credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
In the woods an hour outside Moscow, a sign on the road reads zvyozdny or "star." You are now approaching Star City, home of the Russian space program where cosmonauts have trained since the time of Yuri Gagarin. Clients of Space Adventures who shell out tens of millions of dollars for a trip to the International Space Station can expect to spend up to eight months training here before blastoff.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
Star City cosmonauts and workers, and their families, reside in these apartment buildings. Some 8,000 people live in Star City year round.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
Buses wait outside the entrance to Star City. There is a security booth, and nearby is a kiosk selling cigarettes, snacks, and souvenirs.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
The Cosmonaut House is the main community center in Star City. It has a theater for events, a indoor flea market, and a museum that includes Yuri Gagarin’s office and artifacts.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
A sculpture outside the Cosmonaut House represents Gagarin flying effortlessly through a ring that symbolizes earthly limitations.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
This photo collage at the entrance to the Cosmonaut House is just one of many memorials to Yuri Gagarin around Star City.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
This is a replica of the MIR mock-up/trainer inside the Star City space museum.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
Inside the Star City museum is a simulation of the Soyuz landing module. The two holes lined with bright aluminum are parachute containers that pop open at lower altitudes for a soft landing.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
A MiG monument stands at the air base entrance of Star City.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
Artwork celebrating flight shows the MIR at the center, surrounded by images of planes.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
Richard Garriott, dressed in his flight suit, stands in the stairwell near his one-bedroom apartment in Star City.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
Rostislav Bogdashevsky, the renown Star City psychologist who has been training cosmonauts for more than 45 years, instructs Richard Garriott and Nik Halik with the aid of a translator.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
Rostislav Bogdashevsky conducts psychological training of the cosmonauts inside this room. Note the picture overhead of a smiling Gagarin, one of his former pupils.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
The bare-bones gymnasium in Star City houses exercise equipment, a pool, and a locker room. Space Adventures clients may spend several hours a day in here.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
Gagarin’s locker, preserved behind glass in the Star City gym, holds his tennis racket, shoes, and towels.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
The Soyuz TDK 7 showing the habitation chamber atop, and descent module below.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
A peek inside the Soyuz TDK 7.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
Richard Garriott, bottom, and Nik Halik, top, train in the Soyuz TDK 3. Richard Garriott points out: "Note the very close quarters that in real life are even tighter. If you see the green at the bottom of the screen, that is where a door has been cut into the side for easy access. In reality, that is where the parachute compartment sticks into the passenger area. Nik and I are going line by line in the Flight Data Files as the sim progresses. Each line has a time and action to perform and the result we expect. Note that I have a stick in my right hand. When strapped in, especially when in a space suit, it is hard to reach some buttons, so that device is for reaching and pressing buttons that might be hard to reach. Near the right of the screen, you can see the small periscope viewport. At this moment in the sim, our attitude is aligned with Earth. This is likely just after insertion, or just before reentry."
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
This building houses the TsF-18 centrifuge.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
The TsF-18 centrifuge is one of the largest and most advanced in the world. It can simulate the gravitational forces that cosmonauts experience during liftoff and landing—up to nine times as much as Earth’s gravity. Space Adventure clients don’t endure the full level of the machine’s torture—30 gs for unmanned runs—but they are warned to keep their mouths shut at all times, as the extra gs can break their jaws.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
The Hydrolab is an underwater training facility used to simulate a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. The mockup section of the ISS shown here can be lowered by the crane into the tank. Cosmonauts wear Orlan spacesuits as they perform spacewalk maneuvers.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
The Soyuz Café is a private gathering place for cosmonauts and others celebrating special events in Star City. The blue chamber to the side of the lodge is modeled after the Soyuz, except it contains a wine cellar and comfy sofas.
credit Photo: Benedict Redgrove
Richard Garriott holds the old Star City planetarium, a handheld device. A sheet of black paper with holes would be slipped into the viewer and held up to the light.
