There are big motorcycles, there are powerful ones, and then there is the Triumph Rocket III. The appearance of this leviathan could not be predicted in any way. The British, who were previously distinguished by their loyalty to traditions and some restraint, absolutely unexpectedly pushed moral norms away along with common sense and released into mass production a space-devouring monster with a 2.3-liter engine.

Model history

First Triumph Rocket III went on sale in 2004 as a kind of response to a strong fire that destroyed almost all production area main plant triumph a few years earlier. On the one side, Rocket is a brutal power cruiser made from scratch. On the other hand, several characteristic triumphal "chips" are noticeable to the naked eye. First, two round headlights. Such optics have long been successfully used in Speed ​​Triple and Street Triple . Second, the engine. triumph has been using three-cylinder engines for a long time. In case of Rocket III I had to fiddle with the layout. Mahina with a working volume of 2294 cm3 ( DOHC , 12 valves, six spark plugs) you can’t put it across the frame, the bike will turn out to be too wide. The engineers made the only right decision - to turn the motor so that all the exhaust windows were on the right side in the direction of the motorcycle. Inside the power unit, which is more like a car in size, the crankshaft and gearbox lie side by side along the motorcycle, and the timing chain is located behind a large cover in close proximity to the radiator of the cooling system. Dry sump lubrication system, oil tank located on the left side of the engine. Below in the crankcase is a two-section oil pump. One section pumps for cooling and lubrication, the second pumps the system. There are two intakes - front and rear. Both are integrated into the pallet. The power supply system is injection, with two rows of throttle valves with a diameter of 52 mm, air is supplied from two spaced airboxes. The frame is tubular, duplex with a removable lower section in the area of ​​​​the power unit and a non-removable rear subframe. Torque is transmitted to the rear wheel by a cardan shaft hidden inside the swingarm.

A large and brutal engine is the prevailing detail of the motorcycle exterior. Everything revolves around three cylinders, two round headlights and a 240 rear “sneaker”. The image came out very memorable! Motorcycles destined for the US market are distinguished by an increased number of chrome parts.

Initially, there were two modifications - Roadster as basic version and Classic as extended. Rocket III Classic is different from Rocket III Roadster handlebar shape and platforms instead of footpegs. Motors at that time were painted only in silver. As suspension elements in both cases, a powerful inverted telescopic fork with a diameter of feathers of 43 mm and a pair of large shock absorbers connecting the frame and the pendulum was used. Brake system consists of two 320 mm discs with four-piston calipers Nissin on the front wheel and one 316 mm disc with a two-piston caliper Brembo.

In 2005, the first factory modernization took place - the engine sump changed. Until 2005, drain plugs in the pan were located horizontally, after - vertically. Since 2006, motors from Triumph Rocket III started to turn black. The valve cover remains chrome plated.

In subsequent years, the English manufacturer began to work on the bugs. The early "Rockets" (until 2007, you can see on VIN ) there were a number of well-known sores. On this score, Triumph released a large comprehensive kit. A large box weighing 9 kg immediately became an object of desire for owners of pre-2007 Rockets III , as it allowed to increase the reliability of the motorcycle and improve the operation of some components. The list of parts included in the kit is impressive. In particular, new, more powerful clutch springs, a second gear modified in terms of engagement cams, a modernized timing chain tensioner and damper (the previous design was not reliable and contributed to uneven stretching of the timing chain), high-voltage wires, the correct final drive bearings (which were installed from the factory wrong side), as well as a whole scattering of washers, gaskets and O-rings. The total cost of the kit parts is about $ 2000. However, the retail price for a long time was $ 300. The kit was massively bought and installed by all the owners of the "Rockets" to be upgraded. Because it was profitable. The high-voltage wires included in its composition alone pulled € 200. In 2015, the kit rose sharply in price to $ 1,500. The fight against “childhood diseases” on the engine finally ended in 2007. From that moment on, all problems are eliminated at the factory, the “stuffing” has settled down and has not changed to the present.

In 2008, a special version appears. It is distinguished by a dashboard and an engine control unit. The mechanism of interaction between them began to resemble more CAN -tire. Also another dimension rims(for tires 150/80-16 and 180/70-16), the shape of the steering wheel, limited due to firmware up to 106 liters. With. peak engine power (this is how engineers raised elasticity and traction at medium speeds), exhaust system with two pipes, ABS in the options list, more “chopper” fork offset, flat platforms instead of round footpegs (driver's adjustable), removable windshield, more comfortable seat , a fuel tank reduced to 22.3 liters, removable hard side cases, a 43 mm telescopic fork instead of a “shifter”, as well as one large headlight instead of two. In fact, due to the reduced power of Rocket III - a slightly more resourceful device compared to the usual Rocket III.

