ITR: Trusting the Machine: Onboard Computing, Automation, and Human Control in the Soviet Space Program, 1957-1988

vyacheslav Gerovitch， Dibner研究所“信任机器：1957-1988年苏联太空计划中的机载计算、自动化和人类控制”这个项目研究了自动化与人类控制的关键问题，这在很大程度上被苏联太空计划的标准历史所低估，特别关注了机载计算机的引入。它将调查影响苏联机载计算发展的技术、制度、经济和政治因素，并促使苏联设计师更加重视自动控制系统，而牺牲了宇航员在载人航天计划中的作用。其中包括对航天器设计师、机载计算机设计师和宇航员的观点进行全面而批判性的分析，试图将人机交互问题置于更大的技术、社会和政治背景中。该提案还将研究苏联太空计划不同阶段的人机功能划分，调查苏联设计师所做选择的后果，并从这些历史发展中吸取教训，以帮助当今理解复杂技术系统中的人机交互。该提案结合了对最近解密的与苏联太空计划中计算机发展有关的文件的档案研究，以及对航天器设计师、机载计算机设计师和宇航员的深入采访。这将从科学和技术研究提供的分析角度对苏联机载计算和空间计划的发展进行系统的研究。该提案还将广泛使用网络，与太空项目老兵和其他历史学家建立合作网络。该项目有望对苏联太空计划中自动化与人工控制的关键问题进行创新分析。关于延迟引进机载制导计算机对苏联飞行员计划有重大负面影响的假设将根据历史文件进行测试。这个项目将把这个问题放在国际空间竞赛的背景下，并为苏联机载计算的研究带来比较的视角。它还将加强对社会、经济和政治因素的理解，这些因素塑造了20世纪下半叶苏联技术的发展。该项目的网站将把大西洋两岸的航天器控制系统设计师、计算机设计师、宇航员和历史学家聚集在一起，从而促进跨学科和跨国界的合作。该项目还将有助于当前对复杂人机系统可靠性和安全性问题的讨论。

Project AbstractITR 0313044Vyacheslav Gerovitch, Dibner Institute "Trusting the Machine: Onboard Computing, Automation, and Human Control in the Soviet Space Program, 1957-1988"This project examines the crucial issue of automation vs. human control that is largely underestimated by standard histories of the Soviet space program, with a specific focus on the introduction of computers on board. It will investigate the technical, institutional, economic, and political factors that shaped the development of Soviet onboard computing and prompted Soviet designers to place much greater emphasis on automatic control systems at the expense of the role of cosmonauts in the piloted space program. Included will be a comprehensive and critical analysis of spacecraft designers, onboard computer designers, and cosmonauts' perspectives in an attempt to place the issue of human-machine interaction in a larger technical, social, and political context. The proposal will also examine the division of functions between human and machine at different stages in the Soviet space program, investigate the consequences of choices made by Soviet designers, and draw lessons from these historical developments for today's understanding of human-machine interaction in complex technological systems. The proposal combines archival studies of recently declassified documents related to the development of computing in the Soviet space program with in-depth interviews of spacecraft designers, onboard computer designers, and cosmonauts. This will produce a systematic study of the development of the Soviet onboard computing and the space program from the analytical perspectives offered by science and technology studies. The proposal will also extensively use the Web to build a network of collaboration with space program veterans and other historians. The project promises an innovative analysis of the crucial issue of automation vs. human control in the Soviet space program. The hypothesis that the delay in the introduction of onboard guidance computers had significant negative consequences for the Soviet piloted program will be tested against historical documentation. This project will place this issue in the context of the international space race and bring a comparative perspective into the study of Soviet onboard computing. It will also enhance the understanding of social, economic, and political factors that shaped the development of Soviet technology in the second half of the twentieth century. The project's website will bring together spacecraft control system designers, computer designers, cosmonauts, and historians on both sides of the Atlantic, and will thus foster collaboration across disciplinary and national boundaries. This project will also contribute to the current discussions of the problems of reliability and safety in complex human-machine systems.