Parachute - from the French parachute (from the Greek para - "against" and the French chute - "to fall") - a device for braking an object due to the resistance of the atmosphere. They are used for safe descent from a height of people, cargo, spacecraft, to reduce the mileage during landing, etc.
It is believed that for the first time the idea of creating a parachute came to the Italian Leonardo Da Vinci. In his 1495 manuscript, you can find the following text "If a person has a tent made of starched linen, each side of which is twelve cubits wide and the same in height, he can throw himself from any height without exposing himself to any danger." The manuscript also contained a sketch of a man tied to a sail and falling from a tower. grabbed by ropes around the four corners and has a bulge upward. This is the first mention of safe descent from a height.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, another Italian scientist Faust Verancino described an apparatus for lowering 
man, similar to the invention of Leonardo Da Vinci and pointed out that the size of the sail depends on the severity of the person. For the first time, the Frenchman Laven used a similar design in the twenties of the seventeenth century. Being imprisoned in a fortress, he decided to flee. Sewing a tent from the sheets, he attached plates of whalebone and rope to its bottom. Holding on to the ropes brought together, he jumped from the wall of the fortress into the river flowing below and safely splashed down.
In 1777, another Frenchman, Jean Dumier, was sentenced to death and had to test the flying cloak of Professor Fontange. If successful, he was promised to be given life. He also performed a roof jump 
prison tower and survived.
The practical use of parachutes began with the development of flights to. The first parachute was invented and practiced by Louis Sebastien Lenormand. In 1783 he made a successful attempt - to jump out of the first floor window, holding two umbrellas of 30 inches each. diameter, in which the ends of the ribs were pulled by ropes to the handle. Then, together with Abbot Bertolon, he performed a number of similar experiments on various animals.
According to Lenormand's calculations, an umbrella 14 feet in diameter would be sufficient for a person to descend safely if he and the umbrella did not weigh more than 200 pounds. In December 1783 Lenormand threw himself on a similar parachute from the observatory tower. He called his invention "parachute" fr. - "parachute". Although its design did not find practical application due to the inconvenience of attaching it to the basket of the balloon, it approved this name for similar devices.
The disadvantage of parachutes of those times was the constant rocking of the canopy during descent. The British managed to solve this problem. ... Cocking in 1836 made a device in the form of a cone turned downward and expanded with a light 
frame; he believed that with such a device, the weight suspended from the tip would force the device to fall down, and a rarefied space would form in the cavities of the cone, which would cause a significant pressure difference on the lower and upper surfaces of his parachute, which would slow down its fall. The result of the experiment was the death of the inventor, due to a too rapid fall.
Another scientist - Lalande proposed to make a hole for the air out from under the dome. This principle is applied in many parachute systems today.
In the twentieth century, aviation began to develop rapidly. It took parachutes to save the pilots. The old parachutes were bulky and could not be used in aviation. A special parachute for pilots was created by the Russian inventor Gleb Evgenievich Kotelnikov. In 1911 he registered his invention - a free-acting knapsack parachute. The parachute had a round shape, fit into a metal knapsack located on the pilot with the help of a harness. At the bottom of the knapsack under the dome were located, which threw the dome into the air stream, after the jumper pulled out the exhaust ring. Subsequently, the hard knapsack was replaced with a soft one, and honeycombs appeared at the bottom for laying lines in them. This design 
the rescue parachute is still in use.
In 1919, Leslie Irwin developed a parachute that would fit in a backpack. His idea was also implemented by G.E. Kotelnikov, who developed 2 more models of the apparatus with different bases.
After the revolution, Kotelnikov continued to work on parachutes for Soviet aviation. For the first time in the USSR, test pilot M.M. Gromov. This happened on June 23, 1927 at the Khodynsky airfield. He deliberately put the car into a spin, could not get out of the spin, and left the plane at an altitude of 600 m. It is known that an American company parachute was used, made of pure silk. Then all the pilots who escaped with the help of parachutes of this company were awarded a distinctive sign - a small golden figurine of a silkworm.