In 2010, the most progressive "Rocket" of the currently produced appeared - Triumph Rocket III second generation. Of the improvements - ABS as standard, a sharper tilt of the steering column, a new seat (10 mm higher and closer to the steering wheel), a black front fork, an engine “pumped” with firmware to a record TTX (148 hp at 5750 rpm and 221 Nm at 2750 rpm), 3-in-2 exhaust.

Technical features

In-line 12-valve Triumph Rocket III , released after 2007, can be considered unkillable power unit. It makes sense to talk about the reliability of older motors only after installing corrected parts from the whale.

Running over 100,000 km without major repairs is not uncommon. At the same time, from replacement to replacement, the oil level does not change at all. CPG problems are highly unlikely. It takes a lot of effort to crush ceramic-coated cases or monstrous pistons. For example, forgetting to pour oil. Seizures on liners, mainly on indigenous ones, are found only on very high runs. The cooling system effortlessly copes with any traffic jams. No tendency to boil was observed. Fuel consumption on the highway is 6–6.5 liters per 100 km of track at a cruising speed of 120–140 km/h. In the city - 8-9 liters per 100 km on the standard firmware of the control unit and 12 liters with an abnormal one.

Since 2015 Triumph sharply decided to deprive the owners of silver engines of support. Many parts for it have ceased to be produced. Certain difficulties arise mainly in the case of an order from England for parts that are painted in the color of the engine. For example, external pump, thermostat, final drive housing covers. New silver parts are no longer found during the day with fire. Only black!

Failure of the gearbox Rocket III in most cases associated with the human factor. If you tuck the gears at a wide open throttle, the torque motor can break the gears. But no matter how the gears grind, nothing ever happens to the crankcase. The fragments simply fall into the pallet and lie there. The shafts don't bend. It happens that a bolt is unscrewed that fixes the link of the copy shaft drive. The bolt falls into the crankcase, the link stops holding on to the shaft, the box, for obvious reasons, sticks in the gear that was engaged (it can only be treated through a complete disassembly of the gearbox with the removal / installation of the internal combustion engine). Sometimes the copy roller lock spring bursts. The box does not stop working, but the gears are switched on extremely indistinctly (it is treated without removing / installing the internal combustion engine, removing / installing the front engine cover is required). Almost always, with problems with the gearbox, the motorcycle retains the ability to move under its own power. High-torque motor is able to move huge motorcycle from a standstill even in fourth and fifth gears. Cases are known when Rocket III with only one fifth gear, as if nothing had happened, he overcame up to 1500 km. Any repair of the checkpoint at the "Rockets" is associated with the almost complete disassembly of the motorcycle and the removal / installation of the internal combustion engine. Until 2014, 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears are limited to 7% power by the second row of throttles. The restriction is removed by software.

The owners of the "Rockets" usually do not complain about the clutch. It is extremely reliable. With the new type of springs installed and the correct setting of the mechanical drive, it is unrealistic to kill him. The package contains nine metal and 10 friction discs.

There are usually no problems with the starter, but there are troubles with the ignition switch on the early Rockets (up to and including 2010). There, the power "plus" to the starter is taken through the ignition switch. Over time, the lock from a heavy load begins to melt. At one point, it stops working altogether. The problem is fixed by unloading the ignition switch. An additional relay is installed, which takes the start signal from the starter button, the power cable is pulled directly from the battery. The ignition switch does not need to be changed. This workaround has been around for years.

The lubrication system is reliable. In rare cases, the valve in the oil tank may lose its tightness, causing the oil to completely drain into the sump. There have also been cases of oil leaking through the nozzle, which cools the clutch. The result is the same - the oil flows into the sump. Cold start engine with such a malfunction is quite problematic at near-zero outboard temperatures. The starter simply does not have enough effort to turn the crankshaft and gears of the box, completely filled with oil. It is treated by replacing what failed. Removal / installation of the internal combustion engine is not required.

palpable weakness electrically - throttle position sensor ( TPS sensor). The first sign of his demise is the disappearance or overestimation idling. Treated with calibration. If the problem occurs again, then replace. In the heat, the sensors fail more often. With such a breakdown, it is, in principle, possible to continue moving, but only after certain manipulations. In a particular design, the throttle position sensor simply reads the throttle position, and the stepper motor, in turn, sets the idle position in steps. When the sensor dies, you need to pull off the chip from the idle motor and use the nut on the rod to independently wind the required speed. Check on dashboard, of course, will light up, but idling will be restored. These manipulations only work on motorcycles up to 2010.

