Mukhin Oleg Petrovich Federation of Cosmonautics biography. Space as a premonition. And here’s a question, again about museums: Do you somehow help them replenish exhibits, set up new exhibitions, or do they run on their own?

Do you have a magazine for airline passengers? - Oleg Petrovich Mukhin, vice-president of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation, asked me. - By the way, in my youth I flew like a hare! I was eighteen years old then...

Dossier
Oleg Petrovich Mukhin, vice-president of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation and First Vice-President of the North-Western Interregional Public Organization of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation. Born on January 12, 1944 in Leningrad. Author of more than 30 scientific papers. Veteran of Russian cosmonautics.

My mother’s friend met with the flight engineer of the TU-104 aircraft,” continues Oleg Petrovich. - At that time, there was a particularly reverent attitude towards aviation, and I was also introduced to it. I was just dreaming of flying somewhere, and as soon as I found out that there was such an opportunity, I asked to go to Moscow with him. It was a different time then - there were no terrorists and plane hijackings, there were normal conditions for the existence of the country and people’s attitudes. Therefore, getting into the cockpit with the crew was much easier than it is now. We calmly passed through security, climbed into the cockpit, and they put me in the navigator’s seat. And then they brought passengers. This is an unforgettable sight - flying in the cockpit of a ship! You can't compare it to the feeling when you're sitting in a salon. When you see all the movements of the helm and the throttle, you feel the behavior of the plane, as if you were flying it yourself!

- You probably have a lot of friends in aviation? After all, aviation and astronautics are very close areas.
- Yes, I have a lot of friends in aviation. At one time, when I worked as a guide at the Museum of Cosmonautics, our head informed me about the vacancy of a secretary in the Section of the History of Aviation and Cosmonautics at the Institute of Natural Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. I came to one of the Section meetings, and there I was elected scientific secretary. This Section brought together outstanding aircraft designers, generals, scientists... I met such famous people as Igor Vyacheslavovich Chetverikov - he built seaplanes, Alexander Sergeevich Moskalev, who created and was the first to test an aircraft with a variable wing profile, Ivan Ivanovich Kulagin, the famous designer of air-jet engines. Various cosmonauts came to us, I personally communicated with German Titov, and with Vitaly Zhelobov, and with Valery Rozhdestvensky. There were many interesting meetings that gave me the opportunity to subsequently work at the Museum of Cosmonautics and now work in the Federation.

“Schoolchildren do not know that the first cosmonaut is Yuri Gagarin”

Oleg Petrovich, do you think that the attitude of young people towards astronautics has changed? Previously, more young men dreamed of being astronauts...
- There is no need to exaggerate. It cannot be that all generations dream of the same thing. Let's look back. At first there were no cars. As soon as they appeared, people began to dream of becoming drivers. Aviation appeared - everyone rushed there. Now the airplane has become quite a familiar thing for us. Also space. He still fascinates people and there is huge interest in him. And now kids dream about space, just not so much. And besides, there are now more opportunities to come into contact with him. We can freely watch photos from space, many films - we don’t even have to go into space. And, then, flying into space is not an end in itself for many. Cosmonautics is at the forefront of all world science. Many people are involved in the creation of space technology. Therefore, to say that interest has disappeared is wrong. The press itself is partly to blame here. She is more interested in fried facts, all sorts of murders - what gives more ratings than space. The same television will casually say on the news when a spacecraft is launching, but says nothing about life in orbit. We ourselves do not engage in propaganda! And then they ask me: why aren’t schoolchildren interested? If astronomy was removed from school, what does this mean? How will children dream about space if they are not told anything? It is our fault that schoolchildren do not know that the first satellite was launched in our country, and that the first cosmonaut was Yuri Gagarin. If you don't talk about it, then there won't be any interest.

- Does the Cosmonautics Federation engage in propaganda among schoolchildren?
- Yes, from September 1, in anticipation of preparations for the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight into space, we are opening a whole series of programs. These will be various excursions to museums and space industry enterprises. It’s not for nothing that St. Petersburg is called the “cradle of rocket technology”; we have a huge number of enterprises that develop technology for space. We need to provide career guidance to young people so that children can see what they can do. Don't just go to the bank or the service industry. If we spend energy and strength, we will be able to attract children, I am sure.

« Currently, astronauts are being prepared for a flight to Mars."

- International space programs are now actively developing...
- Modern astronautics is impossible without international cooperation. When manned space was just developing, there was already close interaction between countries. Now there are many applied satellites, devices that probe, photograph, and carry out television and radio communications. For all this, again, international cooperation is needed. It is also worth noting that many states can already make their own satellites, but cannot create their own rocket. Therefore, they use our Russian ones for launch. We are putting both French and American satellites into orbit. Space unites countries. By the way, the Mars-500 experiment is currently being conducted, jointly between our Roscosmos and the European Space Agency. Volunteers will be in a confined space for just over 500 days, and conditions will be close to those of a manned mission to Mars.

- When will it take place?
- It is unknown yet. First, automatic devices should fly off, which can do a lot for people. As for human flight, many questions still remain. For example, how can an astronaut be in weightlessness for 3 years, how will he be affected by the absence of the Earth’s magnetic field, solar radiation... A lot of nuances require additional study. But it is necessary to do this. Some people say that space programs are too expensive. We'd rather invest money here and feed people on Earth. But those who say this don’t think that much more resources can be obtained from space. In addition, you need to understand that on Earth we all depend on space. That's why it's so important to study it. At any moment some comet may arrive, or a huge meteorite will crash into the Earth. This will be a gigantic disaster that could take the lives of millions of people.

“The threat from space is very real”

There is a theory that if the Tunguska meteorite had fallen a few hours earlier, it would have hit St. Petersburg directly and wiped it off the face of the Earth.
- Yes, indeed, there is such an opinion. By the way, as for the Tunguska meteorite, there is no exact information yet about what it really was. There is a high probability that it was a comet that exploded in the air at a high altitude. There are many other hypotheses, even to the point that it was an alien ship. Science fiction writer Alexander Kazantsev even wrote a story on this topic. And the latest version regarding the nature of the Tunguska meteorite is that this small black hole hit the Earth and caused such a pinpoint strike. But, whatever it is, this phenomenon definitely warns us: in addition to natural disasters that occur on Earth, there is another danger - danger from space. This threat is very real. Now, for example, another asteroid is flying, but it will fly by. Scientists were worried, but then they did the math and realized that it would not hit the Earth. It is very important to create an asteroid tracking service. Let's say an asteroid is flying, there is a chance of hitting the Earth. You can adjust the path of its movement - by placing a rocket, try to move it. This is how satellites are corrected using rockets. Small impulses are enough for the trajectory of movement to change, and it flies past the Earth. Therefore, we must engage in space and seek our safety in it. Otherwise we will simply find ourselves on the brink of death.

For the magazine "People Fly" (NordAvia airline), August 2010

On September 29, a scientific and practical conference “Siversky. From hussars to cosmonauts,” dedicated to cosmonaut No. 2 German Stepanovich Titov. Vice-President of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation Oleg Mukhin, a legendary man who is personally acquainted with many domestic space explorers, will also take part in the conference.

We met with Oleg Petrovich at the Museum of Cosmonautics, which is historically located in the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg. It was here, under the leadership of Valentin Petrovich Glushko, in the first half of the last century, that the first domestic rocket engines were designed and created. On August 30, the museum opened an exhibition dedicated to the 110th anniversary of the birth of the brilliant general designer.

