Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev. Cosmonaut Krikalev Sergey Konstantinovich Perfect space flights

VIDEO BIOGRAPHY OF THE COSMONAUT

SERIAL NUMBER: 67/212

NUMBER OF FLIGHTS: 6

PLAQUE: 803 days 09 o'clock 41 min. 23 sec.

EVAs: 8

TOTAL DURATION: 41 hours. 26 min.

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH:

EDUCATION:

in 1975 graduated from 10 classes of secondary school No. 77 of the city of Leningrad;

since 1977 began to go in for airplane sports at the Leningrad flying club DOSAAF;

in 1981 graduated with honors from the Leningrad Mechanical Institute (LMI) (Voenmekh), Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, specialty - "design and production of aircraft", received a diploma in mechanical engineering.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY:

1981-1983- engineer, senior engineer of the 111th department of the head design bureau (GKB) of NPO Energia;

in 1983 passed the medical selection and in February 1984, after passing the necessary exams, he was selected for the cosmonaut corps of NPO Energia;

1983-1985 - head of the group of State Design Bureau NPO Energia. He was engaged in the development of instructions for astronauts, working out the actions of the crews of manned spacecraft. He worked at the MCC as a methodologist for the actions of the crews, in 1985 - in the group for restoring the working capacity of the Salyut-7 station from May 1990 to April 1992 - deputy head of the 191st department (former 111th department) of NPO Energia;

from April1992. to November1994. - Deputy Head of the 115th department of NPO Energia;

from February2007. to august2007. - Vice President of RSC Energia;

since august2007. to March2009. - Deputy General Designer of RSC Energia;

since March2009. to March 2014- was the head of the Yu.A. Gagarin” (FGBU “NII TsPK named after Yu.A. Gagarin”).

SPACE PREPARATION:

August 21985. - by the decision of the State Interdepartmental Commission, he was enrolled in the cosmonaut corps of NPO Energia;

in September1985. - by order of the Minister of General Mechanical Engineering No. 384, he was appointed as a candidate for test cosmonauts of the cosmonaut corps of NPO Energia (291st department);

November 281986. - by the decision of the MVKK, the qualification "test cosmonaut" was awarded;

in 1986 successfully completed a general space training course;

in 1986 - 1988 - was trained as part of a group of cosmonauts under the Buran program;

from March 22 to November 111988. - was trained as a flight engineer for the main crew of the Soyuz TM-7 spacecraft under the EO-4 / Aragats program at the Mir OK, together with A. Volkov and J.-L. Chretien (France);

February 11th1987. - was appointed to the post of test cosmonaut of the cosmonaut corps of NPO Energia;

in1990. - trained as a flight engineer for the backup crew of the Soyuz TM-11 spacecraft under the EO-8 program and the joint Soviet-Japanese flight to OK Mir together with A. Artsebarsky and R. Kikuchi (Japan);

from March to November 1988 he was trained as a flight engineer for the main crew of the Soyuz TM-7 spacecraft under the EO-4 / Aragats program at Mir, together with A. Volkov and J.-L. Chretien (France);

April 71992. - was appointed to the post of instructor-test cosmonaut, deputy head of the department of NPO Energia;

from November 51992. to January1994. - trained at the Center L. Johnson as an understudy for V. Titov - Flight-4 Specialist (Mission Specialist) of the crew of the Discovery spacecraft under the STS-60 program. Received a certificate for working with a shuttle manipulator, was trained to fly a T-38 aircraft as a co-pilot;

from April1994. to January1995. - trained at the Center L. Johnson as an understudy of V. Titov, a flight-4 specialist of the crew of the Discovery spacecraft under the STS-63 program, took part in the work of the ISS team of the NASA astronauts office, including the development of station assembly methods;

Trained to work in an American weekend suit;

During the STS-63 flight, as well as the STS-71, STS-74 and STS-76 flights, he was the head of the 1st Advisory Group of Experts of the Moscow Mission Control Center in Houston, helped to establish interaction between the Russian and American Mission Control Centers;

in 1995 -1996 worked in the MCC as a deputy flight director for crew actions;

in February 1996 d. assigned to the first crew of the ISS;

since October1996. - was trained as a flight engineer for the main crew of the first expedition to the International Space Station (ISS-1), together with Yu. Gidzenko and William Shepherd (USA);

September - November1998. - was trained at the Johnson Center as part of the STS-88 crew;

since October2000. - February 2003- was the backup crew commander of Expedition 7 to the ISS (ISS-7d) together with M. Suraev (replaced by S. Volkov) and Paul Richards (replaced by John Phillips) (USA);

2003 - 2005 1999-1999 - was trained as the prime crew commander of Expedition 11 to the ISS together with John Phillips (USA).

