Cosmonaut's Snowman Mascot will act as Zero-G Doll Detector

A small plush doll of Disney's "Frozen" snowman Olaf will signal the Soyuz TMA-15M crew when they have reached space after launching on Nov. 23, 2014. 

Credit: NASA/RSC Energia

When Shkaplerov and his crewmates, NASA astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, lift off for the International Space Station on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 23), they will have with them a small plush doll of the Disney animated character "Olaf."

"It is going to be the snowman from 'Frozen,'" Shkaplerov told reporters at a pre-flight press conference in Star City, Russia.

"My youngest daughter is eight years old and she selected that as a talisman."

More than just a charm or mascot, the doll, suspended from a cord in the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft, will serve as the flight's zero-g indicator.

When the crew enters Earth orbit, Olaf will (to borrow another "Frozen" song line) "let it go" and float, signaling Shkaplerov, Virts, and Cristoforetti that they are in space.

"This guy will be flying with me, [Anton and Samantha]," Virts wrote on Twitter, sharing a photo of the small stuffed snowman.

The three crewmembers and their carrot nosed companion are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday at 4:01 p.m. EST (2101 GMT or 3:01 a.m. local Kazakh time, Nov. 24).

Six hours and four orbits of the Earth later, they are expected to arrive at the station, where Shkaplerov, Virts, and Cristoforetti will join the outpost's Expedition 42 crew before taking the lead for Expedition 43.

Olaf, and his TMA-15M crewmates, will return to Earth in mid-May 2015.

Three-man multinational ISS crew returns to Earth - Video

Expedition 41 Commander Max Suraev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), NASA Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman and Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency landed safely on the steppe of Kazakhstan near the town of Arkalyk on Nov. 10, Kazakh time, after bidding farewell to the Expedition 42 crew members and undocking their Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft from the Rassvet module on the International Space Station.

Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency (L), Max Suraev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (C), and NASA's Reid Wiseman (R) sit in chairs outside the Soyuz TMA-13M capsule just minutes after they landed in Kazakhstan November 10, 2014

A three-man multinational crew of astronauts returned to Earth Monday aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, after spending 165 days working together at the International Space Station, NASA said.

ISS commander, Russia's Max Suraev, his American colleague Reid Wiseman and German Alexander Gerst from the European Space Agency (ESA) touched down at 10:58 pm Sunday (0358 GMT Monday).

The three men smiled broadly from reclining chairs as medical personnel tended to them amid patches of snow on the barren steppe just northeast of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, where they landed.

Surayev flashed a V for victory sign while Wiseman pumped his fist as they waited to regain their land legs after nearly half a year of weightlessness.

"Everything was in the spirit of cooperation, so I think that everybody needs to learn and follow the example of the ISS crew members," Surayev said.

"Let's try to live together side by side. This is the most important thing," he added.

While in space the crew traveled more than 70 million miles (112.7 million kilometers), NASA said.

The "bulls-eye" touchdown was executed amid low clouds and fog "following a flawless descent back into the atmosphere," according to NASA TV.

The spacecraft was pulled onto its side by its parachute upon arrival, which NASA TV added was not uncommon.

The US space agency said the "departure of Wiseman, Gerst and Surayev marks the end of Expedition 41," referring to their mission to the ISS to carry out equipment repairs, maintenance and experiments.

Surayev was on his second long ISS mission, having now spent a total of 334 days in space, while the other two astronauts were on their first trip.

The three men were pictured smiling and with their arms around each other before hitching the ride back home, undocking from ISS at 7:31 pm (0031 GMT).

Another three-person crew remains on the ISS to "continue research and maintenance aboard the station" and will be joined by three more astronauts who launch from Kazakhstan on November 23, NASA said.

NASA lost its ability to reach the space station when the shuttle program ended in 2011 after 30 years.

The US space agency has helped fund private companies in a push to restore US access to the ISS.

In the meantime, the world's astronauts must rely on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to get to the ISS and back, at a cost of $70 million per seat.

There are 15 country participants in the ISS program, though the US and Russia contribute the lion's share of funds for the project.