If the motorcycle is used infrequently, there may be problems with the rear gear drive. Corrosion may occur on the splines of the cardan-gearbox connection due to dried grease. As a result, wear of the connection, which threatens to replace the bridge and cardan. It is treated by timely lubrication of the assembly.

Early (before 2007) Triumph Rocket III due to an assembly error, the final drive support bearing was pressed in the wrong way. Hence the difficulty with lubrication. The specially provided oil channel remains out of work. It so happens that an oil seal is mistakenly in its path. The bearing resource is a lottery. It is saved from instant failure by the presence of oil mist in the crankcase.

The braking system is very mediocre. With all the efforts of engineers, it does not differ in any special efficiency. The discs, of course, are large, but the calipers are no good. Similar mechanisms are usually used on medium-sized road bikes. Replacing the calipers with more productive ones does not give much effect. You can't fool physics! The harder the calipers bite into the discs, the sooner the tires give up. Emergency braking usually translates into either a squeal of rubber or a crackling anti-lock system.

The running system of the "Rockets" is more designed for quiet movement on relatively smooth asphalt. Tuning in the form of progressive coil springs for the front fork and thicker oil may be required only in cases where the motorcycle is used not as a cruiser, but as a large sportbike. Rear shocks on early Triumph Rockets III very tough, owners often replace them with similar parts from more recent motorcycles or tuning.

At first, there were big problems with the diagnostic equipment for the Triumph Rocket 3. Hardware and software had to be ordered from England under the VIN number of a particular motorcycle. Some time later, German tech enthusiast Tom Hamburg managed to make a free diagnostic for Triumphs without being tied to anything. He laid out his work to the Americans, they immediately riveted all kinds of firmware and dumped them into the public domain. If there is a cable (suitable for conventional VAZ diagnostics) with a chip FTDI diagnostic device for Rocket III assembled simply.

In the context of service Triumph Rocket III not as complicated as it might seem. All nodes are large and are in relatively good access. If you have a service manual in front of your eyes, even a novice mechanic can handle all routine maintenance operations. Deeper intervention requires experience and special tools.

The coolant is changed elementarily, as well as oil filter. Oil has to be dealt with. There are three drain plugs, they are located in the pan in a very non-obvious way. Oil is poured no less tricky. It is necessary to fill the oil tank (four liters), start the motorcycle, run the system. Then muffle and top up according to the level. Fuel filter located inside fuel tank. It must be taken out very carefully. There is a risk of bending the float, which can cause incorrect operation of the fuel gauge. Air filter located just under the seat, easy to replace.

Removing the engine only at first glance may seem like an impossible task. In fact, this procedure can be done alone. It is not the motor that is removed from the frame, but the frame from the motor.

crash tests

Triumph Rocket III a truly indestructible device, if you do not consider the slight cosmetic damage that absolutely any motorcycle receives as a result of accidents. It is important to install the original protective arches from the list of accessories immediately after purchase. They almost completely eliminate engine damage. Without them, the radiator, footpegs and engine covers become consumables. Often, during falls and accidents of moderate severity, the steering wheel bends and the exhaust crumple, but the motorcycle still retains the ability to move under its own power.

Rocket III almost always leaves the scene of an accident. Even if somersaulting around its own axis. Very strong bike! They say about such people: “not a scratch on the motorcycle, the asphalt is in rags.” No one has yet been able to bend or damage the frame. Wheel disks withstand even jumping on a high curb with a good move. Skillful driving on the rear wheel (and Rocket III it can!), contrary to popular belief, does not harm anything. On landings, the motor does not hit the asphalt, the oil seals do not fly out of the fork.

Geometry can only go away in the event of a strong frontal impact. There is a risk of bending the fork, but the traverses are much more often deformed.

Conclusion

Briefly about the article: Riding a rocket There are many trends in modern science fiction literature: science fiction, fantasy, cyberpunk, humorous fiction ... Critics, singling out more or less "serious" genres from these genres, often dismissively treat one of the most readable ones - combat fiction, or " space opera, as it is called for its "seriality", by analogy with television series - "soap operas". However, the reader, for some reason unknown to critics, is more interested in the content of the new book of his favorite cycle than their subjective reviews ...

Riding a rocket

Space opera genre

There are many trends in modern science fiction literature: science fiction (often abbreviated to "SF"), fantasy, cyberpunk, humorous fiction... Critics, singling out more and less serious ones from these genres, often dismissively refer to one of the most widely read - science fiction combat, or space opera, as it is called for seriality, by analogy with television series - "soap operas". However, the reader, for some reason unknown to critics, is more interested in the content of the new book of his favorite cycle than their subjective reviews ... Before scolding the entire genre as a whole, you should figure out what it is.

