). But after they left the Pope’s chambers, all these people no longer looked as confident and independent as they had before visiting the reception... After all, for Caraffa, as I already said, it didn’t matter who the person standing in front of him was, the only important one for the Pope it was HIS WILL. And nothing else mattered. Therefore, I very often saw very “shabby” visitors, fussily trying to leave the “biting” Papal chambers as quickly as possible...
On one of the same, absolutely identical “gloomy” days, I suddenly decided to do something that had been haunting me for a long time - to finally visit the ominous Papal cellar... I knew that this was probably “fraught with consequences,” but the anticipation of danger was a hundred times worse than the danger itself.
And I decided...
Going down the narrow stone steps and opening the heavy, sadly familiar door, I found myself in a long, damp corridor that smelled of mold and death... There was no lighting, but moving further was not a big deal, since I always had a good sense of direction In the dark. Many small, very heavy doors sadly alternated one after another, completely lost in the depths of the gloomy corridor... I remembered these gray walls, I remembered the horror and pain that accompanied me every time I had to return from there... But I ordered myself to be strong and don't think about the past. She told me to just go.
Finally, the creepy corridor ended... Having looked carefully into the darkness, at the very end I immediately recognized the narrow iron door behind which my innocent husband had once died so brutally... my poor Girolamo. And behind which eerie human groans and screams were usually heard... But that day for some reason the usual sounds were not heard. Moreover, behind all the doors there was a strange, dead silence... I almost thought that Karaffa had finally come to his senses! But she immediately caught herself - Dad was not one of those who calmed down or suddenly became kinder. It’s just that, at the beginning, he brutally tortured him in order to find out what he wanted, later he apparently completely forgot about his victims, leaving them (like waste material!) at the “mercy” of the executioners who tormented them...
Carefully approaching one of the doors, I quietly pressed the handle - the door did not budge. Then I began to feel it blindly, hoping to find an ordinary bolt. The hand came across a huge key. Turning it, the heavy door crawled inside with a grinding sound... Carefully entering the torture room, I felt for the extinguished torch. There was no flint, to my great regret.
“Look a little to the left...” a weak, exhausted voice suddenly rang out.
I shuddered in surprise - there was someone in the room!.. Fumbling along the left wall with my hand, I finally found what I was looking for... In the light of a lit torch, large, wide-open, cornflower blue eyes were shining right in front of me... Leaning against the cold stone wall, sat an exhausted man, chained with wide iron chains... Unable to get a good look at his face, I brought the fire closer and recoiled in surprise - on the dirty straw, all smeared with his own blood, sat... a cardinal! And by his rank, I immediately understood that he was one of the highest-ranking, closest to the Holy Pope. What prompted the “holy father” to treat his possible successor so cruelly?!.. Did Caraffa even treat “his own” with the same cruelty?..
– Are you very ill, Your Eminence? “How can I help you?” I asked, looking around in confusion.
I was looking for at least a sip of water to give the unfortunate man a drink, but there was no water anywhere.
“Look in the wall... There’s a door... They keep wine there for themselves...”, as if guessing my thoughts, the man whispered quietly.
I found the indicated cabinet - there was indeed a bottle stored there, which smelled of mold and cheap, sour wine. The man did not move, I carefully lifted him by the chin, trying to give him a drink. The stranger was still quite young, about forty to forty-five. And very unusual. He resembled a sad angel, tortured by animals who called themselves “men”... His face was very thin and delicate, but very regular and pleasant. And on this strange face, like two stars, bright cornflower blue eyes glowed with inner strength... For some reason, he seemed familiar to me, but I just couldn’t remember where and when I could have met him.
The stranger groaned quietly.
- Who are you, Monseigneur? How can I help you? – I asked again.
“My name is Giovanni... you don’t need to know anything else, Madonna...” the man said hoarsely. -Who are you? How did you get here?
“Oh, this is a very long and sad story...” I smiled. “My name is Isidora, and you don’t need to know any more, Monseigneur...
- Do you know how to leave here, Isidora? – the cardinal smiled in response. - Somehow you ended up here?
“Unfortunately, they don’t leave here so easily,” I answered sadly. “My husband couldn’t, at least... And my father only reached the fire.”
Giovanni looked at me very sadly and nodded, showing that he understood everything. I tried to give him the wine I found, but nothing worked - he was unable to take even the slightest sip. Having “looked” at him in my own way, I realized that the poor fellow’s chest was badly damaged.
The famous Soviet and Russian pilot-cosmonaut Igor Petrovich Volk died at the age of 79.
On January 3, in Bulgaria, at the age of 80, the famous Soviet and Russian cosmonaut, the first commander of the Buran spacecraft pilot group, Igor Petrovich Volk, died.
This was reported on the official portal of the Zhukovsky city district.
“Igor Petrovich was a representative of the legendary generation of cosmonaut pilots - a man of great willpower and courage, a professional of the highest class, who did a lot for the development of the domestic space program and major research projects,” the statement says.
The President of Russia expressed condolences over the death of pilot-cosmonaut Hero of the Soviet Union Igor Volk, noting his contribution to the profession.
