Cosmonauts visit

07 December 2007

Two Russian cosmonauts landed on Merseyside this week, delivering an inspiring talk to students and staff at LJMU's Astrophysics Research Institute.
 
For over an hour and a half, the cosmonauts, Alexander Volkov and Alexander Martynov, kept the audience enthralled with their tales of the Russian space program and their voyages across the final frontier.
 
Alexander Volkov has spent over a year in orbit on a variety of spacecraft including the space station Mir. Proclaimed a hero of Soviet Russia, he has received the country's highest honorary accolade, the Order of Lenin, amongst numerous other awards.
 
Alexander Martynov, Head of Ballistics at the Russian Mission Control Centre from 1968 to 1992, was responsible for designing re-entry modules and ensuring the safe landing of spacecraft. He remains actively involved in current Russian space programmes in his role as Head of the Foreign Relations Department for the city of Korolev, the hub of the Russian space programme. He has also written over 120 scholarly articles and six books on the subject of spacecraft motion control.
 
The cosmonauts' lecture 'From Sputnik to Mars', explored all aspects of modern-day space travel, such as the ongoing project for a six-year round trip to Mars, the construction of the International Space Station, and a discussion on what the future holds for space travel.
  
Compared to the brinkmanship of the space race during the Cold War, space travel is now a truly international affair, with nations such as the UK, Brazil, Spain, Japan and Germany all participating in the construction of the International Space Station. However, Martynov pointed out that many differences between the various nations still remain. While praising the level of collaboration between European, Russian and American space colleagues working on the International Space Station, he also noted that the unit did not immediately gel together. ''Everything was different,'' he said, ''technologies were different, cultures were different, language was different, so it took us two, maybe three years until we became a real international team.''

Martynov also joked that Americans were obsessed with the computerisation of all parts of the spacecraft, compared to a more straightforward approach adopted by the Russians. ''In Russia, we try to make space techniques as simple as possible,'' he explained, ''by using as few parts as possible so that astronauts can be trained to repair everything on the station''.

He added that the space station had both Russian and American-made toilets on board. ''Believe me, all the American astronauts use Russian toilet. Why? Because with American toilet you have to load the computer, open the programme, etc. Whereas the Russian one, one button and it is ready''.
 
On a more sombre note, the audience asked the cosmonauts' opinion on what the human race would do if, as predicted, Earth becomes uninhabitable. Given that the nearest planet with a similar atmosphere to Earth is Alpha Centuari, and that it would take 400 years to get there with a crew of 2,000 people. Martynov proposed an alternative solution to how space could help resolve some of Earth's pressing problems.

A solar power station in orbit, he said, could transfer energy back to Earth and provide a phenomenal amount of power to replace carbon-based fuels. This energy could be then used to extract hydrogen from underground water fields which could go some way towards solving our increasing fuel demands.
 
It was obvious that the students relished the opportunity to meet two individuals with first hand experience of space travel. When he was 13, Alexander Volkov watched Yuri Gagarin become the first man to blast off into space. This turned out to be a pivotal moment in his life, as from then on he felt destined to become an astronaut. Only time will tell if any LJMU student is similarly inspired to strive for a career in the stars.

Pictures:

• Top - Cosmonauts Alexander Volkov and Alexander Martynov with a model of LJMU's Liverpool Telescope.
• Bottom - NSO Manager Chris Leigh, cosmonauts Alexander Volkov and Alexander Martynov and Professor David Carter, Professor of Observational Astronomy.