With the division of literature into genera and species, there has always been, as they say, trouble. In order not to contribute to the confusion and confusion, we immediately agree not to give clear definitions. "They're all like bespectacled people. The main thing for them is to come up with a name. Until you come up with it, it's a pity to look at it, a fool is a fool. Well, as soon as you come up with some kind of gravitational concentrator, then everything seems to become clear to him, and immediately it is easier for him to live," - ironically the Strugatsky brothers in "Roadside Picnic". We will not imitate - we will work with the term that we have. We have the concept of "space opera", to which science fiction scholars have already managed to attribute (not always accurately) a rather large number of literary works. We are not going to talk about the artistic level of this literature, not wanting to take bread from the aforementioned critics. And we will talk about the history of the emergence and distinctive features of the phenomenon.

Martians on the warpath

I tend to view space opera as a genre of adventure novel adapted to the new times. Our opera, among its immediate ancestors, had the adventurous and historical types of the novel (which are often the same thing, thanks to the mixture of the types themselves). Adding a fantastic ingredient to the autoclave in the form of a couple of alien monsters, a spaceship, and the latest survival gear in hostile atmospheres (from a space suit to an upgraded Smith & Wesson) has led to the emergence of a new genre that is viable enough, judging by the shelves of bookstores.

The genre has long had its own classics, its own subgenres and subspecies. Not without reason, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Edmond Hamilton and Edward Elmar "Doc" Smith are considered experts and even founding fathers of the space opera. Moreover, the first two set to work on such a scale that E. Hamilton even reached the point of conscious self-parody, ridiculing in the story "The Incredible World" the stamps of the genre, the formation of stamps of which he himself devoted a lot of time and effort.

It was they, the founding fathers, who realized that on planet Earth, the writers of adventurous books have nothing and no one to catch. A real hero without fear and reproach, but with a big noble heart, really has nowhere to turn around. That is why the authors sent him for happiness, eternal life, big money, the love of beauties, in a word, for dizzying adventures in outer space.

For starters - within the solar system. The moon, Venus and Mars simply demanded that the fantasy of writers place various peoples in the vast expanses of the planets visible in telescopes. These peoples either languished under the yoke of usurpers, tyrants and tyrants, or implemented cruel plans of aggression on the defenseless Earth, where they wanted, again, to usurp power and tyrannize the earthly population. In the future, the same fantasy of the authors transferred the action of multi-volume tomes to other suns and planets. The genre blossomed and sang in cycles - about the Martians, about the Lensmen, about the star kings and Captain Future, finally.

Old hero of the new time

Already the first novels published in the best traditions of detective stories in parts (several volumes) aroused considerable interest of the reading public. The heroes of these works have changed externally (compared to adventurous prototypes), without undergoing significant internal changes. These were again the long-loved, but slightly annoyed noble robbers of chivalric novels and westerns. From medieval cities, from ocean expanses and prairies, they escaped into space. And they found a second wind in the vacuum of space and the atmosphere of other planets, which is not always healthy for humans.

However, the scientific subtleties of the writers were of little interest. The entourage was important, the exotic environment, external trinkets and tricky names that had not been used before. New materials with sophisticated, but almost earthly ("ultraliddit", "kelimit") names, new weapons (modifications of the "Destroyer") and even a new type of hero were taken into service. Space suits and starships are made from materials, entire armies and star systems can be destroyed with weapons, and the character himself is no longer an adventurer or a gentleman of fortune. Now he is a retired regular army officer, or a journalist, or, more rarely, a young scientist. Regardless of profession, the hero is handsome with severe male beauty, muscular, pays attention to sports, preferring boxing, shooting and fencing to chess. It is not clear when the character has time, in addition to training, to read smart books, do science (for general development), hang around bars, and, in fact, work - in a newspaper, laboratory or military unit.

And the reader does not have to understand this! He must admire the number of talents of the hero and feel himself somewhere in something akin to him. It’s not difficult to imagine yourself in the shoes of a character, because the author is not writing about another overseas prince, but about a simple guy from Fifth Avenue, who had the dubious luck of fighting for the honor of an alien princess or deciding the fate of useless star empires.

Drone flying

The fictional worlds of space opera have a unique feature in common. High technologies coexist with a completely archaic social structure of the described society. It turns out a sort of space Camelot, in which the knights go in search of the Grail not in the saddle of a faithful horse, but in a comfortable chair as a pilot of an interstellar cruiser. Imagine a western hero aboard a pirate galleon, with a lightsaber at his side and a quantum physics textbook under his arm. However, the textbook is not mandatory, but it is strictly necessary that the galleon could fly between the stars at superluminal speeds, and its passengers would always remain alive. Here, in fact, is the most common and, I would say, canonical (and slightly conan ical) idea of ​​the space opera genre. It is suitable both for the works of foreign pioneers of the genre, and for the classics of Soviet literature - "Aelita" by Alexei Tolstoy.

