Nikita Khruschev was the Soviet leader as USSR achieved great milestones.
Soviet Union designed world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile. It was known as R7 ‘Semyorka’ or as SS-7 Sapwood (as known in NATO). Using this Sputnik 1 was put on orbit. Sputnik 2 was launched on November 3rd, 1957, which carried a living being, a dog-named ‘Laika’. Laika was actually a street dog found in Moscow. It was selected because Moscow dogs would fare well in adverse conditions, as Moscow itself is very cold. It was a one-way trip. The mission provided scientists with the first data on the behavior of a living organism in the space environment.
Laika was the first dog in space.
Sputnik 3 was an automatic scientific laboratory spacecraft. It was conically shaped and was 3.57 m long and 1.73 m wide at its base. It weighed 1,327 kg. The scientific instrumentation (twelve instruments) provided data on pressure and composition of the upper atmosphere, concentration of charged particles, photons in cosmic rays, heavy nuclei in cosmic rays, magnetic and electrostatic fields, and meteoric particles. The outer radiation belts of the Earth were detected during the flight. Its tape recorder failed, so it could not map the Van Allen radiation belt.
Sputnik 2 which carried Laika.
Sputnik 4 was launched as a test-flight of the Vostok spacecraft that would be used for the first human space flight. This spacecraft, the first of a series of spacecraft used to investigate the means for manned space flight, contained scientific instruments, a television system, and a self-sustaining biological cabin with a dummy of a man. The spacecraft was designed to study the operation of the life support system and the stresses of flight.
Meanwhile, Khruschev continued with other reforms. During Nikita Khrushchev’s rule Soviet Union developed rapidly. Khrushchev was primarily responsible for introducing liberal reforms in agriculture and industry. He established Warsaw pact in response to NATO. Initiated talks and promoted peaceful co-existences. Soviet Union overtook US virtually as a superpower, only during Khrushchev’s era as it created progress in both space research and missile development. After Stalin’s death, there were a lot of differences with the Chinese republic’s, which even lead to Sino-Soviet split, which shocked the world as two communist countries became foes. Differences with People’s Republic of China grew more as Khrushchev refused to help Chinese Nuclear program. More action was yet to come as World moved closer to world war.
Sputnik 3.
The Virgin Lands Campaign was an initiative by Nikita Khrushchev to open up vast tracts of unseeded (virgin) steppe in the northern Kazakh SSR and the Altay region of the Russian SFSR(Soviet Federal Socialist Republics, a part of the Soviet Union), started in 1954. In the first year of the programme, 190,000 km² were ploughed; in 1955, an extra 140,000 km² were ploughed. With all this new land, a vast number of people were brought from all over the Soviet Union. The first harvest on the Virgin Lands, in 1956, was a stunning success. Of the 125 million tonnes of grain produced in the Soviet Union that year, more than half of it came from one eighth of the country. The Soviet Union was producing twice as the West. The scheme was therefore considered to be a huge success, as it enabled the USSR to feed its people. However, in the long run it didn’t help USSR much as the nutrients in the soil were used up and due to lack of proper storage system lots of grain were wasted.
-To be continued
No comments:
Post a Comment