In the same year, parachutes saved the lives of two more test pilots V. Pisarenko and B. Buchgolts. Soon, a special service appeared in aviation to ensure the rescue of pilots in flight. L.G. Minov became its organizer. In 1929 he traveled to America to familiarize himself with the work of the parachute rescue service. He is there 
performed several parachute jumps. When he returned, he supervised the first training jumps in the aviation of the Soviet Union.
The increase in aircraft speed made flying more dangerous. Therefore, ejection systems with parachutes gradually began to appear. They were first tested in 1947 by G. Kondratov.
Several design bureaus were also created that designed parachutes. In a short time, several new parachute systems were created, which made it possible to begin training pilots in parachute jumping techniques. And on July 26, 1930, a group of military pilots under the leadership of Minov performed the first jumps from a multi-seat aircraft. This day is considered the beginning of the massive development of skydiving.
In 1936, the Doronin brothers invented the world's first device for automatically opening a parachute. This device has made 
a real revolution in parachuting. With these devices, parachutists could jump from any height in the most difficult weather conditions.
Currently, electronic devices are used to facilitate the tasks of parachutists and insure their lives. Parachutes have become widespread. There are several types of parachutes: stabilizing, braking, cargo, rescue, military, sports, etc.
Round and oval domes have gradually replaced the new generation of domes from sports. These are wing-type domes, which first appeared in the 70s, they have a good 
agility and stability. Modern parachutes develop a horizontal speed of up to 20-27 m / s with a weight of only a few kg and an area of up to 16 square meters. These canopies do not have stabilizing parachutes and are designed for more experienced athletes.
Today, the importance of parachutes is difficult to overestimate. They are used to ensure the safety of pilots, passengers, and for the organization of entertainment events, and for independent jumps. Parachutes have become much more reliable and durable. Interruptions in their functioning are practically impossible.
History has preserved various legends about daredevils who tried to land with the help of ingenious devices - to jump, for example, from the bell tower. One such legend, known from Chinese texts, speaks of a man who jumped from the attic of a house engulfed in flames. The Chinese parachutist secured two large hats, woven from reeds, above him, and leaped down. The landing was successful.
The first steps
We find the first information about the parachute as such in Renaissance Italy. A drawing of such a conical device is preserved in one of the manuscripts of the seventies of the fifteenth century. The great Leonardo Da Vinci, who invented a bunch of different devices and mechanisms, did not ignore the parachute:
"If a person takes a canopy of linen, each side of which is twelve cubits wide and twelve cubits long, then he can safely throw himself from any height."
However, like many of his other genius insights, the idea of a parachute remained on paper. Several decades passed and another remarkable foreigner, Fausto Veranzo, having seen enough of Leonardo's drawings, published in 1595 a treatise entitled "New Machines". This treatise also included a drawing of Homo Volance - a flying man. The figure in the figure was descending from the tower, while he was suspended from a square dome. In 1617, Veranzo himself became a flying man. He made his dream come true by parachuting from the bell tower of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice.
Flying repeat offender
In 1777, the Parisian professor Fontange invented another version of the parachute - the flying raincoat, which, according to him, guaranteed a safe descent from any height. Since there were no volunteers to test such an apparatus on themselves, Fontange turned to the judicial authorities with a request to provide him with the cloak of a criminal sentenced to death for testing. The test subject was the recidivist Jacques Dumier, who was awaiting his fate in the Bastille. Having learned what Fontange expects from him, the criminal agreed. In the presence of the guards of the law and the inventor himself, he ascended like a scaffold, to the Parisian armory tower. The flight went well, only when Dumier landed, he slightly injured his knee, after which the death penalty was replaced by life imprisonment.
But Joseph Montgolfier experienced a parachute on himself. In the same year as Fontange, he designed a kind of jumping apparatus. Montgolfier jumped from the roof of a high barn and survived. Montgolfier never repeated his feat, concentrating on the creation of an aircraft. In 1783, he, together with his brother, managed to ascend in a hot air balloon into the sky for the first time. In their honor, such devices, filled with warm air, were called hot air balloons.
