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October 12: Launch!

Final preparations for the launch of Voskhod were clouded by a failure
during test firing of the main engine similar to the one installed on third
stage of the Voskhod launch vehicle. However the culprit was quickly
traced to the ground test equipment. (18)
On October 9, Komarov, Feoktistov and Yegorov conducted their final
familiarization training inside of their future home in orbit and by the
end of the same day, the State Commission set the launch for October
12, 1964, at 10:30 Moscow Time. (231) On October 11, the rocket with
the spacecraft was rolled out to the launch pad. During final tests on
the pad, the troublesome Tral telemetry system failed again. Engineers
scrambled to replace it on the launch pad. The incident apparently
triggered one of Korolev's famous outbursts, this time directed at the
system's main developer Aleksei Bogomolov. (18)
On the eve of the flight, Feoktistov slept well and final preparations for
launch ran smoothly. On the morning of October 12, the crew woke up
in good, business-like spirit, Feoktistov remembered. As all three
climbed to the top of the launch gantry, Feoktistov caught a glimpse of
a huge junkyard of rocket debris, which accumulated over the past
seven years from various launch accidents in the vicinity of the launch
pad. However even that grim reminder could not sour Feoktistov's
excitement for the upcoming mission. Still, as they squeezed into their
tiny compartment and went through long wait for the liftoff, doubts
about the reliability of the rocket booster creped back into Feoktistov's
mind.
The 11A57 launch vehicle with the 3KV spacecraft blasted off from
NIIP-5 near Tyuratam on Oct. 12, 1964, at 10:30:01 Moscow Time,
with Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Yegorov
onboard. Following the exhilarating 523-second climb uphill, the third
stage of the rocket flawlessly released the Voskhod into orbit. For the
first time, space travelers could share their impressions with each other
in the cabin of an orbiting ship. Feoktistov felt some discomfort and
realized that their short-term simulations of weightlessness on an
aircraft were far from realistic. He also realized extremely cramped
conditions inside the spacecraft, yet when he needed to get a camera,
he unbuckled and was able to turn around and get it from under his
seat. The crew's first of two workdays in space turned out to be very
hectic. They struggled with their minute-by-minute flight program even
during training and now found it even more difficult to keep up with the
tight schedule. (196)
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During the mission, Komarov piloted and oriented the spacecraft in
space, while Feoktistov had responsibility for observations and
photography of the Earth, as well as the work with the sextant, an
experiment studying the behavior of the liquid in weightlessness,
monitoring and recording characteristics of newly installed ion sensors
relative to the velocity vector of the spacecraft. All these responsibilities
left Feoktistov little time for sleep. Still, the crew was able to fulfill a
lot: cosmonauts took several hundred photos of the Earth's surface,
hurricanes, clouds and ice sheets, sunsets and sunrises, the Sun and
the horizon. The crew was able to discern several layers of the
atmosphere with different levels of brightness, which could help to
provide more accurate angular elevation of stars over the horizon, if it
would be necessary to determine the ship's exact position in space.
As they soared in darkness over the night side of the Earth,
cosmonauts noticed a shiny layer at altitudes of 80 or 100 kilometers
above the Earth surface. Feoktistov interpreted it as cirrus clouds or
aerosols lit by the lunar light.
When the spacecraft reached its southernmost points at 65 degrees
latitude, the crew was treated with a fantastic light show of Aurora
Borealis. Their entire field of view was filled with yellow pillars of light
emanating from the white line above the horizon, towering to a height
of several hundred kilometers and spanning 20 or 30 kilometers across.
As the morning approached, the lights faded and disappeared. The
show replayed for crew during two more orbits.
Feoktistov conducted experiments with liquid and photographed the
results. The experiment was built as a pair of connected transparent
spheres containing liquid and gas. The cosmonaut was expected to
shake the unit and document how liquid and gas behave. When
Feoktistov was setting up the experiment, he discovered that the unit
had already been shaken up, probably during the launch. Water and
gas had already mixed and were not in hurry to separate.
