The first Ukrainian cosmonaut. Born on January 28, 1951 in Ukraine in the village of Klishkovichi, Khotyn district, Chernivtsi region. In 1967 he graduated from high school in Chernivtsi and in the same year he entered the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots. He graduated from college in 1971 and served in the aviation units of the USSR Air Force. In 1976 he was included in the detachment of Soviet cosmonauts (1976 Air Force Group No. 6). Completed a full training course for flights aboard Soyuz-type spacecraft and Salyut-type orbital stations. In 1977, without interrupting work at the Cosmonaut Training Center, he graduated from the test pilot school at the V.P. Chkalov Scientific Testing Institute of the USSR Air Force. In 1978 - 1983 he was trained for flights on ships of the "Buran" type. In 1983 he was expelled from the cosmonaut corps for "low moral standards" (divorce from his wife). In 1984 - 1988 he worked at the V.P. Chkalov Scientific Testing Institute of the USSR Air Force as a test pilot and instructor pilot. Has logged over 2400 hours. He participated in tests of 54 types and modifications of aircraft, including the MiG-31 EPOS aerospace aircraft. He trained 15 pilots as an instructor pilot. In 1988 he was again in the detachment of Soviet cosmonauts. Prepared for flights on ships of the "Buran" type. In 1989 he graduated from the aircraft engineering faculty of the Moscow Aviation Institute.
In 1990 he trained as the commander of the Ukrainian crew for a flight to the Mir station. After the cancellation of this flight, he underwent training for a space flight, which included the docking of the unmanned spacecraft "Buran" and the orbital station "Mir". After the cancellation of this flight, as well as the closure of the Buran program, he underwent training for flights to the Mir station as the commander of the Soyuz TM spacecraft.
After the collapse of the USSR, he remained in Russia and served in the Russian Air Force. In 1995, he resigned from the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces and asked for Ukrainian citizenship. He moved to Ukraine and began to work as a junior researcher at the Kholodny Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In 1996 he was included in the group of Ukrainian cosmonauts to undergo training for flights on spacecraft "Space Shuttle". In July 1996 he arrived in the United States for pre-flight training. November 19 - December 5, 1997 made a space flight as an experimenter on the Columbia spacecraft (STS-87). During the flight, he conducted experiments on artificial pollination of soybean and rapeseed sprouts in order to obtain seeds in zero gravity. The flight lasted 15 days 16 hours 35 minutes 1 second. After the end of the flight, he returned to his homeland and works at the National Space Agency of Ukraine. He continues to be listed in the NASA astronaut group.
The first Ukrainian cosmonaut after gaining independence. He was 68 years old.
It would be more accurate to say - the first and only Ukrainian with a passport who flew into space after 1991.
"Strana" has collected the main facts about Kadenyuk.
Biography of Kadenyuk
The future cosmonaut is the standard of the Soviet career. Born in 1951 in a simple rural family near Khotin in the Chernivtsi region.
After school he entered the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation School, after which he worked as a pilot-engineer. A few years later, in 1976, he entered the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
Until 1989, he constantly improved his qualifications, studying the specialty of a test pilot and graduating from the Moscow Aviation Institute.
At the same time, Kadenyuk was in the cosmonaut corps, from which in 1983 Kadenyuk was expelled for divorce from his wife and bickering with his superiors. “My earthly life has nothing to do with space,” Kadenyuk said at the time.
In 1988, he was again enrolled in the group of astronauts.
Leonid Kadenyuk was married twice, from each marriage he had a son. The first wife Lyudmila gave birth to a son, Vladimir in 1974, they stayed to live in Chernigov. Leonid lived with his second wife Vera in Kiev, their son Dmitry was born in 1984.
Accepted citizenship of the Russian Federation, then Ukraine
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Leonid Kadenyuk accepted Russian citizenship and served in the Russian Air Force. I did not fly into space.
He received Ukrainian citizenship in 1995, after which he was immediately admitted to the cosmonaut group of the National Space Agency of Ukraine.
Flight on "Columbia"
In 1997, Kadenyuk flew into space on the American shuttle Columbia.
Kadenyuk was invited as a payload specialist. The flight lasted 15 days and 16 hours.