Soon the French physicist Louis Sébastien Lenormand improved the apparatus of Fausto Veranzo, known for more than a century. Lenormand's parachute was an umbrella-shaped canopy with slings, somewhat reminiscent of modern training parachutes, with which one jump from a tower. In addition, Lenormand invented the term "parachute" itself, combining in one word the Greek "pair" - against and the French "shute" - fall. So everything is very simple - a parachute is an anti-fall, or, in Russian, an anti-fall. The first parachute jump from a balloon in the history of mankind was made by André Jacques Garnerin. On October 22, 1797, gaining a height of about a kilometer above Paris, he cut the lines connecting his painting with the ball, causing horror among the people below. A silk frameless parachute was tied to the Basket. During the fall, the basket swayed, and creaked from the impact upon landing. At the same time, the parachutist himself remained alive and well. The example of the daredevil was followed by his wife, Jeanne Genevieve, who became the world's first woman parachutist.
But on the way of a person upward, it was not without lethal outcomes. In 1837, the English enthusiast aeronaut Robert Cocking died while testing his parachute model.
Air Shows
Already in the 19th century, skydiving became a popular attraction. In different countries, many roaming aeronautic paratroopers appeared, who, in search of earnings, showed their risky jumps.
There were also enthusiastic parachutists in Russia. In 1806 the newspaper "Moskovskie vedomosti" reported that the Russian aeronaut Aleksandrovsky took off in a large balloon and made a parachute jump. The daredevil safely descended to the ground and was enthusiastically greeted by the public.
In 1885, the Frenchman Leroux arrived in Russia with the "king of the air" circus trick. An advertisement for an unusual show promised the public a jump from five hundred meters head over heels. Leroux's parachute looked like a large umbrella. It was a kind of semi-automatic parachute. It was attached to the side of the balloon on a special rope with a spring, and as soon as a person jumped, the spring unclenched, and the parastat was separated from the balloon.
At the end of the 19th century, a whole family of skydiving athletes became famous in Russia. Jozef and Stanislav Drevnitsky and their sister Olga. They designed a parachute similar to those used by Garnerin. They began to use their anti-fall devices on hot air balloons.
And the first animal-parachutist in history was a pig, which the world famous trainer Lev Durov parachuted from a great height. There is even a story about this, which is called the Piggy parachutist.
The first aviation parachute
Over time, balloons were replaced by new aircraft - airplanes. With the development of aviation, the number of casualties among pilots also increased. The need for a reliable rescue vehicle for pilots has given parachutes a new lease on life. In 1910, Lev Makarovich Matsievich, the legend of Russian aeronautics, died during demonstration flights in St. Petersburg. This tragic accident was the first plane crash in Russian history. Impressed by this tragedy, Russian Gleb Evgenievich Kotelnikov created the world's first aircraft parachute. It had a round shape and fit into a knapsack, which was attached to the pilot using a harness. At the bottom of the knapsack, under the dome, there were springs that ejected the dome after the bouncing one pulled out the pull ring. This design of the rescue parachute is still used today. In 1911, Kotelnikov registered his invention - a free-acting knapsack parachute. But the main engineering department of the Russian army did not accept Kotelnikov's parachute into production. The reasons for the refusal were as follows: at the slightest malfunction, the aviators would strive to leave the combat airplane.
Soon, as often happens with Russian discoveries, this invention received recognition abroad, and in Russia it was remembered only during the First World War.
How Leonardo da Vinci's insights were embodied in the immortal construction of the Russian actor-inventor Gleb Kotelnikov
When an invention is brought almost to perfection, when it is available to almost any person, it seems to us that this object has existed, if not always, then for a long time. And if, say, in relation to a radio or a car this is not so, then in relation to a parachute it is almost so. Although what is called this word today has a very specific date of birth and a very specific parent.
The world's first knapsack parachute with a silk dome - that is, the one used to this day - was invented by the Russian self-taught designer Gleb Kotelnikov. On November 9, 1911, the inventor received a "protection certificate" (confirmation of acceptance of the patent application) for his "aviator lifepack with an automatically ejected parachute." And on June 6, 1912, the first test of the parachute of its design took place.
Gleb Kotelnikov with a parachute of his own invention.
