Ivan Ivanovich

:::"For the Ivan III of Russia crown heir see Ivan the Young"

Ivan Ivanovich, the Russian equivalent for 'John Doe,' was the name given to a mannequin used in testing the Russian Vostok spacecraft in preparation for its manned missions.

Ivan Ivanovich was made to look as lifelike as possible, with eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes and a mouth. He was dressed in a cosmonaut suit, with a sign reading "MAKET" (Russian for ‘‘dummy)’’ placed under his visor, so that anyone who found him after his missions would not think he was a dead cosmonaut or an alien.

He first flew into space on Sputnik 9 on March 9 1961, accompanied by a dog named Chernushka, various reptiles, and eighty mice and guinea pigs, some of which were stuffed inside his body. To test the spacecraft's communication systems, an automatic recording of a choir was placed in Ivanovich's body - this way, any radio stations who heard the recording would understand it was not a real person. Ivan was also used to test the landing system upon return to Earth, when he was successfully ejected from the capsule and parachuted to the ground.

His second space flight, Sputnik 10, on March 26 1961, was similar - he was again accompanied by a dog, Zvezdochka, and other animals, he had a recording of a choir (and also a recipe for cabbage soup to confuse any listeners) inside him, and he safely returned to Earth. These flights paved the way for Vostok 1, the first manned flight into space on April 12, 1961.Fact|date=February 2007

In 2006, the name Ivan Ivanovich was used as a nickname for SuitSat-1, a satellite made from a disused spacesuit, ejected from the International Space Station.

External links

* [http://www.astronautix.com/astros/ivaovich.htm Ivan Ivanovich's entry in "Encyclopedia Astronautica"]
* [http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal114/spacerace/sec300/sec312.htm Information about Ivan]