Cosmonauts Tour ( CT6 )

**Star City – interesting facts (Source: BBC News)

Star City, Russia’s primary cosmonaut training centre is indispensable for human space flight. It was set up in the 1960s in the woods outside Moscow and grew into a proper town - with schools, hospitals and kindergartens for astronauts families. Almost every cosmonaut or astronaut who has ever orbited the Earth has spent at least a few months of hard training here. A mock-up of the International Space Station sits in a hangar the size of a football pitch. It includes all the most vital of the orbital segments. But unlike the real thing, trainees can simply open the door if they want some fresh air. The ISS mock-up is a very complicated piece of equipment - in fact it needs constant maintenance and adjustment. Another mock-up of the ISS sits in a swimming pool 12m deep and 23m wide. Space walks are simulated here. The density of the water is such that moving about needs muscular inputs similar to those astronauts might need in space. Lingua franca The technology in the Soyuz maybe somewhat dated, but it is robust. All buttons and screens are signed in Russian, and Russian is the accepted international language in space. This means that Americans and Europeans who come to Star City to train are also expected to take plenty of Russian lessons. Lengthy queue It takes 10 years to train as a cosmonaut in Russia. You can sign up only if you are perfectly fit and healthy and between 25 and 35 years of age. Some of the people receiving training in Star City might never go into space - launches are infrequent, and there is a lengthy queue to get through.