From the Renaissance to the First World War
"Parachute" is a tracing paper from the French parachute, and the word itself is derived from two roots: the Greek para, that is "against", and the French chute, that is, "to fall." The idea of such a device for rescuing jumpers from great heights is quite ancient: the first person to express the idea of such a device was the Renaissance genius - the famous Leonardo da Vinci. In his treatise "On the flying and movement of bodies in the air", which dates from 1495, there is the following passage: "If a person has a tent made of starched linen, each side of which has 12 cubits (about 6.5 m. - RP.) In width and the same height, he can throw himself from any height without putting himself in any danger. " It is curious that da Vinci, who never brought the idea of a "starched canvas tent" to fruition, accurately calculated its dimensions. For example, the diameter of the canopy of the most common training parachute D-1-5u is about 5 m, the famous D-6 parachute is 5.8 m!
Leonardo's ideas were appreciated and taken up by his followers. By the time the Frenchman Louis-Sebastian Lenormand coined the word "parachute" in 1783, there were already several jumps in the treasury of researchers of the possibility of a controlled descent from a great height: the Croat Faust Vrancic, who in 1617 put into practice the idea of da Vinci, and the French Lavena and Dumier. But the first real parachute jump can be considered a risky adventure by André-Jacques Garnerin. It was he who jumped not from the dome or the cornice of the building (that is, he was not engaged in base jumping, as it is called today), but from an aircraft. On October 22, 1797, Garnerin left the balloon basket at an altitude of 2230 feet (about 680 m) and landed safely.
The development of aeronautics also led to the improvement of the parachute. The rigid frame was replaced by a semi-rigid one (1785, Jacques Blanchard, a parachute between the basket and the balloon's dome), a pole hole appeared, which made it possible to avoid bumpiness during landing (Joseph Lalande) ... And then came the era of heavier-than-air flying machines - and they required completely different parachutes. The kind that no one else has done.
There would be no happiness ...
The creator of what is today called the "parachute", from childhood, was distinguished by a passion for design. But not only: no less than calculations and drawings, he was carried away by the light of the stage and the music. And it is not surprising that in 1897, after three years of compulsory service, a graduate of the legendary Kiev military school (which, in particular, General Anton Denikin graduated from) Gleb Kotelnikov resigned. And 13 years later, he left the civil service and completely switched to the service of Melpomene: he became an actor in the troupe of the People's House on the Petersburg side and performed under the pseudonym Glebov-Kotelnikov.
The future father of the knapsack parachute would have remained a little-known actor, if not for the talent of the designer and the tragic incident: on September 24, 1910, Kotelnikov, who was present at the All-Russian festival of aeronautics, witnessed the sudden death of one of the best pilots of that time - Captain Lev Matsievich. His "Farman IV" literally fell apart in the air - it was the first plane crash in the Russian Empire.
Flight of Lev Matsievich. Source: website
From that moment on, Kotelnikova did not abandon the idea of giving the pilots a chance for salvation in such cases. “The death of the young pilot shocked me so deeply that I decided at all costs to build a device that would protect the pilot’s life from mortal danger,” wrote Gleb Kotelnikov in his memoirs. "I turned my small room into a workshop and worked on the invention for over a year." According to eyewitnesses, Kotelnikov worked on his idea like a man possessed. The thought of a new type of parachute did not leave him anywhere: not at home, not in the theater, not on the street, not at rare parties.
The main problem was the weight and dimensions of the device. By that time, parachutes were already in existence and in use as a means of rescuing pilots, they were a kind of giant umbrellas attached to the back of the pilot's seat on the plane. In the event of a disaster, the pilot had to have time to gain a foothold on such a parachute and separate from the aircraft with it. However, the death of Matsievich proved that the pilot may simply not have these few moments on which his life literally depends.
“I realized that it was necessary to create a strong and light parachute,” Kotelnikov recalled later. - When folded, it should be quite small. The main thing is that it is always on the person. Then the pilot will be able to jump from the wing and from the side of any aircraft. " This is how the idea of a knapsack parachute was born, which today, in fact, we mean when we use the word "parachute".
