Vladimir Syromyatnikov
The Vladimir Syromyatnikov Safety-by-Design Award is a means for IAASS to honour outstanding designers and engineers who have made major technical contribution toward systems safety. Named in honour of Vladimir Syromiatnikov (1934-2006) the Russian designer of one of the most successful piece of space hardware, the docking system APAS. It was used in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975, successful in more than 200 dockings of Soviet/Russian, on the Shuttle and on the International Space Station.
Vladimir Syromniatnikov designed the Androgynous Peripheral Assembly System (APAS), a unique docking system which linked the U.S. Apollo and Soviet Soyuz space capsules in the 1970s. In the 1990s he updated his docking system for the meeting of the Mir space station and the Shuttle Atlantis. The APAS is also used on the International Space Station.
The International Docking System Standard (IDSS) agreed recently as global standard is built on the heritage of the Vladimir Syromniatnikov APAS system, the APAS-89.
Also the Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft is equipped with a docking system based on the APAS-89 and compatible with the International Docking System Standard.
Vladimir Syromniatnikov graduated with a degree in engineering from the Bauman Moscow High Technical University and the School of Mechanics at the Moscow State University.
In 1956 he went to work for the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia as an engineer, where he helped design the first piloted spacecraft that cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin rode in 1961. He then rose through the ranks to become a department head in 1977, helping design and overseeing the development of docking systems, onboard manipulators, and reusable solar arrays.
Syromyatnikov was a Professor and head of the Technical Cybernetics Department at Moscow State University, an Invited Professor at the International Space University, and an Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics. His awards included the Lenin Prize, Honorable Scientific Worker of Russia, and the Friendship Order.
The “Vladimir Syromiatnikov – Safety by Design Award” takes the form of a solid bronze statuette representing Athena wielding a silver shield. In the Greek mythology Athena is the goddess of wisdom, science, courage, inspiration, civilization, strength, strategy, justice, skills and shipbuilding. Athena was the embodiment of prudent and intelligent tactics. Athena is the goddess of heroic endeavour. The shield of Athena, called Aegis, represents in this award the safety knowledge. (The term “aegis” has entered modern English to mean protection by a powerful and knowledgeable source). The image on the solid silver shield represents the docking system APAS, as symbol of international cooperation.
