AW: [FPSPACE] Vostok Flight Duration

[Haeseler, Dietrich]

Chris Jones [mailto:clj@emc.com] wrote:
> Presumably Gagarin landed after his "SA", since it was 
> the too rapid descent of the latter that led to the 
> need for the cosmonaut to eject before landing.

The following table is an excerpt from the data given by Energia:
www.energia.ru/english/energia/history/flights_vostok.html 

             VOSTOK SC FLIGHTS
    Spacecraft flight duration       Difference 
                Pilot       (DV)     Pilot -> DV
    Vostok                 (1:48)         
    Vostok-2   25:11       (25:18)   + 6 min
    Vostok-3   94:9:59     (94:22)   + 12 min
    Vostok-4   70:44       (70:57)   + 13 min
    Vostok-5   118:56:41   (119:6)   + 9 min
    Vostok-6   70:40:48    (70:50)   + 9 min


The times clearly show that the Descent Vehicle DV landed AFTER the pilot.
The average is 10 minutes, implying a flight time for Gagarin of only 98
minutes (1:38)!

But the question is why is this the case when the pilot's prachute shall
allow a softer landing compared to the imnpact of the DV with its parachute.
The mass of the DV was around 2400 kg while the pilot and its seat were
around 330 kg. Thus, whether the pilot remained in the DV or not would not
change dramatically the descent speed.

Dietrich Haeseler