Oleg Mukhin himself became interested in astronautics in his youth. He entered the Leningrad Military Mech in 1962, where he then worked as an engineer at the department from 1980. In April 1973, the Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology opened in Leningrad. Oleg Petrovich, based on his technical knowledge, conducted excursions in the Museum, prepared guides, and helped them.

He worked as Scientific Secretary in the Section of the History of Aviation and Cosmonautics at the Institute of Natural Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. This Section included outstanding aircraft designers, generals, and scientists. Cosmonauts came to the Section meetings. Oleg Petrovich personally communicated with German Stepanovich Titov, Vitaly Mikhailovich Zholobov and Valery Ilyich Rozhdestvensky. As a result, Oleg Mukhin has been the first vice-president of the North-Western Interregional Organization of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation for 20 years, having only been in space in his dreams.

“This is not surprising,” explains Oleg Petrovich. — An astronaut is the pinnacle of the work of many hundreds of people who prepared him for the flight. Therefore, our Federation unites organizations and individuals who are in one way or another connected with astronautics - engineers, designers, workers, doctors. And, of course, the astronauts themselves. There are more than 700 members in total. We carry out educational work with schoolchildren, students and the public of the city, carry out scientific and methodological work of the Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology named after Academician V.P. Glushko, we organize exhibitions and festive events dedicated to memorable dates of Russian cosmonautics, and support projects related to the theme of space.

— Oleg Petrovich, how are you connected with the village of Siversky?

— I have been connected with Siversky since childhood, when I lived here at the dacha for two years in a row...

- It turns out that you are a real Siversk summer resident...

- It turns out like this. We rented a dacha just opposite the airfield across Oredezh, on Sovetskaya Street. I was twelve or thirteen years old at that time. The hosts with whom we lived were engaged in fishing. And we went with them, set nets, and fished. The boys and I also swam across the river and through the drain pipe moved straight to the center of the airfield, where we watched the planes. There was also a small landfill near the airfield near the railway, where you could find signs of the past war, in particular, German badges with swastikas. It was very interesting (smiles).

Of course, we watched the planes take off and land - it was a very exciting sight for the boy. When I became an adult and found out that German Titov flew at this airfield, this place became sacred to me. And when we established connections with Siverskaya, we began to take astronauts there.

One day we came there with Georgy Grechko, and at the Yubileiny Sports and Cultural Center we met the famous composer Isaac Schwartz. I will never forget this meeting. After all, for cosmonauts, Schwartz is a unique personality; before each flight, they still watch the film “White Sun of the Desert” with the composer’s wonderful music.

Another thing is curious. When Grechko and I came up to meet each other, it turned out that Isaac Iosifovich had never met any cosmonaut (smiles). Moreover, it turned out that they studied at the same school in St. Petersburg on Vasilyevsky Island! Albeit in different years. And when Schwartz was already in the hospital, shortly before his death, we agreed with the astronauts and the guys from orbit wrote down congratulations to him on his 85th birthday. And this congratulation was shown to the composer in the hospital. Isaac Iosifovich was very happy and grateful.

Siversky has become a kind of space mascot: if an astronaut who has not yet been in orbit comes here, it means that he will definitely fly into space. Like, for example, Sergei Ryazansky. I was lucky enough to plant a tree on the Alley of Space Heroes at the request of Georgy Grechko, who, due to illness, was unable to come to Siversky in person.

And when German Titov came to Siversky, I provided him with my car for travel. It was also an unforgettable feeling: next to me was astronaut number two! So Siversky occupies a special place in my life and destiny.

— How did you meet German Stepanovich?

— The first time I saw German Titov was when he spoke to students at Voenmekh. This was in the sixties, after his flight into space. I was then about twenty years old. German Stepanovich headed the USSR Cosmonautics Federation after Nikolai Rukavishnikov. I was friends with the Aviation and Cosmonautics magazine, wrote articles about space and cosmonauts there, and German Stepanovich was deputy editor-in-chief there.

Oral editions of the magazine were also made in the House of Officers on Liteiny Prospekt. And he came there with representatives of the magazine. We constantly crossed paths, getting closer and closer. They invited him to meetings at the Cosmonautics Federation, came together to see Kirill Lavrov - they were friends. I helped him in his pre-election activities for the elections to the State Duma - he ran for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. We visited enterprises in the city and region, and once stopped at Siversky.

We toured the museum in the Military Town, and on the way to the club, German Stepanovich suddenly stopped, pointed to a tree and said: “It was near this birch tree that I kissed my wife for the first time.” I was present at his 65th birthday, where he invited me to organize a trip to Siversky for a few days, so that he and his wife could walk around the places of their youth and remember the past. Unfortunately, this did not happen - cosmonaut number two passed away. And he really wanted to go to Siversky...

— The upcoming conference is subtitled “From Hussars to Cosmonauts.” Do you see any parallels here?

- Indeed, a comparison can be made. Every period of human history has its heroes. We know that in the Patriotic War of 1812, an important role was played by the hussars - brave, fearless people who did not allow the French to reach St. Petersburg, and their commander - the Russian commander P.Kh. Wittgenstein, in the opening of whose monument I took part. These same qualities are inherent in modern astronauts. After all, the first of them did not know where you were flying, how everything would turn out, whether you would be able to return to earth. Of course they were heroes. So the comparison of hussars and astronauts is quite acceptable.

— In the Siversk correctional “School of Life” an exhibition “The Cosmic History of Siversky” was opened. Do you think modern children are interested in space? Is there a need to tell them about astronautics and distant worlds?

- Undoubtedly. It so happened that specialists who were involved in the creation of the famous lunar rover lived and still live in Siverskoye. This is also a very interesting page in the history of astronautics, when automatic devices are being created to explore other planets. Today, rovers walk on both the Moon and Mars.

As for schoolchildren and astronautics, it should be noted that astronautics gives children a lot of scope for imagination - they can fantasize, they can dream about space flights and other planets. Without restrictions, without constant reprimands that you did something wrong, that it was wrong. The child himself came up with something, and the world around him is exactly like that in his eyes. That's how he perceives it. And maybe this is even correct. Therefore, space gives children the opportunity to express themselves, their fantasies and dreams without the fear that you will do something wrong.

— It turns out that space topics expand the boundaries of a child’s knowledge?

- That's right. Here's a live example. For two years in a row, the Siversky Cinema and Cultural Center “Yubileiny” has been hosting the intellectual game “Space Smarties and Clever Girls,” which is attended by high school students from all over the Gatchina region. I was at the game as chairman of the jury. The game was created and the questions were developed by Anatoly Moiseevich Goncharov, a physics teacher at the Siverskaya gymnasium. The questions were very difficult; in order to prepare for them, the guys had to scour the Internet and study additional literature. Even those who did not win the game received a wealth of knowledge from various fields related to astronautics. As you say, “expanded the boundaries of knowledge.”

— Oleg Petrovich, a few words about the “Space Siverskaya” conference...

— The upcoming conference, among other things, serves to popularize among children and adults not only cosmonautics, but also significant pages in the history of your country, city, village in which you live. Those achievements that you can rightfully be proud of. Such events bring together many caring, interested people, both adults and schoolchildren, who discuss pressing issues and share their thoughts. This is very important. Such conferences certainly contribute to knowledge of the world around us.

Again, new ideas are being popularized, which will be reflected through the media - newspapers, television, radio, in order to attract the attention of the general public. Moreover, the history of Siversky is not only the history of space. This is a unique village with a rich history and marvelous natural beauty.

— Cosmonautics in the USSR and cosmonautics in modern Russia: what has changed?