Full member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after K.E. Tsiolkovsky (2011).

CLASSICITY:

3rd class test cosmonaut (October 16, 1989);
1st class test cosmonaut, 1st class instructor-test cosmonaut (04/07/1992).

COMPLETE SPACE FLIGHTS:

1 flight - from November 26 1988 . to April 27 1989 . as a flight engineer of TC "Soyuz-TM-7" and OK "Mir" under the EO-4 program and the Soviet-French program "Aragats". Launched together with Alexander Volkov and Jean-Loup Chretien (France) on the Soyuz TM-7 spacecraft. Due to a change in the flight program, together with other crew members, he carried out the conservation of the station. He landed together with Alexander Volkov and Valery Polyakov.
Flight duration: 151 days 11 hours 08 minutes 24 seconds Callsign: "Donbas-2".

2 flight- from May 18 1991 . to March 25 1992 . as a flight engineer of the Soyuz TM-12 and OC Mir under the EO-9 programs together with Anatoly Artsebarsky and EO-10 ​​together with Alexander Volkov. He landed on the Soyuz TM-13 spacecraft. Together with him, H. Sharman (Great Britain), T. Aubakirov, F. Fieböck (Austria), K.-D. Flade (Germany) worked in space. He landed on the Soyuz TM-13 spacecraft. During the flight, he performed 7 spacewalks with a total duration of 36 hours 29 minutes - set a record for the duration of stay in open space.
Flight duration: 311 days 20 h 00 min 54 sec. Callsign: "Ozone-2" / "Donbas-2".

3 flight -from 3 to 11 February 1994 . as part of the STS-60 crew on board the Discovery spacecraft as a Mission Specialist-4 (Mission Specialist-4).
Flight duration: 8 days 07 h 09 min 22 sec.

4 flight -from 4 to 16 December 1998 . as a flight-4 specialist on the Endeavor spacecraft under the STS-88 program. It was the first manned flight under the International Space Station assembly program. During the flight, the American node module NODE 1 Unity was docked to the Zarya functional cargo block. Together with the shuttle commander R. Kabana, he opened the hatch in the ISS for the first time. As part of the first crew of the ISS, he carried out work to prepare the station for the start of operation
Flight duration: 11 days 19 hours 17 minutes 55 seconds

5 flight -from October 31 2000 . to March 21 2001 . under the program of the first prime crew of the ISS (ISS-1) as a Soyuz TM-31 flight engineer and a Discovery flight-3 flight specialist (STS-102) during the reentry phase.
Flight duration: 140 days 23 hours 38 minutes 55 seconds

6 flight -from April 15 2005 . to October 10 2005 . on the Soyuz TMA-6 SC as the crew commander of the ISS Prime Expedition 11 crew. During the flight, he performed one spacewalk, lasting 4 hours 57 minutes.
Flight duration: 179 days 00 h 23 min 35 sec.

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY:

candidate of psychological sciences (2008);
full member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after K.E. Tsiolkovsky (2011) .

SPORTS RANKS:

He has the 1st category in swimming, a candidate for master of sports in all-around;
"Master of Sports of the USSR" in aerobatics (1981);
"Master of Sports of International Class" in aerobatics (1995);
"Honored Master of Sports of Russia" (2007).

SPORTS ACHIVMENTS:

Since 1977, he has been involved in aircraft sports. In 1980 - 1981 he was a member of the Leningrad aerobatics team.

Since 1981, he was engaged in aircraft sports at the Central Aeroclub named after. V.P. Chkalov in Moscow. In 1982, he played at the USSR Championship for the team of the Central Aeroclub and became a candidate for the USSR national team in aircraft sports.

In 1983 he became the absolute champion of the city of Moscow in aerobatics. In the finals of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR and the USSR Championship, he played for the RSFSR national team, where he took 3rd place in the team and 8th place in the individual competition.

In 1985, he competed at the aerobatics championship of the socialist countries as part of the 2nd USSR team. In 1986 he became the champion of the USSR in the team event, as well as a prize-winner in exercises. In 1996, he became the winner of the European Championship in the team event and the champion in the exercise.

