Ivan Ivanovich, National Air and Space Museum, 2013

Ivan Ivanovich (Иван Иванович, the Russian equivalent of "

John Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are ofte ...

") was the name given to a

mannequin A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles ...

used in

testing An examination (exam or evaluation) or test is an educational assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs). A test may be administered verba ...

the Soviet

Vostok spacecraft Vostok (russian: Восток, translated as "East") was a class of single-pilot crewed spacecraft built by the Soviet Union. The first human spaceflight was accomplished with Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The ...

in preparation for its crewed missions. Ivan Ivanovich was made to look as lifelike as possible, with eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes, and a mouth. He was dressed in a

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

suit A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of ...

and strongly resembled a dead person; for this reason, a

sign A sign is an Physical object, object, quality (philosophy), quality, event, or Non-physical entity, entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to ...

reading "МАКЕТ" (Russian for " dummy") was placed under his visor so that anyone who found him after his missions would not think he was a corpse or an

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

First spaceflight

Ivan first flew into

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually con ...

Korabl-Sputnik 4 Korabl-Sputnik 4 (russian: Корабль-Спутник 4 meaning ''Ship-Satellite 4'') or Vostok-3KA No.1, also known as Sputnik 9 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft which was launched on 9 March 1961. Carrying the mannequin Ivan Ivanovich, ...

on 9 March 1961, accompanied by a dog named

Chernushka Chernushka (russian: Чернушка) is the name of several types of inhabited localities in Russia, inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Chernushka, Chernushinsky District, Perm Krai, a town in Chernushinsky District of Perm Krai ...

, various reptiles, and 80 mice and guinea pigs, some of which were placed inside his body. To test the spacecraft's

communication systems A communications system or communication system is a collection of individual telecommunications networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations, and terminal equipment usually capable of interconnection and interopera ...

, an automatic recording of a choir was placed in Ivan'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 Capsule may refer to: Anatomy * Articular capsule (joint capsule), an envelope surrounding a synovial joint * Bowman's capsule (glomerular capsule), a sac surrounding a glomerulus in a mammalian kidney * Glisson's capsule, a fibrous layer covering ...

and parachuted to the ground. His second space flight,

Korabl-Sputnik 5 Korabl-Sputnik 5 (russian: Корабль-Спутник 5 meaning ''Ship-Satellite 5'') or Vostok-3KA No.2, also known as Sputnik 10 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft which was launched in 1961, as part of the Vostok programme. It was the last ...

, on 26 March 1961, was similar - he was again accompanied by a dog, Zvyozdochka, 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 Vostok 1 (russian: link=no, Восток, ''East'' or ''Orient'' 1) was the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first human orbital spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Ap ...

, the first crewed flight into space on 12 April 1961.

Other uses

In 1993, Ivan was auctioned at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

, with the winning bid coming from a foundation belonging to US businessman

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot (; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an inde ...

. He fetched $189,500. Since 1997, he has been on loan to the National Air and Space Museum, where he was on display, still in his spacesuit, until 2017 when he was moved back into the private collection of Ross Perot. In 2006, the name Ivan Ivanovich was used as a nickname for

SuitSat-1 SuitSat (also known as SuitSat-1, Mr. Smith, Ivan Ivanovich, RadioSkaf, Radio Sputnik, and AMSAT-OSCAR 54) was a retired Russian Orlan space suit with a radio transmitter mounted on its helmet, used as a hand-launched satellite. First devised ...

, a

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

made from a disused spacesuit, ejected from the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

References

External links

Ivan Ivanovich's entry in ''Encyclopedia Astronautica''
{{Use British English, date=January 2014 Vostok program Dummies and mannequins