- Here again we will have to return to Siversky. Take the beginning of the last century. Aviation appeared. Each aviator was known both by name and by sight. In the thirties, when Vodopyanov flew to the North Pole, Chkalov flew to America, they were carried in their arms. They were pioneers and folk heroes. What are we seeing now? You board the plane, sit down, and the name of the ship’s captain is announced over the radio. You fly and don't think about anything. Flying on an airplane has long become an ordinary event.

And astronautics, whether we like it or not, is also becoming an everyday task. Look how many satellites are flying! Meteorological, reconnaissance, communications satellites, satellites engaged in imaging the earth's surface. Our navigators work through space. Medical research is carried out on the space station. Tourists have already begun traveling into orbit! So space today is becoming just another place to work. This is objective reality.

Unfortunately, I sometimes scold the press a little. Why? Because it doesn’t tell us anything about today’s astronautics. Not so long ago, space flight received incomparably more attention. There were reports from the station about how the astronauts live, what they do, what tasks they perform. And today, at best, they will talk about the Olympic flame delivered into orbit. No, to find the possibility of some kind of constant information about the situation in the space field. You want everyone to know about our space achievements, but you take no action for this. Hence the decline in interest in astronautics as such.

It is to correct this situation that exhibitions are opened and conferences are held to expand the circle of people who are passionate about space. And projects of flights to the Moon and Mars, of course, will shake up humanity and return interest in space exploration. So astronautics entered the mainstream, as we said earlier, of the national economy.

At the same time, we are very glad that astronomy courses have been returned to schools. When you look at the endless starry sky, you are drawn to find out what is there that the distant luminaries and other worlds hide? Astronautics provides answers to these questions. The same Hubble telescope in orbit, taking unique photographs of distant galaxies. So space will remain at the forefront of human development, because it requires the most modern achievements of science and technology to create rockets and spacecraft.

- And the last thing. Oleg Petrovich, what are the prospects for interaction between the Federation of Cosmonautics and the Siversky Space Research Institute? Are there any plans to involve him more widely in the activities of your organization?

- We need to work on this. Moreover, the Governor of the Leningrad Region, Alexander Drozdenko, is himself a member of our Federation (smiles). Although a lot has already been done in Siverskoye. Together with the Yubileiny SKKTs, a number of events dedicated to the space theme are held.

Annual, since 2011, scientific and educational conferences with the participation of Russian pilot-cosmonauts, dedicated to the birthday of G.S. Titov, intellectual game “Space Smarties and Clever Girls” for high school students. Since 2013, a hockey tournament for the Cosmonaut Cup No. 2 has been held. And, most importantly, the Alley of Space Heroes appeared in the settlement - the only one in the Leningrad region. The Cosmonautics Federation maintains close contact with the administration of the Siversky urban settlement, its head Vladimir Nikolaevich Kuzmin and deputy head Marina Evgenievna Dozmorova.

I would like to mention the people thanks to whom interest in space in Siverskoye is growing. This is the director of the Yubileiny Sports and Cultural Center Ekaterina Vyacheslavovna Titova and deputy director Olga Aleksandrovna Babenko, physics teacher of the Siverskaya gymnasium Anatoly Moiseevich Goncharov, co-chairman of the public organization “Charitable Foundation “My Small Motherland” Andrei Nikolaevich Kolobovnikov, full member of the Federation of Cosmonautics, coordinator of the project “In Memory of Ancestors - We Will worthy” Pyotr Vladimirovich Babenko and many other residents and public organizations of Siversky.

August 14 — Youth news.“To space, how to get to work? “You can’t go into it like you’re going to work, but not to work.” This very thought devalues ​​all our efforts to overcome gravity” - a conversation with Oleg Mukhin, who studies space on earth. The MIA MIR correspondent managed to talk with the first vice-president of the North-Western interregional public organization Russian Cosmonautics Federation Oleg Mukhin.

- I’ll start with something pleasant for you and for us, with the addition of monuments on the Alley of Twice Heroes in the Moscow Victory Park of the city - the hero of St. Petersburg. The monument was erected to our fellow countryman, Hero of Russia and Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot-cosmonaut, Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev. Anything to say about this?

I’ll say: it was long overdue, but sponsorship money doesn’t grow like mushrooms. They appeared - and the monument appeared. Hrachya Misakovich Poghosyan, a famous entrepreneur, one of the builders of the Vostochny cosmodrome, learned that for a long time the Federation could not find funds for its installation. Knowing what contribution Sergei Krikalev made to the development of domestic cosmonautics and to the prestige of St. Petersburg, he expressed a desire to take on the installation of the bust on the Alley of Heroes. I was present at its grand opening, where Seryozha came with his parents - it was a joy to see them together, a good friendly family that raised a wonderful son. Well, as usual, officials of the highest rank opened the monument, the guard of honor fired, and the memory of our wonderful fellow countryman was now officially immortalized. Both the sculptor Alexey Arkhipov and the architect Felix Romanovsky did their best - Sergey stands as if alive, and at the same time, in front of us is a work of art of the highest class - this is how it turned out.

- One question, as a rule, leads to another: how is the Cosmonautics Federation in general with sponsors, more or less successful, or does it take a long time to search?

Let's put it this way: she has them, but she has to, as in the case of the same monument, look for them. It depends on what they are needed for and what kind of money. If there is little money for the existence of the Federation, for the Cosmonautics Day holiday, say, then we have permanent members of the Federation who can cope with this - they can afford investments in such events, but what if, as with this monument - since 2010 the question could not decide before Pogosyan gets around to it...

- And the monument really came out surprisingly dynamic...

The main thing is that Sergei himself liked him. Even while working on it, Seryozha stopped by the sculptor, he already saw it there and made adjustments.

- Oleg Petrovich, was the spacesuit depicted in all its details brought to the workshop (the cost of a space suit - a spacesuit - is about 50 million dollars), or was it sculpted from a photograph?

According to the photographs, three-dimensional, as it should be - there were a lot of them, so our Michelangelo had enough of them.

- Thank you for the answer to the first question. Sorry, but I’ll continue on a sad note: in the first six months of 2017 alone, Igor Volk and Georgy Grechko left for the “Immortal Squad” - a deep bow to both...

No, already three. They were joined by also Twice Hero, Viktor Gorbatko, in his eighty-third year... He was at Grechko’s funeral, and on the seventeenth of May, they said goodbye to him, as they say...

- An era is passing, what else can we say: someone measured out something for us, and that’s all we have enough for. We must take care of the others...

How? Yes, this is an age group, nothing can be done about it, who is given what, and then the cosmonauts go into “Open Space”... Almost the entire first detachment is there, except for Valya and Lyosha.

- And against this background, like a bolt from the blue, the news that four cosmonauts from the Cosmonaut Center submitted their resignation from the Active Detachment - how to understand this? Can you comment on this somehow, Oleg Petrovich?

Well, what is there to comment on, as if they had never left the detachment before? You watched the movie “Crew” - the time also comes for astronauts to “rip off the horseshoes” when medicine does not want to take responsibility for their physical readiness for training, especially for flight. I know they eliminated two, and Gennady Padalka himself wrote a letter of resignation from the detachment - he made the decision.

- Perhaps he made the decision after he was not assigned to either the three previous flights or the two upcoming ones?

Well, what does he want? There are three dozen cosmonauts in the detachment, some of whom are still standing in line for the flight - ten years! You understand, “Soyuz” is designed for three, and the queue for a place in it is moving no faster than for free housing, despite the fact that we have also been carrying our partners since the “shuttles” left the race. And he, thank God, flew in - five flights, 878, not hours - days! He bypassed Krikalev in the last flight, Seryozha had only 803 days, Sergei Andreev, the closest to them, had 747. I think Gennady made the right decision, quite a man’s.

