Sergei Krikalev, a Soviet cosmonaut, spent more than 300 days in space, only to return to a world that no longer existed. When the Soviet Union collapsed during his mission in 1991, Krikalev faced the unique and surreal reality of coming back to Earth only to find his home country had vanished.
Krikalev’s mission aboard the MIR space station was supposed to last five months. However, due to a mix of geopolitical upheaval and budgetary constraints, his return was delayed for months. By the time he landed back on Earth in March 1992, the Soviet Union had disbanded, leaving him with a sense of displacement.
The Extended Mission
Based on an article published by the Argentine online news outlet Diario Uno, Sergei Krikalev’s mission began on May 18, 1991, when he launched aboard the Soyuz TM-11 spacecraft, joining Soviet cosmonaut Anatoli Artsebarski and British astronaut Helen Sharman at the MIR space station. What was meant to be a routine five-month stay quickly turned into a much longer ordeal. Sharman returned to Earth just a week later, and Artsebarski left in October, but the Soviet cosmonaut’s replacement never arrived.
Sergei Krikalev aboard the MIR space station working on a computer. Credit: Anatoli Artsebarski
As reported by El Confidencial, Yuri Teplakov, deputy director of Space Missions, explained that the delay was caused by the sudden financial and political turmoil in the Soviet Union. To cut costs, the Soviet government jacked up the rent for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, putting a strain on the space program’s budget. Because of this, Krikalev’s return was put off indefinitely, leaving him in space much longer than expected.
The End of the Soviet Era
While Krikalev was orbiting the Earth, the Soviet Union was falling apart. On December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president, signaling the official end of the USSR. By then, Krikalev had already been in space for over six months, and the country he had left behind was on the verge of collapsing.
Sergei Krikalev, the former Soviet cosmonaut, is helped out of his capsule after landing on Earth following his extended mission in space. Credit: Reddit
Cathleen Lewis, a historian at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, explained that Krikalev became an unexpected symbol of the changing times. He was one of the first cosmonauts to talk directly with radio amateurs on Earth, making him one of the few people to connect the space experience with the chaos happening below. Even though he kept in touch with Earth, he had no idea about the political changes unfolding down there.
A Changed World for the Cosmonaut
When Krikalev finally returned to Earth on March 25, 1992, after 312 days in space, he was confronted with a world vastly different from the one he had left. The collapse of the Soviet Union meant that he was no longer returning to the same country that had launched him into space.
The world he returned to was now split into several newly independent states. In an interview with the BBC, the Soviet cosmonaut reflected on the strange sensation of landing back on Earth.
“It was very good to be back,” he said, “Despite the hardships we had to endure, we were relieved of a psychological burden. I wouldn’t say it was a moment of euphoria, but it was very good.”