Man Stuck Floating Above Earth For Over 300 Days, Comes Back To A Totally Different World

man stuck floating above earth for over 300 days comes back to a totally different world [Music] [Applause] sergey krikalev was ready to set out on a trip into space leaving earth behind to live in a space station it was supposed to be a routine mission just what he had trained for but when something utterly unexpected ended up changing everything he had ever known down on earth his mission quickly took a turn into the utterly unexpected and the dangerous this is how he got stuck floating 200 miles above earth for 300 days and the bizarre events that followed cosmonaut sergey krikalev left his home in 1991 for his second mission into space for this trip he would be floating more than 200 miles above the earth's surface as the only cosmonaut aboard the near space station but what started as a routine mission soon became one that would threaten to take his life and leave him alone in space from 200 miles above everything he knew he would watch the entire world completely change he had no idea when he would be able to return back home and no idea when he would even get to speak to another human being but after being stranded in space kierkelev is sharing his unbelievable story kierkelev had been working his way up and training for this mission for years he was a trained pilot and had a mechanical engineering degree when he started working in space flight development before long he was working on space operation methods and ground control operations in his twenties kierkolov safely competed an in-orbit rescue mission so it was no surprise that by age thirty kirkalev was chosen for his first flight to complete a mission on the mir space station and after the mission ended successfully kierkelev was asked to go on yet another trip to the mir but unlike his previous experience this one would be far from smooth sailing in 1990 kirkulev began to train for another's trip to space over the next year he was thoroughly trained for a mission that was set to last for about five months but there was a problem kierkelev had not been trained to handle the bodily and technical issues that might arise if the trip were to last any longer than that on may 19 1991 kierkelev along with two other astronauts prepared to board a spaceship bound for the mir station kierkelev was the only flight engineer on board and that would soon turn out to be a mistake of near fatal proportions astronaut helen sharman the first briton to go to space was on board with kierkelev and remembered him as being cool under pressure according to discover magazine as the spaceship approached the mirror charmin panicked knowing that one wrong move could be deadly but her crewmate landed the ship safely yet even now that they had arrived despite its prestige the space station was decidedly less than glamorous as discover magazine explained mir had a well-earned reputation as a smelly noisy place it was no bigger than a few rvs stacked end to end without any fresh air the shuttle reeked of sweat and the noise was never ending the constant racket from fans and pumps and other machinery was enough to cause hearing loss the magazine stated life on mir was like life on any space station at least for now despite all of its downsides kirklev loved being in outer space he always said when he got into the space station he felt like he was going home his fellow crew member sharman recalled in an interview in his free time he would play games like trying to float from one side of the station to the other without touching the walls when asked about his favorite things about being in space kierkelev said in an interview with the guardian firstly the view of earth from the viewing port secondly the sense of freedom which you experience in weightlessness you feel like a bird that is able to fly but soon the joys of their carefree days would be over and the entire mission would come crashing down for eight days the three mission members joined the additional astronauts on the mere space station and took in the sights of their temporary home every spare moment we tried to look at the earth trying to pinpoint specific places on the globe kierkelev said but for some the home was more temporary than others assigned with a shorter mission helen sharman had planned to leave with the rest of the crew members after everyone set off for their trip back to earth only kierkelev and commander anatoly artsabarsky were left on board suddenly it was just the two of them suspended in space and they had no idea how drastically the world was changing back on earth kerkilev was practically alone in space and news from earth was hard to come by but after a few months the cosmonauts started to receive some unsettling information it was august 19th 1991 and the communist leaders of the soviet union where kierkelev was from were storming red square in moscow in protest of soviet leader mikhail gorbachev the hardliners led by boris yeltsin weren't happy with gorbachev's recent reforms on earth citizens of the soviet union as well as the entire planet were watching the world superpower as it began to dissolve but from space kirklev was watching whatever he could in fear of what this could mean for his space mission and ultimately for his life if people on earth were surprised to see what was happening in the soviet union just imagine the helplessness that kierkelev felt while stuck in space from the mir space station the cosmonaut was barely able to stay updated and was definitely unable to predict what would happen next for us it was totally unexpected kierkelev told reporters about the coup happening back