Anatoly Berezovoy Salyut Space Station Commander, Dies at 72

Cosmonaut Anatoly Berezovoy, who in 1982 spent 211 days working aboard the Russian space station Salyut 7, died Sept. 20, 2014. He was 72.

Credit: Roscosmos (Russian Federal Space Agency)

Soviet-era cosmonaut Anatoly Berezovoy, who led the first expedition on board Russia's final Salyut space station, died Saturday (Sept. 20). He was 72.

"[Anatoly Berezovoy] was a member of a legendary generation of cosmonauts, a man of great will and courage, [and] a top-class professional who did so much for the development of cosmonautics and major research projects," said Oleg Ostapenko, the chief of the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos.

"His memory will live on forever in the hearts of those who knew and loved [him]."

Chosen to be a cosmonaut in April 1970, Anatoly Berezovoy made his first and only spaceflight 12 years later as commander of the Soyuz T-5 mission to the Salyut 7 space station.

Launched on May 13, 1982, Anatoly Berezovoy and flight engineer Valentin Lebedev spent a then-record 211 days aboard the orbiting outpost, which was the last of its type before the launch of the Mir space station in 1986.

The Soviet-era Salyut 7 space station is seen in this photo by cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz T-13 mission in 1985.

Credit: Roscosmos (Russian Federal Space Agency)

During his expedition, which was flown under the call sign "Elbrus," Anatoly Berezovoy and Valentin Lebedev operated cameras and a telescope, materials processing furnace, and plant growth chamber.

The two crewmates also deployed a small radio communications satellite, which the Soviet Union claimed as the world's first satellite to be deployed from a manned spacecraft (NASA's space shuttle Columbia would launch with two communication satellites on the STS-5 mission later that same year).

Anatoly Berezovoy and Valentin Lebedev also made a two-hour, 33-minute spacewalk on July 30, 1982, to retrieve material exposure samples and replace equipment.

The two cosmonauts were visited by four robotic resupply ships and two crews.

Among Anatoly Berezovoy's and Valentin Lebedev's temporary crew members were the first French citizen to fly in space, Jean-Loup Chrétien, and the second woman in space, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, as well as Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Alexander Ivanchenkov, Leonid Popov and Alexander Serebrov.

Anatoly Berezovoy and Lebedev returned to Earth from the Salyut 7 space station on Dec. 10, 1972 on board the Soyuz T-7 spacecraft.

Touching down in heavy snow and on uneven land, which caused their capsule to roll down a slope, the two cosmonauts, already weak from being in space for so long, spent the night with recovery personnel, waiting for a helicopter to come the next day.

In total, Anatoly Berezovoy logged 211 days, 9 hours, 4 minutes in space.

Although he served as a back-up commander for several other Soyuz flights, Anatoly Berezovoy did not fly again. He retired from the cosmonaut corps in October 1992 after suffering injuries in an armed robbery.

Anatoly Nikolayevich Berezovoy was born April 11, 1942, to a Ukrainian family in the Russian village of Enem. He attended the A.F. Masnikovin military flying school, where he graduated in 1965.

During his time on Salyut 7, Berezovoy penned a 92-page diary, in which he recorded his space experiences for his wife, Lidia Grigorievna, and their two children, Sergei and Tatiana (then 13 and 8 years old, respectively).

"For a long time I've been trying to write about everything that has moved me during these days passed in flight," Berezovoy wrote to begin the journal on June 22, 1982, a month into his seven-month stay, according to spacediary.info, which has offered the original hand-written diary for sale. "There is a lot of work to be done."

After leaving the cosmonaut corps, Anatoly Berezovoy served as vice president of the Cosmonautics Federation of Russia from 1992 to 1999.

In 1995, he campaigned for a seat in Russia's parliament representing the Republic of Adygea, but lost in the election.

Anatoly Berezovoy was honored as a Hero of the Soviet Union and bestowed the Order of Lenin for his service to his country as a cosmonaut.

Russian and American astronauts: ISS Crew return to Earth

Russian doctors help US NASA astronaut Steven Swanson after he returned with two Russian cosmonauts from the International Space Station, near the Kazakhstan city of Zhezkazgan on September 11, 2014

Credit: ROCOSMOS

Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut returned to Earth on Thursday after spending more than six months working together aboard the International Space Station, as tensions between their countries soared over the Ukraine crisis.