- Yes, but he wanted to improve the record, bringing it to 1000 days - that would probably be wonderful...

You know, she would have been... But 1000, and someone would have beaten her too. By and large, everything is just beginning.

- Do you think so, Oleg Petrovich? Does this mean that manned astronautics is not curtailing its activities in Orbit, gradually transferring its work into the hands of automatic machines?

Well, there is someone to think about this, both in specialized institutes and in those involved in our problems, and I, as a specialist, know that the duration of expeditions to Orbit will increase, and it is unlikely that vice versa. There may be pauses in the development of manned space exploration, but, in principle, the human presence in Orbit will only increase. And then, no one has yet canceled the unofficial competition that began on October 4, 1957 - who is higher, who is further, who is longer...

- Okay, so be it... but I don’t understand Volkov, the younger one, he has to fly and fly! , hundreds of hours spent in zero gravity - he is only forty years old!

You know, Igor, in such cases they say “no comment,” but I will still express my point of view. You see, no matter how unpleasant it may be, for some time, “time” will work against our experienced astronauts. The reason is banal - according to some data, in 2024, the operation of the ISS will obviously end. Grandma, of course, is in two, but still, she said it. And the planned module “Science”, as one of the main components of our future new Station “MIR-2”, is still in the project. We have already abandoned the launch of automatic stations to the satellites of Jupiter, Phobos-Grunt 2 is in question, and remember our recent, joint with Europe, failure of the Exo-Mars expedition, when the Schiaparelli lander simply plopped down on the planet, due to problems with parachutes... We will soon have nowhere to fly for some time, we will fly, as always, if possible, to Venus and the Moon, but, of course, without a person. The astronomical program of cosmonautics feels so far, pah-pah-pah, normal - take at least the Radioastron radio telescope, which studies quasars, but humans are not involved in it either, and there are already 30 cosmonauts in the Unit, and half of them have not even smelled space... Conclusion do it yourself.

I don’t know the nuances of Sergei Volkov’s departure, but I think that he will be useful on earth, like Krikalev, and Padalka will find work, in fact there is plenty of it...

- The answer has been accepted, and, if I understand you correctly, Oleg Petrovich, this was foreseen - the unexpected reinforced resignation from the Cosmonautics Federation did not affect the work of the Cosmonautics Federation - is everything calm in the space “kingdom”?

I assure you, the Federation exists on its own and minds its own business.

- Then maybe we can talk about the Cosmonautics Federation itself and its work, if you don’t mind? Oleg Petrovich, popularizing astronautics and the cosmonaut profession itself on a semi-volunteer basis is not the only direction of the Federation’s work - is there enough work with museums?

Yes, we work in constant close contact with both museums and school museums. The lion's share of our attention is naturally directed to young people. For example, one of our concerns is holding the annual international handball tournament “Cosmonautics Cup” among youths. We hold it every spring in the Primorsky district, on Korolev. On April 8, by the way, we installed a bust of Sergei Pavlovich there. The current one was already the thirtieth tournament - there is something to be proud of!

- I agree - there is something to be proud of. How did it all start, where?

Want a story? It so happened - thirty years ago, when the sports school was opened, I was invited to this event rather as a representative background. It just coincided with Cosmonautics Day, I spoke then, we met and talked with the director, and we came up with the idea of ​​holding an annual handball tournament for the “Cosmonautics Cup” - somehow, at least I’ll say, brains She didn't rub it on me. It was purely impromptu... Since then, the cosmonauts have been frequent guests of the tournament. Zhora Grechko, Sergei Krikalev, Gennady Padalka, Igor Volk, and many others visited him to present the children who won with well-deserved trophies...

- When astronauts come to visit young people to talk about their experiences, this is really serious work.

We also work with schools, and with the “Young Cosmonauts Club” in the “Palace of Youth Creativity”, on Fontanka, the former “Anichkov”, the former “Palace of Pioneers”...

I heard, excuse me, I’ll interrupt you, that the Palace acquired a good material base, and intelligent technical specialists, led by the head of the children’s technical creativity department, a talented engineer, Lyosha Kralin. Everything is very serious there now: they launch rockets, communicate with satellites, implement entire robotic complexes together with the guys, and successfully carry out various computer developments. It became interesting to grow up - this is no longer like learning the semaphore alphabet in a nautical circle...

Yes - yes - yes, right... And we also had an interesting program in the Raduga shopping complex - this is on Cosmonauts Avenue (there is a lot of space in the geography of the city), where we installed a radio station that allows us to communicate with the ISS. The guys have the opportunity to see where the Space Station is currently located and ask questions to the crew members of the next expedition as if they were on board the Station, next to them. During the election campaign for the election of the Governor, two years ago, Georgy Sergeevich Poltavchenko came there together with the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, Vyacheslav Serafimovich Makarov, where they got in touch with the Station crew, talked with children...

- And here’s a question, again about museums: Do you somehow help them replenish them with exhibits, set up new exhibitions, or do they run on their own?

It's all together here, of course. The Museum of Cosmonautics is generally a special thing for me - I have been there almost since its opening in 1973. In the 80s, we remodeled it in a new way and expanded its exhibition - I was the author, and now, in what is essentially a new museum, opened after renovation, for the most part, its exhibits were included in the exhibition with our help. You understand, the Federation has opportunities that the museum does not have - we know people, we know factories, we know design bureaus, everyone treats us with understanding.

- By the way, the museum is cramped within the walls of the former Gas Dynamics Laboratory, which developed the Katyusha rocket before the war? If you compare it with the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics, it’s almost a basement...

How can I tell you, in square meters, we really could live better. There was one conversation: Dzhanibekov came, we were at Gubankov’s Culture Committee, and Anton Nikolaevich made us an offer - “why are you huddling with a museum in some kind of ravelin from the time of Peter the Great? Take the whole building - we will allocate it for you! To which Volodya Dzhanibekov replied: “Yes, as you don’t understand, this place is a holy place, the former Laboratory is the Mecca of Cosmonautics, the future academician Valentin Glushko worked there, on whose engine the First Sputnik flew, on which Gagarin flew, and we We still fly with its engines and sell it abroad! It was visited by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev himself, an effective manager in modern times. Ioannovsky Ravelin is a historical place for us, like Tsiolkovsky’s house in Kaluga, like, excuse me, Ilyich’s hut in Razliv - these are things of the same plan!

- The whole world knows Glushkov’s “Seven”, just like the Kalashnikov assault rifle...

And we were offered to leave there... To open another austeria, pizzeria, or restaurant called “Ravelin” - sounds right? However, you don’t really give orders to a general with two Hero Stars on his jacket. Vladimir Alexandrovich insisted that this place be assigned to us forever!

By the way, your museum is not big, but cozy, I myself have been there more than once, and even, in violation of all the rules, I took a photo in the pilot’s seat, in the charred descent capsule of Soyuz-16, I don’t know in whose place, - Filipchenko or Rukavishnikova... And, in general, it seems to me that the exhibits mainly decorate the walls of the museum, and the middle of the premises is free - that’s the area for new exhibits, isn’t it?

You, Igor, noticed correctly, we are thinking about this too.

- And your residence is not far from it, almost next to the museum...

Naturally, and I’ll say even more, since 1997 we have been located territorially, at the museum, in its scientific and methodological building, this is important. This kind of proximity is precisely the key to our cooperation.

- Who is the main, if not secret, supplier of new artifacts to cosmonautics museums, which are in all major cities in Russia, and will soon appear in regional centers?

