Oleg Dmitrievich Baklanov – Minister of the Rocket and Space Department.
He passed away on July 28 – only a year was not enough until his 90th birthday. But he did so much.
Writer, journalist, USSR State Prize laureate Vladimir Gubarev:
Do you know what the difference is between a minister and a manager? Time has shown that it is huge, since one makes decisions and then executes them, and the second only discusses what decisions should be made. By the way, she utters a lot of words, but no deeds …
“This is our trouble”
Oleg Dmitrievich Baklanov, by the will of fate, became the minister of our space industry after the legendary S.A. Afanasyev, who knew how to defend the interests of rocket technology and astronautics at all levels of government and did not allow the industry to be turned into a farce. With the appointment of Baklanov, the party bosses expected to get hold of an “obedient minister”, but they were mistaken – Baklanov not only continued the work of his predecessor, but also significantly expanded the scope of work. Space giants – Energia – Buran, Zenit, new orbital stations, including Mir – have been added to the powerful missile systems on the country's defense. We are still proud of these achievements.
All the chief designers have poor personalities. They can scandalize, and sometimes they will not shake hands with each other, and they can quarrel to their heart's content. In general, they are different people, but they also have one thing in common: uncommonness and desire to serve the Motherland in full force. The Minister of the “Rocket and Space Department” must always find a common language with chief designers of all ranks. Here you have to be kind, and decisive, and tough, and sometimes even cruel, but always fair. However, the main thing is to be respected, that is, a real professional.
O.D Baklanov was just such a minister, and then the secretary of the Central Committee of the party, in charge of the defense department. At that time I was the science editor of Pravda, and therefore I contacted him often. I remember the meeting on the eve of the Buran launch.
– Why is it needed? After all, we do not have the scientific equipment to “fill” it.
– This is our problem, the situation with instrumentation is not very good, but the situation is not hopeless, – Baklanov answered. – In the coming years, we will correct it … Then we will use the “Buran” in full.
– What projects?
– A lot of them. From applied research on Earth to flights to the Moon and even to Mars. The Energia – Buran system allows solving practically any problem in near and deep space.
– I have the impression that we are putting the cart in front of the horse.
– Carriage, dear, luxurious carriage, on which even to Mars it is not a shame to ride! But seriously: Energia and Buran demanded the creation of thousands of the latest technologies, and they guarantee the rapid development of the entire industry and science. You just need to use this achievement wisely …
Unfortunately, Baklanov's hopes did not come true. One of the “Buran”, intended for testing, was sold to a collector in Australia, another went to auction in a private museum, the third turned into a restaurant in an amusement park. And for some time (mockery of the creators!) Even served as a public toilet.
Created a different reality
After his release from prison (he ended up there as a member of the State Emergency Committee) Oleg Baklanov assessed what was happening as follows: “If it had not been for the collapse of the USSR, which we tried to prevent, then, I am convinced, we would have already visited Mars. A unique rocket “Energia” could send a person there and return back. That's what we were aiming for! And there were such elaborations, and the technique allowed. With this rocket, in general, we created a different dimension: one block with a mass of 105 tons! Can you imagine the Mir-2 system assembled from such modules ?! This is a whole space city and a launching complex. We planned to modernize this rocket so that it could launch 200 tons into orbit. But after our arrest, Yeltsin came to power with a gang of his Neanderthals, who began to destroy and destroy everything. Immediately, like a jackal to the carrion, Soros ran to Russia and began to buy up the developments laid down in the Energia-Buran system for pennies … for two decades. If the financing of the national cosmonautics remains the same, we will finally lose experienced personnel, and in the future our cosmonautics will have to be revived from scratch. “
Bitter words …
I will cite a fragment of another of our conversation.
– I will support your project, but there is no need to advertise it. Energia is against the participation of a journalist in space flight, – Baklanov told me. It was about the flight into space of a Soviet journalist in defiance of the Japanese project – in 1989, a commercial agreement was signed in Moscow for an eight-day space flight of a Japanese journalist. The biggest commercial deal in Japanese television cost TBS $ 37 million. As a result, Japanese reporter Toyohiro Akiyama, director of the TBS Bureau in Washington, flew into space.
– Why? The prestige of astronautics is declining, children no longer dream of becoming astronauts, and therefore, in my opinion, the project “Space for Children” that we have come up with will contribute to the popularization of science in general, and astronautics in particular.
– I understand that very well, but they want to earn money on the flight of a journalist at Energia. We are talking about $ 20 million, which is good money for the company … If I support you openly, then they will misunderstand me.
– It seems to me that our astronautics has turned off the right path, such commerce will not lead to good, – I complained.
– I have to agree. It's good that there is also military space. There is still order. Well, we will still fight for the project “Space for Children”.
It was not necessary, because the August 1991 putsch took place soon, and Baklanov became one of its main participants.
“We are kept …” Satan “!
For all the importance of space projects, which were supervised by O.D.Baklanov, the first place was still in the defense of the country.
The world situation was alarming. The Americans were building up their nuclear power. We managed to maintain parity.
“Exclusively thanks to the 36th rocket,” Baklanov once admitted. – We call her “Voevoda”, and the Americans call her “Satan.” Its uniqueness is that it has 40 decoys and 10 warheads. That is, if the Voevoda is launched, the enemy will see 50 missile blocks that threaten him, but he will not know which of them are distracting and which are combat-ready. It will be more difficult for him to completely localize the “Voevoda”. This missile is overpowered. She has a mortar start: 200 tons are thrown out of the mine in one second and go into the sky. Depending on the specific goal, a 12-30 minute flight to the USA.
“Satan” was created in Dnepropetrovsk at the famous “Yuzhmash” in the “Yuzhnoye” design bureau. The chief designer of “Satan” was Stanislav Ivanovich Us. I have been to Dnepropetrovsk, met with Us.
“Baklanov knows very well about our problems, he visits us often,” Us said in one of his conversations. – He understands that only our car is capable of stopping the Americans if they decide to rein in us. He boldly took responsibility upon himself, sometimes making risky decisions. We let us into the Pacific Ocean. As usual, two vehicles were prepared for launch – No. 10 and No. 11. The second was launched earlier. And the track passed just over the capital of Indonesia. And it had to happen that the third stage exploded directly above her. Moreover, the explosion was so powerful that it “blinded” the tracking systems of American ships. The second rocket – No. 10 – was on alert, and the chairman of the state commission – and it was Baklanov – asks me: “What are we going to do?” I answer that the cause of the explosion is unknown, and therefore the second missile must be fired. The launch took place. And it was a wonderful start! And what happened to the car number 11, we have not figured out. After this incident, there was not a single emergency start. But if O.D.Baklanov had not taken responsibility, the development of “Satan” could have dragged on for a long time …
Now in service in Russia there are new missile systems, and we should remember that the foundations of their creation go back to the days when OD Baklanov was also responsible for the country's defense.
* * *
I specifically did not say anything about the State Emergency Committee, where Baklanov was one of the main figures. The fact is that yesterday's villains often become heroes, and the current masters of thoughts quickly disappear from our memory. Sometimes they come back, but this rarely happens.
History is unpredictable, and therefore we will trust it. It seems to me that the name of Oleg Dmitrievich Baklanov will remain with the descendants for a long time, because he was at the center of the events of the past century, the very ones that largely determined both the present day and the future, even a very distant one.
