Tomorrow morning, a Soyuz will dock to the Space Station containing the first crew for which I was the training lead. Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko launched on Tuesday with spaceflight participant So-Yeon Yi (read: space tourist). Astronaut Greg Chamitoff will be joining them in join.
Over the last year and a half, I'm proud to have formed a friendship with Sergei and Oleg. Both are quiet, stoic men: almost the idealization of the Russian military man. Neither one has ever flown in space before. Sergei has a bright, easy smile. His English is very good, and he capably bears three burdens: he is the first second-generation person to fly in space (his father was a cosmonaut on Mir), he is the youngest commander of the ISS (at 35), and he is taking the reins from one of the hardest-working people ever in space, Peggy Whitson. Oleg is definitely the quiet half of the pairing, but he is genuinely friendly and absorbs everything that's going on around them.
I can only hope that my training team and I have served them well. Sergei and Oleg: good luck, have fun, work hard, and come home safely.
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3 comments:
That is totally cool!! I didn't know you worked in the space program. I'm sure you work very hard and there are many tedious/unpleasant duties, but don't forget there are still plenty of space nuts out there (like me) who would love to have the kind of job you have.
I saw a picture of Sergei Volkov in a news story the other day I thought, he looks so young! Of course, I'm old so a lot of people look that way to me, but it is surprising he would be the expedition commander at the tender age of 35.
Okay that is just cool. The only thing better would be actually knowing the astronauts! (When can you hook us up with some?)
That is really cool!
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