"One person can make a spacesuit"

How a Russian engineer became a NASA developer

By 2017, SpaceX and Boeing are planning to be the first private companies sending tourists to space. The US, China and India expand their space programs, their plans also include flying to Mars. Final Frontier Design intends to help them with this, a tiny company of four and an office in Brooklyn. Final Frontier Design is engaged in the development of spacesuits and for a small fee allows everyone to try on a costume that in space can save the life of the astronaut. At the request of Medusa, journalist Ilya Rozhdestvensky talked with one of the founders of the company, recent emigrant from Russia Nikolai Moiseev and found out how the Final Frontier Design managed to make a breakthrough in creating spacesuits and establish cooperation with NASA.

- Have you been engaged in spacesuits for a long time?

-In the NPP "Zvezda" I came to make a diploma in 1985. As it is fashionable to say now, was an intern. And in 1986, he graduated from the MAI and immediately went to work, was engaged in gloves for spacesuits, which were supposed to be used in Buranes.

- Secret production?

- Yes, instead of the “star” then there was an officially subscriber box. But I was not allowed to GOSTIN, literally a miracle of this escaped. I was sent on a business trip to the RSC "Energia", but when I arrived there, they did not miss me inside, there was no admission. Then he spun, so as a result and did not draw up documents. And in 1991, we were declassified, and in the same year the Zvezda very successfully performed at the aircraft in Le Burreta: after the collapse of the USSR, it turned out that the spacesuits and the catapult chair were the best in the world, and foreigners tumbled down to us. At first, the European space agency for its manned program compared American and Russian spacesuits, and we made a suit for them. Then, however, their money ended. Then we began, together with the United States, to create an international space station and exchanged all the data on spacesuits. Now there are several Russian spacesuits in the Johnson space center, and several American spacesuits in the star town. Both our astronauts and their astronauts should measure all the spacesuits and study the documentation, in case you have to use it.

- Why did they leave the "stars"?

- One of the reasons - there was a very small salary. In 2006, I was a leading designer and received $ 300 a month, and my subordinates had 150-200 dollars. One woman, talented and professional, received $ 100 and simply could not ride a “star”: her travel on minibuses cost more than her salary was. Yes, and I myself always earned more on the side: I repaired apartments, changed the faucets and toilets, glued wallpaper, put the tiles. Then he returned to the “star” and made space spacesuits, was a rather large boss, the youngest leading designer. He worked almost seven days a week: in 2006, for example, I had two days off-January 7 and May 9. The rest of the time I made apartments. There was another reason why I left. At the Star at that time, the authorities were replaced. And the new general designer, Sergey Pozdnyakov ... He held the meetings in a kind of style as follows: "Silence, assholes, we will do as I say." Many suffered this, said that they were already old and that after dismissal they would not find a new place. But I could not stand it, my professionalism was not needed at the Star: Pozdnyakov told me that I am nobody and that students will do the spacesuit. The first group of students, by the way, swore to the presidential administration, but the complaint returned to Pozdnyakov.

- No wonder.

- Yes, this principle of operation of the Russian system. He kicked those students, gained new, young and smart, but they have no experience. And there is no more continuity on the Star. Pozdnyakov left the people who knew him in his previous life. For example, I had a car for a hundred dollars before. He was simply shocked, then it was a lot of money for him. This is later he became my immediate boss with a salary of 17 thousand dollars. Pozdnyakov is a person of a system where each of his own should be. I heard about such a system “Laura, Doors, Zhora and Bitches” (Laura - mistresses of responsible leaders; Dores are children of responsible leaders; Zhora - wife of responsible leaders; bitch - accidentally surviving competent performers - approx. Medusa)? So I got only in the last category. The decision to leave was very difficult, I will tell you. I was very worried, and still worried. It was my favorite job. Well, at the same time, about the same time, NASA announced a competition for gloves, and I decided to participate.

- How did everything go?

-In 2007, the competition was not very good. On the first day, we were given the rules, such a rather puffy book. And in all positions I won. But on the second day, the prize was given not to me, but to some lover, Peter Homer. He lost his glove in a number of positions, I did not even consider it as a professional. It was completely incomprehensible what happened. Only a month after returning to Moscow, I received a report in which it was written that the organizers changed the rules.

- During the competition?

- Yes. The essence was, apparently, to not give the prize to a Russian engineer, but to give a prize to a citizen of America. They removed a number of indicators by which the glove was evaluated, and changed the point of prize places. In the first version, the prize was shared between winners in two types of competitions, but after the conditions changed, all the money, 200 thousand dollars, got a rather bad glove. For example, it could not be reached in it with a thumb of a little finger or ring finger, it was impossible to bend a hand. Well, I returned to Moscow, I remember that there was even some kind of depression. And then I decided to make a spacesuit at home.

- And how is it possible?

- Well, such a HomeMade. There is experience, found materials, it remained to find a client. I was advised to write to an English jump, stuntman Steve Traglia, who put stunts for films about James Bond. At that time, he wanted to beat the world record in jumping from a height. And to collect money, he needed my spacesuit for presentations. Then there was a real race among those who planned to jump from the stratosphere. There was still such a Michelle Fournier. But his ball flew away at the last moment, he was forgotten to attach to the gondola. My Steve believed that this Michelle is a fraudster. However, how much Steve himself was able to collect is unknown, but, as he said, he did not have enough for a balloon.

- Then 2009 came, you went to the United States again, took part in the competition and took second place.

- Yes, and received a prize - 100 thousand dollars.

- Since then have you stayed in the States?

-I traveled back and forth several more times. Together with my future partner Ted Sazern, we thought what to do next, and as a result we decided to establish their small company. They made another spacesuit, presented it at the exhibition on Manhattan. That's how it all started slowly.