Alex Skvortsov

American Steven Swanson and Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev, who left on March 26, landed in the Kazakh steppe at 0223 GMT aboard a Soyuz capsule, the Russian space agency Roscosmos and NASA said in joint statements.

The trio, who worked together in cramped quarters aboard the ISS, smiled broadly, gave thumbs up signs and waved in the sunshine as they spent their first minutes back on the planet.

The three spent a total of "169 days of science and technology research in space, including a record 82 hours of research in a single week" in July, NASA said in a statement.

The crew orbited the Earth more than 2,700 times and travelled more than 71.7 million miles, NASA said.

"One of several key research focus areas during Expedition 40 was human health management for long duration space travel as NASA and Roscosmos prepare for two crew members to spend one year aboard the orbiting laboratory in 2015," it said.

The ISS is now being commanded by Russian Cosmonaut Max Suraev, with crewmates Reid Wiseman of NASA and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency.

Three new crew members, Barry Wilmore of NASA and Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova of Roscosmos, are due to arrive in two weeks, blasting off from Kazakhstan on September 25.

Elena Serova is the first Russian female cosmonaut to serve as an ISS crew member.

Amid the political tensions in Ukraine, NASA announced, in April, that it was cutting space cooperation with Russia over Moscow's Ukraine policies, but that work at the space station would not be affected.

Use of the space station depends very much on Russia, which is the only country with the capability of reliably transporting astronauts and cosmonauts to and from the facility.

The ISS was launched in 1998 as an international effort and has been a symbol of cooperation, particularly between the US (NASA), Russia (ROCOSMOS), Europe (ESA) and Japan (JAXA).

Aerial shot of the Expedition 40 Soyuz TMA-12M landing site.

Credit: ROCOSMOS 

Preparations for Expedition 40/41 Launch to International Space Station

Image Credit: NASA

Three new Expedition 40/41 crew members are counting down to their May 28, 2014 (U.S. time) launch to the orbital laboratory.

The trio is in its crew quarters at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, finalizing mission preparations.

Soyuz Commander and cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and European astronaut Alexander Gerst will launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft at 3:57 p.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Alexander Gerst

They are scheduled to dock to Rassvet after just four orbits at 9:48 p.m. returning the space station to its full complement of six crew members.

Pictured here, Wiseman gives the thumbs up during launch preparations on May 19 in Kazakhstan.

Vozvrashchayemi Apparat (VA): Soviet-era space capsule sells for 1 Million Euros

A Soviet-era space capsule that carried three cosmonauts into space in the 1970s fetched a million euros at auction on Wednesday.

The capsule went to an unidentified European buyer after bidding by telephone, Christine de Schaetzen, who heads German auction house Lempertz, told reporters after the first auction of its kind in Europe.

The historic piece dating back to the Soviet-US space race during the Cold War had been estimated at between one and two million dollars (700 to 1.4 million euros).

A British company first bought the 2.2-metre-high (seven feet) capsule, which was also used for a short unmanned mission in 1978 and then for training.

It was extensively restored with all trace removed of the searing burn marks it picked up on re-entry to the earth's atmosphere and re-painted to a pristine white.

The Vozvrashchayemi Apparat (VA) space capsule on display in Lempertz’s Brussels branch 

Image Courtesy Lempertz

Lempertz said it organised the sale to mark the opening of new offices in Brussels, aiming to attract attention with the highly unusual lot, known as Vozvrashchayemi Apparat (VA), or "re-entry capsule" in Russian.

Two more recent space suits also went under the hammer. One worn by anglo-American astronaut Michael Foale to reach the ISS international space station aboard a Soyuz in 2003 sold for 70,000 euros.

The other, used by cosmonaut Alexander Kalery for a flight to the MIR station in 1996, fetched 63,000 euros.

Happy Anniversary Yuri! Celebration of Yuri Gagarin's Epic Trip

On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (left, on the way to the launch pad) made the first human spaceflight, a 108-minute orbital journey in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. 

Newspapers like The Huntsville Times (right) trumpeted Gagarin's accomplishment.