From helmet to satchel
“I wanted to make my parachute so that it could always be on a flying person, without hindering, if possible, his movements,” Kotelnikov wrote in his memoirs. - I decided to make a parachute from durable and thin non-rubberized silk. This material made it possible for me to put it in a very small knapsack. I used a special spring to push the parachute out of the knapsack. "
But few people know that the first option for placing a parachute was ... a pilot's helmet! Kotelnikov began his experiments by hiding in the literal sense of the word a puppet - since he conducted all his early experiments with a puppet - a parachute in a cylindrical helmet. This is how the inventor's son Anatoly Kotelnikov, who was 11 years old in 1910, recalled these first experiments: “We lived in a dacha in Strelna. It was a very cold October day. The father went up to the roof of a two-story house and threw a doll out of there. The parachute worked perfectly. My father burst out joyfully only one word: "Here!" He found what he was looking for! "
However, the inventor quickly realized that when jumping with such a parachute at the moment when the canopy opens, the helmet will come off at best, and the head at worst. And in the end, he transferred the entire structure into a knapsack, which at first was supposed to be made of wood, and then - of aluminum. At the same time, Kotelnikov divided the lines into two groups, once and for all incorporating this element into the design of any parachutes. First, it made the dome easier to control. And secondly, in this way it was possible to attach the parachute to the harness at two points, which made the jump and deployment more comfortable and safe for the parachutist. This is how a harness appeared, which is used almost unchanged today, except that there were no leg loops in it.
As we already know, the official birthday of the knapsack parachute was November 9, 1911, when Kotelnikov received a protection certificate for his invention. But why he did not eventually manage to patent his invention in Russia is still a mystery. But two months later, in January 1912, Kotelnikov's invention was declared in France and in the spring of the same year received a French patent. On June 6, 1912, the parachute was tested in the Gatchina camp of the Aeronautical School near the village of Salizi: the invention was demonstrated to the highest ranks of the Russian army. Six months later, on January 5, 1913, Kotelnikov's parachute was presented to the foreign public: a student of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Vladimir Ossovsky, jumped with him in Rouen from a 60-meter-high bridge.
By this time, the inventor had already finalized his design and decided to give it a name. He named his parachute RK-1 - that is, "Russian, Kotelnikova, the first." So, in one abbreviation, Kotelnikov combined all the most important information: the name of the inventor, and the country to which he owed his invention, and his primacy. And he secured it to Russia forever.
"Parachutes in - generally a harmful thing ..."
As is often the case with domestic inventions, they cannot be appreciated for a long time at home. So, alas, it happened with the knapsack parachute. The first attempt to provide them with all Russian pilots came across a rather stupid refusal. “Parachutes in aviation are generally a harmful thing, since pilots, at the slightest danger threatening them from the enemy, will flee by parachutes, leaving planes to die. Cars are more expensive than people. We import cars from abroad, so they should be taken care of. And people will be found, not the same, so different! " - such a resolution was imposed on Kotelnikov's petition by the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich.
With the outbreak of the war, parachutes were remembered. Kotelnikov was even involved in the production of 70 knapsack parachutes for the crews of the Ilya Muromets bombers. But in the cramped conditions of those aircraft, the satchels interfered, and the pilots abandoned them. The same thing happened when the parachutes were handed over to the aeronauts: it was inconvenient for them to fiddle with their satchels in the cramped baskets of observers. Then the parachutes were taken out of their knapsacks and simply attached to the balloons - so that the observer, if necessary, simply jumped overboard, and the parachute would open itself. That is, everything returned to the ideas of a century ago!
Everything changed when, in 1924, Gleb Kotelnikov received a patent for a knapsack parachute with a canvas knapsack - RK-2, and then modified it and named RK-3. Comparative tests of this parachute and the same, but the French system showed the advantages of the domestic design.
In 1926, Kotelnikov transferred all the rights to his inventions to Soviet Russia and did not invent any more. But he wrote a book about his work on the parachute, which withstood three reprints, including in the difficult year of 1943. And the knapsack parachute created by Kotelnikov is still used all over the world, having withstood, figuratively speaking, more than a dozen "reprints". Is it by chance that today's parachutists certainly come to the grave of Kotelnikov at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow, tying retaining bands from their domes to the branches of trees around ...
Ancient records testify to the attempts of people to descend from towers, trees and rocks using various devices resembling an umbrella. Unfortunately, attempts of this kind ended in injury, and sometimes even death. But the dream to conquer the sky did not give rest to a person, or if not to fly, then at least not so quickly to fall ...
