THE FIRST ORBITS

Once they had settled down in orbit, Dobrovolskiy began a diary in his notebook, starting with the launch and his impressions of weightlessness:

The launch went normally. A smooth flight. We felt some swinging and vibration but it wasn’t a problem – not too strong. Before separation of the last rocket stage, the loads increased. Then, in an instant, silence! The interior of the cabin became brighter. On board clocks and the globe instrument started after a few seconds. After separation, there was a great deal of dust floating in the cabin. The ventilator worked, but we also collected the dust with the aid of wet tissues. . . .

We have had communications with Earth twice.

At 11.43 we heard the TASS announcement of our launch. On board the ship, everything is all right. After separation from the rocket we all had an unpleasant feeling, but we feel better now. It was just as if someone was trying to pull off our heads. We felt our neck muscles strain. It was as if everything in our body had moved up, and our heads seemed heavier. These feelings were weak while we were in our seats, but still present. In these moments, the forehead and the top of the head seemed to be so heavy. I had the feeling that everything inside my body had moved up.

At the onset of weightlessness, the internal organs that had been held in place by gravity were free to migrate upwards inside the chest and the body fluids that would normally be drawn into the legs tended to accumulate in the upper body, giving the impression of a swollen head.

On the second orbit Dobrovolskiy reported to Earth that the spacecraft’s systems were working as they should, and that the crew was feeling well. It was the time to unfasten their belts and enter the orbital module.[62] Volkov, the flight engineer, was the first to leave his couch. After checking instruments on the control panel which indicated the composition, pressure and temperature of the air in the orbital module, he opened the hatch and, like a fish, floated through. The descent module was a bell shape with a ‘free volume’ of 2.5 cubic metres, but the spheroidal module was some 2.2 metres in diameter and had a volume of just over 4 cubic metres.[63] After they had followed him, the rookies delighted in floating in this weightless ‘aquarium’ – little children once again. The descent module had two small portholes, but the orbital module had four larger ones located at 90-degree intervals. After the initial novelty of weightlessness wore off, the three men went to the portholes to observe the Earth. ft was a beautiful sight. The fact that the planet is a sphere was very obvious. They were flying over the Pacific Ocean, and the Sun was reflecting off the surface of the water. Directly below, the colour of the ocean was deep blue. Towards the horizon, it changed to dark grey. Far away, it was in darkness.

‘‘The sea is always beautiful, even from space, and we can’t live without it,’’ said Dobrovolskiy. For him, the first moments in orbit were a flashback to his childhood on the coast of the Black Sea.

Then the cosmonauts returned to the descent module and Dobrovolskiy reoriented the spacecraft to enable the Sun to fully illuminate the solar panels.

On the fourth orbit, at 1.50 p. m., Soyuz 11 successfully made its first manoeuvre to start the rendezvous with Salyut. Then control was transferred from Baykonur to the TsUP in Yevpatoriya.

Because the mission began on a Sunday morning, the families of the crew were at home.

Marina Dobrovolskiy has said that her father was often away from home and she never knew where he went. She recalls when she heard that he had been launched into space: ‘‘Of course, f was happy for my father. However, f wanted so much that he should return as soon as possible. We were given a brief note that he’d written to mom, my sister and f, in which he said that we shouldn’t worry and that everything would be good.’’

Svetlana Patsayeva was attending a Young Pioneers’ camp, and the news was not entirely unexpected: ‘‘f felt that father had some important and very serious work. For me, he was the great authority, and f was really not surprised that he was flying in space.’’

Viktor’s mother Mariya and stepfather fvan, who at the time lived in the village of Rozhdestvo on the Volga River, were not even aware that Viktor was a cosmonaut! Mariya was in the kitchen and fvan was fishing when the national radio announced the news:

fn accordance with the programme of near space exploration, at 7.55 a. m. Moscow Time on 6 June 1971 the Soviet Union launched the spacecraft Soyuz 11. At 8.04 a. m., the spacecraft reached the planned orbit. The crew is: commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Dobrovolskiy, Georgiy Timofeyevich; flight engineer, Hero of the Soviet Union, Volkov, Vladislav Nikolayevich; and research engineer Patsayev, Viktor fvanovich.

When she heard the name of her son, Mariya Patsayeva exclaimed so loudly that a neighbour rushed in to see if anything was amiss. When Mariya explained the news about her son, both cried. Others soon arrived and the celebrations began. Someone placed a table against the front wall of the house bearing a notice stating that in this house lived the parents of cosmonaut Viktor Patsayev.

Meanwhile, in space one of the major tasks for the crew on the first flight day was to familiarise themselves with being weightless. They also monitored their vehicle’s systems and performed the preliminary preparations for the rendezvous and docking with Salyut. Then it was time to rest – they had awakened early for launch. This phase of the mission was timed to coincide with the period in which Soyuz 11 remained out of contact with the Soviet communication stations for a prolonged time, which was from 3.40 p. m. through to 1.30 a. m. the following day, 7 June.

From Dobrovolskiy’s notebook:

6 June 1971: Vadim and I slept in the orbital module, in our sleeping bags in a heads-down orientation.[64] Viktor remained in the descent module, stretched across the couches, also in his sleeping bag. We slept from 6.30 p. m. until 12.00 midnight, which was less than usual, but our impression was that we had a good rest. When we returned our heads to the normal position, they again started to swell.

Vadim and I looked in the mirror, then at each other, and smiled – “we have swollen up like bulldogs’’. We awakened Viktor and made another commu­nication session. Everything is all right on board. Vadim suggested washing our faces with wet tissues. We did so, and returned to our work. At 2.48 a. m., when we flew over the equator, we heard music coming from the direction of Antarctica.