With the help of Komarov, Feoktistov recorded characteristics from ion
sensors. While they recorded the data, Feoktistov noticed strange rays
on the monitor connected to the external camera. He photographed the
mysterious lines on the screen but the effect was later traced to
sunlight bouncing off the camera.
In the meantime, Yegorov conducted his medical studies. To the
surprise of his crew mates, Yegorov succeeded with most of his
program of taking blood samples, measuring pressure and pulse.
Fall of Khrushchev
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Although Voskhod successfully began its historic mission, the Kremlin
officials in Moscow apparently "forgot" to make a traditional phone call
to Khrushchev, who went on an ill-fated holiday in Pitsunda on the
Black Sea. Worried about the progress of the mission, the Soviet leader
himself called Leonid Smirnov and harshly reprimanded him for not
delivering the news. It could be the first clue for Khrushchev that the
Kremlin plot which would topple him from power in less than 24 hours
had already been in motion. However, Khrushchev apparently
suspected nothing and made a congratulatory phone call to the
Voskhod crew.
When the sensational news about the three-man Voskhod reached
America, US official reportedly called the new Soviet spacecraft a
prototype of the 'space cruiser.' Korolev's engineers, of course, knew
better. "We wished it was true," wrote Boris Chertok. (466)
As their first work day in orbit had come to an end, cosmonauts had
dinner from their toothpaste-like containers. They also "went to bed" in
shifts. Because Yegorov was getting cold (as he believed from the
window), Feoktistov let him to take his middle seat, while Feoktistov
took the "night shift" during mostly "deaf orbits", when the spacecraft
was out-of-range of mission control. He spent most of the time peering
into the window. (196)
A summary of crew activities on October 12:
Orbit 1: Medical checks (Yegorov); breakfast;
Orbit 2: Greetings to the participants of the Tokyo Olympics;
Orbit 3-4: Physical tests: blood samples, blood pressure
measurements, cognitive tests;
Orbit 4: Lunch;
Orbit 5: Sleep period (Komarov); Observations of the Earth surface and
the atmosphere (Feoktistov); Vestibular tests (Yegorov, Feoktistov);
Orbit 6: Manual attitude control exercise (Komarov);
Orbit 7-8: TV conference with ground control;
Orbit 9-13: Voskhod is out communications range; Sleep period;
Orbit 14: Transmission of orbital parameters to ground control;
receiving input for manual control in case of automated landing system
failure;
Orbit 15: Manual attitude control exercise (Komarov); Horizon
photography (Feoktistov), Sleep period (Yegorov). (231)

October 13: Landing in the coup
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As his colleagues woke up, the hectic program of observations and
communications had resumed. Feoktistov told his crew mates about his
conversation with Korolev and proposed his commander to make another
"official" request to extend the flight. Without much enthusiasm, Komarov
made a call and was rebuffed as well. (Clearly, the crew and ground
controllers were worrying about potential problems during the upcoming
braking maneuver and wanted to give the overstretched mission maximum
backup opportunities). In preparation for landing, the trio cosmonauts
signed a photo for Korolev, dated Oct. 13, 06:50 (Moscow Time). (253)
The automated attitude control system came to life at 09:55:39 Moscow
Decree Time, during the 16th orbit of the mission, and successfully placed
the spacecraft tail first for a braking maneuver. Voskhod fired its braking
engine as scheduled at 10:18:58 Moscow Time, as it was zooming toward
the coast of Africa over the Gulf of Guinea. (231) Then, the service module
separated from the descent capsule. The ball-shaped crew cabin flipped
around and cosmonauts saw their tumbling service module nearby. As
Feoktistov peered outside, his window was suddenly sprayed with liquid
escaping from the drainage of the propulsion system in the service module
after the braking maneuver. Immediately, the window was covered with
frost. The ice melted away only after entering the atmosphere, but soon
again, nothing could be seen through the bright light of plasma
surrounding the capsule. Cosmonauts started hearing loud flops sounding
like gun shots. Komarov and Yegorov looked puzzled at Feoktistov who
tried to explain the phenomenon by sharp pressure changes in the burning
ablative layers of the thermal protection system.