On November 27, on the 9th day of the flight, the first communication with Ukraine was planned. For the first time from space, a Ukrainian conducted a dialogue with his own state.
7 days before the start, in order to prevent infectious diseases, a special quarantine regime was introduced for our crew. It provides for the exclusion of the possibility of astronauts staying in public places and any outside contacts. Kadenyuk recalled: "We were also isolated from families. At the same time, the astronauts are not only under the close supervision of doctors, but also under the supervision of psychologists."
President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, who was on a visit to the United States in those days, was allowed to meet with Kadenyuk, despite the quarantine. But only after a medical examination.
“My colleagues and I used every free minute to observe and photograph the Earth and space. Such activities were my favorite, and I considered them another impressive and very interesting experiment on board the Columbia,” said the Ukrainian cosmonaut.
Therefore, Leonid Konstantinovich ordered the anthem of Ukraine for the crew's awakening signal, which was broadcast from the Flight Control Center on board the Columbia. Each member of the crew chose a melody according to their own preferences. Thus, the anthem of Ukraine sounded twice in space over the entire planet.
More than 140 hours of video footage was filmed about everything related to the flight of the first cosmonaut of independent Ukraine. For this purpose, the TV company "Lybed" was specially created.
Kadenyuk's flight was insured for a million dollars with the participation of 25 Ukrainian companies.
Further career
After that, Kadenyuk's career in Ukraine took off. In 1998 he became the head of the aviation directorate of the Air Defense Forces. Next year, he became an assistant to President Kuchma on aviation and cosmonautics.
In 2002 he became a people's deputy and deputy chairman of the committee for national security and defense.
In January 2011, he became an adviser to Prime Minister Mykola Azarov on aviation and cosmonautics.
First or not first?
Kadenyuk is often called "the first Ukrainian cosmonaut". This is not true. The first Ukrainian in space was Pavel Popovich, a native of the Kiev region.
In 1962, he flew on the Vostok-4 spacecraft - and this was the world's first group flight of two manned spacecraft.
Popovich flew into space twice and was awarded two titles "Hero of the Soviet Union".
Kadenyuk became the first cosmonaut with a passport issued in independent Ukraine.
What Kadenyuk told about himself, Ukrainian cosmonautics and space
In numerous interviews, Leonid Kadenyuk recalled that he wanted to become a cosmonaut from an early age: “I decided to become an astronaut as a child, on April 12, 1961, when the flight of Yuri Gagarin was announced. Then I went to the third grade. The dream of space helped me well study (finished school with a silver medal), encouraged to go in for sports. "
“I am a man of patriotic convictions. If after the collapse of the Soviet Union there was hope for a cosmonaut's flight from Ukraine, I would immediately return to my homeland without hesitation. back.
"After the collapse of the Soviet Union, 1/3 of the space potential of the USSR remained in Ukraine. It would be a crime not to take advantage of this. But the state allocates very little funds. Our industry practically works in an autonomous mode, without state support," Kadenyuk complained in an interview.
Leonid Kadenyuk said that at one time he saw how the film "Armageddon" was filmed about a catastrophe in space. According to his recollections, Hollywood workers used "Columbia" as a decoration, and when they learned that the crew was to arrive, which was going to fly into space, they arranged a meeting with the actors. "The latter later admitted that we - real astronauts - to some extent influenced their acting, as they watched our manners, how we talk, communicate with each other," Kadenyuk recalled.
"In space, I perceived space as multidimensional. This is how it really is. Science speaks about it. And when we learn to use it in space flights, we will be able to move much faster in the Universe and, perhaps, even from one time to another," - the cosmonaut shared his impressions.
Kadenyuk believed that other forms of life could exist in the universe. "Biological life on our planet exists thanks to ideal physical conditions for this," he said. "American astronaut John Glenn, who flew into space for the second time at the age of 77, said:" it is impossible to believe in God. "
The astronaut also talked about whether in the future humanity needs to look for and master other planets for itself: "The Earth is an ideal place to live, and now, when they talk about the need to fly to other planets, I say that we need to take care of our planet, and do everything so as not to destroy life on it. The civilization process deepens the gap between nature and man - this should not be allowed. "
"In space, you especially realize how imperfect human society is," Kadenyuk said in an interview in 2015.
The history of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of new independent states is full of both tragic and anecdotal stories.
