U travnju 1961. godine, po prvi put u povijesti, čovjek je poletio u svemir. Tih dana moja je baka rodila svoje prvo dijete, mog oca. U cijelom rodilištu gotovo svi dječaci dobili su ime Jurij. Međutim, ovo ogromno postignuće Sovjetskog Saveza ne bi bilo moguće bez Ukrajinaca. O ukrajinskoj povijesti osvajanja svemira ne zna se mnogo. Stoga želimo ispraviti ovu nepravdu i prićamo o Ukrajini u svemiru.

Znate li da je “otac astronautike” bio Ukrajinac?

Sergej Koroljov bio je ukrajinski sovjetski znanstvenik i konstruktor. Vodio je sovjetski raketni program u vrijeme kada je u orbitu lansiran satelit i kada je čovjek poslan u svemir. Sudbina ovog talentiranog Ukrajinca nije bila laka. Praktički odgojen od bake i djeda, mladić je dobro učio i bavio se jedrenjem. Još kao student projektirao je dvosjedni zrakoplov. I obavio je probni let kao putnik.

Kasnije je, kao i mnogi drugi talentirani znanstvenici, bio zatvoren u radnom logoru. Na taj je način vlast uspjela dobiti besplatan rad istaknutih znanstvenika. Nakon završetka Drugog svjetskog rata, Koroljov je izgradio uspješnu karijeru i postavio temelje praktične astronautike.

Zanimljivo je da je upravo omiljena pjesma Sergeja Koroljova postala prva pjesma koja je zapjevana u svemiru. “Gledam u nebo i razmišljam, zašto nisam sokol, zašto ne letim…”. Pjesmu o snu o slobodnom letu također je napisao Ukrajinac Mihajlo Petrenko još u 19. stoljeću. A pjevao ju je ukrajinski kozmonaut Pavlo Popovič 1962. godine.

U međuvremenu, američki proboj u utrci za svemir također se dogodio uz sudjelovanje Ukrajinca.

Jurij Kondratjuk bio je znanstvenik-izumitelj i pionir teorije svemirskih letova. Upravo je on razvio putanju, koja je po njemu nazvana, za let na Mjesec. Letovi u sklopu američkog programa “Apollo” odvijali su se upravo prema njegovim proračunima. Dugo prije stvarnog leta čovjeka u svemir, Kondratjuk je razvio najenergetski učinkovitiji način leta sa Zemlje na Mjesec.
Jurij Kondratjuk rođen je u Poltavi i imao je židovske korijene. Njegovo pravo ime – Oleksandr Šargej – morao je promijeniti. Jer je zbog sudjelovanja u ratu na strani Bijele armije mogao biti represiran. Kondratjuk poginuo je tijekom Drugog svjetskog rata, vjerojatno u koncentracijskom logoru.

Zanimljivo je da je knjigu u kojoj je predstavio svoju teoriju leta na Mjesec tiskao o svom trošku. Na poleđini Mjeseca nalazi se i krater nazvan po Kondratjuku.

I ovo nije jedini “svemirski toponim” iz Ukrajine. Kao što smo već pisali u članku o istaknutim ukrajinskim ženama, u svemiru postoji i mali planet te asteroidni pojas s imenom Ukrajinke Olene Kazimirčak-Polonske.

The Role of Ukraine in Space Exploration

In April 1961, for the first time in history, a human flew into space. In those days, my grandmother gave birth to her first child, my father. In the entire maternity ward, almost all the boys were named Yuri. However, this enormous achievement of the Soviet Union would have been impossible without Ukrainians. Little is known about the Ukrainian history of space exploration. So, we want to correct this injustice.

Did you know that the “father of cosmonautics” was Ukrainian? 

Serhiy Korolyov was a Ukrainian Soviet scientist and designer. He headed the Soviet rocket program during the time when a satellite was put into orbit and a human was sent into space. The fate of this talented Ukrainian was not easy. Raised practically by his grandparents, the young man studied well and was involved in sailing. While still a student, he designed a two-seater airplane. And he made a test flight as a passenger. 

Later, like many other talented scientists, he was imprisoned in a labor camp. In this way, the authorities managed to obtain the unpaid labor of outstanding scientists. After the end of World War II, Korolyov built a successful career and laid the foundation for practical cosmonautics. 

Interestingly, it was Serhiy Korolyov’s favorite song that became the first song sung in space. “I look at the sky and ponder a thought, why am I not a falcon, why do I not fly…”. The song about the dream of free flight was also written by a Ukrainian, Mykhailo Petrenko, back in the 19th century. And it was sung by the Ukrainian cosmonaut Pavlo Popovich in 1962.

Meanwhile, the American breakthrough in the space race also took place with the participation of a Ukrainian. 

Yuriy Kondratyuk was a scientist-inventor and a pioneer of the theory of spaceflight. It was he who developed the trajectory, named after him, for the flight to the Moon. The flights within the American “Apollo” program took place precisely according to his calculations. Long before the actual flight of a human into space, Kondratyuk developed the most energy-efficient way to fly from Earth to the Moon. 

Kondratyuk was born in Poltava and had Jewish roots. His real name – Oleksandr Shargei – he had to change. After all, for participating in the war on the side of the White Army, he could have been repressed. He died during World War II, probably in a concentration camp. Interestingly, he published the book in which he presented his theory of flight to the Moon at his own expense. There is also a crater named after Kondratyuk on the far side of the Moon.

And this is not the only “space toponym” from Ukraine. As we already wrote in the article about outstanding Ukrainian women, there is also a small planet and an asteroid belt in space named after the Ukrainian Olena Kazymyrchak-Polonska.