Posts: 1049
From: County Down, Nothern Ireland
Registered: Feb 2002

Posts: 1306
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 11-09-2009 06:53 AM               

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I'm not sure, the Russian's did this a lot (reuse spacecraft). As a matter of fact Yuri Gagarin's Vostok 1, was flown before.

I did hear that after the test it was flat as a pancake. Very little was left of it.

Posts: 410
From: Bratislava, Slovakia
Registered: Apr 2009

posted 11-09-2009 09:29 AM               

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I'm not sure how to understand the remarks on Vostok 1 - do you mean it flew before the Gagarin's mission (and being actually reused for the first manned flight ever)? I think this is impossible - I simply can't imagine the Soviets would not use a brand new spacecraft for the Gagarin's historical space mission.

Or do you mean it was used after the Gagarin's flight for some kind of test before the Vostok 2 has been completely destroyed during a failed Voskhod parachute system test? As far as I know Vostok 1 landing "sharik" sits safely in the RSC Energia museum now.

Posts: 583
From: Louisville CO US
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 11-12-2009 08:59 PM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by Lou Chinal:
As a matter of fact Yuri Gagarin's Vostok 1, was flown before.

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Lou, I don't have any reason to believe that Yuri Gagarin's Vostok spacecraft ever flew before 4/12/1961. This spacecraft had the model and serial number 3KA # 3.

Vostok-2 (3KA #4) was indeed destroyed during landing test of the Voskhod spacecraft.

Numerous unpiloted Zenith spacecraft were reflown. These were based on the Vostok design. While pieces and parts have been reflown thoughout space history at least as far back as Apollo and the early Soyuz missions, the first resusable piloted spacecraft was the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Posts: 1306
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007