Vostok, Soyuz, the Real Deal

(From left to right, Jason Hatton, Millie Hughes-Fulford,
Tammy Chang, and Chai-Fei Li in front of Gagarin's capsule.)

Behind a set of nondescript doors, off an unmarked turn-off from the highway approximately 40 minutes from Moscow, there’s a treasure trove known only to a few. Set in the town of Korolev, named after the mastermind of Russian space engineering, is Energia, a corporation now 50% privately owned and heir of the master engineer. Korolev was single-handedly responsible for the Soviet space program. He was behind the design of the Sputnik, the Vostok, and the Soyuz, among others. But because space technology was highly classified during Soviet times, his identity was largely kept secrete. And despite his genius and immense contributions to his country, Stalin had imprisoned and tortured him in a gulag for 6 years on trumped up political charges.

Energia inherited what Korolev had given to the world. They manufacture the present day Soyuz rockets and coordinate all Soyuz launches. And by appointment only, one may be lucky enough to visit their museum. We had that good fortune through our connection to the up-coming Soyuz mission. Even then, it took several emails and phone calls to the European Space Agency (ESA) Moscow office to make sure that all pre-arrangements were appropriate and all relevant personnel were notified.

A very knowledgeable guide who spoke perfect English met us at the entrance to the compound and escorted us through the grounds. No photography was allowed until inside of the museum building. When she opened the doors to their exhibit hall, our jaws dropped. Our mouths remained agape for the reminder of the two-hour tour with astonishment and disbelief at what we were seeing and what we were allowed to touch. Before us, displayed on two levels of a large brightly lit warehouse, were the original back-up copies of Sputnik I, the first satellite, and Sputnik II, in which Leika, the first spacedog, became the first casualty of space flight. The pride of their museum was the actual Vostok capsule that Gagarin returned from space in. It wasn’t a model. It wasn’t a replica. It was the real deal. Gagarin sat in that thing. It was in space and came back. The shell of the capsule was burnt brown by the atmosphere and one saw where it was violently disrupted upon impact with earth. There were no lines we couldn’t cross or glass case we had to peer through. We were free to probe and prod this historic vehicle. The absolute kicker came when we were invited to enter a real Soyuz capsule. It was a Soyuz-T3 that went up in 1980. We climbed in, the commanding officer in the middle and two co-pilots on the sides. It was a very close fit for three. The reclined seats cupped the entire body and forced the legs into a tight fetal position. We were beside ourselves. We were three adults, laughing, looking about, curiously touching this or that like 5-year-old children. It was entirely amazing and we relished in it.