Colonel Alexander Volkov
Colonel Alexander Volkov
My thanks to Dr. Alexander Martynov for acting as interpreter as I interviewed Colonel Volkov. As a teenager Alexander Volkov was inspired to become a cosmonaut by watching Yuri Gagarin be the first man to go into space in 1961. He finally got into space himself in September 1985, with a 64 day flight. Two other flights have brought his total time in space to 391 days! He is obviously addicted to space flight. The Russians have plans for an international mission to Mars in the next twenty years. Volkov is ready to volunteer for the flight. "John Glenn was over 70 when he went into space for the second time, I'm sure I can do it too."
The Russian space station Mir, Colonel Volkov's home for much of his time in space
I asked Colonel Volkov what part of his school science he found useful in space. "All of it!" was his reply. Colonel Volkov thought that studying science at all levels had greatly helped his career in space flight. He obviously knows what he's talking about because his son, Sergie Volkov, has been selected as a cosmonaut and is awaiting his first flight.
As commander of the Cosmonaut Team until 1998, Alexander Volkov has kept up with advances in spaceflight. He made contributions to the development of the International Space Station (ISS).
The ISS - future home of Cosmonaut Volkov Jnr. ?
There is a favourite story that I like to tell about the down to Earth, common sense nature of the Russian approach to science and technology. It concerns the development of a zero G writing instrument. The Americans invested millions of dollars on a ball point pen that would work in a weightless environment. The Russians took a pencil! Colonel Volkov has now added another example for us. There are two toilets on the ISS: an American designed one and a Russian designed one. The Russian toilet is far more popular with the crews. The reason? The American loo is state-of-the-art and involves pushing and pulling several buttons and levers, all in a particular order. The Russian loo may be more basic but it only requires the pushing of one button. The Russian designers obviously knew that regardless of what country you come from, when you've gotta go, you've gotta go!