- Do you use your spacesuit in NASA?

- No, not yet. With NASA, last December we concluded Space Act Agreements. If there were 24 companies in the list of applicants, including very famous ones, which I can’t call, then four companies were in the final version: SpaceX, where four thousand people work, ATK Space Systems with a staff of 14 thousand people, United Launch Alliance, there are also several thousand employees, and our company with a state of only four people.

- And what is this agreement about?

- The fact that NASA helps to certify our spacesuit for space flights.

- That is, in the future, this spacesuit will be used for space flights?

- Yes, the work program has been compiled, and according to the results of the NASA will check the spacesuit and sign the protocol. Here we still need to remember that there are two types of spacesuits. One for open space, it weighs 125–135 kilograms. And the second for use inside the cab, in which the astronauts take off and sit down, it weighs about 10 kilograms. And this is just our type.

- What does he save from?

-Look, in 1971 three Russian astronauts were killed: George Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev. At an altitude of about 70 kilometers, depressurization occurred, and they were without spacesuits. The commander with his palm tried to close the hole in the casing, but the air left very quickly. Since then, the spacesuits have become mandatory for astronauts: they provide pressure on the body so that a person can breathe if a cabin is depressurized in an active area of ​​flight. The Russian Sokol KV-2 spacesuit for the Soyuz ship weighs 10 kilograms, and our spacesuit weighs five kilograms. This difference is especially noticeable when it comes to six to seven crew members. The weight, however, is not the only advantage of our spacesuits. Together with Ted, a big specialist in materials, we made a breakthrough, made a new generation of spacesuits. You can say a miracle happened. Materials that you will not find in Russia in the afternoon with fire, and in America they are full of, allowed me to apply new design solutions. So I did what I could not do on the Star. This, of course, reduces the negative consequences for me from moving to the States.

- If a spacesuit is a matter of the next few years, is there any gloves in NASA now?

- We just put them under a contract, but they are not used. People who saw and put them on there come to us, they say “wow”. Why do our gloves still do not fly? They are better than NASA gloves, and it is better not 10-15%, which would be enough, as I was taught on a “star” to switch to a new model, they are twice better. But there is a bureaucratic procedure. NASA announces a tender, according to its rules, the participants are given a month to submit a prototype and issue several hundred pages of documentation: this is insurance, a risk plan, management plan. For example, we must submit documents that we have not had insured events for three years. And then, following the results of the tender, we are told that we lost.

- Why?

- We lost at the point of connection of the glove to the sleeve. There should be threaded inserts in the spring. In Russia, I only heard about them, and here they are widely used. The screw is screwed into the thread, and between them there should be a spring - Helicoil. It makes the thread stronger and allows you to repair it if necessary. This is not in Russian spacesuits. And since we did not apply this detail, we were refused the contract. Not because the glove is bad or that she has six fingers. No, the glove itself was not even considered. We just did not fully understand how to participate in such contracts. Maybe they did it on purpose, because they could close their eyes or suggest.

- There are also private companies, for example, SpaceX. Do they manage to establish cooperation?

- SpaceX decided to make spacesuits on her own. What a spacesuit they make is covered with darkness. Perhaps there will be something like a suit with a motorcycle helmet, at least this is what we know. But they have no specialists for this. In general, it is a very specific company. They widely use the work of interns. From all over the country, talented guys are held a huge competition to work for free on SpaceX. In exchange, they get some experience and can say "I worked for SpaceX." They practically do not take them to work: how can you take a thousand people every year?

- With Spacex is understandable, and Virgin Galactic?

- They do not use spacesuits at all, and this is a terrible trouble. Modern rescue oxygen mask and costumes operate at an altitude of up to 15-20 kilometers. They give the pilots the time to go down where you can breathe normally. Also in passenger aircraft that fly at an altitude of about 10 kilometers. If the cabin is depressurized, then a mask falls on top, you press it to the face, and the plane at this time decreases to a height of 3-5 kilometers. Minutes take it. But in the case of Virgin Galactic, height is 80-100 kilometers, and ten minutes need to decrease. During this time, a person will die even with an oxygen mask.

“And understanding this, they do not develop spacesuits?”

- No. Virgin Galactic is a company of one person, Sir Richard Branson. Apparently, he said that his employees will not fly in spacesuits. Perhaps here the fact that NASA spacesuits were insanely expensive and insanely heavy, even heavier than our “Falcon of the KV-2” played a role. They weigh about 14 kilograms.

“But there are your spacesuits that weigh five kilograms.” Why not buy them?

- None of those employees we talked to make a decision. And reaching Branson himself is difficult, almost like the English queen. Maybe someday it will succeed.

- In general, it is amazing. There are only four people in your company, of which only you were related to the space industry in the past. And you are now cooperating with NASA.

- Well, to make a spacesuit, the company may not have four people, but in general one person. But we have a team, each in some ways understands very well and tries to help colleagues. Now, for example, we have a paper stage of work, Virgil does a lot here (Virzhil Calegesan has come to the company last and is mainly engaged in the administrative part - approx. Medusa). And the details of the pattern are made out by Kerry (Kerry Love is a designer; she worked on suits for productions, many of which were awarded the Tony Awards - approx. Medusa).

- Do you miss the Star?

- There is such. I met with my former colleagues, they said "Yes, this" star "went into three letters, which you are so worried." But people have a different attitude to this work. They left and began to receive several times more than on the Star. They never engaged in spacesuits, never wandered from the Sokolniki where I lived in Tomilino. They easily change one job to another, and then also to the third. In my case, this is somewhat different. This is my life. I always did this and because of this I went to America to continue to do what I love.

Ilya Rozhdestvensky