Thank you for the compliment to the museums... Each museum director has a deputy who is well versed in the subject, and is a member of the Cosmonautics Federation, which also has a person who is well acquainted with the work of museums. The new exhibits are the result of their close collaboration. Older artifacts, as a rule, are either bought for a reasonable price or exchanged for something else; this practice exists in every museum.

- Do you think it’s time to move the Gagarin Museum from Gzhatsk somewhere closer to Moscow? Maybe to Korolev, where there are more visitors. Besides popularizing astronautics, should museums live on something else?

Don't think. Moscow is not offended by museums anyway, and Korolev is the same, but why offend Gzhatsk - the homeland of Yuri Alekseevich? Now some funding is going there only because it is the birthplace of the First Cosmonaut. Honestly, I would not dare to remove the museum from there, even if it was there. By the way, you probably haven’t seen it - it is filled to the brim with exhibits, and at the same time very beautiful.

You didn’t guess, Oleg Petrovich, by the way, I saw: for three years in a row, on April 12, the Gagarin Museum held the festival of electronic space music “108 minutes” - according to the number of minutes of the first flight - a beautiful festival, in a really very beautiful place. I was among its founders and one of the organizers. The Yuri Alekseevich Museum is, of course, spacious, which allows it to host large-scale events. However, I think that in yours, if desired, such a place could be found. How would you feel about the idea of ​​holding a similar festival in St. Petersburg, and why not do this in your museum, or in the same BDT, with which, as I know, you have been interesting friends for a long time?

No, of course it is possible. Even today we already participate in many things - in the Cosmonautics Days Festivals, in “Cosmostart”, in “Starcon”, and “Can Sat”. We work a lot with young people, from Voenmekh and from GUAP. We are quite creative, sometimes we even surprise ourselves with what we do. For example, on one of the “Cosmonautics Days” we organized a show of dresses made on a space theme. On the beach of the Peter and Paul Fortress, a stage was set up, turned into a podium, where girls paraded in unusual outfits. Those who gathered to watch them really liked it - we actually had our own Miss Universe...

So, I'm for it! Let's think together about how to do this - we will support such a project, and even invite astronauts to its jury...

- Okay... Thank you very much, I will also think about it, especially since there is already a positive experience of “108 minutes - 2016”.

And here’s a question, Oleg Petrovich: You, both under Leonid Kizim and under Georgiy Grechko, who replaced him as President of the Federation, were, as they say now, “on skeet,” coping with the job. And since 2008, you have a new manager, Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev - you have full contact with your boss - do you feel his leadership role? Or do you have a current job, and Sergei Konstantinovich has a representative job?

I had excellent working and friendly relations with both of Sergei Konstantinovich’s predecessors. It was very lively and interesting to work with Zhora Grechko, he is a “techie”, he was always full of ideas, he kept dreaming of finding his Tunguska meteorite, he wanted, like Kulik, to organize a large expedition to Podkamennaya Tunguska in order to find traces of an alien spaceship in the taiga, which he believed, but did not have time. - My health failed me and I couldn’t find the money. He even encouraged Sergei Pavlovich to go on this expedition, but Korolev, as you know, was a pragmatist, and did not allow himself to be fooled, and without him, no one would have been able to carry out such a project at that time...

Leningrad "Voenmekh", in which I was lucky enough to work back in the era of its rocket and space orientation, from 80 to 96, was the native university for both my leaders - Grechko and Krikalev. I met the latter within its walls back in 1980. Sergei was in his sixth year - a graduate student, he did his diploma work at the first department of the institute, of which I was also an employee. Of course, no one knew then that he would “fly” and become the first Hero of Russia... I hope you understand that I cannot have any relationship with Sergei other than a wonderful one...

In general... in cosmonautics, as well as in the Federation, as they say, I have a long road. Back in the seventies, when I came to the Museum of Cosmonautics, offered my services, they hired me as a tour guide “on weekends.” On Saturdays and Sundays I led tours or gave lectures to visitors, and since my passion for the subject provided me with a fairly deep knowledge of the topic, I soon began to train other tour guides. Around the same years, it seems, in 1975, I was offered to head the section of the history of aviation and astronautics at the Institute of Natural Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where I was immediately appointed scientific secretary. It was there that an important meeting for me took place with Vasily Osipovich Pryanishnikov, the author of popular books on astronomy, one of the founders of the “Leningrad House of Entertaining Science” - he was like that before. I first met this amazing man when I was fourteen. I decided to build my own telescope (nowadays you can buy such a thing, but in the times described you can only make it yourself, and then you will be registered with it), and for consultation on the issue I received his address. I very quickly became an entrance into his house, and into the world of knowledge that he possessed. We built the telescope in two years, and at sixteen I lost sight of it, so that thirty years later fate would bring us together again, but now we have met, and a real friendship has developed between us. Let me digress a little from the topic - what kind of person was this? Born at the end of the 19th century, he stood at the origins of “rocket navigation”, as a popularizer of this then new direction of human knowledge about the world around him. He corresponded and met with Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, kept his letters, books... In 1924, Vasily Osipovich went to give lectures in Odessa, where he was approached by a young man finishing school, who also corresponded with Tsiolkovsky, had his books - he asked for help him with admission to Petrograd University. The young man's name was Valentin Glushko - can you imagine how small the world is? With the help of Pryanishnikov, and another enthusiast of the new direction of science, Professor Morozov, Glushko ends up in Petrograd, becomes a student at the University, and they maintain relations until 1929, that is, until the moment when Valentin Petrovich leaves to work in a strictly secret organization, “ Gasdynamic laboratory”, to Nikolai Ivanovich Tikhomirov. He becomes a closed person, his work is strictly classified - naturally, he falls out of the sight of Vasily Osipovich. And suddenly one day in the mid-sixties the phone rang:

Pryanishnikov?

Doesn't matter. Stay where you are!

In the morning the door opens, Glushko is standing on the threshold - Glushko found him...

- Did they even recognize each other?

Remember the year when they first met, and what Mayakovsky said about this: You can forget where and when the belly and crops grew, but the land from which the two of us starved can never be forgotten...

They found out and were very happy, and were friends for a long time after - Glushko was very attentive to Pryanishnikov, exchanged letters with him, not electronic, but also in kind, did not forget to congratulate him with postcards...

And so, in 1976, when Vasily Osipovich and I arrived in Kaluga, first of all he asked for adviser Glushko, Lidiya Mikhailovna Alexandrova, Valentin Petrovich’s phone number - I want to see him! We arrived from Kaluga to Moscow, and right at the station I started calling. Glushko picked up the phone, I handed it to Pryanishnikov, he invited us - come, and we went to the famous “House on the Embankment”. Glushko lived on the eleventh floor, he greeted us very warmly, but he was already a Twice Hero and an Academician, he treated us as hospitably as he could, we had a good talk, looked at his books, and when we were about to leave, Vasily Osipovich said:

Valya, Oleg helps me a lot, accept him as you accept me!

Glushko said good. And after that, a new life began for me...

I became not only the go-to person for Valentin Petrovich on any of my questions, but also for all the cosmonauts coming to St. Petersburg - I met and accompanied them all. When in 1980 I returned to Voenmech to the department, where we worked with NPO Energia, headed by Glushko, meetings with cosmonauts became a constant part of my work, and since I was already familiar with many of them, I this could not help but develop into friendship...

