International Day of Human Space Flight. units of equipment "Chocolate"
April 12, 1961 is one of the significant dates in world history. On this day, for the first time in human history, a spacecraft ascended into low-Earth orbit with a person on board. The World of Tanks development team congratulates players on the 52nd anniversary of this great event.
In honor of Cosmonautics Day, we are giving all players a special bonus code, which includes:
one day of premium account;
5 units of “Improved Diet” equipment;
5 units of “Cola Box” equipment;
5 units of “Chocolate” equipment;
5 units of “Extra ration” equipment;
5 units of “Tea Pudding” equipment;
5 units of “Strong Coffee” equipment.
SKAFANDR
Historical reference
By the middle of the twentieth century, there was practically no place left on planet Earth where no human had ever set foot. Technological development has led to the fact that the world has become unexpectedly small: you can get to any point in a matter of hours. Man conquered the earth, air and oceans, and only space was waiting for its pioneers. The competition for the right to be the first to break through to the stars was waged between two world powers - the USSR and the USA.
In 1957, the first Soviet satellite was launched into space. In 1959, the first living creatures to make an orbital flight were the dogs Belka and Strelka, who ascended into orbit on the Sputnik 5 apparatus. Mice and plants went into space with them. All participants in this flight returned to Earth alive and well, thereby confirming that manned astronautics is not an empty dream.
Of the 20 candidates who took part in the competition for the right to become the first person to ascend into low-Earth orbit, senior lieutenant Yuri Gagarin was chosen. On April 12, 1961, at 9:07 am Moscow time, a rocket with the Vostok-1 spacecraft, with Gagarin on board, took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The world's first manned flight - one of the greatest events in human history - lasted less than two hours.
Despite the fact that, in general, the first experiment was successful, not everything went smoothly during the flight: at first, during the ascent of the rocket, the radio-controlled system for turning off the third stage engines did not work in time. As a result, the apogee of Vostok-1’s orbit turned out to be 100 kilometers higher than calculated, and there was a danger that it might take 5-6 days to return the ship to Earth. After turning on the braking system, it was possible to return the device to the return trajectory, but it turned out that due to a lack of braking impulse, the automation did not give permission for the normal separation of the spacecraft compartments. Because of this, the ship tumbled erratically for some time before entering the atmosphere. It was possible to separate the compartments only in dense layers of the atmosphere, when the connecting cables burned out due to high temperatures.
At an altitude of 7 kilometers, Gagarin ejected and landed by parachute separately from the ship. Due to failures in the braking system, the landing took place not in the Baikonur area, but 280 kilometers to the west, near the village of Smelovka, Saratov region. The official time of completion of Yuri Gagarin's flight is considered to be 10 hours 55 minutes Moscow time on April 12, 1961.
Space has always been and remains one of the most exciting mysteries for humanity. Its deep distances tirelessly attract explorers of all generations, the starry sky fascinates with its beauty, and the stars have been faithful guides for travelers since ancient times. Therefore, it is not surprising that Cosmonautics Day is a very popular and beloved holiday among the people. 
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When is Cosmonautics Day celebrated?
2:78On April 12, 1961, citizen of the Soviet Union, senior lieutenant Yu.A. Gagarin, on the Vostok spacecraft, made the world's first orbital flight around the Earth, opening the era of manned space flights.
The flight, which lasted only 108 minutes, was a powerful breakthrough in space exploration. The name of Yuri Gagarin became widely known in the world, and the first cosmonaut himself received the rank of major and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union ahead of schedule and forever inscribed both his name and this flight in world history.
In honor of first manned orbital flight around the Earth in April 1962, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Cosmonautics Day was officially established in our country. By the way, the idea of the holiday was proposed by the second USSR pilot-cosmonaut German Titov.
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Subsequently, the date April 12 became not only Cosmonautics Day. In 1969, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale set April 12 World Aviation and Space Day. And already in 2011 this day also became International Day of Human Space Flight on the initiative of the UN General Assembly. More than sixty states signed the resolution officially confirming this fact.
3:729 3:734Little-known facts about Gagarin's flight
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1. The first flight into space was prepared in a hurry, because intelligence received a message that the Americans were planning to launch the spacecraft at the end of April. The leadership of the USSR could not allow this and gave the command to get ahead of the Americans by any means necessary.