Credit: NASA

It was 53 years ago today on April 12, 1961 when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin launched into space aboard his Soviet Vostok 1 and ushered in an era of space travel that continues to this today.

Russian Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin: Humankind should explore the Solar System and beyond

Alexander Misurkin

Alexander Misurkin. Image courtesy RIA Novosti and Ramil Sitdikov.

Russian astronaut Alexander Misurkin thinks humankind should not stop at the exploration of near-Earth space but rather go further in the universe, the explorer told RIA Novosti Tuesday.

"I think, we shouldn't limit ourselves to exploring the Earth's orbit. I, personally, would be interested in going to the outer space, exploring the asteroids, the Moon, and Mars. It's a natural development for me, we have no right to stop at the orbit of our planet," Misurkin said.

Misurkin was part of the international space station crew coming back to Earth in September 2013.

The astronauts carried out 45 scientific research tasks in the 166 days they spent on board of the station.

Fyodor Yurchikhin

Alexander Misurkin and Fyodor Yurchikhin went into open space working there for 7,5 hours hitting record time for a Russian-made spacesuit.

"Coming back to the orbit is a logical development, because astronaut training is extremely expensive for just one flight," he said expressing his willingness to participate in another space expedition.

Misurkin thinks that US sanctions on Russia can deal a heavy blow to space cooperation.

"I am more than sure that great achievements in space require collaborative work, there is no alternative here. I really hope this doesn't happen and we continue cooperation all the while involving more and more countries in it," the astronaut said.

Soyuz cosmonaut Valery Kubasov dies at 79

Soviet cosmonaut Valery Kubasov is seen floating in space during the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project first joint American-Soviet mission. Kubsaov died on Feb. 19, 2014.

Credit: NASA

Soviet cosmonaut Valery Kubasov, who took part in the first docking of a US Apollo spacecraft with a Soviet Soyuz, has died aged 79, the Russian spacecraft corporation said Thursday.

Valery Kubasov was one of two crewmembers of the Soyuz 19 spacecraft that docked with the US Apollo spacecraft on July 17, 1975, marking both a technical breakthrough and a rare relaxation in Cold War tensions.

He died suddenly on Wednesday after a short illness, the Russian space corporation RKK Energiya said in a statement on its website.

Alexei Leonov

The historic docking saw Soyuz commander Alexei Leonov shake hands with American astronaut Thomas Stafford, a gesture that was watched on television around the world.

Leonov said that when the US astronauts crossed into the hatch, they saw an inscription from Shakespeare: "Brave new world that has such people in it." The teams then worked together for two days.

Four original crewmembers including Kubasov, who was the flight engineer, met in Moscow in 2010 to mark the 35th anniversary of the docking.

Kubasov recalled that the US crewmembers had surprised the Soviet cosmonauts by connecting them by radio with US President Gerald Ford who spoke to both of them, Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily reported.

The docking of the two crafts tested out pioneering technology that paved the way for the International Space Station.

Kubasov was twice decorated as a Hero of the Soviet Union, the country's top honour.

After training at Moscow's aviation institute, he began working as an engineer involved in spaceship construction before becoming a cosmonaut in 1966.

On his first space flight in 1969, he was the first ever to experiment with welding in open space. The Soyuz mission was his second space flight.

His third and last space flight was a 1980 mission to a Soviet orbital space station, Salyut 6.

Kubasov was a "strong personality, a man out of the ordinary," said the RKK Energiya statement.

He was a "brave instructor, cosmonaut and test pilot who made a significant contribution to studying space and learning the secrets of the Universe."

Valery Kubasov was married to Lyudmila Kurovskaya, with whom he had a daughter, Ekaterina, and son, Dmitry.

Read more about Valery Kubasov here

Cosmonaut Elena Serova to become 4th Russian Woman in Space

Cosmonaut Elena Serova salutes her female predecessors that paved her way to becoming a cosmonaut. 

She will become the first Russian woman in space since Yelena Kondakova's STS-84 mission in May 1997.

Credit: NASA

Yelena Serova: First Russian ISS Cosmonaut in Two decades

Yelena Serova will spend six months at the ISS.

Russia will send a female cosmonaut into space for the first time in two decades next year, an official at Russia's Star City space training centre said Wednesday.

