Astronauts Who Is Much Cooler Than Any Action Hero

Since then, as mankind has calculated the true distance to the illuminated dots that appear in the sky at night, it was trying to build a rocket that can carry us to them. And as if space travel by themselves are dangerous enough - given the absence of gravity, the risk of freezing or roasting to death, the risk of radiation, the inability to breathe - are people who can make these space missions into something much, much more impressive.
 
5. Yuri Gagarin
Many of you have probably heard about Felix Baumgartner - the man who has fallen in the news around the world after a parachute jump from space. However, few have mentioned that to him this trick done none other than Yuri Gagarin - the first man in the world, made a space flight. Actually, being the world's first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin - this is the man whom we must first remember making a list of the most exciting events in the cosmos. Or, for that matter, any other list of the most exciting events.
 
At that time, the rate of the space race were incredibly high. So high that Yuri launched into space before been invented ... brakes. Because of this, despite the fact that the ship Vostok capsule parachutes were, the basic principle is formulated as a stop "there will be at the rate of the planet." And that is why at the height of 7 kilometers Yuri was automatically ejected, so as not to his death, along with the world's first manned spacecraft.
Thus, it has changed Baumgartner (who, incidentally, could even choose for myself when to jump him) for eight years before the latter was born. And yet, even to make this a truly extraordinary things, Yuri, for the good of the space program, did not talk about it. This little fact clearly shows how high the level of secrecy was then - wait for it, because today many people can not keep their mouths shut even if you just ate a delicious burger. Moreover, the Russian believed that the world was more impressed with the phrase "it landed in the descent module" rather than "He jumped out of the space is rapidly falling bombs." What is there, nuclear weapons, that's you! We know that in the Soviet Union do such things, and the movie "Red Dawn" would be about how docile Americans learn to cook breakfast of kasha and butterbrots for beloved Soviet masters. By the way, as it turned out later, the International Aeronautical Federation (Federation Aeronautique Internationale - FAI) would not recognize a record flight, in which the pilot did not land in his own ship. What the hell, guys? If your records do not recognize the achievements of Yuri Gagarin, then these same records were taken seriously!
 
4. Gordon Cooper
Gordon participated in the Mercury-Atlas 9 - the last of a series of flights Mercury. Space vehicles used in the program, were not designed to control from the pilot - all equipment is fully automatic. This has become a serious problem when the ship Gordon refused electronics. Everything. Completely. Did not work either direction offset or motor control, or even devices that would show him which way he flies. The only thing that has continued to work - it is a radio that is connected directly to the battery power, but because there was still six years before the writing of David Bowie song Space Oddity, Gordon was not much to sing. When Gordon realized that all the rocket scientists who follow the flight from the land, were equally useless as termoekran of chocolate, he did all the work himself. Connect with other astronaut John Glenn, Cooper developed a new procedure for the entry into the atmosphere. He calculated the input parameters, with fewer tools than you have now - because you have plenty of air, and the last thing he saw before Cooper disconnected electronics, was the fact that the capsule began to fill with carbon dioxide.
 
And while most probably would have spent his last moments, telling everyone (especially electrical), think of them, Cooper managed to land the capsule itself, and do it in a way that would seem unrealistic to you too, I'll see you have it, for example, film. Imagine for a moment Apollo 13, the crew of which were in a hurry to collect air filtration system from spare parts. Now imagine the following. Oriented the capsule window toward the stars, Cooper paid a mark on him, and began to control the accelerator, reaching for the fuel valves and manually open and close them, using his watch to measure the time they work.
These clocks are used to more space calculations than HAL-9000.
During entry into the atmosphere - and this is perhaps the most difficult test for the human body - he also had to manually open the brake and the main parachutes and landing pad - despite the fact that each of these steps, there were only two possible outcomes - "made perfect" and "turned into a pancake." And what was the reaction of the Cooper this deadly math test?
"... Well, that's what we always wanted to try to do. So I just have the opportunity to do what I always wanted. "
So if you hear the kids complain that they never have to use math in real life, tell them that in this case the life to which they are prepared - sucks.
 
3. Neil Armstrong
What about the twins? If we talk about the sign of the zodiac, we can probably say that it fully reflects the duality of the human race. If we keep in mind a series of managed space flight, then it is safe to say that they are one of the most impressive achievements in history.
David Scott (David Scott) and Neil Armstrong (Neil Armstrong) flew Gemeni 8 to see what happens if a Gemini capsule to dock with the special target Agena. Out of it all clarifying what happens if Gemini tries to kill its crew. After docking began to grow uncontrolled rotation ligament and Gemini Agena. Decoupling devices did not help - the speed has only grown, and this proved that the problem was precisely Gemeni (and the law of inertia). The unit continued to accelerate as long as the universe outside the window did not slip at a rate of once per second, filled with new meaning the word "Hertz".
Due to the large acceleration astronauts was hard to lift his head or hand. However, instead of losing consciousness, Armstrong manually block boosters capsules and started the engines for reentry, which saved their lives. Of course, it would ruin the flight Gemini 8, but it's safe to say that this was an act of self-defense.
 
2. Catch the satellite arm
Opposable thumb, by which we can handle a variety of tools - it is definitely a huge advantage, bringing the world to perfection - from the sticks, and ending with ... communications satellites. Since fishing companion with his bare hands - is that more likely to happen in the movie Superman, than in real life, Pierre Thuot (Pierre Thout), Hib, Richard (Richard Hieb) and Thomas Akers (Thomas Akers) was given a handicap to any fighter who once ever seen the light. In order to attach the satellite Intelstat VI upper stage, the Johnson Space Center has developed a special grip, is like super-expensive version of the slot machine to catch the soft toys. However, capture refused to work as designed, and the team to maneuver so as to be about a meter from the satellite (which is a four-ton chunk of iron racing in orbit at high speed), went into space and satellite literally caught with his own hands.
 
1. Valeri Polyakov
Polyakov, a physician-astronaut, an expert on space medicine, who wanted very much to know what happens to the human body in space. If you look in the dictionary, "people who had remained in space for long enough to be able to have time to fly to Mars", hardly find anything, but in the scientific journals of the phrase is synonymous with the name Valeri Polyakov. Here it is - a living example of the possibility to transport people to other planets.
He spent 240 days on the station "Mir" in 1988, and in 1994 went even longer flight, which lasted 437 days. "Close the tin man in more than a year" - is not it, like a script psychological thriller? But the Poles wanted to prove that the human mind is able to cope with it. Long stay in space also fraught with loss of muscle mass and bone fragility, but a specially designed program allowed Valery avoid these unpleasant consequences. After a year in space, return to the full gravitation was not easy - it seemed that it was not a Pole on Earth, and the Earth on it. Yet Valery insisted to put itself out of the capsule - to prove what the human body is capable of. His first action after his return had to show that if humanity really need something that people are able to even the most incredible things.
NASA astronaut Normat Thagard (Norman Thagard) said that the Poles looked like he "could wrestle a bear," which is both a compliment and the truth about how good the Russian space program. Most likely, the Poles will hold the record for the longest stay in space for as long as someone does not actually fly to the Red Planet. This man flew 300 million miles in a can - and to spur the human race to ensure that the re-start to move forward.