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2. It is interesting that three reports about Gagarin’s flight into space were previously prepared. The first is “Successful”, the second with a request for help in the search if he falls in the territory of another country or in the world’s oceans, and the third is “Tragic” if Gagarin dies.
4:487 4:4923. Before the flight, they did not know how the human psyche would behave in space, so special protection was provided against controlling the East in a fit of violence. To enable manual control, Gagarin had to open a sealed envelope, inside of which lay a piece of paper with a code that, by typing on the control panel, could unlock it.
4:1142 4:11474. Having completed one revolution around the Earth, at 10:55:34, 108 minutes, the ship completed its flight. Due to a failure in the braking system, the descent module with Gagarin landed not in the planned area 110 km from Volgograd, but in the Saratov region, near the village of Smelovka.
4:1616 4:45. During the final stage of the flight, Yuri Gagarin uttered a phrase about which for a long time they preferred not to write anything: “I’m burning, goodbye, comrades!”
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The first living creatures in space
5:925As you know, before man boarded the spacecraft, man’s four-legged friends were sent on flight. In August 1960, the Soviet spaceship Vostok, with the dogs Belka and Strelka on board, made a 24-hour flight and returned to Earth.
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The development of manned flights in the Soviet Union took place in stages. From the first manned spacecraft and orbital stations to multi-purpose space manned orbital complexes.
The first daily flight of a man around the Earth by German Titov
The flight lasted 1 day 1 hour 18 minutes, after which the spacecraft's descent module made a successful landing.
6:309 6:314June 16, 1963 - first flight of a female astronaut
6:413Valentina Tereshkova made her space flight on the Vostok-6 spacecraft; it lasted almost three days. The launch took place at Baikonur not from the “Gagarin” site, but from a duplicate one. At the same time, the Vostok-5 spacecraft, piloted by cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky, was in orbit.
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The first spacewalk of cosmonaut A.A. Leonov.
7:1587The astronaut spent 12 minutes 9 seconds in outer space and moved away from the ship at a distance of up to 5 m - the entire length of the halyard - the “umbilical cord” that connected him to the ship. In outer space, Leonov experienced severe emotional stress: his heart rate more than doubled - to 143 beats per minute, his breathing rate almost doubled, his body temperature exceeded 38 degrees, sweat filled his spacesuit up to his knees, and during the day of the flight he lost 6 kg. . The return of the astronauts to Earth took place in a mode close to emergency, but, thank God, it ended safely.
7:1020 7:1025The first international flight in the history of astronautics
7:1130It took place on July 15, 1975 - the pioneers were the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz-19 and the American spacecraft Apollo.
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Having entered the 21st century, we see amazing successes in space technology - tens of thousands of satellites orbit the Earth, spacecraft have landed on the Moon, bringing back soil samples from there.
Subsequently, automatic probes were lowered to Mars and Venus, several spacecraft have left the Solar System and are carrying messages to Extraterrestrial Civilizations.
8:717 8:722Automatic interplanetary stations
The Vostok spacecraft orbited the Earth only once, but a modern space station has been in space for many years; it is a real space home in which cosmonauts live and work for many months.One crew of astronauts is replaced by another.
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April 30, 2011 - first tourist in space
9:86The first space tourist, Dennis Tito. An American businessman paid about $20 million for the flight.
9:278 9:283Behind successful flights are thousands of people, dozens of work teams who do everything in their power in the name of progress in the space industry.
Cosmonautics Day is a common holiday that connects the past, present and future of the people of the Earth.
Our Yuri Gagarin
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After Gagarin's flight, almost all Soviet boys dreamed of becoming cosmonauts; it was one of the most romantic and revered professions. All inquisitive minds and ardent hearts dreamed of traveling to distant stars, conquering planets and heroic deeds.
Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin became a national hero, people admired him and tried to imitate him. But at the same time, Gagarin was simple, open, kind and very hardworking.
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He grew up in a working-class family , experienced all the horrors of the Patriotic War, already in childhood he saw examples of the courage of ordinary soldiers and grew up to be a strong, purposeful person.
Yuri Gagarin was a very active person and lived a busy life. He graduated from the Saratov Industrial College and enthusiastically studied at the Saratov Aero Club. In 1957, Yuri Alekseevich got married and then became the father of two wonderful daughters.
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Then life brought him together with another great man - the famous designer S.P. Korolev.
In March 1968, the world's first cosmonaut died during a training flight in difficult weather conditions. Until now, this tragic accident is surrounded by myths and secrets.
