Exploring relics of the Space Race in Russia

11 October 2015 - 02:00 By Caroline Shearing

As a new exhibition in London reveals the secrets of the Soviet space programme, Caroline Shearing visits Russia's Star City, where Yuri Gagarin trained to be a cosmonaut There was an unreal sense of having stepped into an alternate universe. The haunting voices of Russian children singing Soviet-era songs rang from a nearby Tannoy as I stood nose-to-nose with what appeared to be a Nasa Space Shuttle. Except this spacecraft, with its jet-black underbelly edged with a design that brought to mind the predatory grin of a great white shark, had a vaguely menacing air.This disconcerting twin was Buran, Russia's first and only reusable spacecraft, created in the image of a Nasa design that has since come to symbolise both triumph and tragedy. Buran, meaning blizzard, was built as a deterrent - in part because the Soviet authorities believed the Nasa Space Shuttle's robotic arm could be used to pluck Russian satellites from orbit.This close encounter with a Cold War relic came against the surreal backdrop of VDNKh park (pronounced vedeenkha) in Moscow, a vast public space devised by Stalin to showcase the agricultural achievements of the USSR.Today, with its striking pavilions and a towering wheat-shaped fountain encircled by giant statues of comely farm girls, the park stands as a kitsch tribute to Russian endeavour. And nowhere have those endeavours been more successful and secretive (the latter even by Soviet standards) than in the field of space exploration.When Sputnik 1 became the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth in 1957, the beep-beep of its transmitter was regarded by the West, and particularly the US, as a wake-up call - pouring yet more rocket fuel over the intensifying space race, while firmly establishing The Motherland as the most technologically advanced country at the time. This position was then hammer-and-sickled home with Russia's sending the first animal into orbit (a dog, Laika); the first man in space (Yuri Gagarin); the first woman (Valentina Tereshkova); and the first spacewalk (Alexey Leonov).mini_story_image_vleft1Though these starry names were released to the world after each momentous achievement, the Soviet space programme remained shrouded in secrecy.Now, almost 55 years on, more former secrets look set to be revealed with the opening of Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age at the Science Museum in London. This landmark exhibition will feature more than 150 Soviet-era, space-related objects, the majority of which have never left Russia (excluding trips to space) or been on public display.Ahead of the opening, I travelled to Moscow in the hope of visiting Star City, a restricted area 24km east of the Russian capital that, since 1960, has been the training ground for cosmonauts. My first glimpse of "Closed Military Townlet Number 1", as it was known, came via a gap in the dense pine forest that surrounds it: a concrete perimeter fence topped with barbed wire.In a parking area, we were met by a guide before negotiating a succession of security gates, at each of which my paperwork was scrutinised.Finally we arrived at the Yuri Gagarin Training Centre. The facility, made up of a group of '60s Soviet-era blocks, is where Gagarin rode the world's largest centrifuge and where Tereshkova lives to this day in an area off-limits to visitors. Cosmonauts past and present live here with their families, including Gagarin's widow.In the main building, a bronze Gagarin statue holds his right arm aloft in greeting. The guide led us down a corridor and I felt a thrill knowing I was walking in the footsteps of some of the greatest names in Russian space history.story_article_right1We arrived at a hangar-sized hall, home to three Soyuz spacecraft simulators. I peered into one of the Soyuz capsules and marvelled at the array of buttons and switches, made all the more intimidating by the Cyrillic script on each one. Soyuz is the longest-serving and safest spacecraft in history but the cramped crew compartment barely looked big enough for one - let alone the three it was designed for.My guide explained that each cosmonaut has a Soyuz chair made to their exact measurements, but with 5cm added to the length to account for the elongating of the spine that takes place during extended periods in space. She added that men must provide more intimate measurements to be able to use the International Space Station's (ISS) Russian-designed loo, which works on the same principle as a vacuum cleaner.Next, we headed back up the corridor to view a life-size replica of Mir, the world's first space station (1986-2001). Mir's launch coincided with Perestroika reforms, a period during which the country struggled to keep food on the supermarket shelves. An expat Russian told me on my return to the UK that, despite this, the Soviet people had been incredibly proud of attaining yet another space first.We stepped back outside for a short walk to a neighbouring building, a vast hall with a reflective blue ceiling, reminiscent of Earth's oceans as seen from space. This hall housed a row of pot plants alongside the multimillion-dollar training modules for the Russian segments of the ISS: a wonder of the modern world in the most ordinary of settings.Looking on forlornly, made diminutive by comparison and minus the shark's teeth, was the now familiar face of Buran - but this time in simulator form. Buran is the most expensive spacecraft ever built by Russia but was relegated to a hangar in the rocket-launch site of Baikonur after just one space trip in 1988. It met an ignominious end in 2002 when the hangar roof collapsed. The Buran that so delights visitors at VDNKh is a prototype.I thought Buran's sad fate faced being repeated: there has clearly been a prolonged lack of investment at Star City. It is, quite literally, falling apart. The four-pointed star that stands at its entrance has plaster missing from the brick wall that supports it.mini_story_image_hleft2Further evidence of this came with the sight of two men fencing off a hole in the road, alongside which stood a small silver plane in memory of Gagarin. And as I toured the site, the widespread dilapidation lent it a sad, forgotten air. Nevertheless, it remains the training ground for the world's cosmonauts and astronauts following the permanent grounding of the US Space Shuttle fleet in 2011.I was told that both the centrifuge, where cosmonauts are exposed to G-forces to prepare them for a trip to space; and the hydrolab, a pool used to simulate conditions during spacewalks, were closed for repairs. Elsewhere, weeds were growing through gaps in the concrete.Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, took over the running of Star City from the military in 2008 and it would seem that a programme of repairs is finally under way. My visit took place to the soundtrack of hammering and drilling, with windows being replaced and grey concrete kerbs being given a lick of white paint. But there's still much to do to return Star City to its former and rightful glory.We climbed back into the car and arrived a few minutes later at a padlocked barrier blocking our exit. My guide rang for assistance and I was permitted to leave the car to take a closer look at a concrete mosaic depicting Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), regarded as the father of rocketry and cosmonautics, and who was sketching plans for space stations as early as the 1890s. I examined the crumbling concrete, with chunks missing in places, and thought again of Buran.The following day, back in Moscow, I admired the sky-skimming Monument to the Conquerors of Space, constructed in 1964, which depicts a rocket soaring 110m into the air on its titanium contrail. This well-maintained tribute also marks the spot of the city's expanded space museum, reopened by Valentina Tereshkova in 2009. Star City, still largely hidden away, deserves better from such a proud, space-loving nation.Come in Unesco, do you read me? This is not a call for Star City to be turned into a space theme park in the manner of Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. It is a call for it to be cherished for future generations. Star City is not just the home of Russia's space story, it is at the heart of Planet Earth's.- The Daily Telegraphsub_head_start IF YOU GO... sub_head_end• Regent Holidays (regent-holidays.co.uk) offers a four-night trip to Moscow, which includes guided tours of Star City and the Cosmonautics Museum. Rates start at £1,150 per person, excluding visas.• On The Go Tours offers a wide range of tours and adventures in Russia, from group tours to tailor-made trips, including visits to Star City. For more information, see onthegotours.com or call 0800-982-686...

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