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The Incredible Shrinking Cosmonaut Corps
jonerik writes "Space.com (via MSNBC) has this article about the declining prestige — and size — of Russia's cosmonaut corps in these post-Soviet years of wild 'n' woolly Russian capitalism. Where at one time the mighty Soviet space program could count on thousands of applicants offering their services as cosmonauts, today the vast majority of young Russian civilians prefer more lucrative private sector careers, though recruitment among Russian Air Force pilots is still good since the pay is higher in the cosmonaut corps. Russia currently has a total of 37 active cosmonauts in three units, and though these numbers are considered sufficient, there would be fewer available reserves if the ISS crew expands to six, as had been originally intended. 'In the 1960s one would dream of becoming a cosmonaut, now the young men are dreaming of becoming bankers,' says Sergei Shamsutdinov, an editor at the Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine. 'The romantic aspect of the manned space exploration is no longer there; it has been replaced by gray daily routine.'"
Well, not personally, but given that they're just talking about tooling around in space, what's the attraction of that? Now, if they were to actually try and get a man on Mars, you'd have no shortage of applicants.
I am similarly a sellout. As a child, I wanted to be a physicist -- like Newton. Then I realized that my fate (PhD) would be in the hands of a person I dont necessarily trust for 8 years. After that, i would not be able to afford decent housing or much of anything (unless I made it to the top 5% of my field.) Keep im mind its not just my own fate, but also of my wife and kids. Becoming a banker, programmer, consultant, whatever, was a decision to *not* save the world, but rather be able to find a job quickly whenever I needed and not have to worry about housing, childrens' wellbeing, etc. Housing is the key issue. I think if it wasnt for the exorbitant cost of housing, many more careers would be open to people who truly want them. With housing in the mix though, you spend every penny of your earnings trying to pay off your house and have little time to really contribute to society.
Just to set the record some what straight, both NASA and Russia have less than a 4% fatality rate among manned missions. You are more likely to be hurt in a car accident than an astronaut is going to be killed while on a mission.
so are you going to stop driving cars now? As the Allstate commercial says there is a car accident every few seconds in just the USA.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
In the 1960s one would dream of becoming a cosmonaut, now the young men are dreaming of becoming bankers,' says Sergei Shamsutdinov, an editor at the Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine.
And here in America, we have bankers that dream of going up with Russian Cosmonauts.
Push Button, Receive Bacon
Even if I was offered to become a first man to set foot on Mars, I would refuse. I don't understand the attraction.
Have you ever been the first one to make love to a virgin?
It's kind of the same thing. Even though it's not quite ready for prime time, it's nice to be the first one there. Everyone else that comes after you gets to see all of your footprints from when the landscape was pristine.
Sure, I wouldn't mind taking a lunar or martian vacation and staying at the holiday inn, but I'd rather get there before the rush.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
The USSR/Russia has had a phenomenally safe manned spaceflight record. The last (known) fatalities occurred in 1971 on the Soyuz 11 mission. 35 years of fatality-free manned spaceflight is nothing to sneeze at.
There is no reason to lament the fact that most Russians prefer to be bankers instead of cosmonauts. Russia is simply not at the right economic stage to splurge on space programs. During the Cold War, the Russians spent heavily on space projects, but that situation is due to government intervention (in the economy) against the will of the people. That intervention wrecked the economy.
When Russia becomes rich like the rest of the West, then the Russians will return to space. Given the the incredible accomplishments of Russian mathematicians, I expect that a Russian genius will decipher and advance the work of Burkhard Heim. In so doing, he shall develop the first working prototype of a warp drive. (The Americans have already developed phasers, which can be deployed on a jet fighter. Are the Japanese working on shields?)
However, that is just an illusion for now. Right now, we must concentrate on steering Russia towards developing a true democracy and a real economy not based solely on commodities. The current pathetic state of Russia is partially due to the shenanigans of the Harvard elite.
