Turkmen Gagarin talked about football in zero gravity and the Moon, that looks like a ball
October 02, 2017 | 12:09 |249
While Ashgabat had a triumphant closing of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, in Russia people are intensively preparing for the World Cup in football. Fans of the FWC in less than a year will be greeted in eleven cities of the country. Among them there is Samara, whose ambassador to the world-level competition was Oleg Kononenko, a compatriot from Turkmenistan.Leonid KIYASHKO, journalist Ivanovo, Russian Federation
Got the ball back in school...
After Oleg Kononenko left Chardzhou, he entered the Russian school, after which he began to take the first steps in the city on the Volga, famous in the song, which subsequently led him into space. The boy came to work in the Central Specialized Design Bureau (then still Kuibyshev, and not Samara), right after the aviation institute. And having risen to the leading engineer-designer, engaged in designing the electrical systems of spacecraft, he went to the cosmonaut detachment.
Since that time, Oleg, who has already visited the Earth's orbit three times, does not forget this city, just like the native Chardzhou (nowadays - Turkmenabat). Actually, he received an invitation to become the ambassador of the World Cup from Samara, too, during a space flight.
The Turkmen Gagarin recently told the newspaper Kommersant about how this happened, as well as about football, which he loved as a schoolboy in Turkmenistan, and then played in zero gravity, as well as plans for the development of planets.
By the way, not long before, a celebrity video has appeared on the portal for fans of the World Cup 2018 - "Hero’s Cities: Samara of Oleg Kononenko", where an astronaut, following the example of others, is telling the story of one of the cities-organizers of the upcoming main football event.
"It seems to me that appointing ambassadors of the cities organizing the World Cup is a good, beautiful and sensible idea," Oleg Kononenko told journalists. "Not all inhabitants of other countries and regions know that Samara is not only one of the bright and cultural historical centers of Russia, but also a space capital: a rocket was built here on which Gagarin made a historical flight."
The museum "Samara Space" is what our hero’s colorful video talks about
... and continues this activity at the orbit
"The role of the ambassador did not affect my attitude to football: I love this game just as much as before," the cosmonaut said to the Kommersant. - Naturally, as a child, I did not pass by it - I played football, but at an amateur level, and at the same time professionally practiced volleyball. I played football in the period of studying at the Kharkov Institute, and then in Samara. Later, after I had been selected for the cosmonaut detachment, as part of my physical training, I also practiced football. But this was done before the stage of direct preparation for space flight, during which the cosmonauts should avoid injuries. In addition, I'm not only an amateur player, but also a football fan and I watch international matches with pleasure."
Oleg Kononenko admits that at the orbit there is an opportunity to watch sports channels and live broadcasts of matches.
"Sometimes, when there is a mood, we play football in zero gravity, but only with a soft ball. This is done with great care, so as not to damage the scientific equipment at the station," the cosmonaut makes an almost sensational statement for the football fans.
When it is not the Moon, but namely the ball
By the way, Oleg Dmitrievich, judging by the interview, is associating ... the Moon with the popular game. This is his favorite object of photography in space.
"I really love to shoot the Moon, but not at the moment of its full size, but in a moment, when it goes behind the disk of the Earth, and the play of the sun's rays and the earth's atmosphere give it a blue-gray shade. Sometimes, by the way, at this moment the Moon is like a deflated soccer ball. But you have to catch this moment. Therefore, the astronauts who take pictures in orbit can be compared to sports photographers who capture successful moments of the game," the cosmonaut explains.
I had a chance to talk about the images from the orbit with Oleg Kononenko, when a few years ago he was in post-flight rehabilitation in the sanatorium "Reshma" in the Ivanovo region. Great playing in front of my eyes ... not football, but tennis, which is more suitable for the recovery of the physical form of the cosmonauts, who just returned to Earth, he happily recalled how he made pictures, for example, of the Karakumov. That's how it was.
