Every year as the anniversary of the first human spaceflight approaches, I receive calls inquiring about the validity of Yuri Gagarin’s claim as the first human in space. The legitimate questions focus on the fact that Gagarin did not land inside his spacecraft.
In later flights, the ejection seats were removed because there was only a narrow window in which the seats could save the occupant, and even then, there was a fair chance the ejection would kill the occupant.
After that SOP was to chuck her into a steep dive, pop the door off, and just jump.
This seems like the most Soviet thing ever.
We don’t have a good reëntry vehicle, so let’s have them eject. We KNOW personal parachutes work. So yeah that cool right Yuri?
The first space shuttle had ejection seats.
In later flights, the ejection seats were removed because there was only a narrow window in which the seats could save the occupant, and even then, there was a fair chance the ejection would kill the occupant.
After that SOP was to chuck her into a steep dive, pop the door off, and just jump.