Major Tomski

The Soviet space program was a lot more slapdash than they let the world know at the time. Consider that their planned lunar lander was a one-man craft and its occupant would have had to exit the Soyuz, EVA on over to the lander, strap in, land on the moon and take off again, dock with the Soyuz, then exit the lander and EVA back on over to the capsule. The opportunities for disaster there are legion.

Then there was the crew of Soyuz 11, and their trip home from the Salyut space station...

Mission control, to everyone’s relief, ordered them to come home early. They buttoned up Salyut and climbed into the Soyuz, wearing only their leisure suits. Which became a problem when they prepared to disengage and a warning light began to blink. Sounding nearly hysterical at this point, Volkov shouted at ground control, “The hatch isn’t pressurized! What should we do? What should we do?” Obviously they couldn’t disengage if the hatch wasn’t completely sealed, unless they were in their spacesuits and helmets. They tried various procedures suggested by the techies on the ground. Nothing worked. 

Ground control finally advised them to tape a piece of paper over the warning light and proceed. Read that sentence again. Nothing shouts “Soviet space program!” like that single sentence.

These tales and more can be found in the book I just finished reading, The Wrong Stuff, by John Strausbaugh. Recommend!

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