About the Karakum close to the heart and such a distant Mars
"Our working day ends at 18.30 or at 19.00, after that comes the analysis of the flight. And then our personal time - we do what we like. I was impressed by the height of the Andes. Australia is very beautiful. There is beauty in the desert. By the way, flying over Turkmenistan, where I was born, I photographed native cities - Ashgabat and Turkmenabat. At night they are flooded with lights, very beautifully", - hearing these revelations of the cosmonaut, to whom I come as a fellow countryman, gave me real happiness. Talking then with Oleg Kononenko, I understood that zero gravity does not prevail over the attraction of my native land. The land in the porthole for Turkmen Gagarin is not only the majestic landscapes of distant countries, but also the desert close to the heart... In an interview with the newspaper Kommersant, he also noted that on Earth there are many interesting and picturesque places and during the flight he does not cease to be surprised by the beauty of our amazing planet.
"The transparency of the atmosphere, the angle of the Sun and the first cosmic speed with which you fly at the orbit around the Earth influence how beautiful the photo in space will turn out to be. The cosmonauts even have a special program, Sigma, which calculates the time of flight over certain objects and allows us to determine when we can make a successful photo," our hero reveals the secrets of space photography.
By the way, as far as the Moon, which Oleg Kononenko likes to shoot, associations arise not only with football. The cosmonaut dreams of flying to it. And to Mars, too. Experts name them as the most acceptable options for mastering by mankind.
"It would be interesting for me to exploit the technique that will reach Mars," the astronaut admits. "But if it's the Moon, I will not be upset." I agree with the words of Tsiolkovsky, who said: "The earth is the cradle of humanity, but one can not live in a cradle forever!" In any case, this is necessary: the pursuit of resources will sooner or later force mankind to master the Moon, Mars and other celestial bodies."
Journalists ask if he is afraid that the exploration of outer space can turn into the capture of other planets, as it is represented in blockbusters.
"We are called in the press as "Conquerors of the space," but our task is not to conquest. A giant flash on the Sun, an asteroid, a nuclear war can destroy our civilization on Earth in a familiar form. Even a virus can destroy us. Reflections on this matter people prefer to postpone for tomorrow, but becoming a traveler in space by sight, I believe we can be saved. Mastering space, we must strive for a more important goal - to preserve ourselves as a species and save our civilization," says Oleg Kononenko.
Autograph of the real star
Recently, by the way, his name was numerously mentioned by large news agencies, reporting the completion of another set of those who want to go to the stars. This action is held every five years. But only the second time applications were received from all comers, and not only from military pilots and personnel of the rocket and space industry. Before the new replenishment of the ranks, by the way, there were fewer than thirty cosmonauts in the detachment, and only twelve had flight experience. "Five more cosmonauts," TASS reports, "flew to space once, seven carried out two flights, one was on the orbit three times (Oleg Kononenko), and cosmonaut Fedor Yurchikhin had four orbital flights." Taking this opportunity, I will recall the third flight of Oleg Kononenko again. As a commander of the Soyuz spacecraft, our fellow countryman went to the International Space Station in 2015, along with the onboard engineers Kimia Yui (Japan) and Chell Lindgren (USA).
So autographs of all participants of this expedition were recently shown at the Museum of Stone in Ivanovo. In addition to the richest geological collection, which includes minerals that are well known to the Turkmen people, which we will discuss in the following publications, there is a beautiful exposition on the history of cosmonautics.
The first autograph of Oleg Kononenko, which I managed to get during the post-flight rehabilitation of the cosmonaut in the sanatorium "Reshma", entered the museum five years ago. At one of the exhibitions, it was exhibited along with a small Turkmen handmade carpet, similar to the one that our countryman took in flight. One of the gels, we recall, according to ancient legend, is just a map of the universe.
“And this picture with the signatures was in the museum not so long ago,” says his employee Sergei Belyakov, proudly showing the exhibits. – “In total there are ten cards with autographs of cosmonauts in the collection”.
