Romanenko and his III house missions

The primary mission

Born on August 1, 1944 in Koltubanovskiy village in Orenburg Oblast, Soviet Union, Yuri Romanenko was the son of a senior commander on navy ships (father) and a fight medic. He did a few of his education in Kaliningrad after his household moved there, and counted searching and underwater fishing amongst his hobbies. 

Following a short stint doing odd jobs, he joined the Chernigov Excessive Air Power Faculty in what’s now Ukraine in 1962. He graduated with honours in 1966 and stayed on to coach college students, whereas fine-tuning himself for the calls for of a cosmonaut. By 1970, he was cleared and prepared for house flights. 

It was one other seven years earlier than Romanenko had his first expertise of house. Because the flight commander on Soyuz 26, Romanenko, together with engineer Georgi Grechko, was launched to house on December 10, 1977. Throughout their 96 days in orbit, they met with Soyuz 27, Soyuz 28, and Progress 1. 

In his first mission, Romanenko carried out an area stroll for an hour-and-a-half. Main as much as this, there was a second when Romanenko had pushed in opposition to the wall and flew exterior, however with out harnessing himself to the protection wire. Grechko grabbed maintain of him to make sure he didn’t depart the house station, however Romanenko would have however not floated away due to {the electrical} cables that have been connected nonetheless. Grechko joked about the entire accident when the duo met the press, going so far as saying that Romanenko was on the verge of loss of life. 

Cuban connection

Romanenko’s second house mission started on September 18, 1980 when he was a part of a historic flight aboard Soyuz 38 alongside Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez. This flight was particular as Mendez was not solely the primary Cuban cosmonaut and the primary Latin American to fly into house, but in addition the primary particular person of African descent to make a space-bound journey. 

Over seven days, the duo accomplished 124 orbits across the Earth, whereas conducting science and well being experiments. A complete of 9 experiments have been carried out, together with those who studied stress, blood circulation, immunity, steadiness, and the expansion of a single crystal of sucrose in weightlessness. The 2 returned to Earth on September 26. 

Mendez and Romanenko speaking with Pilot-cosmonaut of USSR Georgi Dghalabov (left).
| Picture Credit score:
The Hindu Archives

Following his retirement in 1988, Romanenko and his household have been invited to Cuba. Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro – the nation’s President at the moment – not solely personally met Romanenko, but in addition organised a social tour that accommodated Romanenko’s pursuits in underwater fishing and searching.

326 days in house

Romanenko’s third and last voyage to house was his longest. The truth is, it wasn’t simply his longest, however the longest there had been till then! 

Lasting from February to December 1987, the Mir EO-2 expedition – additionally known as the Mir Principal Expedition 2 – was the second lengthy length expedition to the Soviet house station Mir. Launched aboard a Soyuz TM-2 together with Aleksandr Laveykin on February 6, 1987, Romanenko returned to Earth aboard a Soyuz TM-3 on December 29 – after 326 days in house!

Yuri Romanenko
| Picture Credit score:
“Роскосмос” or “GCTC” or “РКК Энергия” / Wikimedia Commons

Throughout this keep, Romanenko carried out three house walks – on April 11, June 11, and June 16. The house stroll on April 11 was an emergency extra-vehicular exercise (EVA) that lasted 3 hours and 40 minutes, throughout which Romanenko and Laveykin needed to exit Mir to restore an issue with Kvant (first module to be connected to the Mir Core Module). Discovering a overseas object (most likely a trash bag they’d left between Progress 28 and Mir’s drogue) lodged in Kvant’s docking unit, the duo pulled it free. As soon as it was discarded into house, Kvant efficiently accomplished docking following a command from the bottom. 

Despite the fact that each of them have been scheduled to remain all through, Laveykin was changed by  Alexandr Alexandrov from Soyuz TM-3 in July. This was as a result of ground-based medical doctors had recognized Laveykin to have minor coronary heart issues (checks as soon as he was again revealed that he was match to fly in any case!). 

By the point Romanenko returned on December 29, 1987, the pair who went on to interrupt his longest spaceflight document have been already in house. Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov stayed for one year, beginning on December 21, 1987 and returning the identical day the next yr. Their document has additionally since been damaged, and it’s presently held by Valeri Poliyakov, whose longest single-mission keep lasted 437 days. 

Like father, like son

Yuri Romanenko along with his spouse Alevtina.
| Picture Credit score:
THE HINDU ARCHIVES

Married to Alevtina Ivanovna Frolova, Romanenko had two kids. Their first son Roman was born on August 9, 1971, whereas the second son Artem was born on Might 17, 1977. 

Like his father Yuri, Roman too went on to grow to be a cosmonaut, heading to house on a few situations. There have been solely a handful of second-generation house venturers, and Roman is one among them. 

Which means Yuri and Roman are additionally among the many only a few father-son duo the place each of them have been to house. 

(From left to proper) Astronauts Tim Kopra, John “Danny” Olivas, Frank De Winne and Roman Romanenko pose for a photograph within the Unity node of the Worldwide House Station on this NASA handout picture taken on September 7, 2009.
| Picture Credit score:
REUTERS/NASA/Handout

One quote. Two interpretations.

On returning to Earth following what was then the longest single-mission human keep in house, Romanenko remarked that “The cosmos is a magnet. When you’ve been there, all you may consider is the best way to get again.”

This poignant assertion might be interpreted in a few methods, each of that are deep and symbolic. 

On the one hand, the assertion might be mentioned to imply that experiencing the vastness and surprise of infinite house might be so profoundly fascinating that there’s a fixed tug within the coronary heart, even after returning to Earth. This tug makes the particular person yearn to expertise the identical feeling as soon as once more. This pull by an invisible drive is likened to that of a magnet. 

However, the assertion can be interpreted to the overwhelming feeling that one would possibly expertise when setting out into the cosmos. The celestial magnificence that goes together with the awe-inspiring and humbling nature of house can evoke a way of smallness and insignificance amongst those that expertise it. This, coupled with the longing to “get again” to the consolation and familiarity of Earth, may effectively be conveyed by this quote. The magnet that’s the cosmos on this case then retains the house traveller interested in it and holds them spellbound, even after they want to head again to all that they’ve been disconnected from.