An unforgettable encounter with the living legend of the Soviet space program was held at the NTUU"KPI" on May 13. The cosmonaut Georgy Grechko visited Kiev Polytechnic Institute. He participated in the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, three times flew into space.
G.M. Grechko was in the cosmonaut team since 1966. The first flight he did on the orbital complex "Soyuz-17" - "Salyut-4" (January 11 - February 9, 1975), the second - on the orbital complex "Soyuz-26" - "Salyut-6" - "Soyuz-27" (10 December 1977 - 16 March 1978). the third - to the orbital complex "Soyuz T-14" - "Salyut-7" - "Soyuz T-13" (17 September 1985 - 26 September 1985). He set a record of the USSR and the world record for the duration of space flight.
GM Grechko is twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Soviet cosmonaut, holder of three Orders of Lenin, Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, laureate of the State Prize of the Ukrainian and Estonian SSR. He was awarded medals of the USSR and foreign countries. In 1975 he was awarded the Gold Medal of K.E. Tsiolkovsky Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Order of "Wind Rose" diamond of the International Committee on Aeronautical and Space Missions.
G.M. Grechko - D.Sc. (1984), a specialist in the Earth's atmosphere research by cosmic methods. From 1966 to 1986 he worked in the "Energia". Since 1986 to 1997 he was the Senior Researcher, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences.
The guest was acquainted with the history and present of KPI, SPM and with a special interest visited the Section of Aviation and Space Then he addressed the students, faculty and staff NTUU "KPI". He spoke about the unknown facts from the life of astronauts and shared memories of space flight. Students listened him breathlessly, looking at the unique photographs from the personal archive of the astronaut. Here are a few snippets of the story.
"After graduation I was sent to DB S.P. Korolev. We have created a three-seats spacecraft. One day Korolev called us to himself and said:" The crew will include three peolpe: commander, flight engineer and scientist. Who had worked well in the work will take a medical examination - will be the flight engineer. "In total 200 candidates have filed the application and only 13 were selected, including me. Although I am quite person of average intelligence, average ability and even health. There were signs of hungry childhood and stay in occupation. The critical moment I experienced in 1967, when I was actively preparing for the first flight into space. Jumping with a parachute, I kicked on a peg sticking out of the ground. The result - a closed fracture. The hospital it was put in plaster, and I flew into space only eight years after this event!
There were many critical situations. For example, the fire on the station. I sat at the controls, and when turned around, could not see the station - it was all in smoke! We are prepared to fire on the earth. We were taught: "This is a fire extinguisher, it took the check, pulled the trigger, spray foam all pay off. Is that clear?" In this lesson ended. I was a little bored and sarcastic, I asked: "If I extinguish burning appliance, will the foam damage another in vicinity?" Director of the Institute extinguishing says: "No, no, we tested - this foam cannot damage the electronics." I suggest: "Let's try to defuse the fire extinguisher on your TV!" - "No, you can not!" - "And on the phone?" - "You can not!". "Well - I thought - everything is clear." Therefore, during a fire at the space station, I put out the fire with my own hands. It was helped the ability to dive with snorkel and fins: I breathed as much as possible (this is called hyperventilation) and, holding the breath, flew in the smoke and started with the touch to search a source of ignition. If I ever breathed the smoke of burning plastic there will be no second inhale. Several times I dived in the smoke and finally turn off the unit caught fire. According to the instructions we had to put on the fire extinguisher on the flames and turn off the fan that I , on the contrary, turned on to remove the smoke. Of course, now it is nice to talk about: excellent! And then it was scary. After all we were out 350 miles to Earth.
In the open space, I spent more than half an hour. I remember when I first moved from the station, there was a feeling that I was standing on a tall chair. First thoughts were, "How strong we are, it’s nothing for us -height, radiation, weightlessness, I went out into space and do what I need." But it is in space, viewing the ravaged land, realized how insignificant people and how their ignorance irrevocably lose the Earth! "
The meeting was held within the framework of the 50th anniversary of the first manned flight into space. It was also attended by the President of Ukraine 1994-2004, Honorary Doctor NTUU "KPI" Leonid Kuchma. In his speech, he said: the future of both Ukraine and Russia - in the development of near and far space. In conclusion, the guests answered numerous questions from the audience.