There is another interesting genre feature. A character in E. R. Burroughs' landmark novel, A Princess of Mars, ends up on the Red Planet in a rather unintelligible way. Either he died at all and resurrected in a new place, or he fell into a trance and was transported in space, as one well-known Yankee from Connecticut was already transported (albeit in time) straight to the court of King Arthur. The hero of E. Hamilton's novel Star Kings, which is no less important for the space opera genre, is transported to the world of the distant future and galactic empires as a result of an almost scientific experiment, which also smacks of mysticism and authorial arbitrariness. And only the supermen of A. Tolstoy flew to the Red Planet on a completely material spaceship, using the latest developments of a scientific genius, a still little-known engineer with an elk surname. Is it possible that the materialistic worldview is having an effect, without which it is impossible to imagine a Soviet book? only if? The heroes of their American colleagues selflessly give themselves up to adventures, for them only the surroundings have changed.

The protagonist of "Star Kings" is generally happy (albeit scared at first) to be a prince - of course, after working as an insurance agent on Mother Earth! This is the dream of a small person, beautifully expressed in the famous painting by Boris Vallejo. On it, a narrow-shouldered balding gentleman in glasses, sitting in an easy chair, under which a small-caliber fluffy domestic dog curled up, reading something from a sheet of paper, imagines himself an athlete with a powerful muscular naked torso, a large ax in large muscular hands, standing firmly on strong muscular legs, in which a large shaggy beast of a canine breed ominously froze.

But the character of Burroughs continues the same military service (he was a soldier on Earth), only on another planet, and, by the will of circumstances, having risen in rank greatly. There are no more changes in the character, worldview and moral character of the heroes, but we are shown career growth and a change of duty station. This means that the characters practically do not change, once in fantastic circumstances. The same is with the Red Army soldier Gusev: he starts a uniform revolution on Mars. He would start it anywhere, even with bees in a hive, even with ants in an anthill.

From a comparison of these, at first glance, different works, it turns out that accessories are important in them first of all - that is, a combination of fantastic weapons and the old canon from Alexandre Dumas, Rafael Sabatini and Karl May. There is no qualitative, significant change in the life of the characters either. But quantitative transformations should be breathtaking. If an empire is not a country, but a whole planet, or a system of planets, or even the Galaxy. The speeds of spaceships and the distances they fly are in line with the scope of the Empire. Weapons, if not always - of mass destruction, then necessarily - of terrible lethal force.

By the way, Tolstoy's novel, despite its fascination and space-opera surroundings, is much closer to science fiction and its emerging variety - space science fiction. Let the author pay little attention to the intricacies of organizing a flight to Mars, but he does it in a colorful and scientific way. Sparing references to scientific data are designed to make the picture real, alive, to create the illusion of the importance not of adventures as such, but of the importance of a unique scientific experiment.

But for colleagues from overseas, of course, adventure is more important. Hence the optional scientific substantiation of movements in the cosmic ether, the principle of operation of devices and weapons. The author needs the incomprehensible emitters installed on the bow of the star cruiser to annihilate space, so that the Martians use the cold energy of plants, so that two races that bear little resemblance to each other live on Mars ... If you need it, then you need it. But minor differences in the subtext of the works are only an exception to the rule. We see common features in both foreign and Soviet science fiction of the 1920s and 1930s. It is in them that the signs of the genre are manifested.

The fairy-tale element was previously important in describing the adventures of star knights. Kings and queens with princesses appeared in the space opera not so much from an adventure-historical novel as from fairy tales. And the bug-eyed monsters, intending either to eat the princesses, or to enter into unnatural (from the point of view of the princesses) relations with them, are relatives of the Black Sorcerers, Koshchei the Immortals and, of course, the Dragons. A knight in a shining suit does not differ significantly from the same grailman in shining armor.

And then the cinematography offered its own version of the cosmic fairy tale, and besides, it was very successful. In Star Wars, the mythological background is so undisguised that you don’t have to worry about the collective unconscious of the audience: everyone will get what he expects. The space opera, as a modern fairy tale, unfolding not in the scenery of the past (a different term was invented for this - fantasy), but in the scenery of the future, reflected changes in the spiritual life of society. If Australia and Great Britain are already talking about the possibility of registering a new religion - the "Jedi Order", then such a popularity of the old plot in new clothes speaks of great potential.

