The First Map of the Moon

I joined Boguslavskiy by the device that recorded directly onto electrochemical paper. A report was coming in from the receiving center: “Range—50,000. Signal stable. We have reception!”

They gave the command to reproduce the image. Again it was up to the FTU. On the paper, line by line a gray image was emerging. It was a circle on which you could distinguish details if you had a sufficiently active imagination. Korolev couldn’t stand it and burst in on us in the cramped room.

“Well, what have you got there?

“We have determined that the Moon is round,” I replied.

Boguslavskiy pulled the paper with the recorded image out of the machine, showed it to Korolev, and calmly tore it up. S.P. didn’t even lose his temper.

“Why so soon, Yevgeniy Yakovlevich? After all, this is the first, you see, the first!”

“It’s bad. All sorts of junk. We’ll clean up the interference and the next frames will come out right.”

Gradually, one after the other the frames appeared more and more distinctly. We cheered and congratulated one another. Boguslavskiy assured us that everything would be much better on the film we would develop in Moscow. Already quite late, after parting with our fellow participants in the “campaign” on Mount Koshka, we departed once again for “our health resort.” This time Korolev allowed Ostashev to ride with us. I shared a luxurious suite with him. At supper the ban was lifted on the consumption of wines from the government wine cellars.