![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mir.png\" "\\"The")
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The Soviet Mir Space Station was described as a “death trap” that was “held together by baling wire, duct tape, and healthy doses of WD-40.”<\/p>\n
Image credit: MSFC\/NASA<\/p>\n
He performed his duties as normal, while below the Soviet Union began to strain further and crack. News did reach them on Mir, but it was sparse.<\/p>\n
“It was a long process and we were getting the news, not all at once, but we heard about the referendum, for example,” Krikalev explained. “I was doing my job and was more worried about those on the ground \u2013 our families and friends \u2013 we had everything we needed!”<\/p>\n
Soon, even the space station was affected by the politics going on 358 kilometers (222 miles) below. With Kazakhstan (among others) pushing for independence, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev announced that a Kazakh cosmonaut would board Mir in order to appease the government.<\/p>\n
Though not as much was known about the effects of extended stays in space<\/a> then, Krikalev was aware of some of the risks of staying on Mir for so long.<\/p>\n \u201cDo I have enough strength? Will I be able to readjust for this longer stay to complete the program?” Krikalev reportedly<\/a> posed in an interview with Russian media. “Naturally, at one point I had my doubts.\u201d<\/p>\n In October 1991, the Soyuz TM-13 mission arrived at Mir. This unorthodox mission carried Soviet commander Alexander Volkov and Kazakh cosmonaut Toktar Aubakirov, along with Austrian astronaut Franz Viehb\u00f6ck. The presence of Aubakirov, the first person from Kazakhstan to go to space, was used as a tool to persuade the then-Kazakh SSR to continue hosting launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, neither Aubakirov nor Viehb\u00f6ck had been extensively trained and were not prepared for long-duration Mir operations, meaning they could not replace Krikalev as a flight engineer. After their short stay of just over one week, they returned to Earth with the departing crew, leaving Krikalev and fellow Soviet Volkov.\u00a0<\/p>\n Small and claustrophobic as well as high above Earth, Mir probably wasn’t the best place to be with very little company. It was invariably described as a “death trap” that was “held together by baling wire, duct tape, and healthy doses of WD-40,” as well as “derelict” and a “lemon”. In terms of things you’d rather be stranded in, a derelict oiled-up lemon isn’t exactly top of the list.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Then, on December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union finally collapsed. With the collapse, there was even less money for a mission that would relieve Krikalev of his duties. If all else failed, there was the Soyuz capsule that could be used to escape, though this could mean sacrificing the space station.<\/p>\n \u201cThe strongest argument was economic because this allows them to save resources here,\u201d Krikalev said while still on Mir<\/a>. \u201cThey say it\u2019s tough for me – not really good for my health. But now the country is in such difficulty, the chance to save money must be top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n Deals were struck between America and Russia, gaining the funding needed to send more cosmonauts and astronauts into orbit. On March 25, 1992, having spent a then-record 311 consecutive days in space<\/a>, Krikalev finally returned to Earth along with Volkov and a German astronaut called Klaus-Dietrich Flade.<\/p>\n When Krikalev and Volkov had left Earth, they had been citizens of a state that now no longer existed, earning them the nickname of the “last Soviet citizens.”<\/p>\n Despite spending a lot more time in space than he’d intended, Krikalev went straight back to training upon his return, and ended up clocking up 803 days in space, breaking previous records for time spent above the Earth. In calculations by Universe Today<\/a>,\u00a0thanks to relativity and time dilation, he has traveled into the future by a whopping 0.2 seconds.<\/p>\n He went into space as a Soviet citizen and came down in a different state, in a different time to everyone else around him.<\/p>\n