In the preparation of the flight of the first Soviet cosmonaut on the East’s satellite ship took part, many scientific and labor collectives of the domestic space industry took part – among them and the “All-Union Research Institute of Current sources”, currently – NPP “Kvant” (enters The composition of the state corporation “Roskosmos”). The institute was to ensure the initial energy supply of spacecraft such as East and develop unique on-board systems of the future apparatus.
In the deadlines, the team under the guidance of brilliant scientists and designers N.S. Lidorenko and VS Bagotsky coped with his block of work. At the same time, the team of developers was an extraordinary task – to ensure the reliability and safety of the flight of a person, taking into account the possibility of functional duplication of systems and units, with fundamentally different ways to implement flight operations.
As a result, the control system of the on-board equipment for power supply systems “East” (3K), in which the cosmonaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin carried out his flight, had several silver-zinc batteries developed by VNIIT. The main battery pack was located in the instrument compartment for powering equipment and radio communications with the ground of telemetry instruments, orientation systems, stabilization and motion control. Additional battery was placed in the descent apparatus.
During the flight of problems in the two-way radiotelephone communication, telemetry transmission, stabilization and motion control did not occur – the providing energy system worked on excellent. The contribution of VNIIT in the flight of the first person into space was highly appreciated. For the successful implementation of the Government’s tasks in the development of highly efficient space power systems by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, VNIIT in 1961, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.