Representatives of the emerging political elites of the new states tried to base their independence on as many weighty arguments as possible, and for this they shamelessly rewrote history to their liking.
This cup also did not pass Ukraine. For the sake of political gain, part of the great power began to sculpt the image of a victim of centuries-old Russian tyranny. And the achievements of the Ukrainians, which existed during the period of a single state, diligently moved into the shadows.
The new Ukrainian authorities decided to write everything from scratch. Including the history of space exploration by Ukrainians.
The contribution of the Ukrainian SSR to space exploration during the period of the USSR is enormous. Half of the space industry enterprises were located in Ukraine. Until now, many projects are being implemented jointly by Russia and Ukraine. In Ukraine, the Zenit medium-class launch vehicle has been developed and is being built at the famous Dnepropetrovsk enterprise Yuzhmash.
But independent Ukraine had neither its own cosmodrome nor the Cosmonaut Training Center. Not because this republic was "squeezed" - just its densely populated territory was in no way suitable for the construction of a launch complex. As for the training of cosmonauts, Crimea was one of the training bases in Soviet times.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine's space program, especially its manned component, for obvious reasons came to naught.
But the country's political elite, which at that time attached more importance not to the arrangement of the state, but to the symbolic signs of independence, fired up the idea - independent Ukraine needs its own, independent cosmonaut.
In search of a hero
Ukraine did not have its own means of delivering a cosmonaut into orbit, and it was impossible to launch the first cosmonaut of Ukraine on a Russian spacecraft - then the whole idea lost any sense.
In this situation, the gaze of Ukrainian politicians turned towards the United States. The American authorities favored the new post-Soviet states and especially condoned any steps that, albeit symbolically, separated them from Russia. May 13, 1994 President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma and US President Bill Clinton agreed on the participation of a Ukrainian researcher in flights under the Space Shuttle program.
Ukrainian politicians were jubilant until one small problem surfaced: there were no ... astronauts in the country.
With all their disposition, the Americans were not eager to cook from scratch the Ukrainian space explorer, leaving the solution to this issue for the Ukrainians.
A competitive selection was held in the country, but its results horrified the specialists - with such training, the first "independent cosmonaut" risked, if not losing his health in flight, then he certainly would have looked unimportant, which ruined the entire propaganda effect.
And then someone who lived in Ukraine intervened. pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR Vitaly Zholobov... He advised the presidential administration of Ukraine to look for a candidate in ... the Star City near Moscow. Rather, Zholobov, who once worked at the Cosmonaut Training Center, directly named a suitable candidate - Leonid Kadenyuk.
Kadenyuk changes skin
Ethnic Ukrainian Leonid Kadenyuk, who graduated from the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots, has been in the Soviet cosmonaut corps since 1976, preparing for flights on the Salyut and Mir orbital stations, as well as on the Buran reusable spacecraft.
Competition in the cosmonaut corps is fierce: some spend their entire lives waiting for a flight, but never ascend into space. After the shutdown of the Buran program, Kadenyuk's chances of being in orbit began to fade rapidly. After the collapse of the USSR, he became a citizen of Russia and bore the rank of colonel. And so, in 1995, Kadenyuk received an offer - does he want to go to space, so to speak, according to the "Ukrainian quota"?
Leonid Kadenyuk did not think for long: he resigned from the cosmonaut corps, from the Russian army and moved to his "historical homeland." There he was quickly issued the citizenship of Ukraine, and formally announced the victory of Kadenyuk in the competition - he still had no real competitors.
In the United States, Kadenyuk went to prepare for a flight at the NASA Training Center. And here, according to his stories, the difference with the Soviet program turned out to be significant - the future astronauts were engaged in themselves, who in what way, especially when it came to general physical training. However, Kadenyuk did not have to worry - the backlog laid in the CTC near Moscow guaranteed him from all sorts of troubles.
The start of the first Ukrainian cosmonaut was scheduled on November 19, 1997 on the Columbia spacecraft. By that time, American ships docked with might and main to the Mir station, but Columbia was supposed to conduct this flight in an autonomous mode. It is possible that they also took into account the psychological aspect - you never know how the Russian crew of the station will accept the "defector" who has arrived with the Americans.
On parole and on one wing ...