In 1997, at the First World Air Games in Turkey, he was a member of the Russian team in glider aerobatics. He took first place in the team competition, became the silver medalist in the individual competition.

He mastered the piloting of Yak-18A, Yak-50, Yak-52, Yak-55, Yak-55M, Su-26, Su-29, L-39, Tsesna. As part of the training under the Buran program, he flew the MiG-21, MiG-25 and Tu-134. On a T-38 aircraft (USA) he flew more than 140 hours as a co-pilot.

Medal "Gold Star" of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 27, 1989).

Medal "Gold Star" of the Hero of the Russian Federation (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of April 11, 1992).

Order of Honor (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 204 of April 15, 1998, for achieving high sports results at the First World Air Games).

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 353 of April 5, 2002).

AWARDS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES:

Order of the Legion of Honor (Legion d'Honneur) (France, 1989)
NASA Space Flight Medal (1996, 1998, 2001)
Medal for Distinguished Public Service (NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, 2003).

AWARDS OF PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS:

Order "For Diligence for the Good of the Fatherland" (established by the Foundation "For the Good of the Fatherland") (2006).
Order "Pride of Russia" (established by the Pride of Russia Foundation and positioned as the highest public award of the Russian Federation) (2008).
Honorary Life Membership of the Royal Photographic Society (UK) (2009).

HOBBIES:

Aerobatics, swimming, scuba diving, skiing, windsurfing, tennis, amateur radio (call sign - U5MIR).

In December 1990, Krikalev began preparations for participation in the ninth expedition to the Mir station. Soyuz TM-12 was launched on May 19, 1991 with commander Anatoly Pavlovich Artsebarsky, flight engineer Krikalev and British astronaut Helen Sharman. A week later, Sharman returned to Earth with the previous crew, while Krikalev and Artsebarsky remained on Mir. During the summer, they carried out six spacewalks, while conducting numerous scientific experiments, as well as maintenance work on the station.

Before his second flight in May 1991, Sergei Krikalev could not have imagined that the events on Earth would make him a "cosmic long-liver." On May 19, 1991, as part of the Soyuz TM-12 crew, he launched to the Mir orbital station. The crew of the space expedition successfully completed all flight tasks and was about to return home. But the events of August 1991 made a correction. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought with it a chain of changes that were devastating for our country. The budgets of space programs have been significantly reduced, while obligations to other countries have remained. According to the program of international cooperation, cosmonauts from Austria and Kazakhstan were supposed to go into space. It was planned that they would be in different crews. But at that moment there was no money for the creation of two spacecraft. It was decided to combine the flights, and one spacecraft went into orbit, in which everyone did not get a place to return to Earth.

Krikalev had to stay at the Mir orbital station until the next spacecraft arrived. Instead of the planned 5 months of work in space, he had to work in space orbit for almost another half a year (about a year in total). In general, our famous cosmonaut remained in space, because the rapidly disintegrating country could not provide the new Robinson with the opportunity to return. Krikalev started from the USSR, and returned in March 1992 to another country - Russia. For this flight Hero of the Soviet Union S.K. Krikalev was the first cosmonaut to receive the title of Hero of Russia with the Gold Star No. 1 medal.

In October 1992, NASA officials announced that a Russian cosmonaut with space flight experience would fly on an American space shuttle. Krikalev was one of two candidates sent by the Russian Space Agency to train with the STS-60 crew. Krikalev participated in the STS-60 flight, the first joint US-Russian flight on a space shuttle (Discovery shuttle). The STS-60 flight, which began on February 3, 1994, was the second with the Spacehab (Space Habitation Module) and the first flight with the WSF (Wake Shield Facility) device.

Having made 130 orbits and flying 5,486,215 kilometers, on February 11, 1994, the Discovery spacecraft landed at the Kennedy Space Center (Florida). Krikalev became the first Russian cosmonaut to fly on an American shuttle.

Sergey Krikalev works on the ISS, May 2005

During the flight, an emergency occurred with the American spacecraft - the life support electronics and the air duct failed. Despite the objections of the American side and the proposal to wait for a backup ship from Earth, our cosmonaut managed to restore and restart the shuttle instruments. This caused delight and extreme surprise on both the American and Russian sides.

