On January 19, 1969, at the Evpatoria Space Mission Control Center, Pavel Romanovich Popovich coordinated actions with a near-moon satellite. Instead of the required numbers and coding signs, he made a joke about his moon landing on the open air. However, NASA leadership was not up to the jokes.
America is in shock
“Dawn, Dawn, I am the Golden Eagle, ready to land on the moon,” a voice from outer space sounded deaf and solemn. As soon as the radio transmission of P. R. Popovich was handed over to Richard Milhouse Nixon, President of the United States of America, he immediately grabbed the telephone receiver: “We just lost this race!”
Popovich Pavel Romanovich, astronaut No. 4
Among his colleagues in the detachment, he stood out for his excellent sense of humor, excellent vocal skills and qualities of a leader. No wonder P.R.Popovich was the commander of the first detachment of astronauts, they called him here - "foreman".
In many ways, he looked like Yu. A. Gagarin - with the same good-natured smile, resourcefulness, and excellent physical preparation. Respect in the cosmonaut squad, like his predecessor, was enjoyed by Pavel Romanovich Popovich. The biography of both astronauts was similar to the path that many of their comrades went through: a vocational school, an aero club, a technical school of labor reserves, and a flight school.
Cosmic brotherhood
After the most severe selection, six people remained in the first cosmonaut squad. Each of them dreamed of being the first. Pavel Romanovich Popovich also dreamed about this (photos are presented in the article). However, when Yevgeny Karpov, a leading specialist in military medicine, asked him: “What do you think, Pavel, who should fly first into space?”, P. R. Popovich resolutely answered: “Yurka Gagarin.”
It was Popovich, the chief designer S. P. Korolyov, who asked to be in touch with the first cosmonaut of the earth. A born psychologist, Popovich Pavel Romanovich created a mood with which Gagarin found it easier to overcome the difficulties of the first flight.
First space launch
August 1962 With a gap of one day, Andriyan Nikolaev and Pavel Popovich launched into space. Both cosmonauts, A. G. Nikolaev with the call sign “Falcon”, and Popovich Pavel Romanovich, whose call sign is “Golden Eagle”, demonstrated, according to Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, the friendship of the peoples - the Chuvash and the Ukrainian.
It was the first group flight in the history of world cosmonautics. The spacecraft orbit went normally. As conceived by the chief designer, the Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 ships were to approach each other as far as possible and conduct a communication session in the visibility zone.
Bully from space
For negotiations with the ground in the flight control center, a whole range of coded concepts was developed. This also applied to the state of health of the astronauts. If a headache occurs, the condition is encrypted: "rose", if vomiting and / or nausea is a "thunderstorm." The real headache for flight managers was the astronaut's next report over the Gulf of Mexico.
Popovich Pavel Romanovich reports: "I fly over the Gulf of Mexico, I see a strong thunderstorm." The questions of experts have become ever more insistent, what kind of thunderstorm has it begun long ago, and what is its strength? Pavel Romanovich is perplexed: is it really a thunderstorm over the Atlantic that excited the cosmic authorities so much?
This unfortunate thunderstorm frightened the doctors and Sergey Pavlovich Korolev for obvious reasons. The effect of weightlessness on the human body has not yet been sufficiently studied. Weightlessness, in fact, was the main enemy of the first Soviet cosmonauts. Inhuman overload during training was primarily due to a lack of knowledge about it. The vestibular apparatus of the astronauts was subjected to real torture during training before flying into space orbit.
Return to earth
The astronauts landed on the same day, although Pavel Romanovich Popovich, astronaut No. 4, had to circle in orbit for another day. The reason was the decrease in air temperature inside the ship, because of which there was a danger of battery failure.
The first to land successfully in a given area was Andriyan Grigorievich Nikolaev. A strong wind carried Pavel Romanovich far from the estimated landing point, since the astronaut’s heavy spacesuit did not allow him to control the canopy of the parachute. Fortunately, everything worked out, and cosmonaut Pavel Romanovich Popovich successfully completed his first flight on the Vostok-4 manned spacecraft, receiving the title of pilot-cosmonaut and the first Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (1962).
Cosmonaut childhood
From the memoirs of Pavel Romanovich: “Soon after a space flight, I came to my native land. My fellow countrymen gathered from all around. Before blue dusk, folk songs sounded over the Dnieper. ”
And to this day, in the village of Uzin, near the city of Bila Tserkva, in the Kiev region, there is a house in which cosmonaut Pavel Romanovich Popovich was born. The biography of the fourth cosmonaut on the planet begins on October 5, 1930, when a future cosmonaut, major general of the USSR Air Force, an honorary citizen of some cities of the USSR and Bulgaria, Popovich Pavel Romanovich, was born in the family of ordinary workers, Roman Porfirevich and Feodosia Kasyanovna Popovich. The family of the future astronaut lived quite poorly, but the children, and there were three of them in the Popovich family, were brought up in love and respect for each other, for work and for their parents. Villagers said that in the evenings in the house where the Popovich family lives, one could often hear children's laughter and a beautiful song.