The first American-Ukrainian space mission was being prepared simultaneously with the filming of the movie "Armageddon". The spacecraft, on which Kadenyuk was to go into space, became a living backdrop for filming. The members of the film crew and the crew talked. Kadenyuk tried to explain to them that he was Ukrainian, but this clearly drove the guys from Hollywood into a stupor. Drunk russian cosmonaut Lev Andropov- this is normal, but the astronaut from some incomprehensible "Ukraine" seemed to them an overkill.
Kadenyuk and his entourage had to face the American belief in the reliability of their own space technology. On the day of the flight, the Kadenyuk family were ordered to pack their things. As it turned out, in the event of a disaster, the relatives would be immediately taken to a rehabilitation center. Moreover, Kadenyuk himself had to identify the two remaining astronauts on Earth who would be assigned to his wife and would console her if the "space shuttle" crashed at the start.
After the Challenger disaster in 1986, Americans were prepared for more human casualties at any moment.
The most interesting thing is that the Americans were absolutely right - the reliability of their technology was such as if the Space Shuttle series ships were leaving the VAZ assembly line in its worst years. Six years after Kadenyuk's flight, Columbia will die the moment it carries Israel's first cosmonaut.
Pollinator in orbit
Two presidents of the country arrived at the start of the first cosmonaut of Ukraine at Cape Canaveral Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma... Ukrainian media reported that Kadenyuk took on the flight "the flag of Ukraine," Kobzar " Taras Shevchenko and an audio disc of the Vopli Vidoplyasova group.
The launch went well, and then everyone asked the question - what, in fact, will Kadenyuk do in orbit during the 16-day flight?
As part of the crew, he was listed as a payload specialist, but, according to official data, five institutes were preparing a scientific program for him. As a result, the military pilot and MAI graduate Leonid Kadenyuk "was engaged in experiments on artificial pollination of soybean and rapeseed sprouts in order to obtain seeds in zero gravity."
In the Star City near Moscow, to this day, the words "Kadenyuk" and "rapeseed" cause a quiet hysteria among former colleagues in the cosmonaut corps.
“This is, of course, an anecdote,” one of the former members of the cosmonaut corps, who happened to serve with Leonid Kadenyuk, told AiF.ru. - But, on the other hand, Lenya can be understood - he would have stayed in Russia, he could have stayed until retirement and not fly, but at least he had been in space. So Kuchma, of course, used his namesake, but Lenya also repaid him with the same coin.
True lie
After returning to Earth, Leonid Kadenyuk became the Hero of Ukraine, received the rank of Major General, and was even awarded a personalized firearm. In 2012, the 15th anniversary of his flight was solemnly celebrated in Ukraine, and Kadenyuk even appeared on the country's postage stamps.
Postage stamp of Ukraine, 2007. Photo: wikipedia.org
But the truth is that Leonid Kadenyuk was not the first Ukrainian in space. The first was pilot-cosmonaut Pavel Popovich, which went into orbit on the Vostok-4 spacecraft back in 1962. He was followed by Georgy Beregovoy mentioned here Vitaly Zholobov... In total, about three dozen Ukrainians and natives of Ukraine have visited space. One problem - they all flew on Soviet space ships, in which there was a share of the labor of the workers of the Ukrainian SSR. And this page of history is extremely unpleasant for modern politicians in Ukraine.
Moreover, in the English-language sources telling about the flight of Leonid Kadenyuk, you can find out that only Russians were sent into space in the USSR, and Ukrainians were left on Earth.
You can ignore the Americans, but today a similar idea is hammered into the heads of young Ukrainians, for whom Leonid Kadenyuk is really the first Ukrainian in space.
Although Leonid Konstantinovich Kadenyuk himself, of course, is not to blame for this. He just fulfilled his lifelong dream as best he could.
Died Leonid Kadenyuk - the first and only cosmonaut of independent Ukraine.
The causes of death of the astronaut are still unknown, it is reported that he did not wait for the arrival of an ambulance.
Correspondent.net remembered facts from the life of the famous Ukrainian.
Before the flight into space
Leonid Kadenyuk was born on January 28, 1951 in the village of Klishkovtsy, Khotyn district, Chernivtsi region, into a family of rural teachers.
He graduated from high school with a silver medal, after which he entered the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots. After graduating from college, he worked as an instructor pilot.