After the STS-60 flight, Krikalev returned to his work in Russia. He was periodically sent on missions to the Lyndon Johnson Space Center in Houston to work in Mission Control with the Search and Rescue Service during joint US-Russian flights. In particular, he participated in ground support for STS-63, STS-71, STS-74, STS-76 flights.

Krikalev was appointed to the first crew of the International Space Station and was the first in December 1998 to be on a short-term mission to the ISS on the shuttle Endeavor.

Krikalev is known and admired all over the world (in some countries there are entire museum stands dedicated to our cosmonaut). In 1998, the American director Michael Bay made the film "Armageddon", where the Russian cosmonaut Colonel Lev Andropov was shown in a caricature form, living alone on the space station (insane, unshaven, drunk, in a hat with earflaps and a quilted jacket, hitting instruments, opens the fuel supply valve with a crowbar, blows up the Mir space station) - however, in the end, it is he who, by his actions, saves all American astronauts by hitting the computer of the "non-starting" shuttle with a wrench. It is not at all necessary that Krikalev was taken as the basis of the character, of course, but there are too many coincidences.

Today Sergey Krikalev works as the first deputy general director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering" for manned programs and is the most famous cosmonaut in the world, after Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin.

Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev watched the collapse of his country from space.

When, in May 1991, two Soviet cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Anatoly Artsebalsky, as well as British citizen cosmonaut Helen Sharman, went into space on a Soyuz launch vehicle, no one on the planet could even imagine that in just a couple of months the world would change , and a little later, astronautics will change.

The hero of our material, Sergei Krikalev, did not think about this either. The Soviet citizen did not know that when he returned home, his native city of Leningrad would be renamed St. Petersburg, and the huge country in which he had lived for 33 years would disintegrate into 15 independent states. In fact, Sergey Krikalev will become the last citizen of the USSR.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, chaos began in the domestic cosmonautics: the new state - Russia - had problems with the maintenance of the Mir orbital station, which it had "inherited", there were disagreements with the United States in terms of an agreement on sending astronauts from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Nevertheless, the two countries still managed to solve the problem of international cooperation in the field of astronautics: they signed a document that laid the foundation for the construction of the ISS.

Unlike Yuri Gagarin, Sergei Krikalev was not a folk hero. Most compatriots did not even know his name (many do not even know today). And the astronaut himself did not strive for general attention. By the end of the 1980s, he was already a master of sports in aerobatics and a member of the USSR national team.

When the command of the Soviet Union lost contact with its Salyut-7 space station in 1985, Sergei Krikalev was working on a ground team that was planned to be used for an orbital rescue mission. Participation in this group allowed Krikalev to be trained for space flight, and in 1988 he made his first flight to the new Mir station.

Helen Sharman, the first British female cosmonaut, who worked with Sergei Krikalev at the Mir station during his second flight on May 18, 1991, says:

“We had problems with the butt, my heart was beating so hard that I thought in a second it would jump out of my chest. After all, we could die. Sergei Krikalev remained confident and calm and even joked. Fortunately, everything went well and we met with the previous crew.”

Mir has earned a reputation as a dirty place. In addition to the fact that on board the station there was a smell of burnt garbage and fried meat, microorganisms were still hiding there, which constantly disabled the most important devices. A fire could break out at any moment.

However, for Sergei Krikalev, all this did not matter. “He always said that he felt at home in space”, - Helen Sharman later said in an interview. — “Sergei loved weightlessness, and he also flew like a bird: from one end of the station to the other without touching the walls, the floor”. Most of the astronauts whiled away the time reading books, and Krikalev looked out the window at the Earth.

Seven days after being in orbit, Sharmen returned home with the previous crew, while Krikalev and Artsebarsky remained on Mir. The cosmonauts were supposed to stay in orbit for five months, carry out six spacewalks, conduct scientific experiments and perform a number of maintenance works on the station.

But even condescendingly, Krikalev did not have the opportunity to see what was happening in his homeland. By the summer of 1991, the policy of the General Secretary of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev led to the collapse of the communist country and the emergence of new independent states. One of these countries was Kazakhstan, where the Baikonur cosmodrome was located. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the spaceport moved to this country's own, and in order not to go into conflict with Alma-Ata, Moscow offered the place of Krikalev's replacement on Mir to a Kazakh cosmonaut. It was not known exactly when the next ship would leave for the station.

