Once upon a time, when your parents were small and were going to kindergarten, all children wanted to be cosmonauts. The reason is simple – it’s a great lead: tremendous success of cosmonaut Yurii Haharin could be equal except than with Rambo or Batman’s fame. Wait, Haharin was the best! So the requirements were also high those times, that’s why we’ll never know all the characteristics which the coolest astronaut might have. It’s clear, those people were phenomenal! In the regard of International Cosmonautics day we held an interview, recorded while stay in Zhytomyr, with the real astronaut Oleksandr Aleksandrov.
“Education is crucial nowadays. Society approaches educational problems through economic troubles, instead of bad education issues. Because of the fall of USSR every country started surviving with own plan. Unfortunately, the plan was economic, rather than educational. In order to develop, one has to educate quality professionals.”
“Youth is always suffering because of economic problems. In 80s-90s people were involved in two spheres – economy and jurisprudence. Everybody has become lawyers or economists. Institutes started to be full of humanitarian subjects, rather than technical. Perhaps, the reason was that a demand for technical specialties has been slowly decreasing. Not paying attention to this fact was unpredictable, but those times nobody knew about it.”
“Of course, lyrics take place even in space! Astronauts like the same things as usual people. (Smiles) They bring toys and letters of close people with them. When they asked cargo spacecraft to transfer something to the orbit, they got all the things connected to their families. The most important is receiving letters from relatives! Next go presents or some tasty things. Of course, they need more information about what is happening on the Earth.”
“I’m 73 years old and I see that a lot of things have changed in science and technology. Those times, when we were flying, there was a lack of information. Nowadays everything works well on international data station: you can call home on phone, one can have a lot of information onboard, films or correspondence and the internet at last! Just turn it on and nothing more! There is not really enough time for such things, but you can do anything you like anytime you want. It didn’t use to be so easy 20-30 years ago.”
“We literally took lyrics into the space: poems, verses or songs. It was by Vysotskyi, Okudzhava or Rozhdestvenskii – poetry and prose, of course. Tastes don’t change there. It was clear, that astronauts always carry something they took from the Earth and people always take only the most important things.”
“It’s not the first time I’ve come. The town is changing its face not because of new constructions, but people’s behavior. They became more attentive and kind. Maybe it’s me who has changed? (Smiles) I wish Zhytomyr citizens to live in clover, unity and understanding and let everything be good.”
Translated by Aliona Matushevich