In August 1976 he was selected to the detachment of Soviet cosmonauts in the group of the reusable space system "Buran". In 1977 he graduated from the Test Pilot Training Center.
In 1977-1979 he passed general space training and received the qualification of a test cosmonaut.
From 1977 to 1983 - test cosmonaut of the group of the reusable space system "Buran".
In 1989 he graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute - Aircraft Faculty. And in 1988-1990 he passed engineering and flight training under the Buran program as its commander.
During preparation for space flights and in the process of test work, he underwent unique engineering and flight training. He studied the spacecraft Soyuz, Soyuz-TM, MTKK Buran, the Salyut orbital station, partially the Mir orbital complex and the American reusable transport spacecraft (MTKK) Space Shuttle.
Kadenyuk took part in the development and testing of aerospace systems, in their preliminary and model design, as well as in flight tests of systems.
He flew more than 50 types and modifications of aircraft for various purposes, mainly fighters, as well as the American Northrop T-38 training aircraft.
While preparing for space flights, he was trained in conducting scientific experiments on board spacecraft in various fields: biology, medicine, metrology, ecology, the study of the Earth's natural resources from space, geology, astronomy, geobotany.
The main flight in life
In 1995, Kadenyuk was selected to the group of cosmonauts of the National Space Agency of Ukraine. He completed space flight training at NASA on an American space shuttle as a payload specialist.
From November 19 to December 5, 1997 he made a space flight on the American MTKK "Columbia" mission STS-87. During the flight, the Ukrainian performed biological experiments of the joint Ukrainian-American experience with three types of plants: turnip, soy and moss. The main purpose of the experiments is to study the effect of the state of weightlessness on the photosynthetic apparatus of plants, on fertilization and development of the embryo, on gene expression in soy and turnip tissues, on the content of phytohormones in turnip plants, on carbohydrate metabolism and ultrastructure of soybean seedling cells, on the process of damage to soybean seedlings. pathogenic fungus phytophthora.
In addition to these experiments in space flight, the experiments of the Institute for Human System Research on the topic "Man and the state of weightlessness" were carried out.
On the 9th day of the flight, the first communication with Ukraine was planned. Then, for the first time from space, a Ukrainian conducted a dialogue with his own state.
Memories of Kadenyuk
According to the astronaut, he and his colleagues used each free space to observe and photograph the Earth and space. “Such activities were my favorite, and I considered them to be another impressive and very interesting experiment on board the Columbia,” Kadenyuk recalled.
The cosmonaut said that on the flight everyone was given the opportunity to take audiocassettes with their favorite music with them. He chose the works of those performers on whom he grew up: songs by Anatoly Solovyanenko, Dmitry Hnatyuk, Sofia Rotaru and others. According to Kadenyuk, the Americans listened to Ukrainian songs with pleasure.
“Our Ukrainian anthem was played twice in space. I chose it as a wake-up ringtone. So the Americans in space were twice awakened by the words "Ukraine has not yet died, nor glory, nor will ..." And the astronauts stood at attention at that time! ", Kadenyuk recalled.
Also, the Ukrainian cosmonaut said that you can have sex in space. “And desire arises there. By the way, students often ask me these questions. And I answer them: if you want, you can have sex everywhere! ”, - said Kadenyuk.
Kadenyuk also recalled his physical condition before the flight: “When I was preparing in Star City, I pulled up 15 times. I ran fast both crosses and sprints. For example, the record at 100 meters is 10.5 seconds. Now I also run 10 km in the morning 3-4 times a week. Naturally, I don’t smoke ”.
Kadenyuk about space
"In space, the most striking factor of space flight is weightlessness. It is the space itself, and the entire Universe that amazes."
“I was impressed with how the Earth looks from space. It was just incredible. By the way, the information content of a television image of the Earth from space or any of its photographs is no more than 10-15 percent of what we can see ourselves. "
“I have every reason to assert that Ukraine is a space state. We have a full cycle of manufacturing space technology. We have been able to design, manufacture, launch and operate our developments in space for a long time. contrary to the circumstances in which she finds herself. "
"I am confident that in the future, flying to Mars will become commonplace."
