Start the rocket into space. The best missile launches. Launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile

Since ancient times, people have paid close attention to the sky in order to understand the structure of the universe, to learn its laws, to find out the location of the bodies. It goes without saying that the knowledge of the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere and, even more so, of outer space up to a certain time in the human race was very weak. But everything changed in the twentieth century, when technological progress began to go forward, as they say, by leaps and bounds. We will talk in detail about the achievements of the space industry and rocket engineering in this article.

Pioneer

The first launch of the rocket with Yuri Gagarin on board changed our history, dividing it into whole epochs. April 12, 1961 Russian officer for the first time on the planet flew into space.

The spacecraft started from Baikonur about nine o'clock in the morning Moscow time. As a result, the rocket made one revolution around the planet and made a planned landing at 10:55, not far from the village of Smelovka, located in the Saratov region. Successful launch was the crown of a long and laborious work of a whole team of engineers and other specialists of the Soviet Union.

Space launches

Few know, but even before Gagarin's flight to space, the USSR carried out the launch of the R-7 missile in 1957. Thanks to this country of councils won a principled space race with the United States. In turn, the Americans sent their missiles to the airless space on January 31, 1958. The launch took place on the American cape Canaveral.

Further rocket launches were launched in Japan (1970), China (1970), Great Britain (1971), India (1980), Israel (1988), Russia (1992), Ukraine (1995), Iran (2009) Year), North Korea (2012), South Korea (2013).

Startup Features

The launch of a rocket into space should be carried out with the minimum possible energy costs. The most optimal in terms of speed dial rocket are considered such cosmodromes: the European Kuru, the Brazilian Alcantra and the floating Sea Launch, which is capable of launching directly from the equatorial line of the Earth.

Why do the best rocket launches happen precisely from the equator? All because in this case the device will immediately receive its speed of 465 m / s in the east direction. Such indicators are due to the rotation of our planet. That is why most often the trajectories of launching missiles are laid in the direction of the east. An exception can only be considered Israel, because in the east it neighbors with extremely unfriendly states and therefore is forced to launch its launches in the opposite direction (to the west).

Historical reference

Space technology was used by the Third Reich, which used it as an opportunity to circumvent the Treaty of Versailles. Even before the Second World War, the Germans developed the V-2. The launch of this type of missile was carried out against Antwerp and London. It was she who was the first heavy man-guided missile on the planet.

Time has shown that "V-2" eventually turned out to be an erroneous project from the point of view of the military and economists. However, its historical value lies in the fact that thanks to it, the army specialists of the United States and the USSR were able to see the high potential of missile technology, which manifested itself in the difficulty of detecting and intercepting the missile itself during its flight. Therefore, after the victory over the fascists from Germany, all production secrets and documentation were removed, which served as the impetus for the beginning of the space race between the Soviets and the Western world.

Flight Process

The launch of a space rocket today provides for its launch into Earth's orbit. To achieve this, the spacecraft will need to be able to reach the first cosmic speed in the horizontal direction (7.9 km / s) at the lowest possible altitude. If this indicator is reached, then in this case the rocket becomes an artificial satellite of our planet. If the speed is less than the specified value, the received trajectory of the rocket will be considered ballistic.

To achieve the magnitude of the first space velocity , the multi-stage principle is used in launch vehicles. The rocket itself takes off from a specially designed launch facility.

World Leader 2015

In 2015, the launch into space of missiles from the territory of Russia was extremely successful. Over the past year, the Russian Federation has completed 26 launches of space vehicles, which allowed it to take the unconditional first place in the world. Russia accounted for 30% of all space launches on the planet. At the same time, the main launch sites were the Baikonur and Plesetsk cosmodromes.

Powerful weapons

In the modern world, special attention is paid by the military to the so-called ballistic missiles. Each of them is a combination of two main parts:

• Accelerating parts;
• The combat head, which, in fact, is dispersed.

The first of these is often represented by a pair or three giant multitone steps completely filled with fuel. These elements direct the head of the rocket to the desired direction and give it the required acceleration.

It is worth noting that the launch of intercontinental missiles is a rather complicated and responsible process. And the trajectory of their flight passes through a layer of low-orbit satellites, with a slight delay at this level, after which it moves down the elliptical trajectory, directly to the target being hit.

Very often the intercontinental ballistic missile is launched from nuclear submarines. A striking example of this can serve as a Russian vessel "Borey", which belongs to the class of missile submarine cruisers of strategic purpose of the fourth generation. The US submarines "Ohio" are also armed with ballistic missiles .

However, intercontinental missiles can be based in other places:

• On ground stationary launchers;
• In silo launchers;
• On mobile wheel-type units;
• On railway launchers.

Today, solid-fuel or liquid engines with high-boiling components are installed on ballistic missiles. The missiles of this type are delivered to the place of their basing in the ready state and can be stored in a combat-ready state throughout their entire service life. The missile is launched remotely, using radio channels or cable channels. The preparation for the launch process takes several minutes.

In conclusion, I would like to say that any modern missiles are a product, the creation and maintenance of which employs a huge number of people, from design engineers and ending with ordinary soldiers and officers performing maintenance of units on alert duty. This ensures a reliable air shield of the country.