He goes on a space mission.When he returned 5000 times around the earth, his entire country disappeared

In 1991, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev was scheduled to be deployed to the Mir space station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. It’s a nightmare. Originally marked as a five-month mission, Sergei returned to a changed Earth nearly a year later.

According to Discover magazine, Krikalev was accompanied by Soviet scientist Anatoly Arsebarsky and British scientist Helen Sharman. They took off from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan. The Russian astronaut was sent into space and his main duty was to perform some repairs on the space station to improve it. After eight days in orbit, Sharman returned home with the two crew members already on board, leaving Krikalev and Arsebasky alone. While everything was going smoothly on the space mission, the Soviet Union began to show signs of political tension. Suddenly, there are strong signs that sovereign states are on the verge of collapse.

By the summer, many Soviet countries began fighting for independence. Kazakhstan is one of them. To appease the government, Moscow offered a Kazakh cosmonaut a spot on Mir to replace a more experienced cosmonaut who would have taken Krikalev’s job. The Kazakh astronaut had no training for a long-duration mission. Therefore, Krikalev must remain on board until further notice. Before the formal collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as supreme leader, and Krikalev received the latest news about his possible return to Earth. During his mission, Krikalev orbited the Earth 5,000 times. After Krikalev’s one-year stay ended, a team of three astronauts was assigned to join the Mir crew, according to Eurasia Times.

The long stay of Russian cosmonauts has put financial pressure on the country. In order to arrange funds, Russia decided to provide space station vacation services to Western countries. As rumors of Mir’s sale grew, the crew became concerned. But they stayed because if they left Mir, it would be the end of the space station.

In March 1992, Krikalev finally received the news that he would be replaced and could return to Earth. He landed near Alkalyk, an independent republic of Kazakhstan. By the time he landed, his hometown of Leningrad had become the St. Petersburg of Russia.

Unfortunately, the initially planned five-month space routine extended to nearly a year for Krikalev, as he had already spent 312 days in space. Being so far away from Earth and in an environment dominated by microgravity took a toll on his health. After returning home, he was diagnosed with signs of severe damage to his health, including muscle and bone weakness. The tragic part of Krikalev’s story is that he became the last Soviet citizen who could not return to his original hometown of Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. His persistence on the Mir space station in the face of adversity and his commitment to the Soviet space program demonstrated true patriotism and professionalism.