in his home country we didn't understand what happened when we discussed all this we tried to grasp how it would affect the space program but the way these historical events would affect kierkelev's mission were even more colossal than he could have imagined over the next few months and weeks the updates trickling into the space station were even more unsettling for kirkulev as time passed more and more soviet states were declaring their independence kirkulev was starting to get increasingly worried and soon he had even more of a reason to be kirkalev was told by space officials in kazakhstan that due to the revolution money had dried up they simply did not have enough funds to get kierkelev back to earth at that time so he waited another month passed and mission control continued to give him the same update stay in place but time was running out and kirklev began to worry about whether he'd make it out of this mission alive on kierkelev's previous trip to the mir station his communications with mission control had been much less pessimistic during that time he was able to form a connection with a woman working the radio that woman elena would eventually become his wife and now on his second mission the two were communicating semi-regularly but this time their conversations were decidedly less romantic the lone cosmonaut was worried about his wife alone with their nine-month-old child far longer than expected the cosmonaut was still making his meager state-determined salary of only a few dollars a month and with the new inflation he was worried not just about his own survival he was worried for his family's survival as well i tried never to talk about unpleasant things because it must have been hard for him elena later said in an interview as far as i can make out sergey was doing the same thing news continued to trickle into the space station and each update left the stressed cosmonaut feeling like an end date for his mission was even farther out of reach another month had passed and kierkelev continued to receive the same answer stay in place there was not enough money to get him home the country is in such difficulty the chance to save money must be the top priority kierkelev said in an interview at the time so for now he waited hoping that conditions wouldn't get any worse all this time kierkelev was not exactly stranded in space there was actually a way out and he could have used it all along though he had chosen not to the mere space station was equipped with a reduga reentry capsule programmed to make the trip from the station back down to earth but kirklev and the other cosmonaut on board quickly decided that for them the option was off the table the two had been trained for years about the intricacies of the space station and they knew that leaving it would mean that there would be no one to look after the mirror jumping ship would have been the easy way out but kierkelev was about to find out just how difficult the hard way out would be beyond the loneliness that came with being stuck in space kierkelev was beginning to really worry about the effects this elongated mission would have on his health he knew from his intense training to be a cosmonaut that long periods in space could lead to conditions like muscle atrophy radiation a weakening of the immune system and an increased risk of developing cancer kierkelev did not have the training to be able to handle the effects of such a long trip now he was certain his trip would last well beyond the original five-month plan i wondered if i had the strength to survive to complete the program kierkelev told reporters i was not so sure after months of uncertainty kierkelev was given the word that a new crew was being sent up to the mere space station at the time the cosmonaut had only one request he missed the taste of honey and wanted some scent into space but in october when crew members finally arrived all they had were lemons and horseradish but while they lacked honey they were able to bring supplies and equipment to keep kierkelev's mission going but there was still no one in that crew with the skills necessary to take over for kierkelev and relieve him of his post just days later the crew members went home leaving just one behind to stay with kirkla the mission yet again had no end in sight the good news was that kierkolov now had supplies to continue his space mission but the bad news was that this also meant that the cosmonaut knew he still had months of work ahead of him in space and as the only flight engineer on board he had no choice but to stay aboard kierkelev was left alone with his thoughts for much of his day and all that time meant that he continued to worry in an interview with discover magazine he said he remembered wondering to himself do i have enough strength will i be able to readjust for this longer stay to complete the program naturally at one point i had my doubts kirklav had been stuck in space for more than seven months when he heard the news that would change his life and the lives of hundreds of millions by december 26 1991 the soviet union had completely dissolved the cold war had effectively ended the home that kierkelev left in may would never be the same and neither would his space mission despite all of the chaos down below kierkelev continued to put his trust completely in mission control when they continued to report that they did not have the funds to get home back to earth he remained patient and back on earth mission control was scrambling to figure out what to do with the cosmonaut with his home country forever changed kierkelev found himself as the last actual soviet citizen in the world he was floating in