Astronauts of Russia. Flying into space after 1991

The space era in the history of mankind began in 1961. April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin made a flight into space, which in many ways turned the world's history. He became the first person who climbed to an unprecedented height to this day. Before that, the space ships of the USSR had already made flights into space. In 1957 the first artificial earth satellite was launched .

Cosmonauts of Russia

In 1991, the USSR is disintegrating. Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan received the main "space heritage". Contrary to the deep economic crisis and frequent military conflicts, especially in Russia, the development of space programs did not stop. In many sources there is no division in the list of cosmonauts on Soviet and purely Russian. And yet, the cosmonauts of Russia are a new generation of cosmonauts who have worked and continue to work on advanced spacecraft.

From 1961 to 2014, about 248 flights were made from Baikonur and Plesetsk cosmodromes. From 1991 to 2014, 91 started. That is, more than a third of all space launches from the sites of the former USSR took place at the time of Russia's independence. Considering the high cost of implementing programs for space exploration, we note that this is quite a lot.

The first cosmonauts of Russia since independence

The first flight of a spaceship with Russian participation since 1991 took place from March to August 1992. Honor was given to Alexander Yuryevich Kalery. He was born on May 13, 1965 in the Latvian city of Jurmala. He made 5 flights to space (August 1996-March 1997, April-May 2000, a joint flight with an American cosmonaut between October 2003 and April 2004, from October 2010 to March 2011).

Among the first Russian cosmonauts, one can also distinguish Avdeev Sergey Vasilyevich, who made 3 starts. The first of them took place a few months after the first flight of Kalery - July 17, 1992. Avdeev was born in the city with the symbolic name Chapayevsk, in the Kuibyshev region of the RSFSR, in 1956. His first flight ended in February 1993. Also, this pilot-cosmonaut took part in joint flights with American space researchers (September 1995-February 1996). The third and last of his flight was in the team with Gennady Padalko and Yuri Baturin (he was at the station from October 1997 to July 1998).

How is the selection of candidates for participation in flights?

There are several criteria by which an expert commission, which includes astronauts, selects candidates who can participate in flights after training. The commission looks exclusively at military pilots. These are people who have already undergone basic training and are able to act in extreme situations, possessing good endurance and coordination of movement. The Commission also takes into account the concrete experience of the raid, the heights on which a particular candidate flew. Probably the most important criterion is the candidate's state of health at the time of selection. Clearly, it should be perfect.

After the initial selection, candidates are sent for special training. The training course can last a different amount of time. It all depends on what time the next flight is scheduled. The astronauts of Russia are great patriots of the Motherland!

Space program today

Russia continues flights to space today. For this purpose, all necessary infrastructure, training bases have been created. The new models of spacecraft are being built on scientific developments of scientists. How many astronauts in Russia are active today? According to statistics in 2014 - 47 people, among them one woman. Of course, not all of them will be able to fly into space, but everyone takes part in trainings, is constantly trained in halls and polygons. They have a goal - to conquer outer space and to look at the Earth from there!