Yelena Serova, 36 and a professional cosmonaut, "is getting ready for a space flight in the second half of 2014," said Alexei Temerov, an official at Russia's Star City space training centre.

Russia will this year celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first woman's trip to space.

The feat was accomplished by Valentina Tereshkova on June 16, 1963, and was followed by that of another Soviet cosmonaut, Svetlana Savitskaya, who became the first woman to do a space walk.

But while NASA regularly sends female astronauts to work at the International Space Station (ISS), there has been only one Russian woman to fly to space since the early 1980s, Yelena Kondakova.

Kondakova spent five months in space on the since-retired Mir station in 1994-1995. She also travelled aboard the US Space Shuttle in 1997.

Yelena Serova will spend six months at the ISS, Temerov said.

"Her work programme at the ISS will not be anything extraordinary. It will be the usual research programme. A space walk is not planned," he added.

A second woman currently in training, 28-year-old Anna Kikina, has joined the cosmonaut program after becoming one of eight people selected in last year's recruitment drive.

ISS Expedition 37 Crew members in Kibo lab

Expedition 37 crew members pose for an inflight crew portrait in the Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station. 

Pictured (clockwise from lower left) are Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, commander; Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryazanskiy, NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins, all flight engineers.

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano has been on board the ISS since May 2013. Read more about the Volare Mission in his blog: blogs.esa.int/luca-parmitano

NASA ISS Astronaut Karen Nyberg honours Valentina Tereshkova, First Woman in Space - Video

Current ISS crewmember Karen LuJean Nyberg recorded a special message to commemorate the 50th anniversary of cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's June 13th 1963 space flight. 

Credit: NASA

First woman in space ready for 'one-way flight to Mars'

Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova is seen during a training session aboard a Vostok spacecraft simulator on January 17, 1964.

Tereshkova, the first woman to go to space, said on Friday she was ready to score another coup and fly to Mars, even if it would be just a one-way trip.

Russia's Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to go to space, said on Friday she was ready to score another coup and fly to Mars, even if it would be just a one-way trip.

"Mars is my favourite planet," the 76-year old told a news conference in Zvyozdny Gorodok (Star City) outside Moscow, home to a cosmonaut training centre.

Tereshkova, who became a national heroine at the tender age of 26 when she made a solo space flight in 1963, said she had been part of the group who studied the possibility of going to the Red Planet.

"But we know the human limits and for us this remains a dream. Most likely the first flight will be one way. But I am ready," she said.

Under the call sign Chaika (Seagull), Tereshkova during her three-day mission circled the Earth 48 times, her flight becoming a major propaganda coup for the Soviet Union.

On June 16, Russia will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Tereshkova's historic flight.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to go to space.

Oldest EVA Spacewalker: Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov (59)

Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov floats outside the International Space Station near the end of a 6.5-hour spacewalk on April 19, 2013. 

Vinogradov, 59, became the world's oldest spacewalker during a spacewalk that was only marred by the last-minute loss of an experiment. 

CREDIT: NASA TV

Pavel Vinogradov, a veteran cosmonaut, took his seventh cosmic excursion in 16 years during Friday's spacewalk.

He donned a bulky Russian Orlan-MK spacesuit and left the confines of the International Space Station just after 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) to upgrade the orbiting lab with new experiments.

Vinogradov paired up with 41-year-old fellow cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, a first-time spacewalker but second-generation cosmonaut.

Romanenko's father, former cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko, logged more than 10 spacewalking hours in his career, including long stay durations in the Soyuz MIR Spacestation, a predecessor of the ISS.

The spacewalkers were at times lighthearted during the more-than-six-hour job.

"Nobody took a photo of me," Romanenko jokingly protested after heaing they used a camera to take pictures outside the lab. "How can it be like that? Please take a photo of me, Pavel."

In the last task of the spacewalk, Vinogradov was attempting to retrieve a panel from the Russian materials exposure experiment called Vinoslivost, but the panel flew out of his grasp before he had a chance to tether it. The cosmonauts were unable to recover the piece.

Flight controllers do not believe the 6.5-pound (3-kg) panel, which measured 18 inches by 12 inches (45 cm by 30 cm), hit any part of the space station.

