Gagarin's part in history would not have been possible without the work of a Ukrainian scientist, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, whose early years were spent in Zhytomyr, just 131 kilometers outside Kyiv.
Zhytomyr is largely ignored by the guidebooks and appropriately so, with one notable exception: the Korolev Library and Memorial Museum, a tribute to the Ukrainian credited with being the father of Soviet rocketry. What Robert Goddard was to American rocketry, Korolev was to the Soviet effort.
The oblast government operates the museum, which was built in 1991. Guides are available to make the visit more interesting, and can be reserved in advance.
A great deal of thought was put into the museum's design and exhibits. The museum was designed to simulate the vastness of space: spotlights illuminate the many full-scale models of spacecraft that are suspended from the ceiling, which is painted black. Most of the museum's displays can be examined close-up. Unlike most museums, the Korolev seems to encourage tactile exploration. Rather than putting exhibits in display cases or slapping "Hands Off!" signs on them, the designers obviously reckoned that items tough enough to survive in space could withstand visitors' inquiring hands.
Though dedicated to Korolev, the museum provides a history of the USSR's space program, from early instrumentation packages sent into low-Earth orbit as a prelude to Sputnik to a copy of the USSR's lunar rover, an unmanned vehicle designed to traverse the moon. With wire wheels and a titanium body, it covered 37 kilometers over 5 days in 1973.
A display of Cyclone and Zenith rockets manufactured by Yushmash, the Southern Machine-Building Plant, was donated by President Leonid Kuchma, the plant's former director. But Yuzhmash wasn't Ukraine's sole contribution to Soviet space exploration. The nation inherited 24 plants that supplied various elements to the space exploration effort. Most are now part of the National Space Agency. The Khartron plant in Kharkiv, for example, supplied instrumentation for many Soviet satellites and many of the controls used at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
While the Vostok 1 capsule on display is a replica, the actual Soyuz 27 capsule is original. The capsule carried Oleg Makarov and Vladimir Dzhanibekov to the Salyut 6 space station on Jan 10, 1978 and returned with cosmonauts Georgi Mikhailovich Grechko and Yuri Viktorovich Romanenko aboard.
Russian cosmonauts were equipped with survival gear, including fishing tackle, in case they landed somewhere other than planned. The exterior of the capsule has rescue instructions stenciled in Russian and English, and points out where to locate a key that unlocks the hatch.
Across the street from the museum is the Korolev house, which includes some of the scientist's clothing, pens, notebooks and his medals, including the Lenin Prize. Unlike the museum, many of the exhibits have English-language descriptions.
The Korolev House provides a good deal of insight into the life of the man who was the driving force behind the USSR's space program.
Born in Zhytomyr in 1907, Korolev had a lifelong interest in flight. He joined a glider club at age 13, and graduated from Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and later the Bauman Technological Institute in Moscow in 1930, the same year he received his pilot's license. At Bauman, he developed his interest in manned space flight, and was active in rocket study groups, participating in the launch of the first Soviet liquid-fueled rocket in 1933.
Despite his promise, Korolev ran afoul of the communist state in 1938 and was sent to a gold mine after being convicted of sabotage. An appeal to Stalin was successful, and he was returned to Kyiv, where he worked for the Tupolev Design Bureau while under house arrest.
Stalin recognized Korolev's value and he was eventually rehabilitated, politically.
After World War II, Korolev directed the activities of German V-2 scientists working in the Soviet rocket program and achieved great success with the R-7 rocket.
Korolev's place in history was assured by his direction of the launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, on October 4, 1957. Confirmation of his genius came again on April 12, 1961 when another of his designs carried Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, into orbit around the Earth.
Korolev died during a routine operation on January 14, 1966, prompting Gagarin to comment that, "I have lost a friend and a father."
Why Korolev selected Gagarin to make the first flight remains a matter of opinion. Some say that the Soviets wanted to send a Russian first for political reasons, and Gagarin met that criterion. Others say that Gagarin impressed Korolev because when the first cosmonauts were invited to examine the Vostok-1 capsule, Gagarin politely removed his shoes before entering.
A mock-up of Gagarin's vehicle, Vostok-1, showed it to be a surprisingly low-tech affair, with few of the controls and switches found in U.S. astronaut Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 capsule. By contrast, Gagarin's flight was automated, leaving him little to do but enjoy the 108 minute ride. The controls were locked, but had it been necessary for Gagarin to take control of the craft, he had an envelope containing a key that would unlock the controls.
The museum also contains memorabilia relating to two other Ukainians involved in the Soviet space program. Pavel Romanovich Popovich was among the first six Soviet cosmonauts. Born in Uzin, Popovich got his chance to go into space aboard Vostok 4 on Aug. 12, 1962. He and Andriyan Nikolayev, who was launched a day earlier in Vostok 3, became the first two men to be in space simultaneously. Independent Ukraine's first cosmonaut, Leonid Kadeniuk, was a member of the crew of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia in 1997.
Korolev Library and Memorial Museum
Open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Franko and Dimitrova streets
Tel: (38 0412) 37 2030, 37 2653
Admission: Hr 1. Tours: Hr 10 (Russian); Hr 20 (English).
Contact: Olha Andreyevna, Director
Korolev House
Same hours as Museum, but closed last Friday of each month.
Tel: (38 0412) 10 1715
Admission: Hr 1
From Metro Zhytomyrska, walk down Prospekt Peremohy to the Dachna bus stop, just past the ring road. Route taxis to Zhytomyr depart frequently from this spot. The one-way fare is Hr 7. Taxis leave Zhytomyr from the central bus station ("Avtovokzal") until about 5 p.m. Trip time: 90 minutes.
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