space wearing a flag that no longer represented any country sent on a mission by a government that had collapsed it was a perfect storm and this cosmonaut was caught directly in the middle of it mission control worked tirelessly to get their cosmonaut back to solid ground at one point the new government attempted to sell seats on the mere space station in order to collect the funds to bring their man back but that did not work simultaneously they worked to try to find someone who was able to replace him what would the lasting effects be on the cosmonaut as earth tarried it was march and kierkolev had been in space for 10 months double the amount of time that his mission was originally expected to take double the amount of time that his mission was originally expected to take and three months since the ussr fell his body was weak and he was feeling the effects of living in zero gravity for such a long time he was trying to hold on to hope as he watched his body continue to weaken and then at long last came the call that would change his life forever mission control had radioed the mere space station to tell him the news they had found a replacement for him he was told to prepare to return back to earth back to a world that had completely changed since he last left it on march 25th 1992 kierkelev finally landed back on earth but what was supposed to be a joyous event took a much darker turn the last citizen of the ussr stepped off the spaceship wearing the signature red flag on his arm dubbed a hero he nonetheless looked weaker than ever a news report at the time described kierkelev as pale as flower and sweaty like a lump of wet dough another referred to him as a victim of space due to his frail appearance after 10 months without gravity kirklev couldn't even stand he needed four people to carry him and help him stand up quietly officials worried about the toll the mission had taken on his body kierkolov was quickly placed in a stretcher to transport him inside it was snowing at the time which was a dramatic shift from the hot sweaty space capsule he'd stepped out from one man reportedly fanned his face with a handkerchief while another wrapped him in a fur blanket and yet another fed him hot broth to regulate his body temperature [Music] despite all of this kierkelev told reporters that his return home was very pleasant in spite of the gravity he had to face but psychologically the load was lifted there was a moment you couldn't call it euphoria but it was very good but that euphoria would not last long by the time kierkelev had landed back on solid ground he had circled earth a total of over five thousand times he watched five thousand sunsets and sunrises over his more than three hundred days spent in space and the world below him had changed dramatically he landed an archaic which was now a part of the newly independent republic of kazakhstan after some observation he was able to return to his home when he had left the city where his family lived was called leningrad but now even it too had undergone a name change st petersburg the salary he had made was once enough to provide for his family but now under inflation he made less than a bus driver kirkalev had become a legend in russia and throughout the world of space travel his story seemed like it was ripped right from the pages of a science fiction novel but this cosmonaut was not a fan of the spotlight and downplayed what it was like to return home to a changed world the change is not that radical kierkelev told reporters at the time instead he focused on the changes he got to see from space winter has come and before it was summer he said now it's beginning to bloom again that's the most impressive change you can see from space but down on earth the changes in his body continued to demand attention kierkelev's mission was officially over but he was not yet out of the woods his body had taken a serious hit after a long duration in space the first stage of recovery normally takes two to three weeks as you get used to things back on the ground kierke told the guardian after two to three months you are fully recovered kierkelev explained to the guardian that he managed to utilize various techniques and exercises while he was in space and thanks to those methods he was able to regain his bone and muscle mass over time as soon as he was able he decided to do what some would consider to be completely unthinkable after finding himself stuck in space for an indefinite period of time and then returning to a completely changed world it would have been totally understandable for kierkelev to have decided to end his career there but kierkelev was not like most people instead as soon as he could he returned right back to work he flew to the united states to train for his next mission to be the only russian crew member to fly alongside nasa astronauts to fly alongside nasa astronauts to the new international space station he was given the honor of being made an official hero of russia and in 1998 kierkelev returned back to his home away from home floating in space kierkelev would go on to complete six space missions he was included in the first long stay mission in the international space station in 2000 and the 11th iss mission in 2005. beyond being awarded the title of hero of the russian federation he was also given the nasa distinguished public service medal and at the 2014 winter olympics in sochi russia it was kierkelev who was selected to raise the russian flag during the opening ceremony over his life he spent 803 days 9 hours and 39 minutes in space and while some of them were more anxiety inducing than others this cosmonaut doesn't regret a single second