Here we again encounter the difficulties of classification. As Kirill Yeskov rightly noted, "the author absolutely does not understand why the space adventures of the Commander-flint-man, the Intern-stupid and the Xenosociolog-beauty-judoist, spreading killer cyborgs from blasters, in order to prevent the Totalitarian Empire of the Iron Star from launching the Big Collapsor Spaces, there is "NF", while the quest of the Knight-flint-man, the Prince-beggar and the Witch-white-and-fluffy, chopping the slanted goblins of the Black-brown Lord into goulash, should be attributed to a fundamentally different genre, fantasy.

Modern space opera is practically alien to racism and xenophobia. Of course, in it, as in fantasy, as in any fairy tale, there is a place for creatures that are evil by definition, who see the purpose of their life in spoiling the lives of others. But most often we are talking about the struggle between Good and Evil within a people or an individual, in choosing their Path. We will not find a similar influence of Far Eastern philosophy among the creators of space operas of the 1920s and 1940s. Now the emphasis has shifted. Adventures are not in the first place, even though without them there is nowhere, and not even technical means. In the first place - the individual with his suffering, which, of course, inevitably causes an adventure. The new superman, if he looks like a muscular bronze-skinned handsome man without a king in his head, then only at first. Very quickly, he will be hit on this head physically or mentally: with the butt of a heavy blaster, with the hilt of a lightsaber, or with a firm argument in a philosophical and everyday dispute, and the hero will have to undergo an initiation ceremony with all the necessary rituals ... That is, we have before us, though Superman, and the savior of the World, but... in the future, when he realizes his Path. The old heroes of the 20s did not differ in reflection, without hesitation they used the available arsenal and rushed headlong to save princesses from violence, and empires from destruction. The current superman, on the contrary, strives to destroy the empire, as an apparatus for suppressing individual freedom. So, to start a career...

Wait for us stars!

Now let's move to our native land and take a look at the domestic representatives of the genre. Let us first mention the novel "Faetes" by A. Kazantsev. Although the book was written by the department of space science fiction, there is too much in it from "Aelita" and pseudo-scientific adventure novels of the 20-30s of the twentieth century. Favorite red planet, beautiful Martians, cruel villains, high-profile scientific hypotheses and a spy-adventurous plot, with the invariable "ours won!" in the end, they give the right to interpret the adventures of earthlings and faetians as a terry space opera. Which is a compliment to the novel.

The character, who later received the title of Lord, and on his native Earth was distinguished by intelligence, quick wits, strong muscles and, in general, good physical fitness. But once in a position similar to that in which the mentioned heroes of E. Hamilton or E. R. Burroughs found themselves, he behaves differently and looks much more mug. In this connection, he is forced to improvise, develop, along the way using his barbarism for the benefit of himself and the cause of Good (as he was told). This superman is romantic, ironic (including self-ironic, which was unthinkable for his previous incarnations!), is able to hesitate when making decisions, experiences self-doubt and is quite scrupulous in choosing the means to achieve the goal. However, in a critical situation, he is no different from Burroughs' Eric John Stark and, for example, Howard's Conan (the barbarian!) is no different. Those who dare to stand in his way become corpses. If a little from another opera, not space - "You could see where he was going" ...

For all that, the hero often sneers at his position, over the fact that he got into a space opera! The pathos demanded by the genre is constantly reduced by the author's comments and non-standard, turned upside down options for resolving canonical genre problems.

It is not only the personality of the protagonist, his mental anguish and enriched inner world that becomes important, but also the idea (sometimes not even one), which was ordered to stay on the pages of purely entertaining literature for a long time. There can be many ideas (albeit in a rudimentary form): tolerance, applied humanism, responsibility...

Roman Zlotnikov did not avoid such a deepening in his trilogy, opened by the novel "Swords over the Stars", written not only according to the canons, but almost according to the template of a traditional space opera; however, in his version there are more borrowings from the novels of R. Sabatini. At least at first, and then in all its glory, a multi-figured canvas in the spirit of the "Star Kings" will unfold, but not in an example larger and more colorful. Literary universes have expanded considerably by the beginning of the 21st century compared to the first half of the 20th century.

About eternal wanderings and about the Earth

According to V. Revich, the space opera genre is not able to please us with anything new. However, as happens with many significant cultural phenomena, this offspring of fantastic literature is not going to disappear into the past. He has something to remember and something to learn from others. This article does not say a word about the work of Francis Karsak, Robert Asprin, Lois McMaster Bujold, Stephen Donaldson, Orson Scott Card, Barry Longyear, Mike Resnick, Jack Vance (who did not hesitate to call one of the novels "Space Opera"), Frank Herbert , Olga Larionova, Genrikh Altov, Ivan Efremov. Without owning the fourth dimension, it is impossible to embrace the immensity. Among the Russian authors who turned their gaze from the pseudo-medieval and dense forests to the starry distances, I will also single out Sergei Sinyakin, Vladimir Vasiliev, Alexei Baron, Alexander Gromov.