This is a bit of an answer to the question "Why go to the Moon, Mars, or an Asteroid?". I bet more candidates would get excited about something like that. Either they need to inspire these guys, or offer them more pay to twirl around in LEO tightening bolts and tending experiments. It might be more economical in the short run simply to offer more pay. In the long run, a partnership with other spacefaring nations to further exploration is probably the best thing for the long-term health of the program.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Well, Russia is the worlds largest nation and has the largest natural resources of any nation. With less than 120 million people they are well on their way to wealth. Living next door to Russia it is quite obvious they are both rich and poor - and what nation does not have both groups of people? It is all about the distribution of course - just like in the US.
Russia ended 2005 with its seventh straight year of growth. Strong oil export earnings have allowed Russia to increase its foreign reserves from only $12 billion to some $180 billion at yearend 2005. During this time, poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand. Nevertheless, serious problems persist. Taken from the CIA World Fact Book
An interesting comparison might be to look at the GDP of the US, Russia and the two largest economies in Europe:
US $12.31 trillion
Germany $2.48 trillion
France $1.794 trillion
Russia $1.584 trillion
Can't find enough Russian nationals to stock your space program? I'll go. Send me a Berlitz Russian language course, and we can get started right away. Mars, ISS, the moon -- whatever. Better to be a poor astro ... oops ... cosmonaut than a rich investment banker, I'm sure.
I'll even bring friends. Plenty of bodies to run your program into the next decade.
Star City, here we come.
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
I've just come back from Korolev (aka Space City) as a paying guest of Energia Corporation. I was there with some 17-18 year olds for the "Space Olympics", an annual international event where the Russians are trying very hard to enthuse the next generation about Space Exploration in general. At the same time, they are making shed-loads of money out of their "guests": very New Russia.
Having met five cosmonauts (4 active; 1 retired) on this trip, it's my impression that they are all still struggling to some extent to come to terms with life in modern Russia. Mostly in their late 40's or early 50's, they seemed tired and somewhat cynical, or even bored with the endless PR. Many of the technical support people have baled out, either to administrative jobs within the same sector or elsewhere completely. There was a definite "Soviet" feel to the trip, as our Russian hosts have not made a complete psychological transition from the old ways when they were truly elite. For example, we were not permitted to visit any working churches (e.g. St Basil's in Red Square) and they kept driving us round and round Moscow to ensure that we ran out of time rather than allow this visit. Lenin's mausoleum was, naturally, "highly recommended" (i.e. mandatory).
Even so, most of those in Space City proper (which strictly is a separate part of the much bigger city of Korolev) are still an elite by Russian standards. They have bigger apartments - twice the average floorspace - and much better shops. The best schools (e.g. Lyceum No. 11) are eye-opening for someone from the UK educational system. Although not amazingly lavish in terms of resources (although still good), the attainment of their top students is awesome. Their performance in science, mathematics, foreign languages and performing arts was extremely impressive.
On the other hand, traffic is utterly chaotic, the food was mostly appalling and their organisation (general, rather than specialist) was quite poor. Medical care was surprisingly cursory (I fell ill during the visit) and they certainly don't trust the banking system - I had to go to the airport exchange booths in the middle of the night to cash travellers' cheques to pay them in CASH for our visit. (Very unsettling for someone from the West!)
There are certainly enough technically-minded young Russians (and Kazakhstanis) around to keep the system supplied with cosmonauts - at least within a few years' time. They currently fund specialist scholarships to Moscow State University and have a range of other incentives. Crucially, they are all still very proud of their long legacy of cosmonautics (edited for deaths and maimings, inevitably) and it was a real thrill even for me to be able to physically grab hold of Yuri Gagarin's re-entry capsule, which is displayed with loads of other hardware in Energia's museum.
Then again, when the Russo-American-European ISS has become the world's highest advertising platform with this recent golf-drive stunt, who can really be sure what the future holds for science and scientists? When I trained 30 years ago, I never really expected to end up teaching young adults, even when moving towards the sunset of my working life.