Voskhod

Voskhod, second series of manned Soviet spacecraft. Following the triumph of the Vostok launchings that had put the first human in space, the Soviets adapted the Vostok so it could carry more than one crew member. On October 12, 1964, Voskhod 1 carried three cosmonauts—commander Vladimir Komarov, engineer Konstantin Feoktistov, and doctor Boris Yegorov—into Earth orbit.

The Voskhod was 950 kg (2,100 pounds) heavier than Vostok and featured many technical improvements. However, it was not larger than the Vostok spacecraft, so, in order to accommodate the Voskhod 1 crew, no space suits were worn in flight. Reentry procedures were also modified for the Voskhod flight. The pilots of the Vostok series had to parachute from their spacecraft, but the Voskhod cosmonauts remained in their ship, making a hard-surface landing that involved the use of drogues (special parachutes) and retrorockets.

cosmonaut; Voskhod I

Voskhod 1 was the first space mission to yield significant biomedical data. Yegorov was a physiologist and was assigned to monitor the physical condition of his fellow crew members. He measured their blood pressure, took blood samples, recorded brain waves, and tested muscle coordination.

Voskhod 2, launched on March 18, 1965, with commander Pavel Belyayev and pilot Aleksey Leonov, continued the early pattern of Soviet space firsts. On the day of the launch, Leonov exited the Voskhod spacecraft through an airlock and performed the first space walk, maneuvering in space for 10 minutes. Voskhod 2 spent 27 hours in orbit before returning to Earth.

A chronology of spaceflights in the Voskhod program is shown in the table.