The first theorists
In the 13th century, Roger Bacon, an English philosopher and tester, wrote in his works about the possibility of relying on air when using a concave surface. But the very idea of creating a parachute came from Leonardo da Vinci, in his works - 1495, it is mentioned about the possibility of a safe descent from a height.
In the drawings, dating from 1843, the pyramidal structure of the future heavenly dome flaunts. Leonardo da Vinci wrote: "If a person has a tent made of starched linen 12 cubits wide and 12 cubits high, then he can throw himself from any height, without danger to himself." Thus, according to Leonardo's calculations, the parachute was supposed to have an area of 60 m² - a figure quite close to modern standards.
However, the Italian did not bring his idea to life: in those days, aristocrats and other life-seekers did not find pleasure in jumping into the abyss from the rocks with tents behind their backs, they preferred wars. And the blueprints for the parachute lay on the dusty shelves of Italian libraries. Another theorist who developed the idea of flying under tents and domes was an Italian with a very telling name Faust Verancino, who described in detail an apparatus similar to the invention of his famous countryman. In his work, he clarified that the volume of the canopy should be correlated with the weight of the jumper. However, for a long time, its development was not needed by anyone.
200 years later, the first people appeared who wanted to jump from a tower or a cliff and remain alive at the same time. It's just absolutely impossible to name exactly who invented the parachute, too many claim authorship. There are Italians, Czechs and Hungarians here. However, history prefers to call the Frenchman Louis Lenormand.
It is precisely known that the Frenchman Louis Sebastian Lenormand gave the parachute its name; he is also considered to be the official inventor of the parachute in the modern sense. The desperate inventor made his first leap on December 26, 1783. Lenormand made the jump from the tower of the observatory in the city of Montpellier, as evidenced by the engraving of that time. He gave the modern name to the invention, the etymology of which is extremely simple: “pair” means “against”, and “shute” means “fall”.
The first to try Leonardo's invention was the Frenchman Laven at the beginning of the 17th century. It was not the thirst for adrenaline that drove him, but the thirst for freedom - he was a prisoner of one of the impregnable French fortresses, and decided to escape. Sewing a parachute from sheets, adding a whalebone and ropes to the structure, the daredevil jumped down from the fortress wall into the river, and splashed down quite successfully and completed his escape.
The next time the jump with a prototype parachute is made by Jean Dumier, who was sentenced to death: as an execution, he had to test a new invention, the flying cloak of Professor Fontange. Jumping from a high tower, Jean survived, and, as a reward, he was given life and freedom.
Then the fashion for balloons gave impetus to a new round of development of parachutes, because now there was where to fall from. Here Lenormand, already mentioned by us, appeared, who made his historic parachute jump, very similar in design to the modern one. Lenormand began with an attempt at a safe jump from the first floor and two open umbrellas, then he let various objects and animals fly by parachute.
However, parachutes again did not find practical use - it was completely inconvenient to attach them to the baskets of balloons. And they had a significant drawback: when the parachute was lowered, the canopy swayed strongly. The British were able to deal with this only in the nineteenth century: they experimentally found out that the parachute should have the shape of a cone, in the cavities of which a space of rarefied air is formed, and with a pressure difference on the parachute from above and below, its fall will also significantly slow down. True, the scientist Cocking, who made this discovery, crashed to death on his own parachute. Then another Englishman - Lalande - thought of making a small hole in the parachute canopy for the return air flow, which would reduce the pressure difference and save the life of the parachutist. In many modern parachute systems, this hole is still used today.
The need for parachutes in aviation
In the XX century, aviation begins to develop rapidly, and the parachute becomes vital. But the parachutes that existed at that time were unnecessarily cumbersome, and simply did not fit into airplanes. The first parachute for aviation was created by our compatriot, Gleb Evgenievich Kotelnikov.
The canopy of the new parachute was round, and it was attached to the pilot in a special iron container. At the bottom of the container there were springs, which pushed the parachute if necessary. To use the mechanism in action, as now, a ring is used. Soon Kotelnikov registered his invention and called it a "free-action knapsack parachute." Soon the metal knapsack was replaced by a soft knapsack. This is how the modern parachute was born.
