I have a question about early Soviet capsule heat shields. I'm confused about the depictions of covering materials of Vostok's "Sharik" sphere.
Most images/renderings show it as metallic silver, but some pictures suggest it actually had a white hexagonal-patterned coating - which can also be seen on recovered capsules.
Off the top of my head, I don't know. I will try and find out for the next "readers questions" edition.
But what I can say is that the photos JUST after landing are clearly flight articles. I would expect a lot of heat damage during descent.
Soviet Museum's do not look after things well, sometimes covering them with cheap paint, (as an example). There are also serious questions about which capsule is which - there are photos of Yuri Gagarin posing by "his" craft, which are clearly different vehicles.
For the pre-launch view, personally I'd focus on photos from the factory - there's a risk they were not finished, but it's the real thing.
Hello Nick,
I have a question about early Soviet capsule heat shields. I'm confused about the depictions of covering materials of Vostok's "Sharik" sphere.
Most images/renderings show it as metallic silver, but some pictures suggest it actually had a white hexagonal-patterned coating - which can also be seen on recovered capsules.
(for example: https://web.archive.org/web/20220822084535/https://www.roscosmos.ru/media/gallery/big/29989/5431026908.jpg)
Then, later Voskhod seems to have switched to metallic foil, as seen in the popular image, and Zenit/Bion satellites had silver exteriors too.
Could you explain the differences between these coverings and the reasons behind them?
Thanks!
Hi Hoshi!
Off the top of my head, I don't know. I will try and find out for the next "readers questions" edition.
But what I can say is that the photos JUST after landing are clearly flight articles. I would expect a lot of heat damage during descent.
Soviet Museum's do not look after things well, sometimes covering them with cheap paint, (as an example). There are also serious questions about which capsule is which - there are photos of Yuri Gagarin posing by "his" craft, which are clearly different vehicles.
For the pre-launch view, personally I'd focus on photos from the factory - there's a risk they were not finished, but it's the real thing.