Featured Image Credit: MAXIM MARMUR/AFP via Getty Images/NASA
The astronaut who was stranded up in space for 311 days after his country ceased to exist has revealed his first emotion after returning to Earth.
Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev spent nearly a year stuck in space after the Soviet Union dissolved during his mission.
What was due to be a five month trip doubled in length as people on the ground tried to work out how they were going to bring him back to Earth.
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This was partly due to the fact that the Baikonur Cosmodrome and the landing area were both located in the newly independent Kazakhstan.
This threw up huge uncertainty as to how or when Krikalev could return home.
Trapped aboard the Mir Space Station, he finally made his way back down to Earth in March 1992.
In 2015, the cosmonaut spoke to the Guardian, revealing what his first emotion was when he finally touched down on solid ground.
Talking about his experience of being stranded in space, he said: “It was a long process and we were getting the news, not all at once, but we heard about the referendum, for example.
“I was doing my job and was more worried about those on the ground - our families and friends - we had everything we needed!”
Krikalev went on to say: “I think I felt satisfaction that I had done my job, and done it well. The second one was a sort of relief as I had held a huge responsibility for many months.”
Because of this unique situation, Krikalev became known as the ‘last Soviet citizen’, but it wasn’t his final time in space.
In 1994, he returned to orbit as he took part in the first joint US and Russian Space Shuttle Mission.
In December 1998, he also became the first person to enter the International Space Station along with NASA astronaut Robert Cabana.
The pair were tasked with turning on the lights in the US module Unity.
The cosmonaut clocked up 804 days, nine hours and 39 minutes in space throughout his career, once holding the record for the most time spent floating above the atmosphere.
But because of the amount of time Krikalev had spent in space where he was traveling at high velocities, he also experienced time dilation.
This basically means a ‘slowing down of clocks’, causing him to be 0.02 seconds younger than other people born at the same time as him.