As a result, Krikalev had to remain at the station indefinitely despite the health risks. The effects on the body of a long stay in space, even today, are poorly understood. However, it is known that in this case, the likelihood of cancer increases, muscle atrophy, bone loss, and problems with the immune system may occur. Krikalev was aware of the dangers and later shared his impression with the media.

“I thought, will I have the strength to survive until the end of the program? I doubted”

On this day in the morning, tanks appeared on Red Square in Moscow. There was a coup d'état, or, as it is also called in history, the August putsch. Gorbachev was on vacation at the time. People were told on the radio about Gorbachev's voluntary resignation for health reasons, but many citizens took to the streets to protest against this course of events.

A couple of days after the start of the putsch, the fate of the USSR was decided. Gradually, one after another, the countries seceded from the Soviet Union and declared their independence.

While at the Mir station, Krikalev contacted his wife Elena, and she informed him of everything that happened on the streets of Moscow. Since political instability led to economic collapse, Krikalev thought about the future of his family in the new state, because he then had a 9-month-old daughter, and the astronaut at that time received a meager salary.

“I tried not to talk to him about unpleasant things, they would upset him”, - Elena later said. — “And Sergei never touched on such topics”.

When the time of Krikalev's stay at the station came to an end, the Soyuz TM-13 spacecraft docked with Mir with three cosmonauts on board: Kazakhstani Toktar Aubakirov, Austrian Franz Fiebek and Ukrainian Alexander Volkov. The only person who had experience in space flights was a Ukrainian specialist. A week later, Franz Fiebeck, Anatoly Artsebarsky and a cosmonaut from Kazakhstan returned to Earth.

The more time passed, the greater the shortage of funds became. A crisis has begun in the new country. Some media reported that there was even talk in the government about selling the orbital station.

On Mir was a disposable Raduga capsule, which Sergey Krikalev and Alexander Volkov could use to return to Earth. But if they decided to return home ahead of time, the service and operation of the station would be completely terminated, the station would become uninhabited. Therefore, the astronauts stayed.

The last point in the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States was set on Catholic Christmas 1991 (December 25, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR). George W. Bush, although his country won the "Arms Race", was still worried. He was afraid for the cosmonautics of his country: the fate of the Mir station and the Baikonur cosmodrome, which were used by NASA, was unknown.

“The United States applauds and supports the historic freedom choices made by the new Commonwealth nations”, - George W. Bush told the press on December 25, 1991. — “We will build relations with the leaders of Russia and other republics with due respect and openness”.

In the countries of the former USSR, world-famous rocket scientists were no longer busy building rockets, but looking for a way to feed themselves and their families. States such as Iran, India and North Korea tried to lure these specialists into their service for big money. American officials needed to save the Russian cosmonautics. Behind the scenes, representatives from the US and Russia made deals, and America poured dollars into the space industry of the new country.

“I perfectly understood the position of Russia. I understood perfectly well what position I was in at an altitude of 350 km. We had to save our astronautics, so I stayed at the station”, - Sergey Krikalev said in an interview.

At the end of March 1992, Krikalev and Volkov returned home. The last citizen of the USSR and his partner landed near the city of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan. For almost 10 months of being in space (then it was a record), Krikalev circled the Earth about 5,000 times. A little later, in 2015, another Russian cosmonaut, Gennady Padalka, will set a new record for the longest human stay in orbit.

“It was nice to feel the ground under my feet”, - Sergey Krikalev recalls in one of his interviews. — “But space is always attractive.”

A few months after Krikalev's return, US President George W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin met in Washington to sign the document that launched the Shuttle-Mir program. This is a joint space program of the Russian Federation and America, within the framework of which Russian cosmonauts were delivered into orbit by Shuttles, and American astronauts carried out expeditions to the Mir orbital station.

Krikalev almost immediately returned to training and went to the United States to prepare for the first joint US-Russian flight on the Shuttle, which took place in 1994. Thus, Krikalev became the first Russian cosmonaut to fly on an American ship.

In one video interview, when asked if it was hard for him, the astronaut replied:

“An unusual environment, a completely different technique, colleagues are all foreigners, a foreign language ... But it was not easy for them either!”

Shortly thereafter, the United States and Russia joined forces in the implementation of a new project - the International Space Station. However, on the way to the construction of the ISS, the Russian authorities encountered some difficulties. “During the implementation of the terms of the agreement, Russia had financial difficulties, and she was ready to abandon the project”, says James Oberg, an expert in the space industry. — “The Clinton administration decided to support colleagues”.

