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Cosmonaut Training Center
The Yu. A. Gagarin State Scientific
Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) is a Russian
training facility responsible for training cosmonauts for their
space missions. It is the first cosmonaut training facility and
home of the largest of three cosmonaut units in Russia[citation
needed], and with more than half of Russian cosmonauts. It is
located in Star City, Russia—a name which may refer to the
facility itself and to the grounds on which it is located.
The facility was originally known only as
Military Unit 26266 or в/ч 26266, and was a secret
training base for Soviet Cosmonaut candidates. The site was chosen
for its proximity to Moscow and other infrastructure that would be
essential for its function: Chkalovsky Airbase, and the Yaroslavl
railroad. The densely forested area was originally a radar range
with some existing infrastructure.
Military physician Colonel Yevgeny Karpov was
appointed as the first chief of the cosmonaut training centre or
Tsentr Podgotovki Kosmonavtov (TsPK) on February 24, 1960. The
centre was home to approximately 250 personnel divided into various
departments who were responsible for the development of all aspects
of the space program ranging from equipment to the well being of
the cosmonauts. These included specialists in heat exchange and
hygiene, survival clothing, surgery, and training staff. Initially
cosmonaut candidates were housed at the nearby Frunze Central
Airfield (Moscow), followed by an apartment block in Chkalovsky
before eventually moving to the newly built apartments on site
where they would remain with their families throughout
training.
Until April 2009 the center was owned and
operated by the Russian Ministry of Defense in cooperation with
Russian Federal Space Agency. On April 2009, Russia President
Dmitry Medvedev signed a presidential decree transferring the
center from the Defence Ministry to the Russian Federal Space
Agency (Roskosmos) The current administrator of the GCTC is
cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov.
The Cosmonaut Training Center was inaugurated on
January 11, 1960 in Star City outside Moscow. In 1969 it was named
after Yuri Gagarin, the first man to fly in space. In 1995 the
Cosmonaut Training Center and Air Force Test and Training regiment
were merged and reorganized into its current form.
The Center has also trained candidates from
other countries of (or aligned to) the former Soviet bloc under the
Intercosmos program, which got an initial boost from the joint
Soviet-American Apollo-Soyuz flight in 1975. The Intercosmos
program later included staff members from other countries as well
(France, India, etc.) and provided ground work for the next step in
continued and ongoing cooperation between Russia and the United
States in joint space missions and for cross-training of US
astronauts on Russian hardware in the framework of the Space
Shuttle-Mir and ISS programs.
The facility contains infrastructure essential
for the training of cosmonauts across a wide range of experiences,
including simulating g-loads, mission specific/suit training,
medical observation/testing and astronavigation.
* Full-size mockups of all major spacecraft developed since the
Soviet era, including the Soyuz and Buran vehicles, the TKS modules
and orbital stations of the Salyut Program, Mir, and ISS. These
were coexisting or with time replaced one another inside two main
training hangar halls of the Center.
* A neutral buoyancy water pool for simulating weightlessness for
spacewalk training. In 1980 it was replaced with a larger
hydrolaboratory building with a tank capable of accommodating a
20-ton space station module. The pool has depth of 12 m (39 ft),
diameter of 23 m (75 ft) and capacity of 5,000 cubic metres (54,000
sq ft).
* Zero-gravity training aircraft for simulating weightlessness (cf.
Vomit Comet), including the MiG-15 UTI, Tupolev Tu-104 and later
the IL-76 MDK with internal volume of 400 cubic metres (4,300 sq
ft). Training aircraft are based at the Russian Air Force base at
Chkalovskiy airfield.
* Two centrifuges, a large TsF-18 and a smaller TsF-7, designed to
simulate g-forces experienced during liftoff.
* A Medical observation clinic and testing facility.
* A planetarium built in East Germany, capable of projecting as
many as 9,000 stars.
* The original office of Yuri Gagarin and a number of monuments and
busts to him and other cosmonauts.
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