That’s how I became part of the “Space House”, and it is quite logical that after some time, on the recommendation of Valentin Petrovich, I was included in the bureau of the Federation of Cosmonautics, then still the USSR. And in 1983, in St. Petersburg, we organized the Leningrad Cosmonautics Committee under DOSAAF, which was headed by Valery Kupriyanov, a major historian of Russian cosmonautics. Georgy Grechko, as an astronaut from Leningrad, was present at the first meeting of the Committee.

There were interesting facts. Once at one of the meetings of the Committee, and our office was then in the premises of the Planetarium, where all its members were present, plus Kolya Rukavishnikov came to us then, a young Voenmech student Andrei Borisenko asked... The last name means nothing to you speaks?

- Is the Cosmonaut really “military mechanics” No. 3...

Well, then not yet an astronaut, but a student... He stood in front of me and Rukavishnikov, and asked to be allowed to sit in the pilot’s seat of the Soyuz-16 descent capsule, stored in our museum, the same one in which Rukavishnikov returned to earth and Sasha Filipchenko, how you sat in it... You should have seen his face then - of course, we allowed it. In the evening, when the visitors had left, I opened the hatch for him, removed the plastic plug, and for the first time, in 1983, he sat in the cabin of a real spaceship - he tried it on, AND THE CHAIR FIT...

He flew a little later, in 2011... Maybe this is how people become cosmonauts, and if I had not opened this hatch for him, perhaps we would not have had cosmonaut Borisenko...

Then there was “Perestroika”, everyone immediately felt that the authorities’ attention to our industry had dropped sharply. The programs were underfunded, and some, like Buran, were completely archived, but the way to the MIR station was opened for the shuttles, and the Station itself was equipped with American money. Was it difficult to understand who we actually work for? You remember these years as if you were moving cobblestones in your head...

But there are even more pleasant memories: for example, this year marks twenty years since the day when in November 1997 we created the Northwestern interregional public organization of the Federation of Cosmonautics - the same one that now bears this name. Its first President was Leonid Kizim, who flew three times, Twice Hero, Colonel General, head of the Mozhaisky Academy. The second was Georgy Grechko, also a Twice Hero. And now, for two consecutive terms, the Federation has been headed by Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev, Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of Russia. In a sense, I have always had a very good “star” company, I hope that this will remain our St. Petersburg tradition.

- Tell me, please, do many regions have such regional branches?

No, not in many, but there are probably about a dozen of them. In Perm, in Izhevsk, in Krasnoyarsk, in Vologda, Novosibirsk, in Ufa - mainly, they are in centers one way or another connected with space science or a production base. Another one will open soon, in Sevastopol...

- Why not in Simferopol?

Crimeans know better, but in Crimea, by the way, there is a complex of radio antennas for long-distance space communications, through which Sergei Pavlovich Korolev once caught signals from the First Satellite, now he is a radio telescope... one more thing...

If this complex had been ours in 2011, then we would not have lost our “Phobos-Grunt” - the Mission Control Center simply did not establish contact with it then...

- Thank you, Oleg Petrovich, for a wonderful, interesting story. Admit it - is a book of memories in your plans? I can even foresee which of those wonderful people you met could be the main part of it dedicated to?

No, I haven’t written... yet...

- Then I, and everyone who is interested in astronautics, has a big request to ask of you - seat yourself at the table. It seems to us that the story about your life, about meetings with amazing people is already ready, and is just waiting for you to write it.

I don't know, maybe you are right. You know that I was born on the same day as Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, January 12, only 37 years later, in 1944. The blockade has already been broken, but there is still a whole half a month before it is completely lifted. It will be lifted on the 27th, but you will never guess who carried me from the maternity hospital?

- Really, Zhdanov himself?

No, come on, it’s the same as if Comrade Stalin was carrying me. I was received from the maternity hospital and carried to my parents’ house by a good friend of our family, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko himself, who a year later committed the “Attack of the Century,” for which he is, to put it mildly, condemned in the West, but we are proud.

- Excuse me, but how could Marinesko carry you, he didn’t serve at that time?

He served, but it was winter, and in winter our submarines either just stood there or were being repaired. His “S-13” was just being defended at the “Nevsky Machine-Building Plant”, and all my relatives lived next to it, because my great-grandfather worked there as a blacksmith back in the “old regime”, and brought bread and salt to the Tsar when laying down boats "Pearl" and "Emerald". Don’t forget, it was January 1944: at that time my father was lifting the blockade from Leningrad in the troops of the Volkhov Front, and Marinesko, in anticipation of spring and new work for his boat, as a family friend, took me and my mother from the maternity hospital. So, I have been lucky to meet people of great talent or unusual professions, one might say, since birth...

Really lucky... to be born in besieged Leningrad, and immediately into Marinesko's arms... The hero is a submariner in the image of a Stork... No, I will repeat myself, but you definitely need to write a book, everything is so interesting. Somewhere I understood that you move in the circle of cosmonauts and creators of space technology, but for it to be so close, to be on close terms with Glushko... This is almost Korolev!

Yes, I keep a bright memory of Valentin Petrovich, everything that is connected with him is dear to me - his books with autographs given to me “To Dear Oleg Petrovich - from Glushko”, his letters and photographs where we are together - mainly this was at his house. Now neither we, nor NASA, nor China have such enthusiasts - everything is tied to money.

I don’t know if I have enough time and energy for memoirs, you can’t imagine how busy I am...

What I really can’t imagine is how you manage to do everything? I know what it costs to prepare such an event as Cosmostart, when time is no longer divided into work and personal, you simply count how much is left - “before”, and turn on the rhythm in which you can still manage it all... And time for contacts , for friendship with cultural figures, without which no serious social work is unthinkable in St. Petersburg... So you, Oleg Petrovich, mentioned the BDT... Can I pull the thread? Your friendship with the theater did not end with the departure of Kirill Yuryevich Lavrov? Did Andrey Anatolyevich Moguchiy continue the tradition of providing the Federation with its stage? What about the new scene?

Yes, I am a member of the BDT Board of Trustees, and as for Andrei Moguchy, he studied at GUAP (former LIAP - Institute of Aviation Instruments), his conscience would not dare to deny our Federation anything. When we opened the New Stage, we organized direct congratulations from Space for the theater from the crew of the ISS; at the anniversary of Kirill Yuryevich Lavrov, congratulations were also heard from Orbit; there were also cosmonauts visiting the artists - such things are not forgotten...

Okay, I’ll dig deeper: 1972... The film “Taming the Fire” came during your youth, and because of this, apparently, your friendship with Lavrov became inevitable. You and Kirill Yuryevich encountered each other during his time as director of the theater, and I think you managed to establish a friendship. What about Igor Gorbachev or Igor Vladimirov - weren’t you friends? And with the composer, Andrei Pavlovich Petrov?

Yes, Kirill Yurievich, due to the scale of the personality, it is an irreparable loss both for the theater staff and for me personally. We really had a very good, warm relationship with him - we were, as you say, friends, and I was proud that with such a huge number of contacts that he had, he nevertheless recognized me by my voice. I called, he said to me: “Oh, Oleg, hello!”... I confess, I didn’t have time to talk to Andrei Pavlovich Petrov, and I regret that, but regarding your question about Igor, Gorbachev and Vladimirov, there was also a story here , if you allow?

