~~|~~ Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City, Russia ~~

~~@Com~~
On the net Since 1994
Star City   Russia

   Zvezdny Gorodok
   (Zvyozdny Gorod)

Links: Cosmonaut Training | Inside the Mir | Soyuz | Centrifuge | Buran | Control Panel   | Phobos-Grunt       || Mauna Kea | VLA | Kitt Peak | LIGO

Gagarin Cosmonaut
Training Center

October 2000

Star City Entrance Post

Star City Entrance Gate

MIR

Click on images for detail

Neutral Buoyancy Tank- Control Room

Mir Hydrolab Facility.   Pic#2

Neutral Buoyancy. NASA photo

Star City is an isolated, highly restricted military base...
It is a training facility for Cosmonauts and Astronauts.

Mir Modules

Visiting Mir

Mir

NASA astronauts assigned to space station missions spend about 40% of their time training at Star City and the
rest at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Russian cosmonauts split their training much the same way.

Sputnik October 4 1957

First man in space, Yuri Gagarin.

"I was never nervous"

Links
Gagarin - Inside Star City
  Cosmonaut crashed

Wikipedia GLONASS

Wikipedia ГЛОНАСС

Enlarge Comparison of navigation satellite orbits. GLONASS

Информационно-аналитический центр контроля ГЛОНАСС и GPS

"We are going to Star City," I directed. The driver did not respond.

"Star City?…Cosmos?…Um, cosmonaut?…Yuri Gagarin?"

I grabbed at any word that I thought might trigger a reaction. Again a blank stare.

Polling the people in the van, a few friends and a couple of new acquaintances, it became evident no one spoke Russian, except one -- our driver.

Dragging him back into the hotel, I brought him to the front-desk receptionist (whom I already knew spoke some English) and asked her to explain to our puzzled driver our desired destination.

Rosavin is made from Rhodiola Rosea.

Alaska Plant, a Health Supplement
Link ALASKA RHODIOLA PRODUCTS

This energy-booster is
used by cosmonauts
and by Russian Olympic
athletes.

"Svësdni Gorodok" she replied. That finally inspired a reaction from our driver, however, not exactly the one I had hoped for…

"Nyet, nyet, nyet," he chuckled while shaking his head.

"Da." I countered, using one of only two Russian words I knew.

After a little more bantering between our driver's 'nyets' and my 'das' he finally agreed and began our hour-long drive to the center of the Soviet and Russian space programs.

The long drive was relatively uneventful. The road leading to one of the world's leading technological (albeit, often overlooked) centers is surprisingly rural; it's basically located in
the country, with farms and small roadside stands serving as the most noticeable of any local landmarks.

The peaceful ride gave some time for us to reflect on what had really just transpired. Only a decade earlier, the idea of tourists visiting Star City, let alone Americans,
would have been unthinkable. But here we were, a group of six, most of us too young to remember Gagarin's first flight, doing just that.

We knew we had arrived as we drove up to a large gate and a surrounding stone wall. Two guards toting AK-47 rifles slowly approached either side of the van. One guard
looked into the van and yelled something in Russian to his partner.
The gates opened, much to the obvious relief of our driver, and we were waved onward...
  (Full article deleted)
Next: Inside the Mir       |    Links:   Star City     Mauna Kea    VLA     LIGO
    Yuri Gagarin statue

Science museum London October 2002
	Apollo 10	External: The Long Now clock Apollo 17 3-D:
Otto Lilienthal 1848 ~ 1896 He flew 2000 times
Sputnik 1957