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SPACE CONQUEROR
Today, a significant event for Yekaterinburg took place. At 14:12 Moscow time, Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Its commander is a cosmonaut from Yekaterinburg Sergei Prokopiev. Together with Sergei to visit the International Space Station, were sent astronauts Alexander Gerst (Germany) and Serena Auñón-Chancellor (USA).
Sergei Valeryevich Prokopiev was born on February 19, 1975, in Sverdlovsk. In 1992, he graduated from secondary school No. 64 in Yekaterinburg. Since 2010, Sergei served as commander of the aviation detachment of Tu-160 strategic bombers. In 2010, he was selected for the cosmonaut corps, and then began preparations for a space flight. In 2015 and in 2017 he was in backup crews on the ISS. Sergei was awarded the Order "For Military Merit" and some medals.
The event was opened by the director of the Yekaterinburg Planetarium Alexander Izgagin, a USUE master student. He noted that Sergei Prokopiev was the first Yekaterinburg citizen who went to space.
Among the distinguished guests of the event was Pavel Krekov, deputy governor of the Sverdlovsk region.
"Everyone has often a desire to raise their heads up and see what is happening around us. The most exciting sight above our heads is the starry sky. Many people gathered in the hall who are interested in the eternal and endless and those who are ready to domesticate space. Our country occupies a special place in this sphere. Russia is a country that has laid the cosmic tradition and largely determines it. We have many reasons for pride: today the Russian Federation is the only country that has operating means of manned cosmonautics and it introduces unique space technologies. Let us wish our cosmonaut and our countryman a good start, excellent work in the orbit and to return to our native land with a great desire to fly next time," Pavel Vladimirovich greeted the guests.
A special guest was commenting on the live broadcast - Hero of the Russian Federation, pilot-cosmonaut Alexander Lazutkin, who made a space flight from February 10 to August 15, 1997, as a flight engineer of Soyuz TM-25 and Mir Space Station. He told about the pre-launch preparation of the rocket and the main stages when the spacecraft was put into orbit.
Alexander Ivanovich noted that each ship had its own call sign and its own logo. The call sign of Soyuz MS- 09 is “Altai”. The cosmonauts are prepared for a flight for a long time: they undergo special training and medical examination. Alexander Lazutkin said that the cosmonauts have a special ritual before the flight: watching the movie "The White Sun of the Desert". In order to make the flight successful, the film is watched by all crewmembers, including foreigners. In general, the startup process takes 524 seconds. Then there is an ascent to near-earth orbit and an autonomous flight to the ISS. The docking of the ship will take place in two days. It is planned that the crew will spend six months in space and will return only in December.
Alexander Lazutkin told about his experience in space exploration: several emergencies happened during his flight: on February 23, 1997, a fire broke out from the defective oxygen block, and on June 25, 1997, the depressurization of the Spectrum module occurred. "After a flight into space, a person becomes different, the worldview changes, and you begin to look at the world with a completely different, fresh look," Alexander Ivanovich said.
Any astronaut begins his journey from the Earth. People who know Sergei very well came to support him during the first flight.
Alexander Shubin, deputy head of the Ural Aviation Search and Rescue Center, spoke about the family of our fellow citizen. Almost all the Prokopievs linked their lives with the sky. His father Valery Andreevich Prokopiev, a pilot, worked for DOSAAF, brought up a dozen people who made their first parachute jumping. The elder brother became a pilot and fought in the North Caucasus. The younger brother is an international master of sport, and another brother of Sergei is engaged in rocket engineering.
Olga Rubleva, the former headmaster of school No. 64, and Sergei’s teacher Irina Proskurina are particularly proud of their graduate. "Sergei's main dream was to fly. We are very pleased that it has come true. Yekaterinburg should be proud of its fellow citizen: no doubt, they are brave people who rise high into space," the teachers shared their emotions.
Among those present at the event were people for whom space had become a hobby. One of the guests presented to the public his set of badges devoted to space, which he had collected for more than 20 years. The collector told about two medals he had bought in the Star City. They depict astronauts Pavel Belyaev, a native of Kamensk-Uralsky, and Yuri Gagarin, the first person to fly into space. It turned out that these medals were issued in Yekaterinburg.
Another valuable item in the collection is a coin made in the 1990s when Boris Yeltsin was in power. During the reduction of missile weapons, commemorative medals were created from the liquidated installations. According to collectors, such a coin is very valuable.
The guests of the live broadcasts could try on a spacesuit to feel like a real cosmonaut, find out what the crewmembers eat, and see the simulated carrier rocket. At the conclusion of the broadcast, all present in the hall took an overall photo, which would be sent to Sergei Prokopiev to the ISS, and he will be able to see how the native city is proud of him.
The event was held by the Yekaterinburg Planetarium in conjunction with the Salyut Cinema and Nuclear Energy Information Center.
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