On May 18 , 1991 , cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev set out Earth for the Soviet space place Mir . While he was up there , the country that had sent him ceased to survive , make Krikalev – for a few calendar month at least – the " last Soviet citizen " .
Krikalev produce up in Leningrad ( which he watch become St Petersburg from space ) and obtain a mechanical engineering stage before going to work as a rocket engineer at NPO Energia , where , among other project , he exploit as part of the rescue team when the Salyut 7 space stationfailed in 1985 . in brief thereafter , he was selected as a cosmonaut , and spent year in training , working on everything from resort of the space station to conducting spacewalks .
unluckily , his training did n’t incorporate what to do when you are left in space with no prescribed space organization ( or country ) , which on his 1991 mission aboard Mir would have been much more utile .
The misstep started off bad . As the spacecraft carrying Krikalev and two others set about Mir the targeting system failed , meaning Krikalev had to dock manually , with any haywire move being potentially fateful . Keeping a cool head , he docked and the astronaut – plus the first British astronautHelen Sharman – climb on panel .
Krikalev loved being on Mir , which was incredibly fortunate . As well as seeing Earth from the take in larboard , he loved " the sensation of exemption which you experience in lightness , " hetold The Guardianin 2015 . " [ Y]ou feel like a razz that is able-bodied to fly ! "
He performed his duties as normal , while below the Soviet Union commence to strain further and break through . News did reach them on Mir , but it was thin .
" It was a long process and we were getting the news , not all at once , but we try about the referendum , for example,“Krikalev explained . " I was doing my job and was more worried about those on the ground – our families and friends – we had everything we require ! "
Soon , even the infinite post was strike by the politics run on 358 klick ( 222 knot ) below . With Kazakhstan ( among others ) push for independence , Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachevannouncedthat a Kazakh cosmonaut would replace Krikalev once his military mission was over , so as to gruntle the governing . However , since no one in Kazakhstan was trained as a astronaut , this would mean Krikalev would have to remain in space a piddling while longer .
Though not as much was know about theeffects of extended stays in spacethen , Krikalev was aware of some of the risk of infection of staying on Mir for so long .
“ Do I have enough metier ? Will I be capable to readapt for this longer stay to complete the program ? " Krikalev posed in an consultation with Russian mediareports HistoryNet . " Naturally , at one detail I had my doubts . ”
In October , several of his colleagues departed at the ending of their four - month missionary work . With nobody else take enough experience to remain on the station alone , and the Soviets ineffectual to afford to send another astronaut , Krikalev stayed up there to keep Mir operate , circle Earth for much longer than he ’d anticipated .
Small and claustrophobic as well as gamy above Earth , it probably was n’t the well place to be with very little society . It was invariably describe as a " death trap " that was " hold together by baling wire , channel tape recording , and healthy Lucy in the sky with diamonds of WD-40 , " as well as " abandoned ship " and a " lemon " . In terminus of thing you ’d rather be stranded in , a derelict oiled - up lemon is n’t on the nose top of the listing .
Then , on December 25 , 1991 , the Soviet Union finally crack . With the crash , there was even less money for a mission that would relieve Krikalev of his duty . If all else conk out , there was the Soyuz capsule that could be used to escape , though this would mean sacrificing the blank post . With nobody to run and vivify it , it would be the death of Mir .
“ The unassailable parameter was economic because this allows them to carry through resource here , ” Krikalevsaid while still on Mir . “ They say it ’s ruffianly for me — not really undecomposed for my health . But now the land is in such difficulty , the fortune to save money must be top priority . ”
Deals were shine between America and Russia , gaining the financial backing need to send more cosmonaut and spaceman into orbit . Three month afterwards on March 25 , having spent a then - record311 consecutive twenty-four hours in space , Krikalev finally returned to Earth . When he left , he had been a citizen of a state that now no longer exist , earning him the moniker the " last Soviet citizen " .
Despite pass a raft more time in outer space than he ’d intended , he wentstraight back to trainingupon his homecoming , and ended up time up803 daylight in place , conk out previous records for time spend above the Earth . In calculations byUniverse Today , thanks to relativity and sentence dilation , he has traveled into the future by a thumping 0.2 second .
He went into place as a Soviet citizen and came down in a unlike state , in a different clip to everyone else around him .