12:518According to the official version, the plane of Gagarin and Colonel Seregin went into a tailspin, and the pilots did not have enough altitude to get out of it: Mig-15 crashed in the forest Vladimirov region. But many experts have a lot of questions, and, unfortunately, they will most likely remain unanswered.
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In memory of the cosmonaut, the city of Gzhatsk was renamed Gagarin . Also, a memorial complex was installed near the landing site of Gagarin after his first flight into space.
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Yuri Gagarin's smile is immortal. She became a symbol. Gagarin smiled to the whole world. He smiled at our planet, rejoiced at the sun, forests and fields.
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And he said: “Having flown around the Earth in a satellite ship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, and not destroy it!...”
14:1067 14:1072Yes, she's beautiful. And our beautiful and small planet, the only one where there are flowers, streams, birches, where there is laughter and smiles and love, must be protected!
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World Cosmonautics Day is dedicated not only to Gagarin himself, but also to all those people who were involved in this significant event, all workers in the space industry, astronomers, researchers and scientists. All these people every day bring us one more small step closer to solving the amazing mystery of the vast space.
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On April 12, 1961, on the Vostok-1 spacecraft, the first planet, Yuri Gagarin, orbited the Earth for the first time at an altitude of 302 kilometers at a speed of about 28 thousand kilometers per hour. Senior Lieutenant Gagarin's space flight lasted only 108 minutes. But these minutes turned the world upside down, all ideas about the possibility of the impossible. The distant and unknown space has spoken. Spoke in Russian!...
Everything connected with the first space flights, and Yuri Gagarin first of all, remained a secret for many years. The documents were opened gradually, in small doses. For the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, over 200 materials and files were declassified. Basically, these are organizational papers, drawings, drawings, transcripts of the astronaut's conversations.
However, according to experts, many more materials are scattered across the archives of various departments. They are not open yet. Therefore, myths and outright fables remain related to the flight and the further fate of the first cosmonaut.
Myth 1: Yuri Gagarin was not the first cosmonaut
At one time, reports appeared in the Western press with enviable frequency about the death of Soviet cosmonauts during the first rocket launches. Similar “canards” are popping up today. Moreover, specific names of people are named who allegedly overcame gravity before Gagarin.
In particular, the name of Valentin Bondarenko, a member of the first cosmonaut corps, who allegedly died during the launch, is often mentioned. Yes, he died, but on Earth, during an experiment in a pressure chamber. This happened on March 23, 1961. ...Bondarenko was finishing his tenth day of isolation. According to the experimental conditions, the pressure in the chamber was reduced, and the oxygen content, on the contrary, was increased. Having removed the sensors from himself after medical tests, Valentin wiped the places where they were attached with cotton wool soaked in alcohol. Without looking, he threw it aside. Cotton wool got on the electric stove. A fire broke out. When Bondarenko was pulled out of the cell, he was still conscious and kept repeating: “It’s my own fault.”
The name of Pyotr Dolgov, a parachute equipment test instructor, was also mentioned. He wasn't even in the cosmonaut corps. But Dolgov actually died in the sky: on November 1, 1962, when he made a test jump from the stratosphere.
This is what test parachutist Evgeniy Andreev, who jumped with Pyotr Dolgov on that tragic day, said:
At 7 hours 44 minutes the Volga stratospheric balloon, more than a hundred meters high, took off from the ground. I had to leave the ship and fall, without opening the parachute, to 800 meters. Peter had to descend according to the traditional pattern - 38 minutes. And here are 25 thousand 458 meters. The so-called equilibrium zone, when the speed no longer increases. I shot off the cover of my hatch, through which I had to eject. He waved goodbye to Dolgov... However, an absurdity happened that could not have been foreseen in the most thorough training. Leaving the hatch, Peter hit the glazing of his spacesuit against a sharp bolt securing the pipeline on the ship. Depressurization. Death was almost instantaneous.
There was an active rumor that the first cosmonaut was test pilot Vladimir Ilyushin. Allegedly, in early April 1961, he circled the Earth three times on the Rossiya spacecraft, but was seriously injured during landing. The ship crashed in China, the astronaut was picked up by the Chinese and sent to one of the monasteries for treatment...
