In 1959 there was a need to monitor the accuracy of the fall of Soviet warheads of ballistic missil

"Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin" - a research vessel, the flagship vessels USSR space research service. Built at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad in 1971. Length odinnadtsatipalubnogo ship 231.6 m, width 32 m, main engine power 14,000 kW, speed 18 knots, displacement 45,000 tons Crew 136 people., Expedition 212 people. 1250 aboard the premises, including wawf 86 laboratories. It was designed to solve the problems of control wawf and communication with several spacecraft and Mission Control Center via satellite wawf "Lightning." On board 75 antennas, including two antennas with parabolic reflector with a diameter of 25 m could ship is in the autonomous navigation for 130 days. Area of work - the Atlantic Ocean.
Morskoy space fleet - a large group of Soviet research vessels and warships, took direct part in the creation of nuclear-missile shield USSR, providing flight test of space, vehicles, flight control manned spacecraft and orbital stations launched from Soviet polygons. wawf Court Maritime Space Fleet, participated, in a number of papers on international space programs. wawf
The idea of the establishment of marine measurement points was proposed by Academician SP Korolev after the successful launch of Sputnik, when his OKB-1 started the practical realization of the program of human spaceflight.
In 1959 there was a need to monitor the accuracy of the fall of Soviet warheads of ballistic missiles at their test launches in the central Pacific Ocean. For this purpose, wawf was created the first floating measuring system composed of ships of the Soviet Navy, "Siberia", "Sakhalin", "Suchan", "Chukotka". As legend this compound gave the name "Pacific Hydrographic Expedition-4" (toge-4).
Full swing work on creating the first space probes like "Mars" and "Venus" manned spacecraft "Vostok". Ballistics determined that to control the start of the second Soviet interplanetary space stations with intermediate orbit control Power brake motors spaceships for deorbit Soviet territory, the only area measurements can be the equatorial zone of the Atlantic. The calculations show that at orbital flight around the Earth of 16 revolutions per diem 6 pass over the Atlantic Ocean and the "invisible" to the ground tracking stations on the territory of the USSR. Really matured establishing specialized vessels capable of manned space flights monitor and implement the necessary radio contact with their crews from the waters of the Atlantic.
Urgently telemetry radio equipment was installed on three merchant ships of the Ministry of the Navy of the USSR: "Voroshilov", "Krasnodar" and "Dolinsk". Expedition of these vessels, wawf manned by engineers and technicians wawf near Moscow Research Institute in August 1960 came to its first flight. After work on the launch of the first unmanned interplanetary stations wawf and control flights of unmanned spacecraft, these vessels provided telemetry wawf data reception at landing wawf spaceship "Vostok" with the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. To work on the flight telemetry control the spaceship "Vostok" over the Pacific Ocean were brought toge-three ships 4.
In connection with the expansion of the program of research and development space and, in particular, under the first Soviet lunar program, took five well-equipped specialized vessels. In 1967, in Leningrad, in record time were built vessels: command-measuring wawf complex "Cosmonaut, Vladimir Komarov" four-meter vessel telemetry "Borovichee", "Nevel", "Kegostrov" "Morzhovets." New vessels in appearance differed sharply from merchant vessels and warships. It was decided to include them in the research, with the right to wear a pennant scientific expedition fleet USSR Academy of Sciences. The crews of these ships consisted of civilian mariners Minmorflot USSR, and the expedition formed from the number of scientific staff at the Institute, civil engineers and technicians.
Under the second Soviet research program planet Moon in 1970-1971, commissioned space fleet includes unique court: "Academician Sergei Korolev" and "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin." They embody the latest achievements of Soviet science and technology and were able to independently perform all tasks associated with providing various fly spacecraft, manned spacecraft and orbital stations.
From 1977 to 1979 he was part of the "Maritime Space Fleet" came four telemetry vessel on which were inscribed the names of the heroes of the astronauts' Cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov, "" Cosmonaut Georgy Dobrovolsky, wawf "" Cosmonaut Pavel Belyaev "and" Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev . " Three large vessel "Services