Considering that each author is able to write not one, not two, but so many books about the same character or world, it is reasonable to assume two things. Firstly, no matter how hard you try, you can’t tell about everyone in one article. Secondly, the abundance of authors plowing the field of space opera and cultivating adjacent vegetable gardens indicates a new birth of the old genre. And the appearance of frankly humorous works of a parodic-philosophical and simply hooligan character (Boris Stern's stories about Bel Amor, which have already become classics and, for example, G.L. since parodies have appeared ...

I will not dwell on book novelties that have appeared recently, and quite legitimately meet the space opera requirements defined in this article. The reader can easily find novelties in paper-print (see, by the way, their announcements in our magazine) or electronic version. As you can see, history has made another round and reckless (at first glance) heroes are back in fashion. Why? Perhaps we will agree with B. N. Strugatsky, whose words are included in the epigraph? Or with S. Lukyanenko, who states: "All areas of science fiction - and space opera, and cyberpunk, and galactic detective - are only forms. And the question is not what shape the vessel is, but what you put in it - water, wine or vinegar? Did you write better? Or has the reader become less discerning? Questions that, in my humble opinion, are worth thinking about.

One gentleman, who is part of fantastic circles, approximately answered the question of whether he believes in flying saucers: "In the twelfth century they saw the City of Heaven and radiant angels, in the twentieth - alien spaceships and aliens" ...

The tradition of space opera, although it was formed in the Wild West, but in our era, in the era of the origin of the genre, works that fit into it appeared. Having appeared in the period of the 20-30s of the XX century, they did not go down in history due to the active intervention of censorship and other pressure of ideological values. Who now remembers and knows the names of the authors and the titles of Russian space operas of that time, except for specialists? In addition to Alexei Tolstoy with "Aelita" and there is no one to name, but there were science fiction writers, there were their books.

I think that not only the current twenty-year-olds, but also their fathers and mothers, the names of Bogdanov, Goncharov, Mukhanov hardly say anything - all these are Tolstoy's contemporaries. Alexander Bogdanov's novel The Red Star (written in 1908) is closer to the genre of utopia, but try to prove to me that there is no place for utopia in a space opera. The novels of Viktor Goncharov ("Interplanetary Traveler") and Nikolai Mukhanov ("Burning Abyss"), imbued with a revolutionary spirit, of course, cannot be attributed to masterpieces of literature, but it is useful for real science fiction fans to know the history of the Soviet space opera. If the works of Bogdanov can still be found in relatively recent publications (although you will have to run around the libraries), and his works are studied in humanitarian universities, then it is difficult to get acquainted with the creative heritage of Goncharov and Mukhanov. Even with the help of the Internet. And in the terrible 1940s, when the epic about John Gordon came out of print, Soviet Russia was, to put it mildly, not up to the fantasy of starry expanses ...

A painting by Chesley Bonestell - the author's childhood love.

Military pilots knew the subject better. Any of us would hide a wooden leg or a glass eye, reasoning according to the principle: “And you prove it!” I had a one in seven chance of being selected as an astronaut. I didn't want anything in my examinations to be questionable. I wanted to be so normal that when someone looks up this word in a dictionary, he would find my portrait there. That's why I lied. I didn't say anything about how we peeed into the radiator, how we blew car motor or how they raced around the mountain peaks in the Cessna 150.

My mouth was so dry that saliva wouldn't have been enough for even one postage stamp, but I still managed to croak in response: "Yes, sir, I'm definitely interested in working at the Johnson Center." Interested?! What the hell am I carrying? I might have been interested in Hugh Hefner's work, but to become an astronaut, I was ready to kill.

Perhaps one of the best books about astronautics in general and definitely the best is about the Shuttle program (many thanks to everyone who recommended it in the original). And also - the history of people, society and the country, from the release of the first books by Willy Ley about space through World War II, Sputnik, Vietnam, the Moon to the flight of "Columbia" (the last one). Successive casts of different eras. And you know - sometimes even creepy to read. And you understand how good it is when you are not a Catholic girl in the USA in the early 60s. How much different could be military pilots with the experience of the above and leftists / feminists, fresh from the university. Moreover, both of them are candidates for space. What was the approach to technology when it was easier to put a live crew into the first shuttle than to try it out for an extra year.
As you might guess, the author flew on shuttles. His descriptions are, hmm, specific. Jokes then soaked as ingenious as obscene. Mullane also loves nature (from her mother) and flying. Therefore, not only frankly, but also very touching.
Are you looking for anti-Sovietism in the "Time of the First"? Yes, then Mullane should be shot for any ten pages in general, as an anti-Americanist! And he's not exaggerating. This is how the project was born - figs for what you need. Without crew rescue systems. At all without. It's just one thing to see the Challenger flying as a child, and another thing to fly and be friends with its crew. And to know, technically, that he personally was seconds away from the same funeral. And not just once. It just turned out differently. And the lottery of preparation and flight itself ... An encyclopedic-level book (at the same time, it is verified when translating with documents).

