We can't bring you back to Earth Your country no longer exists
We apologize, stay in space forever, we cannot return you to Earth, the country that sent you no longer exists
This previous message reached Major Sergey Krikalev after he was sent on a space mission
It's the story of the last Soviet citizen in space
Imagine, my friend, that you leave your country on a trip, and when you want to return, your country and your homeland refuse to receive you again, and when you return to your country, you find that everything in it has changed from what you knew previously.
The name of your country has changed, and its borders have been redrawn, even your salary has changed. This is exactly what happened with the Soviet citizen and young physicist Sergey Krikalev.
Sergey Krikalev
The last of the Soviet pioneers
In May of 1991 AD, the 33-year-old Soviet cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev was preparing to board the Soviet space station Mir with his British colleague Helen Sharman and his compatriot Anatoly Artsprasky on a triple mission.
The launch was from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in what is known today as Kazakhstan, where at that time it was one of the republics of the Soviet Union, and it was only minutes until Sergei was in space with his colleagues.
Sergey was a skilled pilot, he had gone into space many times before, the station Mir needed attention and Sergey was the best among his colleagues to take care of it, and the task was limited to 5 months, work was going on normally inside the station
The political situation on the ground changed
Where Sergei was orbiting the Earth more than ten times during which he watched the succession of day and night and the change of seasons as well. The view of the Earth from space was magical, but on Earth the conditions were not as magical as in space, especially in his country, the Soviet Union, which was suffering from difficult political conditions and more difficult economic conditions. The union was on the verge of collapse and disintegration
And at the dawn of August 19, 1991 AD, the tanks had invaded Red Square in an attempt to coup against President Mikhail Gorbachev, and the situation worsened day after day, and the ruble collapsed as well.
All this and Sergey does not know anything about what is happening on the ground
Pioneers return to Earth
September passed, then October, and British Helen Sharman returned to Earth, and before the end of October, Anatoly returned to Earth as well, and Sergey remained alone at the station.
November came, and Sergei was supposed to return in October, but whenever he requested landing, he received one response, which is that there is no money to finance the return mission
There is no trip to Earth!!
Sergei did not know that the Soviet Union and his homeland had disintegrated. On December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev announced the dissolution of the Soviet Union into 15 countries, and the city of Leningrad in which Sergei was born became called St. Petersburg. Everything changed, names, state borders.
And because Russia, the new country, was preoccupied with restoration, it was its last concern, forgetting what might happen to it in terms of muscle atrophy, cancer, or exposure to harsh space radiation. The period that was supposed to be five months has gone on without hope of returning.
The danger of staying in space
It was possible for Sergei to return to Earth alone because there is a capsule designated for returning to the station, but he thought about the station that would end if he left and left it, because it needed someone to manage and take care of it.
And Sergei continued to work despite everything, despite the lack of hope of returning, and although he became without a homeland, his homeland, which he !sent, has disappeared
Selling Russian seats in space flights
The situation continued as it was, and Sergey Saber was alone in space, and Russia, the new country, began selling its seats in space flights to other countries to restore its economy.
Austria bought a seat for 7 million dollars, and Japan bought a seat for a TV presenter with 12 million dollars.
But no one donated to bring Sergey back to Earth, the cost is high and someone else has to replace him on the space station.
Return Sergey Krikalev
The months of January and February passed, and March came. At the end of this month, Sergei received news that Germany would pay 24 million dollars so that he could return and another man would take his place.
Finally, after 10 months, on March 25, 1992, Sergey landed on the ground, his features were exhausted and pale, and his space suit bore the flag of the Soviet Union, which had become a non-existent country on the ground. And its borders that shrank, his salary, which became small due to the economic crisis and the collapse of the ruble, even the name of his city changed
Source: websites