Initially, parachutes were intended for soft landing of people. Today, human or landing parachutes are used for airborne landing, rescuing people and as sports equipment in parachutism.
Cargo parachutes are used to land vehicles and cargo. Several such parachutes can be used to land heavy equipment at the same time. A variety of them are aircraft rescue systems, which are equipped with many light aircraft. The system consists of a parachute and forced pulling accelerators (ballistic, rocket, or pyrotechnic).
When a dangerous situation develops, the pilot activates the rescue system, and the entire aircraft lands on a parachute. Rescue systems have received a lot of criticism.
Brake parachutes are used to shorten the stopping distance on military and transport aircraft, in drag racing to stop cars. For example, Tu-104 and early versions of Tu-134 were equipped with braking parachutes.
Small stabilizing parachutes (they also function as pilot parachutes) are used to stabilize body position during free fall.
Parachutes are often used to reduce the speed of spacecraft when landing on a celestial body, while moving in the atmosphere. Spacecraft parachutes have the widest range of applications (high speeds, high or low temperatures).
In addition to the Earth's atmosphere, parachutes were used to land probes on Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn's moon Titan. To use a parachute, a planet or satellite must have an atmosphere. The atmospheres of other planets differ in properties from the terrestrial one, for example, the atmosphere of Mars is very rarefied, and the final deceleration is usually performed using rocket motors or air bags.
Parachutes come in many different shapes. In addition to the usual, round parachutes, which are used for soft landing of goods and people, there are round parachutes with a retracted apex, in the shape of a Rogallo wing, belt parachutes for supersonic speeds, parafoils - wings in the shape of a rectangle and an ellipse, and many others.
You will be surprised, but parachuting (or skydiving) dates back to 90 BC. in China. A famous Chinese historian, Sima Qian studied ancient scriptures that told about the Emperor Shun, whom his father tried to kill. In an attempt to escape, he climbed the barn tower, but his father set it on fire. The emperor tied several huge conical straw panamas together, and jumped from the tower, holding these panamas in his hand. The bunch worked like a parachute, and he landed safely on the ground.
A book entitled The History of the Lacquered Table by Yo K'o, published in 1214, refers to an episode that took place in Guangzhou. In it, an Arab stole one leg from a gold lacquered table. He fled with her, climbing to the top of the very high minaret of the mosque, and jumped down, holding onto two umbrellas. The thief landed safely without injury. (The Chinese also invented the first umbrellas.)
There is documentary evidence that Chinese and Thai acrobats used a kind of parachute during entertainment stunts at the imperial court of China. It is their skill that the inventors of the first European parachute-type designs owe. They were invented during the reign of King Louis XIV of France in the 1680s.
Frenchman Joseph Montgolfier in the late 18th century began to use parachutes for their conventional purpose, testing them in balloon jumps. His success marked the beginning of aeronaut parachutism.
Unfortunately, hot air balloon accidents were very common and the parachute earned the reputation of being a lifesaver. The famous aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard, who for the first time in history crossed the English Channel alone, made several successful parachute jumps.
History of modern skydiving
After the aviation success of the Wright brothers, the era of modern parachuting began. The first skydiver (although this fact is subject to much controversy) was Grant Morton, who in 1911 jumped from a Wright Model B plane at Venice Beach, California. He used a folded silk parachute that successfully deployed and landed Morton safely on the beach.
Parachutes at that time were “automatic”, that is, they were either inflated with air before the jump, or thrown into the air stream from a special block attached to the platform for the jump. The static type of parachute was very dangerous for jumping from a moving platform. In 1908, Leo Stevens invented the pull-ring, but for some reason, pull-ring parachutes did not come into use until 1920.
The next important invention in the history of skydiving was patented in 1911. It was a flexible parachute invented by the Italian Pino. Finally, a parachutist could carry a folded parachute on himself in a backpack. A special leather cap was also developed, which opened into a smaller parachute. During the jump, the pilot chute was opened, and then the larger parachute from the backpack was opened.
After World War II, a huge number of military parachutes were no longer used for their intended purpose. Experienced skydivers began jumping just for fun, and a new form of entertainment and competitive sport was born - skydiving.