This is perhaps one of the most original versions. Why? Vladimir Ilyushin is the son of the famous aircraft designer Sergei Ilyushin. He was not a member of the cosmonaut corps. The truth is that in July 1959, on a combat aircraft, Ilyushin set a world record for a dynamic ceiling, reaching a height of 28,857 meters. For which he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. And in 1961, he set an absolute world record for horizontal flight altitude - 21,170 meters. However, he actually visited China: he was recovering there after a serious car accident.
Western press reports that Ilyushin was the first cosmonaut had a strong resonance. And the test pilot was even forced to issue a refutation, calling such statements “nonsense and nonsense.” It must be said that Vladimir Ilyushin made a brilliant career in the aviation design bureau of Pavel Sukhoi, and died only four years ago.
Vladimir Ilyushin
By the way, various fables were also born because until recently, few people knew about mannequins flying into orbit. Their name was "Ivan Ivanychami". It was not just a doll: doctors tried to stuff it with all kinds of sensors. The resemblance to a person was so real that engineers, working in the workshop, put robes on the mannequins to cover their “nakedness.”
To close the entire radio communication cycle with the Earth, a speaker was placed in the Ivan Ivanovich’s mouth. We thought for a long time what sound it should make. Music? We need articulation, a human voice. Should I record the speech? It's also not possible. If a voice comes from orbit, they will immediately declare in the West that the Soviet Union launched a man into space. Therefore, we settled on recording the Pyatnitsky choir.
Myth 2: Gagarin’s flight could not have taken place due to a technical problem on Earth
Oleg Ivanovsky, the leading designer of the Vostok spacecraft, was the last to close the hatch behind Yuri Gagarin. These documentary footage, filmed at Baikonur 2 hours before the launch, went around the whole world. What's left behind the scenes? Here's what he said:
Gagarin was accompanied to the hatch by me and the leading designer of the spacesuits, Fyodor Anatolyevich Vostokov. They helped the first cosmonaut to lie down in a chair. Having settled down, Yuri began checking radio communications. I squeezed into the cabin. He hugged him, shook his hand and, patting his helmet, stepped aside. A moment - and the hatch cover was thrown on the locks. And suddenly I heard Korolev over the connection: “Is the cover installed correctly? Are there any distortions?” “No, Sergei Palych, everything is fine,” I answer. “That’s the point, it’s not normal!” No KP-3!"
I went cold. KP-3 is a contact sensor that signals when the cover is pressed against the hatch frame. “The cover, Sergey Palych, is installed correctly.” “What can you do to check the contact? Do you have time to remove and reinstall the cover?” - there is metal in the voice of the Chief Designer. I looked at the installers Morozov and Seleznev. They calmly look at me. Without words they understood each other: “We’ll make it, Sergei Palych. Just tell Yuri that we’ll open the hatch.”
We removed 32 nuts from the locks and removed the cover. I noticed that Yuri, slightly raising his left hand, was looking attentively at me in a small mirror sewn on his sleeve, and was quietly whistling the tune of the song: “The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows.”
I looked at the bracket on which the KP-3 stood. Everything was in place. There was no time to say goodbye to Yura again; I only managed to catch his sly glance in the mirror. The lid is locked again. Nuts again: First. There is a thirty-second! The vacuum gauge needle is motionless: “There is a tightness!”
But the most important thing, as the remote controllers later admitted, was that just below them, on Earth, one light began to blink incorrectly. Therefore, there was no need to do anything.
Myth 3: In space, Yuri Gagarin was on the verge of death
Why did Yuri Gagarin fly into space on April 12? Largely because the start of the American Shepard was scheduled for the end of April. The competition between the Soviet Union and the United States was very tough. And Chief Designer Sergei Korolev was in a hurry: he had no right to give primacy in space to his overseas colleagues...
“Hurry” does not mean being first “at any cost.” Although the risk was indeed huge. Of the seven flights of the Vostok spacecraft to Gagarin, only three were successful.
As eyewitnesses recall, one of the most dangerous stages was the 20-second rise of the rocket from the launch pad. Why? To use a parachute, if anything, the altitude is low. There was no emergency rescue system then. An unexpected solution was found: a stainless steel mesh was stretched next to the rocket at the launch. In the event of an accident, the astronaut had to eject and fall on it. All this was tested on seven launches with dogs and dummies. They say that if the device had the sign “Suitable for 3KA”, then this was a guarantee according to the highest reliability criteria.