Near the village of Uzin, a military airfield was based. Here life was seething all day, the planes constantly took off and landed. The sounds of aircraft engines aroused delight and admiration in young Paul.
Scorched Youth
The war in Uzin came in the evening, with the sunset. In the house of Popovichs no more songs and joyful laughter were heard, and the streets of the village were empty.
Once, an anti-aircraft fire was suddenly heard from across the river, and a burning Soviet aircraft appeared in the sky, rapidly approaching the earth. All residents rushed to the outskirts of the village, to the place of the fall of the Soviet military vehicle. The dead pilot from the burning cabin was taken out by Pavel’s father, Roman Porfiryevich. Serious burns received while trying to save the pilot, seriously confined the father to bed.
The young man remained the only breadwinner in the family, and he managed to learn all the difficulties of adult life from an early age. From morning to late evening, the guy worked in the field under the supervision of German occupiers. Sometimes it was possible to steal from under the nose of the Nazis some food for themselves and their loved ones. German officers lodged in the Popovich’s house, one of whom decided to teach Paul the German language and for every incorrectly spoken word mercilessly beat the guy with a belt.
In retaliation, Pavel punched the Nazis all the wheels on a car in their yard. So, as a child, he fought with the invaders.
The war tempered P.R. Popovich and strengthened his spirit. For him, the real heroes became pilots. He himself wanted to fly and stubbornly walked towards his dream. But he managed to rise much higher.
Popovich Pavel Romanovich: a brief biography
- At the end of the vocational school in Bila Tserkva, in 1947, Pavel Popovich received his first professional education, with the qualification of "joiner of the 5th category."
- In 1951, the future astronaut completed his studies at the Magnitogorsk College of Labor Reserves and received the specialty of a construction technician. At the same time, P.R.Popovich acquires the skills of piloting a U-2 aircraft, having successfully completed training at a local flying club.
- Since 1952, Pavel Popovich is a cadet at the Stalingrad Military Aviation School of Pilots (VAUL), based since the evacuation in Novosibirsk.
- After the dissolution of the VAUL, the cadet P.R.Popovich continued his training at the Air Force Military Officer Instructor School in Grozny.
- From 1954 to 1957, Pavel Popovich served as a fighter pilot in the 265th aviation regiment in the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Then he becomes a senior pilot, and later the chief of staff of the squadron.
- Since May 1958, Pavel Romanovich Popovich - senior fighter pilot of the 234th Guards Regiment.
Since 1959, Pavel Romanovich is a member of the cosmonaut corps. He made his first flight into orbit in 1962. Again he had a chance to look at the Earth from space after twelve years.
Goals and objectives of the second space expedition
1974 year. The end of the Cold War is still a long way off. Colonel Pavel Romanovich Popovich is preparing for the next flight. This time, as was officially announced, to the Salyut-3 orbital space station. Actually, the flight to the world's first special observational space military station Almaz was being prepared.
The crew of the Soyuz-14 ship, besides the commander P.R. Popovich, included flight engineer Yu. P. Artyukhin, the thirtieth cosmonaut of the USSR. Officially, the goal of the 15-day joint flight was:
- geological and morphological studies of the earth's surface;
- biomedical analysis of the influence of outer space on the vital activity of the human body;
- study of natural phenomena associated with atmospheric formations.
However, scientific studies of near-Earth space were not the main task of the space mission. Colonel P.R. Popovich and Lt. Col. Yu. P. Artyukhin are both military pilots, this was the first time in Soviet space exploration. This fact caused particular concern among American NASA experts. So far, only civilian specialists have flown as flight engineers.
Pavel Popovich and his partner had a special task - space reconnaissance. With the help of equipment unique at that time, the astronauts photographed the military facilities of the alleged enemy. The power of the lens was such that from space it was possible to distinguish a truck from a car. Thus, we can assume that Pavel Romanovich is the first space reconnaissance in the world. For this flight and the successful completion of the assigned tasks, the Soyuz-14 crew consisting of P. R. Popovich and Yu. P. Artyukhin was awarded the highest government awards. For Pavel Romanovich, this was the second highest award of the Motherland.
The fate of the astronaut
Pavel Popovich was very popular among his colleagues. A simple and good-natured person, he always treated with humor any unusual situation. He knew how to choose the right word and support a person in difficult times. Co-workers noted that Pavel Romanovich was not only the soul of the company, but also a highly skilled specialist, able to solve the most complex professional problems.
The cosmonaut's authority allowed him to be a people's deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for 24 years and to represent the deputy corps six times in the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR.
In 1993, Pavel Romanovich resigned. However, morale and restless nature did not allow him to retire. Until his death, the pilot-cosmonaut was engaged in social activities, leading various foundations and organizations, including international ones.
In Gurzuf, after a long stroke, on the night of September 29-30, 2009, at the age of 78, pilot-cosmonaut No. 4 Pavel Romanovich Popovich passed away. The funeral took place at the Moscow Troekurovsky cemetery. At the grave of the astronaut at any time of the year you can see fresh flowers in memory of a great man.