Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and
landing 312 km northwest of Kustanay.
The three spacesuits for the
Voskhod cosmonauts were omitted; there was neither the
room nor the payload capacity for the
Voskhod to carry them. The original
Voskhod had been designed to carry two cosmonauts, but
Soviet politicians pushed the Soviet space program into squeezing three
cosmonauts into
Voskhod 1.
For the
first time a spacecraft
with three crewmembers was launched. The
Voskhod spacecraft were basically
Vostok spacecraft with a backup, solid-fuel
retro-rocket added onto the top of the descent module. The ejection seat was
removed and three crew couches were added to the interior at a 90-degree angle
to that of the
Vostok cosmonaut's position. There was no provision
for escape for the crewmen in the event of a launch or landing emergency. A
solid-fuel braking rocket was also added to the space capsule's parachute lines
to provide for a softer landing at touchdown. This was necessary because,
unlike the
Vostok space capsule, no ejection seats were fitted in
the
Voskhod; the cosmonauts had to land inside the
Voskhod descent module.
Although it was a
short mission, the crew performed scientific physico-technical and
medico-biological research. Around the flight were many (self-made) problems,
for example the selection of the crew. It should be a multi-task crew, one real
cosmonaut, one doctor and one engineer. Prime and backup crew were changed
nearly every week. Premier Krushchev was withdrawn from his position during the
flight. So, there were many suggestions, if the mission originally should have
lasted longer. But the only reason were cramped conditions of the crew during
the flight, the withdrawn of Krushchev and supposed problems with space
sickness of Konstantin
Feoktistov were not the reasons.
The spacecraft
landed with its crew aboard. The crew left the capsule itself and waited for
the rescue troops.