NASA announcers noted that there is another Vinoslivost panel still attached to the space station that will be retrieved in a future spacewalk, so all is not lost from the experiment.

Vinogradov and Romanenko's primary objective was to install a new Russian experiment called Obstanovka, which will measure charged particles interact with a variety of materials kept outside of the space station.

Obstanovka could offer scientists new insights about how space weather affects the ionosphere, an active region of the Earth's atmosphere, NASA officials explained in a spacewalk description.

The pair also successfully retrieved a Biorisk canister, an experiment that measures the effects of bacteria and fungus on spacecraft materials, and prepared the outpost for the arrival of a robotic cargo ship later this year.

The spacewalkers are two members of the six-man Expedition 35 crew currently living aboard the International Space Station.

The others are Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, and NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Chris Cassidy.

This was the 167th spacewalk dedicated to the construction and upkeep of the International Space Station, which was built by five different space agencies representing 15 countries.

ESA Astronaut André Kuiper's Video tour inside ATV-3 Edoardo Amaldi

ESA astronaut André Kuipers and cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko open the hatch and start unloading ESA’s supply ship Automated Transfer Vehicle ‘Edoardo Amaldi’ in this video produced by ESA TV.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle docked with the International Space Station on 29 March 2012 delivering around two tonnes of dry cargo, 285 kg of water and more than three tonnes of propellants.

Yuri Gagarin: Anniversary of First Man in Orbit

A municipal worker washes the face of the 70-metre high monument to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, at Gagarin Square in Moscow

Picture: ANDREY SMIRNOV/AFP/Getty Images

Yuri Gagarin's First Orbit of Earth - Video film

The real time recreation of humanity's first human space flight by Russia's Yuri Gagarin in a Soyuz rocket, on 12 April 1961.

This film was created to celebrate our first footsteps into the cosmos.

Click on the Image to visit the First Orbit site and play the whole film.

Expedition 27 Soyuz Crew Pre-Launch

Expedition 27 crew members from top, Russian Flight Engineer Andrei Borisenko, NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan, and Soyuz Commander Alexandr Samokutyaev wave farewell from the bottom of the Soyuz rocket prior to their launch to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, April 5, 2011.

The Soyuz, which has been dubbed “Gagarin”, is launching one week shy of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Yuri Gagarin from the same launch pad in Baikonur on April 12, 1961 to become the first human to fly in space.

Photo Credit (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Yuri Gagarin: Former Cosmonaut Offers First-Hand Account Of His Death

Yuri Gagarin 50 Year Tribute

Russian pilot and cosmonaut Vladimir Aksyonov has offered the most plausible account to date of the crash of the fighter jet that killed Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, and Vladimir Seryogin, a regimental commander at the cosmonaut training center where Gagarin was enrolled.

Aksyonov, a two-time Hero of the Soviet Union, was with Gagarin at a pre-flight medical exam on March 27, 1968, the day of the crash. He flew in a different plane on that fateful day.

Gagarin's Capsule - Vostok-1

Aksyonov presents his unofficial version of events in his book "Along the Roads of Trial", which has just been released in a limited printing.

Gagarin and Aksyonov saw the same doctor before boarding different planes

Outside the Polbin Higher Air Force School, where Gagarin was enrolled from 1955 to 1957, stands a concrete pedestal supporting the MiG-15 jet in which the world's first cosmonaut learned to fly.

"The first person to offer this version of the crash was Hero of the Soviet Union Sergei Anokhin, an experienced test pilot, and a member of the commission that investigated the disaster," Aksyonov told me.

"It was soon after the crash. He told me first not only because we were friends and knew each other so well that could finish each other's sentences, but also perhaps because on that tragic day I shared the same changing room with Gagarin, got my pre-flight medical clearance from the same doctor and was briefed about the weather by the same officer."

Aksyonov says that the crews then went to their separate aircraft, with Yury Gagarin assigned to fly in a MiG-15 with Vladimir Seryogin, and Aksyonov assigned to a plane conducting training in zero-gravity conditions.