Understandably, the crew had some anxiety about their new parachutes
and the rocket-powered landing system. The soft-landing engines had to
be activated by a rather tenuous probe and Feoktistov was now worrying
whether the probe could deploy prematurely and burn up during the
reentry. (196) In the meantime, officials on the ground had their own fears
since no radio messages had come from the spacecraft during its entire
descent. Reports from Dolinsk and Krasnodar tracking ships at 10:25
Moscow Time confirming the on-time braking engine firing provided only
limited comfort.
Finally, the pilot of the Ilyushin-14 search aircraft spotted the Voskhod
descending under a parachute and after an anxious inquiry from mission
control confirmed that both parachutes had been deployed.
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As Feoktistov remembered, the landing was so "soft" that "sparks were
flying from (their) eyes." The capsule then rolled over and came to rest
with cosmonauts hanging on their seat belts from the "ceiling." Komarov,
who was sitting next to the hatch, got out first, followed by Yegorov and,
finally, by Feoktistov. The first space trio was in good shape. (196)
The crew of the rescue plane circling over the landing site then reported
seeing three people waving their hands next to the capsule. Naturally, the
officials at mission control had a huge sigh of relief.
According to the official sources, the spacecraft landed as planned on
October 13, 1964, at 10:47 Moscow Time. (253) The descent module
touched down 312 kilometers northeast of city of Kustanai (now Kostanai)
in Kazakhstan. The flight lasted for 24 hours, 17 minutes 3 seconds. (2,
52) The mission completed 16 revolutions around the Earth and covered
700,000 kilometers. (509)
The crew first traveled to Kustanai, where they were waiting for a planned
congratulatory phone call from Khrushchev. However by 3 p.m. Leonid
Smirnov called and informed Kamanin that the conversation would not take
place and the crew should return to the launch site. (18)
By the end of the day, the crew flew to Tyuratam, apparently on the same
Ilyushin-18 aircraft that would crash in Yugoslavia just five days later.
Upon arrival to the launch site, the cosmonauts were accommodated at
their familiar quarters at Site 17. They expected to fly to Moscow the next
day, however were told to have another day of rest and post-flight medical
checks.
On October 14, at the expanded session of the State Commission, the crew
reported about their flight. The event was concluded with an official dinner.
By the evening, the Air Force commander Vershinin called from Moscow
and told his deputy Rudenko to return to the capital. Next day, Korolev and
Tyulin also hastily departed for Moscow without any explanations. The crew
spent time hunting and watching movies. (18) When they finally enquired
what was going on and why all the delays, officials told them that "the
address is being straightened out." Puzzled cosmonauts were finally
explained that Vladimir Komarov would have to make a post-flight address
to a new leader in the Kremlin, since Nikita Khrushchev had been
dismissed in a bloodless coup and Leonid Brezhnev took power in the
USSR! As Feoktistov later said in his memoirs, "naive Khrushchev forgot
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that a dictator can not afford even for a minute to relax his grip over the
police, army and his associates." (196)
The crew was finally invited back to Moscow on October 19, where they
were greeted by Leonid Brezhnev, instead of Khrushchev who had forever
disappeared from the public view. On a plane to Moscow, one joker
"advised" Komarov to slightly edit a traditional greeting of cosmonauts to
Brezhnev to a following: "...We are ready to fulfill any new assignment
from any new government." Still, trying not to break traditions of the
Khrushchevean era, Brezhnev treated cosmonauts with a big parade on the
Red Square and a huge reception in the Kremlin. (18) However, for the
Soviet people, a new era had began, which would last for almost quarter of
a century.