Space Museum Sergeya Korolova

After posting a blog yesterday I decided to visit Space Museum in Zhytomir today. Zhytomir is a small city of about 100,000 people. It is 131 km north of Kiev. The weather was glorious. Sunny. Blue skies. At one point 24 degrees.

While it was easy to get there, it was not easy to find the museum. On entering the city there is huge blue table on which it is written there is the Space Musum in the town. Sadly this was only table in the whole city.

But people were friendly and tried to explain the best they could (although I guess some of them pointed me not in the right direction). After 20 min of driving around the city - I got to the small square with a small building and two big white rockets.

The Space museum is a bit outside the center. It is located in a residential street with typical Ukrainian traditional houses. In the yard of the museum is the police station. Opposite to the Space museum is the house where in 1906 Sergey Korolov was born and which now is his museum.

The museum was opened in 1970 and while seeing outside of the museum I was kind of disappointed once inside I was thrilled. This is one of the most spectacular museums I have been.

Starting with the ticket booth where the lady selling tickets was measuring blood pressure of one of museum guides. I asked the lady if measuring blood pressure is a standard museum procedure. She laughed.

The entrance to the museum is made from same satellite doors.

With me in the museum was a group of visually impaired (blind) people. They all attentively listened and touched exhibits.

Their focus was communication. If I correctly understood discussion the group had with the guide - they were interested in communication satellites. It seems they are connected to GPS through their mobile which helps them in case they get lost. 

The museum has spectacular and in my view unique collection of space vehicles and equipment. There is the ORIGINAL landing capsule of "Soyuz-27".  Original reentry module of "Vostok". Model of soyuz spaceship. Model of interplanetary station "Venera-15".

Next to re-entry capsules there are samples of lunar soil, rescue spacesuit, which was used in-flight Yu Artyuhin and samples of space food. The interesting aspect of the museum is that next to these "space vehicles and other space things there are religious pictures on its walls. Including Buddha. In the center of the musum is the Bible.

To fully relax and meditate there are special "meditation chairs" which swings and have headphones to listen the music.

Overall - I had fabulous time in Space!

Photos of the museum:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=303979&id=519882852&l=ce46e2c7d6

 

Official museum site: http://www.cosmosmuseum.info/about-en.html

Pensive Lenin - driving moment 2

 In Ukraine almost every city I visited has "Lenin street" and "Lenin square".
Usually on the Lenin square there is a sculpture of Lenin. Most of Lenin sculptures do not have his name - as everyone should know that's Lenin.
So far all Lenin monuments I saw show him in upright position i.e. standing, one hand in the air, showing the way/leading, giving a speech.

In city of Hmelnik - Lenin sits. Very unusual.

Almost original. This is the first time I see Lenin resting on a chair. With almost a pensive look. Reflecting upon Karl Marx? Was he wrong? Perhaps he doubts success of a socialist revolution?

But egomaniacs never reflect. Especially in Soviet Union. No time for reflection when you are busy making life of millions of people miserable.

Sergey Korolev - USSR Head of Space Program, Chief Designer of Sputnik

Entering Zhitomyr, a city about 100 km north of Kiev - stands a huge white marble monument with the rocket. I snaped a photo. I like rockets. My colleague Alexey told me this is a monument to Sergey Pavlovich Korolev. I gave Alexey a puzzled look. Alexey explained Korolev is the man responsible for all early "space" successes USSR made in 1950ties. Only thanks to Korolev ingenuity USSR was ahead of US in the space program race.
Upon returning from the trip I googled "Korolev" and from links below I learned thanks to Korolev USSR was:
- first in sending a dog in orbit (Sputnik 2);
- first in launching large scientific satellite (the 1.3 ton Sputnik 3);
- launching first man, first woman and first three men into orbit;
- launching first extra–vehicular walk;
- sending first craft to impact the Moon;
- launching first to orbit the Moon and photograph its back side;
- launching first to impact Venus.

Korolev also designed and launched the Soviet Union’s first communications satellite and first spy satellite.
He also started an ear of intercontinental weapons as he was first to launch a dummy thermonuclear warhead R-7, which traveled about 6000 km from Baikonur in Kazakhstan to Kamchatka.  US would match R-7 only 15 months later.

Korolev's life story is amazing: he was sent to gulag during Staling purges 1938 when he was 31. He was sent to Kolyma gulag - one of most notorious. At that time he worked on rockets design.
Allegedly he was "saved" from Kolyma in 1939 by his professor Tupolev (plane designer). Tupolev  has also been arrested in Stalin purges but put in charge of a special type of Soviet prison - sharaga. Sharaga is a prison for scientists and engineers who were assigned special projects and given relatively decent prison life (especially when compared to Kolyma) but almost totally deprived of outside contact.
Tupolev’s sharaga was assigned to the design of rocket–assisted aircraft, among other products, and it is likely that he put out a call for specialists, like Korolev, who could help him. Korolev remained technically a prisoner until 1958 (following Sputnik launch) when he was rehabilitated.
Korolev related links:

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/SPACEFLIGHT/korolev/SP5.htm

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/K/Korolev.html

http://wn.com/sergey_korolyov

Drive to Kamenets Podilsky - moment 1

Had to go for a client visit to Kamenets Podilsky this week. Its over 500km of driving on typical local roads.

We started early in the morning and by 9 am were ready for some breakfast and coffee. We stoped at cafe called  "Zholud" (acorn). The reastaurant was empty. No clients but us. Amon many empty tables one table in the corner of the cafe had a sign "reserved". 

The waitress - Elena - approched us and told us we can sit anywhere - but not at "reserved" table. It's a guess how Elena knew we had not booked the table.

Classified Foliage

Another gorgeous autumn day in Kiev. Amazing blue sky. Wonderful foliage. Mood somewhat spoiled by a stupid (what else?) policeman who got upset with me taking photos of a foliage. Pretended I do not understand Russian. Asked him in English and with some pantomime if he wants me to take his photo. He was puzzled first. Frustrated next and than a bit agressive as I continued to do the "foreign blond" act. Finaly he gave up. This happened by him suddenly turning his back and moving few steps to his partner who watched us all the time while smoking.  

After the policman left us, I instructed Igor to mark the teritory close to where he was standing. Igor obliged.

In retrospect the whole thing was weird. That taking photos of a folige gets a policeman off the tangent is the first one for me. Never thought foliage might be a restricted subject. Anyhow here is the link with - by Kiev police standards - highly classified photos taken today http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=302041&id=519882852&l=c1af8531ff


Almost forgot - today is the day of the October revolution. About hundred of die hard communist and as many policemen gathered around Lenin monument on Shevchenko bulevard this morning.