The very idea of ​​bringing together the three main characters of the film, and in real life the largest artists of St. Petersburg theaters, lay on the surface, one might say, but how to do it? Apart from Lavrov, I was not closely acquainted with the others from this “Great Trinity”... If my memory serves me correctly, it was 1986, March, the 27th Congress of the CPSU had just finished in Moscow... It was a beautiful time - we dream of flying to “Buran”... And I decided to talk about this topic with Kirill Yuryevich, the next April 12 was just approaching - the quarter-century anniversary of Gagarin’s flight, and the historical meeting of the Heroes of Socialist Labor, Lavrov, Gorbachev, and Vladimirov would be very opportune on this day. And now a lyrical digression: Lavrov had just returned from Moscow, from the Congress, and all his delegates from Leningrad were given sheepskin coats at Gostinny Dvor on the eve of their departure. Further - more: considering that my wife was working there at the time, the Gostinka employees were allowed to purchase such sheepskin coats for themselves. But my wife said - no, I’ll take my husband’s fur coat... And here I am standing at the entrance of the literary fund in the BDT, waiting for Kirill Yuryevich, and then he comes up to me in the same sheepskin coat... He approved the idea, okay, go ahead, but only you call so that we come in different coats, because Gorbachev and Vladimirov were also at the Congress...

Of course, being friends with such a person is a gift of fate.

He and I became friends when Leonid Kizim was still at the head of the Federation, we began holding holidays on the stage of the theater - Cosmonautics Days, and then Kirill Yuryevich invited me to join the Theater Board of Trustees.

- Does this tradition of friendship continue with Kirill Yuryevich’s daughter, Maria Kirillovna Lavrova, an actress in the theater that her father directed?

We're friends. Masha and I continue the tradition of friendship with her father, and I find in her the same Lavrov traits - charm, responsiveness, commitment. I don’t know about anyone, but for me she is a direct continuation of my father...

- By the way, more about children: Have you met Elena Gagarina, director of the Moscow Kremlin Museum?

No, no, unfortunately, no. I could have done it through Tereshkova, but... no... It happened to me - I never met Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin and his family in my life, unfortunately, but I was friends with German Titov. Indeed, in recent years I helped him, working in the election campaign for elections to the State Duma, back and forth, and then he headed the Russian Cosmonautics Federation, although not for long, only for a year, but we worked closely together as long as his health allowed it , I was at his last anniversary, in Moscow, - we were friends. He really wanted, he dreamed of coming to Siverskaya...

- Are we talking about the flight unit where he served, and where the very plane on which German Titov flew was preserved as a monument?

Yes... and I took him there, and he showed me - “you see, under that birch tree I kissed my wife for the first time”... this is not forgotten...

We were on close, good terms with him, and I will never forget how on one of his visits to us, during a visit to the Novodevichy Monastery that had opened on Moskovsky Prospekt, where we were invited, Mother Sophia also serves there, German was interviewed, and he said this: “Guys, we are all cosmonauts, we are all flying on a spaceship called “Earth”... I will never forget this, I remember it forever... And the most interesting thing that I saw then was German Stepanovich, cosmonaut Titov, wearing a body cross…

- In general, they say he was supposed to fly first, Korolev saw him as cosmonaut No. 1, as the most prepared, but the Government Commission decided otherwise?

N - yes... It was like this: if not for “Herman”, I would have flown first.

- I encouraged you to reminisce... But let’s return to today: in your experienced opinion, what are the main problems of Russian cosmonautics? The Vostochny Cosmodrome is idle, and we are already thinking about Mars...

When we might actually have a chance, what should we fly there on?

- “Vostochny” is only one launch so far, and that one is unfinished. This is the cosmodrome of the future - an alternative to Baikonur, leased from Kazakhstan. We simply have to build it, and by the time it is fully operational, you’ll see that the heavy Angara rocket will already have learned to fly - this is our promising carrier, along with the six-seater Federation ship. Well, as for the immediate plans - you heard that at one of the recent meetings, President Putin oriented our space industry towards one of the narrow tasks - remote sensing of the Earth. This is what really integrates astronautics into our economic model, making it one of its sectors. The times of priority cosmonautics are over; now it must earn money. We must clearly understand that astronautics has now become so integrated into our environment that we don’t even notice many things, we don’t notice its fruits: navigators, mobile communications, television, weather forecasts - all this has fallen on us from space - this is the first thing. And second: now the Stations are flying, but ask us - who is up there? A hundred years ago, at the beginning of the last century, aviation appeared - every pilot was carried in his arms, and now you board a plane, and in the best case, you will hear the name of the pilot who will fly it, and you will applaud him after landing... It’s the same with astronautics, only There are an order of magnitude fewer compliments in her honor. There are already more than 500 cosmonauts in the world, the third or fourth generation is flying, they have gotten used to it in 56 years.

- To space, how to get to work?

You can’t go into it as if you were going to work, but not to work. This very thought devalues ​​all our efforts to overcome gravity. To begin with, a view of the Earth from Orbit is a sight of extraordinary beauty, for which it is worth overcoming an overload of 6 - 8 g...

They are not flying yet, but tourists have been flying. I am not against space tourists - yes, they are ballast, but they pay well for it, at least it is more economically profitable than the cost of a kilogram of other cargo launched into Orbit. It is a pity that the Americans were forced to stop their Shuttle program, and such expeditions ceased.

- The Shuttle, as a program, has become a little expensive even for America, don’t you think?

This is a truism - it was known that the program would be economically justified if each device would fly at least 6-8 times a year, but they flew only two, or even one at a time. A total of five shuttles were built - two of them died in disasters, and one prototype. In 1985, NASA planned that by 1990 there would be 24 launches per year, and each spacecraft would make up to 100 flights into space. In practice, they were used much less - over 30 years of operation, 135 launches were made (including two disasters). Discovery had the most flights, but it exhausted its resource, and they closed the Shuttle, like we did Buran, which was no less an expensive toy, although ships of this class had advantages - they both allowed the launch of large-sized devices into orbit , repair of satellites in Orbit, and much, much more.

The Shuttle, like Buran, was ahead of its time, it was supposed to not only deliver cargo into space, but also return 20 tons of cargo back to earth on each flight, however, neither of us had tasks for such a quantity, neither do the Americans. Ours understood this earlier... I repeat, this was a stage in the development of space technology, and the number of its disadvantages exceeded what was expected...

- Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev, as you know, also flew on the shuttles - it seems that he was the first of ours to do this?

The first, but not the only one - on their last flight, the Americans insisted that he be part of their crew. He is generally a unique cosmonaut - in terms of the flexibility and unusualness of the decisions he makes, Krikalev is comparable only to Leonov. In one of the first expeditions on the shuttle, Sergei saved the mission: a serious device malfunctioned; Houston was ready to give the command to return, but Krikalev easily repaired it, using his experience working on MIR-e. It’s not theirs there...

- I heard that Houston even wanted to make him commander of some flight?

You, Igor, have probably heard more about this than I have, but such a decision would not be strange. And he’s also an aviator here; in addition to space, he also loves aviation very much. He flies from Roscosmos to fly here, with us, using regular propellers. A couple of weeks ago, he went out for the weekend to visit his parents, stayed for one day, and on the second the weather was normal, so he took off and flew with the guys on a seaplane to Valaam.

- I don’t understand, what does aviation have to do with it if Krikalev is a “military mechanic”? Jumping with a parachute, this will not surprise anyone in the Military Mechanical. Likewise, everyone on the shuttle crews had to be able to jump, but aviation, it seems to me, is not where this comes from at all?

Why? From there, just few people know that even in his student years, the St. Petersburg Aeroclub became his second home. Yes, if he just flew, he would become an international master of aerobatics! By the way, I’ll say: in addition to the Cosmonautics Federation, he also heads the Russian Aviation Sports Federation...

