Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
Founder: Joseph Barone
Contributors: crookedindifference, bumerangue, propagandery, rocketmagic, rostenbach
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Last Friday, the crew of Soyuz TMA-07M were formally welcomed back to earth in Star City. They had the traditional Russian welcome of bread and salt, and placed flowers at Yuri Gagarin’s statue. They also received gifts and awards.
(Source)
“Communists blaze the trail to the stars” A stamp set from 1964 commemorating the Soviet Union’s space firsts: first satellite (Sputnik-1957), first pennant on the moon (Luna 2 carried two to the moon-1959), first picture of the dark side of the moon (Luna 3-1959), first man in space (Yuri Gagarin-1961), first group flight (Vostok 3 and 4-1962) and first woman in space (Valentina Tereshkova-1963).
(Source)
The “Neptune” control panel of the Soyuz TMA-M spacecraft.
Soyuz on the radar!
An update on Soyuz TMA-09M. The crew of Fyodor Yurchikhin, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano arrived at Baikonur and have been through their first and second fit checks in the Soyuz. The press was also allowed in for a day and watched the crew exercise, relax and plant their traditional trees. They launch on May 28.
Yuri Gagarin right after the flight
Today marks the day of Yuri Gagarin’s flight on Восток-1 (Vostok-1); 52 years ago.
It was launched 06:07, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. After orbiting the Earth, it landed at 07:55. The spaceflight totaled 108 minutes.
I am a friend, comrades, a friend!
Yuri Gagarin’s first words upon returning to earth, to a woman and a girl near where his capsule landed. (12 April 1961) The woman asked: “Can it be that you have come from outer space?” to which Gagarin replied: “As a matter of fact, I have!” (via asonlynasacan)
(Source: billionquotes.com)
U.S. actor Tom Cruise and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first human to conduct a space walk, take part in a ceremony at the premiere of the new film “Oblivion” in Moscow April 1, 2013
Source: Reuters
Alexei just seems like the coolest dude.
I wonder if he started jumping on Alexei’s couch.
The launch of Soyuz TMA-08M. According to tradition, the crew sign their room doors and are blessed by a Russian Orthodox priest. The crew then put on their sokol suits, have them checked for leaks and head out to the launch pad. After launch, the crew made the first expedited docking after only six hours, instead of two days.
(Source: GCTC)
Soyuz
Blueprint of a Russian Soyuz rocket. Click here to view big..!
omg this is beautiful
edit: this is BIG
The Soyuz 9 crew, Andriyan Nikolayev and Vitaly Sevastyanov, played the first chess game across space. They played against Earth, a team that consisted of Nikolai Kaminin, head of the Cosmonaut Training Center and cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko. The game was played on a day off for the crew and ended in a draw. You can see how the game was played here. (June 1970)
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Vladimir Shatalov, director of the Cosmonaut Training Center (second left) in the Mir simulator with the Soyuz TM-7 crew: Aleksandr Volkov, Jean-Loup Chrétien (France) and Sergei Krikalev. (1988)
(Source)
What We Know About the Russian Meteor Event
We have the technology to provide warning about these potential disasters, says Heidi Hammel from Planetary Society.