However, the flight was not without emergency situations. Including quite serious ones. Thus, according to the recollections of RSC Energia chief specialist Viktor Blagov, the rocket launched the ship into orbit with an apogee 100 km higher than planned. All hope remained in the braking engine. It started up, but turned off 4 seconds earlier: one of the valves failed. This led to Gagarin's under-flight and landing in an off-design area where he was not expected.
From the Report of Yu.A. Gagarin at a meeting of the State Commission after the space flight:
"April 13, 1961 SOVIET SECRET copy No. 1
...I was waiting for separation. There is no division. I knew that according to calculations this should have happened in 10-12 seconds. after turning off the TDU. When the TDU was turned off, all the windows on the PCRS went out. It feels like more time has passed, but there is no separation. On the device “Descent” does not go out, “prepare for ejection” does not light up. There is no separation. Then the windows on the PCRS begin to light up again: first the window of the third team, then the second and then the first team. The moving index is at zero. There is no division. Cardiballet continues. I decided that something was wrong here. I noted the time on the clock. Two minutes passed, but there was no separation. He reported via the HF channel that the TDU worked normally. I figured that I would still land normally, since there are 6 thousand to the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union is 8 thousand km, which means I’ll land somewhere before the Far East. He didn't make any noise. He reported by phone that the separation had not occurred.
I decided that the situation was not an emergency. I passed the key to “VN” - everything is fine. Through the “eye” I noticed the northern coast of Africa, the Mediterranean Sea. Everything was clearly visible. The ship continued to spin. The separation occurred at 10 hours 35 minutes, and not at 10 hours 25 minutes, as I expected, i.e. approximately 10 minutes after the end of the brake system.
As Blagov says, the worst thing is that the landing began over the Volga. Gagarin went to the water. And it is not known how it would have ended if the 30-kilogram NAZ (portable emergency reserve) had not separated from the descent module, and the landing speed had not decreased. Getting out of the Volga in a spacesuit would be a big problem...
Yuri Gagarin understood perfectly well that one could return from a flight to the stars on a chariot of glory, but it was just as easy to turn into a flying sarcophagus. Therefore, he left a letter to his wife Valentina: “I completely believe in technology. It should not fail. But it happens that out of the blue a person falls and breaks his neck. Something can happen here too.” This letter was given to Valentina Ivanovna seven years later. After the tragic death of her husband in 1968.
Myth 4: Gagarin could have gone crazy in orbit
Now it’s hard to understand, but then everyone who prepared the first flight into space was concerned with one problem: what would happen? Can a person endure weightlessness? Will his psyche suffer? And even leading experts did not know the answers to most of the questions.
Many seriously thought: the psyche of the first cosmonaut might not be able to cope with loneliness in the vast blackness of space. Therefore, the flight control was automatic. In the event of an emergency, the astronaut could switch the system to manual mode, but this required entering a numeric code sealed in an envelope. The number "125" was a strictly confidential number.
125
However, as it turned out, before the start, almost all the “initiates” whispered it to Yuri Gagarin. Why? Yes, because they believed him as they believed themselves.
Myth 5: The Soviet government rewarded Yuri Gagarin with unimaginable wealth for his flight.
Here are two documents that clearly put everything in its place. First of all, this is an order of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on gifts to Yu.A. Gagarin, which was signed on April 18, 1961 under No. 1037рс and was also classified as “Secret”:.
"1. To recognize it as necessary to donate, on behalf of the Government of the USSR, the first pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Major Yu.A. Gagarin, and members of his family, a Volga car, a residential building, furniture and equipment in accordance with the annex.
Attribute the costs associated with this to the reserve fund of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
2. Oblige the USSR Ministry of Defense (Comrade Malinovsky) to allocate to Major Yu.A. Gagarin. a four-room apartment at the place of duty.
After flying around the globe, 108 minutes from the moment of launch, the braking propulsion system was turned on and the spacecraft-satellite began to descend from orbit for landing. At 10:55 a.m. Moscow time, the cosmonaut landed in a given area on arable land near the bank of the Volga near the village of Smelovka, Ternovsky district, Saratov region.
The initiative to establish Cosmonautics Day in the Soviet Union was taken by Yuri Gagarin’s backup during the first manned space flight, pilot-cosmonaut German Titov. He also proposed, on behalf of the USSR government, to approach the UN with the idea of organizing World Cosmonautics Day.
