medical doctor and astronaut specializing in long-duration flights, Valeri Poliakov died on September 19, 2022 in Russia. He was 80 years old and had a busy career, of which the public will remember in particular the incredible mission of 437 days aboard the space station Mr.
His space career, however, had ended since 1995.
A very long mission!
Some space records are better known than others. The first to have reached orbit or walked on the Moon, those who for the first time pushed the hatch of a space station or who ventured in a spacesuit into the void. Valeri Poliakov, who died at the age of 80 on September 19, is still the human to have spent the most time in space in a single mission, namely 437 days, 17 hours and 58 minutes. Well over a year in low orbit, in the modules of the Russian Mir station, between January 8, 1994 and March 22, 1995. And yet, a few minutes after landing, he declared to his comrades: “ We can fly to Mars before insisting on walking to his seat.
The peak of his career? Definitely, in any case for astronautics, since he then left the body of Russian cosmonauts for the Ministry of Health. Indeed, in addition to his record, the media resonance of his name and the iconic photo summarizing his loneliness, Valeri Poliakov was above all a doctor. Even after his space career, he will continue to participate in the selection of Russian astronaut candidates.
A doctor can hide an astronaut
Born in 1942, Valeri Poliakov did not follow the “traditional” course of pilots who became cosmonauts. He first turned to a brilliant career in medicine. Then, in 1964, he was inspired by the space flight of Boris Yegorov, the first doctor in orbit, and turned to the medical follow-up of Soviet cosmonauts. He also applied in 1969. But the process took time, and before being officially a “cosmonaut candidate”, he was already working on this theme at the prestigious IMBP, the Institute of Biomedical Problems. He will only complete his training in 1979, before entering the cosmonaut corps and participating in mission rotations.
Valeri Poliakov will be twice in the reserve crews before taking off in Soyuz, on August 29, 1988, for a first mission on the Mir station, in particular as a doctor on board. He spends 240 days there before returning to Earth. The fall of the USSR had no significant effect on his career, and he continued his work before returning to space for his famous second mission on Mir in 1994.
A record that still stands!
Despite various American-Russian initiatives, no flight has so far lasted so long in 22 years of continuous presence on the International Space Station. Several flights have approached the year, and NASA in particular has lately signified an interest in the physiological study of very long missions. Valeri Poliakov, who had announced that he had recovered all his faculties, will remain one of the great pioneers anyway.
Source : CollectSpace
11