“Dedicating himself to aviation and astronautics, he did a lot for the exploration of extraterrestrial space, participated in the implementation of legendary projects. Igor Petrovich set an example of courage and responsibility, caring and fidelity to duty. He was endlessly devoted to his profession,” says the telegram published on Thursday by the press service Kremlin.
Igor Volk in the program "Posner"
He studied at secondary school No. 2 in the city of Zmiev and secondary school No. 14 in the city of Voroshilov (present-day Ussuriysk) in the Primorsky Territory.
In 1954 he graduated from secondary school No. 5 in the city of Kursk.
He studied at the Kursk Aero Club and made his first flight in April 1954.
Since 1954 - in active service.
In 1956 he graduated early (two years) from the Kirovograd Military Aviation School of Pilots (KVAUL).
Since 1956, he served as a pilot in the Baku Air Defense District, Azerbaijan SSR, flying Il-28 and Tu-16 aircraft.
He entered the reserve in 1963 with the rank of senior lieutenant, and since 1987 - reserve colonel.
The total flight time is more than 7,000 hours, of which more than 3,500 hours were in test flights.
Since 1965, test pilot 4th class, since July 22, 1966, test pilot 3rd class, since 1969, test pilot 2nd class, since November 16, 1971, test pilot 1st class.
Since 1984 3rd class cosmonaut.
In 1963-1965. underwent training at the School of Test Pilots of the Gromov Flight Research Institute (LII), and since 1965 he has been doing flight test work at the Flight Test Center (FTC) of LII.
In 1995-1997 worked as the head of this center, deputy head of the LII.
Over the years, he flew on all types of domestic fighters, bombers and transport aircraft. He showed particular skill in difficult spin tests of various aircraft. He was the first in the world to test the behavior of aircraft at large supercritical angles of attack (up to 90°), performing a “cobra” aerobatics maneuver.
Without interrupting his main job, he graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze in 1969.
As part of the Spiral aerospace program, in May 1976 he tested a subsonic analogue of an orbital aircraft - the MiG-105.11 (initial stage).
On July 12, 1977, he was enrolled in the special training group under the program "Buran", On August 3, 1978, he received a positive opinion from the Chief Medical Commission (GMC). At the end of 1978, he was appointed commander of the newly created detachment of test pilots No. 1 of complex “A” of the LITS PERSONS.
By order of the Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR dated June 23, 1981 No. 263 (order of the head of the LII dated August 10, 1981 No. 26) at the LII named after. M. M. Gromov created an industry-specific Detachment of Test Cosmonauts of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry, consisting of test pilots: Volk I. P. - commander, Levchenko A. S., Stankevichus R. A. and Shchukin A. V. (first set).
From April 1979 to December 1980, he underwent general space training at the TsPK im. Yu. A. Gagarin, on February 12, 1982 he was awarded the qualification test cosmonaut.
From September 1982 to May 1983, he trained for space flight as part of the main crew together with Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov, but due to a change in the flight program of the Salyut-7 station, he was removed from the crew.
From December 26, 1983, he underwent training for a flight on the Soyuz-T spacecraft. He made a space flight (from July 17 to July 29, 1984) as a cosmonaut-researcher on the Soyuz T-12 spacecraft (crew: Dzhanibekov, Savitskaya).
Dzhanibekov, Savitskaya, Wolf
Worked on the orbital complex "Salyut-7" - "Soyuz T-11" (crew: Kizim, Solovyov, Atkov) - "Soyuz T-12". The visiting expedition returned to Earth on the Soyuz T-11 spacecraft. Flight duration - 11 days 19 hours 14 minutes 36 seconds.
Personal call sign - “Pamir-3”.
As part of the tests, immediately after landing, he piloted a helicopter and Tu-154 and MiG-25 airplanes along the Baikonur - Akhtubinsk - Baikonur route in order to assess the pilot’s capabilities after being in zero gravity conditions. As Igor Petrovich himself believes, the main goal of his flight was to prove the cosmonaut’s ability to pilot Buran after working in orbit, and he succeeded in this to the fullest.
During the tests of the Buran project, I.P. Volk performed five taxis and thirteen flights on a special copy of the ship. He was supposed to become the crew commander of the first space flight of the Buran spacecraft (together with Rimantas Stankevicius), however, due to complex political intrigues in the highest circles of the space and aviation industries, the first and only flight was made in automatic mode. Enormous credit for the successful completion of this unique flight belongs to I.P. Volk and his comrades in the FLI squad. M. M. Gromova.
He was trained as a crew commander together with Alexander Ivanchenkov. Until 1995 he remained part of the cosmonaut corps.
In subsequent years he was involved in social work.
In 1984-1987 - deputy of the Zhukovsky City Council.
In 1986-1990 - President of the All-Union Tennis Federation of the USSR.
Since 1988 - President of the Federation of Aviation Enthusiasts.
Since 1989 - member of the Executive Committee of the Green Movement.
In 2003-2005 - first vice-president of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation, chairman of the FKR Executive Committee.
Since April 1990, he has been a member of the editorial board of the Wings of the Motherland magazine.
President of the International Association "Earth and Cosmonautics".
On November 21, 2013, he signed an open letter to the president demanding support for the production of domestic aircraft.
In May 2016, he supported the program of environmentalists in the elections and primaries of United Russia in the Moscow region.
