Is it true that in 1991, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev was forgotten in orbit? Why did he stay at Mir for six months longer than planned.
Pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of Russia, executive director for manned space programs of the State Corporation Roscosmos Sergei Krikalev “Robinsonil” in space is not alone, but paired with Alexander Volkov. They were asked to stay in orbit longer than planned at the Mission Control Center (MCC).
“In the middle of the flight, the program manager Valery Ryumin came to me,” Sergey Konstantinovich told AiF, “and said:“ It looks like two flights – one with an Austrian cosmonaut, the other with a Kazakh one – are combined into one, and we are thinking how to get out of this. The easiest way is if you could stay for the next expedition. Assess your strength, and if you can, it will help us a lot. If you can't, we will look for other options. ” I appreciated and agreed. There were enough supplies of food, water and air for two people on the Mir. “
After this story, Krikalev was called “forgotten cosmonaut”, “prisoner of space”. He himself does not consider himself as such: “We contacted the MCC every day. We had a ship, in case of an emergency (meteorite hit, communication breakdown) we could land within a few hours. “