“When I tested fighters, I never dreamed of flying. But after the expedition on the shuttle began to see "space" dreams. But this does not happen often, I sleep soundly. "
Life after flight
Kadenyuk has three sons from two marriages. By the way, in 1983 he was expelled from the cosmonaut corps for divorce from his wife. And only in 1988 he again got into the detachment of Soviet cosmonauts.
After the flight, Kadenyuk became a freelance assistant to the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma on aviation and cosmonautics.
Since 2002 - People's Deputy of Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense.
Since February 14, 2006 - a member of the Commission on Space Activities, and since January 2011 - Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ukraine on Aviation and Astronautics.
Kadenyuk wrote his memoirs and in 2017 presented his book "Mission - Space".
The presentation was attended by ex-presidents of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma and Leonid Kravchuk.
Today, January 31, at the age of 68, Leonid Kadenyuk, the first cosmonaut of independent Ukraine, died.
Collected the most interesting facts about the historical flight of Kadenyuk into space, which took place on November 19, 1997. Then the American spacecraft Columbia launched the STS-87 mission, which lasted about 16 days.
PREPARING FOR FLIGHT
For the first time, the participation of a Ukrainian cosmonaut-researcher in American shuttle missions was announced on May 13, 1994 in a joint statement by the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma and the then American leader Bill Clinton. In 1995, the National Space Agency of Ukraine, together with NASA, began preparations for space flight and conducting scientific experiments.
The preparation lasted 3 years, during which the tasks of the experiment were coordinated, the equipment and devices were improved, and the joint actions of Ukrainian and American scientists were worked out. During 1994-1996, scientists of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences were preparing a scientific base - something with which the first Ukrainian cosmonaut was supposed to fly into space.
HOW THE UKRAINIAN COSMONAUT WAS CHOSEN
The National Space Agency of Ukraine announced a competition in which 28 candidates took part. The experts studied their documents and resumes, as well as assessed the state of health, physical fitness, took into account the height and weight of the candidates, and the endurance of the body. As a result, Leonid Kadenyuk and Vyacheslav Meitarchan showed the best results.
It is worth noting that at that time Kadenyuk was a citizen of Russia, but for the sake of flight into space he changed his citizenship to Ukrainian (the cosmonaut was from Bukovina - from the Chernivtsi region).
Subsequently, Kadenyuk was enrolled in the Institute of Botany for several months, where he prepared to conduct experiments in space.
In the summer of 1996, Kadenyuk and Meitarchan traveled to the United States, where they also underwent medical examination, vocational training and testing for a month. The stability and flexibility of the nervous system was also tested: the astronauts had to pass tests for a while, answering 600 questions (they had to answer the first thing that came to mind).
As a result, experts from NASA, in agreement with the Ukrainian side, chose Kadenyuk for a flight into space.
As the ex-deputy head of the National Space Agency of Ukraine Eduard Kuznetsov noted, Kadenyuk was chosen because of his professional training. “He had really qualified knowledge, he is a test pilot who mastered 54 types of aircraft,” noted Kuznetsov.
Another Ukrainian Yaroslav Pustovoy was selected as a backup (in case of force majeure - for example, Kadenyuk's illness).
The crew of the space shuttle Columbia also included the Americans Kevin Kregel, Stephen Lindsay, Winston Scott, Kalpana Chawla and the Japanese Takao Doi.
START-UP AND RETURN TO EARTH
Approximately 10 months before the start, Leonid Kadenyuk, together with his family and Yaroslav Pustovoy, moved to the USA. There the entire crew lived in a kind of "colony". The astronauts got acquainted with the shuttle, and also studied the procedure for conducting experiments.
In Kiev, meanwhile, they were deciding what the first cosmonaut of independent Ukraine should take into space. As a result, the Ukrainian flag, the coat of arms of Kiev, several copies of the Constitution, the publication of "Kobzar" of the 1920s (a copy was donated by the Ukrainian opera singer Anatoly Solovyanenko), the first disc of the group "Vopli Vidoplyasova" and others were prepared. In addition, a special “Flight” watch with appropriate symbols was produced for the flight.
Before the launch, the shuttle crew was in a two-week quarantine in a special room at the cosmodrome. Outsiders were not allowed there.
