Russian rocket test 1949

[alex fraser]

“If there is no hope of a launch, then tell me honestly. I will call
Ustinov and request that the launch be postponed to another day.”
“There’s no need, Lev Robertovich. We have an idea and we’re going to check
it out. Give us thirty minutes.”
The idea was fundamentally simple. We would take the tester who was
small-est in size, but with a good head on his shoulders. We would shove
him under the console where the monitoring and launching equipment was
installed. The relay cabinet containing the unruly relay was located under
the launch pad. The console operator controlling the launch would track the
process by monitoring the illumi-nating display lights, and as soon as the
process reached the point of the “ground-to-air” command, he would nudge or
press down on the “under-the-pad operator” with his foot. The operator, in
turn, having readied himself in front of the relay in question, from which
the protective cover had been removed, would press on the armature with his
finger, simulating its actuation.
Thirty minutes later, we had checked out the idea and the general tests
pro-ceeded “without incident.”
Voskresenskiy and I reported to Gonor and he called Moscow and gave the
green light for the high-ranking guests to make the trip out. We finally
gave permission to fuel the tanks.
“During the launch we will have ten guests in the bunker. God forbid that
any-body should notice that we have a man hidden behind the consoles, and
that any-body should get the notion to speak about that afterward.”
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's a small world, till you try to dig a hole in it.
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