The clouds high above the terminator glowed orange and pink under the sun's last rays. The Discovery was entering this world of shadows, and I turned to the rear windows to watch the sun sink below the horizon. Its light, until now as transparent as the soul of a child, was now split by the atmosphere. A powerful color spectrum, a hundred times brighter than any earthly rainbow, formed an arc separating the blackness of earthly night from the eternal blackness of space. Where it touched the ground, the arc of color was red like royal velvet, becoming dimmer higher, passing through many shades of orange, blue and purple, and finally fading into black. As Discovery hurried away from her, the arc slowly contracted along the planet's limb toward the point of approach, diminishing in length, density, and intensity, as if liquid colors were dissolving into the sky. But now only a thin, like an eyelash, arc of indigo color remained. Then it faded, and the Discovery was completely immersed in the slumber of orbital night.

Judith Resnick, one of the heroines of the book.

P.S. Guess what show he remembers first? :)

The years were kind to the 38th. Its sleek, pointed nose and exquisitely thin, card-table-sized wings have become the hallmark of speed for all time. And in 100 years, people who will look at the T-38 in the museum will say: “What a beautiful car!” It was a real rocket, as if specially built for astronauts. The 38s, which belonged to NASA, were painted bright white and had a blue stripe running along the body like a racing car. The agency's emblem—the word NASA in special red letters—was emblazoned on the tail. This plane and this color scheme made me want to draw attention at any airport.

The 38th performed two functions: transport - for flights to various meetings and training - to maintain flight form. NASA simulators were remarkably good for preparing astronauts for the shuttle flight, but they had one critical flaw: they did not inspire fear. No matter how wrong you are, the simulator will not kill you, but an aircraft with high performance characteristics will easily do it. Flying the T-38 allowed pilots to maintain the sharpness of perception and responsiveness to get out of deadly situations, of which there were plenty in space flight.

Before we were cleared to fly the T-38, we had to go through water survival training at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. We were lifted on a paraglider to a height of 100–200 meters, after which we were unhooked from the boat and allowed to descend into the water, simulating a landing after an ejection. In the water, we had to unhook the parachute, climb onto a one-man life raft and signal to the helicopter, and then put on a special “harness” to get on board. We were towed behind a speedboat to simulate landing in a gale. We were thrown into the water, covered with a parachute canopy and taught how to get out from under it before the nylon began to sink and drag us to the bottom. For military pilots, such training was a repetition of the past - we all did this several times during the service. But for civilians, everything was for the first time. I followed them closely, expecting that someone would object to particularly dangerous exercises or that they would need to be explained many times what to do. In particular, I looked to see if women would show fear and ask for help at their moments of greatest pain. physical activity. But no, they worked no worse than me and other veterans. I began to rethink the feeling of being superior to postdocs and women. It took a few more years for respect for them to finally take shape, but naval training marked the beginning of this process.

The biggest surprise for us when we got acquainted with the operation of the T-38 were the rules. There were none, or at least very few. In the military, each phase of flight, from engine on to shutdown, was usually part of an approved training program, and the process was closely monitored by higher-ranking officers. On the tables in the duty shift room there were always manuals and instructions for flying the aircraft. NASA officials, however, were naïvely convinced that astronauts were already professionals that Big Brother should not look after, and that they did not need thick manuals for the safe operation of aircraft. Well, of course ... a teenager who was given the keys to a high-speed Ferrari is about the same as not needing the rules.

We were those same teenagers, and the skies over the Gulf of Mexico were our back roads. As we exited the Houston airside under radar control, we made our famous request to air traffic control: "Houston Center, I'm NASA 904. Please cancel the instrument flight rules." Translated into ordinary language, this meant: “Houston, I'm going to play. Don't bother me, I'll let you know when I'm done."

Many times it happened that my TFNG pilot said: “Mike, come on!” - and I took control of the T-38 in my own hands. (Because the 38 was designed as a trainer, it had a full set of controls in the rear seat.) If there was a thunderstorm in the flying area, I would fly the plane to where the clouds swirled in a fancy flower, and glided between them like a skier passes gate on the slalom slope. Wisps of cloud swept past mere inches from the cockpit, adding to the sense of speed. If there is an orgasm without sex, then this was it - speed and unlimited freedom in the sky.