On the day of launch, Columbia stood at the launch site 5-6 kilometers from the audience (at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA). At this historic moment, a Ukrainian delegation arrived in the United States, which included Ukrainian officials.
The start took place on time. At launch, there was a direct broadcast from space. Also, a direct connection between the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma and the board of the Columbia spacecraft was organized.
For the first time, during the flight of Leonid Kadenyuk, the Ukrainian trident, the Ukrainian flag, and the anthem of independent Ukraine sounded in space.
The flight lasted from November 19 to December 5, 1997. During this time, the crew of the spacecraft performed biological experiments.
SPECIAL SIGNS
As the former deputy head of the National Space Agency of Ukraine Eduard Kuznetsov said, the astronauts and technical personnel of the cosmodrome had signs of whether the launch would be successful or not. For example, if eagles fly over the assembly and test complex, this is good, but if the eagles are sitting, it is bad. Or the second sign - if alligators (the cosmodrome is located in tropical latitudes, so there are many alligators) come to the surface - it's good, if they are hiding under water, it's bad. “We then looked - and the eagles were flying, and the alligators were visible - so the start should go well,” Kuznetsov recalled.
EXPERIMENTS IN SPACE AND ON EARTH
The Ukrainian cosmonaut performed an experiment in space to study the effect of microgravity on the growth and development of higher plants. The objects of the experiment were rapeseed plants, soybean seedlings and moss protonema.
The joint experiment was attended by: from Ukraine 5 institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine - the N. Kholodny Institute of Botany, the Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics, the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, the Institute of Ecology of the Carpathians, the D. Zabolotny Institute of Microbiology and Virology and the National Botanical garden named after N. Grishko; from the USA 5 universities - Kansas, Louisiana, Nogai, Wisconsin, North Carolina and the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
In particular, a joint scientific and educational program “Teachers and students study plants in space” was implemented. The goal of this program was to attract as many Ukrainian and American students as possible to the study of space (in particular, space botany). The task was as follows: Leonid Kadenyuk had to conduct an experiment in space, which was prepared by scientists, and schoolchildren, both Ukrainian and American, had to conduct the same experiment in their laboratories.
As a result, the Ukrainian cosmonaut, within the framework of a scientific project called the Collaborative Ukrainian Experement, conducted 11 biological experiments with three types of plants: rape, soy and moss. And the students only carried out an experiment with rapeseed.
In addition to the joint Ukrainian-American experiment in space flight, Kadenyuk performed experiments of the Institute for Human System Research on the topic “Man and the state of weightlessness”.
INSURANCE PER MILLION
The flight of Leonid Kadenyuk was insured for a million dollars with the participation of 25 Ukrainian companies. Before the start, the Americans asked the Ukrainian who should take care of his relatives if Columbia suffers a disaster. He chose two American astronauts who were later next to Kadenyuk's spouse during the launch of the spacecraft.
MEMORIES FROM FIRST INSTALLATIONS
Leonid Kadenyuk once shared his memories and impressions of his historic flight into space. “I am often asked whether it was scary. I say that it was terribly interesting, and not because something might happen. For many years I was a test pilot, tested airplanes and, of course, like every test pilot, there were many emergencies. Therefore, the nervous system became dull to failures, to stressful situations ... For me this flight, the start of the launch into orbit was not stressful. There was no fear. There was such a huge tension until it entered orbit ... My group did not just study this ship - it was created in parallel with our preparation, and we were directly involved in this. Moreover, we practiced the landing of the ship itself, because it is carried out without the use of engines. That is, a ship that weighs about 100 tons, without engines, simply falls from space. Well, the fall is, of course, manageable. And it was necessary to land this 100-ton ship on the runway, ”noted Kadenyuk. He also spoke about his desire to visit space again: “I would also like to fly into space. American astronaut John Glenn was the first American Yuri Gagarin to make the first orbital flight. And then, at the age of 77, he flew once more into space. He was a professional test pilot, astronaut and later a senator. And when he flew in, he said the following phrase: “When you look through the window of a spaceship and see what has been created, then after that it is impossible not to believe in God”. Well, I must say that I also had about the same feelings. So it all amazed me. This beauty of the Earth and space ”.
Photo: State Space Agency of Ukraine
Based on materials: State Space Agency of Ukraine, UNIAN, editions "Facts", "24 channel"