The functional cargo module "Zarya", built with American money, became the first Russian element of the new station. In 1998, Krikalev and his US colleagues attached Zarya to the first American component of the ISS, the Unity module. Thus began the history of the International Space Station.

In 2001, the Mir orbital station was sunk in the Pacific Ocean. Reason: outdated hardware.

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His cosmic destiny is worthy of a thrilling novel or adventure film. In total, over six starts, he flew 803 days

The whole world knows him - he is almost as popular as the first astronaut Yuri Gagarin. Not only that Sergey Krikalev- a real space long-liver: on one of his trips to orbit, he had to spend a year in space instead of 5 months, and in total, during six launches, he “flew” 803 days. Krikalev is also a master of all trades, who impressed the American astronauts with his skills.

Sergei Krikalev was included in the 9th expedition, which launched from Earth to the Mir space station. The launch took place on May 19, 1991. On board were the commander of the ship - Anatoly Artsebarsky, flight engineer Sergey Krikalev and an astronaut from the UK Helen Sharman. A few days later, the British woman returned to Earth, she was taken by members of the previous crew.

Krikalev and Artsebarsky remained at the Mir station. They carried out serious scientific work, set up experiments, several spacewalks were carried out. This was Krikalev's second flight.

In August, when it was time to return home, shocking news arrived from Earth. The Soviet Union was no more. The budgets of space programs, which had previously spared no expense, were greatly reduced. However, the program of international space cooperation had to be carried out - the refusal of Russia's obligations to other countries was not allowed.

In order to somehow save money, instead of two ships - with crews from Kazakhstan and Austria - one was sent into orbit, combining the crews. When returning in this ship, there was not enough space for Krikalev. The astronaut had to stay and wait for the next ship to arrive. This happened only six months later. Altogether Sergei Krikalev spent almost a year in space. The country failed to ensure his return in time. And when he finally returned in March 1992, he ended up in another country - not the one he left a year ago ...

For this long flight, Sergei Krikalev, already a Hero of the Soviet Union by that time, received the honorary title of Hero of Russia and the Gold Star medal. He is one of the few who holds both of these titles at the same time.

Russian "Kulibin"

Krikalev's career continued. In the fall of 1992, it was decided to include him in the US-Russian space expedition. He was the first Russian to fly with the Americans on a shuttle. The expedition started on February 3, 1994. The Discovery shuttle made 130 orbits around the Earth and landed in Florida on February 11, 1994.

During the flight, an emergency situation arose. The electronic life support system suddenly failed, and then the air duct failed. The Americans, strictly following the instructions received, reported the incident to Earth and began to wait for instructions.

Everyone was very nervous. Condensate began to accumulate in the air ducts, it slowly froze, it was necessary to urgently do something, but the Earth could not make a decision. Krikalev at first silently watched - after all, he was part of the American crew on the sidelines. When the situation approached critical, the Americans asked him: “What would you do?” Our cosmonaut shrugged his shoulders and replied: "I would fix it."

And fixed it. Without waiting for instructions from Houston. The astronauts were against it - they wanted to wait for help to come from Earth. But Sergei Krikalev did his own thing: he found the cause of the malfunction, restored and restarted the shuttle's complex instruments.

His decisive and professional actions were the cause of extreme surprise and admiration of the Americans: it would never have occurred to anyone that it was possible, without relying on help from the Mission Control Center, to fix the breakdown on their own.

Russian cosmonaut from "Armageddon"

The style of work of Sergey Krikalev, as well as his decisive character, made an indelible impression on the Americans - however, as well as on everyone else, when this became known. It is assumed that the prototype of the Russian cosmonaut Lev Andropov from the movie Michael Bay"Armageddon" to some extent became exactly Krikalev.

Of course, the image of Lev Andropov turned out to be grotesque and caricatured - a Russian cosmonaut, flying alone in a spaceship, wears a padded jacket and earflaps, is constantly drunk and unshaven, gives the impression of being insane, because he hits instruments with iron, opens the fuel supply system with a crowbar, and then and completely blows up the station. Ultimately, however, it is Andropov who saves the American astronauts - by tapping the shuttle's computer with a wrench, and thereby turning it on.

Today's work of Sergei Krikalev takes place on Earth. He is the first deputy general director of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering for manned programs. On August 27, 2018, he will turn 60 years old.