Norm - mal - but... I perfectly understand your pride in him. You know, there are probably only two such plowmen in astronautics who flew five or six flights and did not lose themselves by leaving the profession. I knew one, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dzhanibekov, today I recognized the second... Dzhanibekov still, if I’m not mistaken, heads the Association of our Cosmonautics Museums, and paints pictures professionally...

And we held an exhibition of his paintings in the Peter and Paul Fortress - I myself took them from his house and brought them to us...

He and Leonov can already create the “Association of Peredvizhniki”... Oleg Petrovich - last question: when I talked with Dzhanibekov last year, Vladimir Aleksandrovich complained that due to the inclination of the ISS orbit of 51 degrees, the Station, flying over the Earth, Basically, it covers the territories of our partner countries, and only a narrow strip remains in the field of view from Russia, from Voronezh to Moscow. He advocated the construction of a new, only “ours”, station “MIR - 2”. Would you mind commenting?

There is this... Seryozha, when he was flying, took pictures of St. Petersburg at a distance of 1000 kilometers from St. Petersburg - you couldn’t get closer...

Dmitry Ragozin recently said that until the 24th year the ISS Station will be used in the same form as now, and then the Russian modules “Zvezda” and “Zarya” will remain, which will be retrofitted. Perhaps their configuration will change slightly, and the format of permanent stay at the Station will be replaced by visiting expeditions. They say that even the automation will work while no one is there.

- I heard something similar about the Circumlunar Station, the construction of which was announced by Roscosmos at the end of last year. The same watch method of operation... Do you think this is real, or as real as bases on the Moon, or flights to Mars... What is your opinion?

Perhaps the future will come someday, but in the meantime, it seems to me, in order not to lose what has been achieved, we will expand in Orbit, but will not go far from the Earth, although, from time to time, we will puff out our cheeks about the Moon and Mars, and even talk about some time frame for construction near the Lunar Station for tourists. This is a realistic forecast, if you don’t rush things. Progress will do its job...

- Oleg Petrovich... You told us a lot of interesting and new things about your extraordinary meetings. Thank you for today's conversation. I'm not telling you goodbye. I’ve been wanting to ask you questions and listen for a very long time, and I’m already thinking about asking for the next conversation with you.

Please, I will always be glad...

- Your activity is very fruitful, it leaves you almost no time, but I still wish you - start writing a book!

You know, maybe I’ll try and start...

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The information was provided as part of the “Media Volunteer” project, which was launched on the initiative of the Committee for Press and Interaction with the Media in the Districts of St. Petersburg. Thanks to this project, representatives of the Youth Organization “MIR” actively participate in information coverage of local city events.

The project was implemented using a grant from St. Petersburg.

On June 12, on Russia Day, participants of the Star Trek motor rally of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation visited the State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics named after. K.E. Tsiolkovsky and the House-Museum of K.E. Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga. The rally started on May 27 in St. Petersburg. Its participants traveled through the cities of Russia and Kazakhstan associated with domestic cosmonautics: Tver, Ryazan, Penza, Samara, Aktobe, Baikonur.

Honorary and respected participants of the rally - Oleg Petrovich Mukhin - Member of the Bureau of the Presidium of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation and First Vice-President of the North-Western Interregional Public Organization of the Cosmonautics Federation of the Russian Federation, Honorary Academician of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after K.E. Tsiolkovsky

and Vladimir Anatolyevich Tikhomirov - a man who served at the Baikonur Cosmodrome for over twenty years! Vladimir Anatolyevich is a graduate of the Military Space Academy named after. A.F. Mozhaisky. He went through a number of career levels: head of the guidance calculation, head of the launch vehicle installation calculation, unit commander, head of the launch complex, deputy head of the 1st test department of launch pad No. 2 (it was from this pad that Gagarin launched at one time, and since then called "Gagarin's start"). Participated in the preparation and refueling of more than two hundred spacecraft, and was a direct participant in 186 rocket launches both from the Gagarin Launch and from other sites. He also took part in refueling and preparing for the launch of the Buran spacecraft.

Irina Isaeva, project coordinator of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation, took part in the rally.

Nikita Popov - director of the cosmonautics club named after. Yu.A. Gagarin, held a fascinating space exhibition for museum guests. With Nikita, the little museum guests took a walk through our galaxy using an iPad, learned how to build a device for the stratosphere themselves, how to control a quadcopter and much, much more! Moreover, he tells it in such a way that listeners never cease to be amazed, and in children’s hearts a dream about space arises! Many children and parents gathered, everyone listened to the presenter with interest. Children's surprised and enthusiastic exclamations, wide-open eyes and the emerging desire to fly into space are mandatory attributes of Nikitin's lectures. And for older schoolchildren and adults it was interesting to learn about universities related to astronautics and about our Federation.

While Nikita occupied children and adults, the rest of the rally participants were able to get acquainted with the exhibition. The museum in Kaluga is very interesting. Here you can see unique exhibits. It is impossible not to note the hall where many spacecraft and rocket models are presented, among which you can walk for a long time and admire the engineering thought of our designers.

In the House-Museum of K.E. Tsiolkovsky guests met Elena Alekseevna Timoshenkova, the great-granddaughter of Konstantin Eduardovich and the head of the house-museum. She talked about how the great scientist lived. The guests saw Tsiolkovsky's office and workshop and learned about the history of his family.

“We went to the Peter and Paul Fortress to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the first manned flight into space, met there the vice-president of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation, Oleg Petrovich Mukhin, and joined the Federation,” the head of the kindergarten, Svetlana Petova, simply explained. – We were invited to come to St. Petersburg with our children and parents to get to know cosmonautics better, and maybe in the fall or winter we will be able to visit Star City.

Why astronautics? According to the kindergarten workers, this is one of the lines of patriotic education: all kindergarteners know the name of the first cosmonaut and what April 12 is. For Cosmonautics Day, the kindergarten organized a grandiose exhibition dedicated to space: parents and children made wonderful crafts, even a life-size model of a space rocket - a child can easily go there and look out the window.

Children love everything related to space and willingly get involved in the process. In addition, we have very active parents - we ourselves did not expect such a response and, one might say, unique works - for example, one dad burned a portrait of Gagarin on the board,” says project organizer Svetlana Antonova, teacher of the Moth group. – All groups took part: from the junior “Ladybug” to the preparatory “Bee” and “Grasshopper”.

Oleg Mukhin, vice-president of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation and first vice-president of the North-Western branch in St. Petersburg, was invited to view the exhibition. He himself is not an astronaut, but he dedicated his career to astronautics.

It was not possible to fly into space - then, unfortunately, I wore glasses. Therefore, I became a design engineer and was engaged in the design of spacecraft,” shared Oleg Petrovich. “And then the public work began.” A lot of attention is now being paid to the younger generation: we have been working closely with Siversky for a long time; We recently went to Kolpino, Tosno. At the All-Russian competition “Space through the eyes of children”, the results were summed up at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, and children from Tosno took the first two places. We visit kindergartens in the region a lot: the children give excellent performances and ask questions that not every adult would think of.

This is not my first time in Gatchina - this is a unique city, Russian aviation was born here. So the kindergarten teachers took the initiative and joined the Cosmonautics Federation. What is this for? I think this is a very important direction, and we will always be happy to come to children. Because patriotism should be instilled in children from kindergarten, and astronautics is such a field of imagination!

For all the kindergarteners who made crafts, O.P. Mukhin signed bright letters. At the end of the meeting, kindergarten teacher Olga Polyakova, winner of the “Teacher of the Year 2016” competition, demonstrated to the guests her innovative technology, which she will use in Moscow at the All-Russian competition - sand therapy. And under her leadership, we created a landscape of Gatchina Park - made of sand.