Bad weather a factor
Aksyonov says that weather conditions on that day were difficult but still within the acceptable range: "The cloud cover was far from standard. Its lower edge was at an altitude of 600 meters. Then there was a solid mass of clouds up to 4,000 meters, with few openings. Beyond that there were no clouds; the sky was clear and visibility was very good. We were even shown photos of the upper edge taken by a weather plane."

Vladimir Aksyonov

Gagarin's last words
Aksyonov says that Gagarin's last message from the jet was that they had completed their mission to reach the upper edge of the cloud cover, at an altitude of 4,000 meters.

They were flying at a low speed but at a great altitude. Their next maneuver was to make a rapid descent and prepare for a dive through the cloud cover.

Minutes before Gagarin's death
"A descent can be performed in several ways," Aksyonov said. "There is the downward spiral with several rotations, or you can perform a half-roll and then pull out of the steep descent in the direction of the airfield. 

The second method - a quick descent with a half-roll - is used by pilots who want to finish their assignment quickly to allow other pilots to use the plane. Cosmonaut Yevgeny Khrunov was scheduled to fly on that day, and this is why Gagarin and Seryogin opted for for the fast dive."

Vladimir Aksyonov

Aksyonov believes that Gagarin and Seryogin were two to three seconds late in pulling out of the dive after the half-roll, causing them to end up in the thick cloud layer. But there could have been other factors as well: the greater altitude and density of the cloud cover at the point of entry compared with the general level, or the inadequate height at which the MiG-15 started the half-roll.

Causes of the tragedy in Aksyonov's account
"So the causes of the crash could have been bad weather, with the upper edge of the cloud cover 4 kilometers up, and the lower edge at a mere 600 meters," Aksyonov said. "There was also the pilots' failure (primarily Seryogin's) to judge the weather correctly, and also the sudden entry into the unbroken cloud layer at a high speed while diving, which rendered the pilots unable to fly steady using the instruments. Another cause of the crash was the inadequate height between the lower cloud edge and the point at which the pilots pulled out."

Soviet MiG-15 UTI

Entering tailspin
The aircraft unexpectedly found itself in dense clouds, travelling at high speeds, with the attitude gauges - primarily the bank and pitch indicator - behaving erratically. In these conditions, the plane will most likely enter a deep downward spiral, or, if they pilot is making energetic attempts to pull up, enter into a rapid tailspin. 

According to official findings, Gagarin and Seryogin's aircraft emerged from the clouds nearly vertical, and hurtled towards the ground at a speed of 700 kilometers per hour. At this speed, the MiG-15 took three seconds to fall the remaining 600 meters to the ground.

Gagarin and Seryogin did not try to eject   
"The fact that Gagarin and Seryogin did not try to eject themselves, or to establish radio contact with the ground, can be explained by their sudden entry into the cloud cover," Aksyonov said. "Both pilots were struggling to regain control of the aircraft. If the emergency had been caused by some outside factor, the pilots would have immediately reported it by radio."

He also noted the difficulty of piloting a heavy MiG-15 UTI fighter in a vertical position.

"At the lower point of any aerial figure or half-roll, aircraft speeds are at their highest - about 700 kilometers an hour," Aksyonov said. "So it is quite possible for a MiG-15 in rapid descent to overshoot the target altitude by a few hundred meters or even a kilometer."

Official report on Gagarin's death still classified
The government commission that investigated the circumstances of Gagarin's death was never able to pinpoint the true cause of the tragedy. Its report remains classified.

According to the official version of events, due to a change in air conditions (the commission did not specify what change) the crew performed a sharp maneuver and entered into a tailspin. The pilots, despite their efforts to right the plane, crashed to the ground and died. No equipment failures or malfunctions were reported. An analysis of the pilots' remains and blood revealed no traces of foreign substances.

Aksyonov rejects rumors that the pilots were drunk
The secrecy surrounding the accident has given rise to rumors and conspiracy theories. One widely repeated story is that Gagarin and Seryogin each drank a glass of vodka before flying. Official sources reject this claim, citing the fact that investigators found no alcohol in the pilots' blood. Aksyonov agrees with the official explanation on this point.

"That day was very important for Yury Gagarin, and everyone who knew the details and the pilots personally find speculation that Gagarin and Seryogin were drunk during flight preposterous," Aksyonov said.