In November 1968, at the 61st General Conference of the International Aeronautical Federation, it was decided to celebrate April 12 as World Aviation and Space Day. The celebration of this day was confirmed by the decision of the Council of the International Aeronautical Federation, adopted on April 30, 1969, on the proposal of the USSR Aviation Sports Federation.
In the Russian Federation, Cosmonautics Day was established as a memorable date by Article 1.1 of the Federal Law of March 13, 1995 “On Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia.”
In September 2000, the UN Space Committee announced the holding of the first international Yuri's Night in honor of the 40th anniversary of the first manned flight into space, which was attended by more than 100 thousand people in 75 countries in 2001. Organized by annual event is the Space Generation Advisory Council.
On April 7, 2011, at the initiative of Russia, the UN General Assembly proclaimed April 12 as the International Day of Human Space Flight to mark the 50th anniversary of the first step in space exploration made by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. More than 60 UN member countries became co-sponsors of this resolution.
In the years since Yuri Gagarin's first flight, many people have been in space.
On August 6, 1961, the Vostok-2 spacecraft launched with cosmonaut German Titov on board. His flight lasted more than a day. On August 11 and 12, 1962, Andriyan Nikolaev and Pavel Popovich launched on the Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 spacecraft, and on June 16, 1963, the first female cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, launched.
The next step in the development of domestic cosmonautics was the creation in 1964 of the multi-seat Voskhod spacecraft. The crew of this ship was located in the descent module without spacesuits.
On March 18, 1965, the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was launched, in the design of which modifications were made related to the astronaut’s spacewalk, in particular, a folding airlock chamber and an airlock system were created. During this flight, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov walked into outer space for the first time in the world. The time he spent outside the ship was 12 minutes.
In January 1969, during the flight of the Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5 spacecraft, an experimental orbital station was created for the first time, which became an important step towards the emergence of long-term space expeditions. The flight program included automatic rendezvous of the two ships, manual mooring and docking, spacewalk and transfer of cosmonauts Alexei Eliseev and Evgeniy Khrunov to Soyuz-4 with subsequent descent in this ship.
On July 21, 1969, man set foot on the surface of the Moon for the first time. This man was Neil Armstrong, commander of the American spacecraft Apollo 11.
On April 19, 1971, the first multi-purpose Salyut station was launched into low-Earth orbit. On April 23, 1971, the Soyuz-10 spacecraft with its crew was sent to Salyut.
In 1975, the joint experimental flight of the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft marked the beginning of the development of international cooperation in the field of exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes.
In February 1986, the base unit of the Mir orbital complex was launched into orbit. During the operation of the complex, the technology for medical and biological support of long-term human flights in space was developed and absolute world records were set for the duration of continuous human stay in space flight conditions: Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov - 366 days, Valery Polyakov - 438 days. The longest flights among women were made by Elena Kondakova in 1994-1995, lasting 169 days, and Shannon Lucid (USA) in March-September 1996, lasting 188 days.
A huge amount of experiments and research was carried out on Mir in all traditional areas of manned space exploration, and several large international programs were implemented. In total, 104 people from 12 countries visited the Mir station, including: the USA, France, Germany, Syria, Japan, Great Britain, Austria, and Canada.
The duration of the cosmonauts' continuous stay on board the Mir station was 3641 days. The Mir station was in the Pacific Ocean on March 23, 2001.
In November 1998, the launch of the Zarya functional cargo block module, created at the State Space Research and Production Center named after M.V. Khrunichev, began the creation of the International Space Station (ISS) in low-Earth orbit. On November 2, 2000, the crew of the first main expedition under the command of William Shepherd (USA) arrived at the ISS on the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft. From that day on, the ISS became a permanently inhabited station. The crews of the main expeditions, which included Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts, began working on board, replacing each other, for several months at a time.
In February 2013, Dennis Tito, an Italian-American and CEO of the investment company Wilshire Associates, who became the first space tourist on board the ISS in 2001, announced the creation of the Inspiration Mars Foundation, which plans to launch in 2018.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Audio fragments provided by Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Firm Melodiya":
"You know what kind of guy he was." Performed by Yuri Gulyaev, 1971
"I believe, friends." Performed by Georg Ots, 1962
"Grass near the house". Performed by VIA "Zemlyane" soloist Sergei Skachkov, 1983
"In the distant constellation Tau Ceti." Performed by Vladimir Vysotsky. 1967