#cosmonauts
Some space age reading material. A brilliant & colourful cover depicting the passion of the space race between the USA & USSR courtesy Time Magazine, Dec 6, 1968. Later that month, NASA would win the race to a crewed lunar orbit via Apollo 8 & astronauts James Lovell, Frank Borman & William Anders. Such an exciting decade of historic firsts.
Space legend. Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space when she flew Vostok 6 in June 1963. The solo flight orbited Earth 48 times over a 2-day, 23 hour mission. She was selected from 400 applicants & it was her only spaceflight. She is the only woman ever to fly a solo space mission & in 2013 offered to go on a 1-way trip to Mars if the opportunity popped up. She flew at the age of 25 & remains the youngest woman to have flown in space.
Romania is a good example of the fluid multi-national nature of many of the small states in Europe - prior to its conquest by the Ottomans in the mid-16th Century, there were many city-states in the area, many of which, in turn, had their own patrilineal aristos (most commonly, princes). Near the end of Ottoman ascendancy in that part of Europe, various of the Danubian principalities joined together (notably Moldavia and Wallachia) to form the United Principalities, the precursor to the modern state of Romania. After the Ottomans formally departed in 1877, the Kingdom of Romania was founded under Carol I, a German prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. The inter-bellum years were not particularly kind to Romania and its people, and post-WWII was even less so, as the influence of the Soviet reaches allowed for the authoritarian (and, quite frankly, sadistic) rule of the Ceaușescus until their execution by their own people in 1989 as Communism fell in Europe. Romanian, as you know, is a romance language - and I guess here we see what happens when romance and internecine authoritarian squabbles mix. Harkening back to the good old days of Ancient Rome indeed…..
Stamp details:
Top left:
Issued in: 1864
From: Bucharest, Romanian United Principalities
YC #11
Top right:
Issued on: December 31, 1866
From: Bucharest, Romania
MC #16
Second row left:
Issued in: 1885
From: Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania
MC #57
Second row right:
Issued in: 1919
From: Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania
MC #254
Third row left:
Issued on: April 8, 1948
From: Bucharest, Romanian People’s Republic
MC #1118
Third row right:
Issued on: August 25, 1965
From: Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania
MC #2427
Bottom left:
Issued on: January 8, 1990
From: Bucharest, Romania
MC #4585
Bottom right:
Issued on: January 23, 2019
From: Bucharest, Romania
MC #7493
Recognized as a sovereign state by the UN: Yes (since December 14, 1955)
Official name: Romania; România
Member of the Universal Postal Union: Yes (since July 1, 1875)
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Personal artwork/Fictional space project
Cargo capsule retrieval team.
Prints of this and other artworks are available in my society6.comanddeviantART.comshops.
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“While his heart beats in his chest, a cosmonaut will always continue to challenge the universe. Vladimir Komarov was one of the first on this treacherous path.”
Polkovnik Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov (16 March 1927 – 24 April 1967). Fifty years after his death, some photos of how one of the bravest space pioneers should be remembered.
Fifty five years ago today.
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Мир праху твоему, Алексей Архипович Леонов (30 мая 1934 — 11 октября 2019)
I’m absolutely heartbroken about Alexei Leonov’s death yesterday. You were one of my favorite cosmonauts. Fly high and rest easy, Major General Leonov. You’re up in space with all of the other heroes too now. Thank you for your service and courageous actions for science and technology.
Happy birthday to Soviet cosmonaut and the first spacewalker, Alexei Leonov! Today, Leonov turns 85! ❤️
With Valery Bykovsky’s death last month (on the same day as Gagarin’s death), Alexei Leonov and Boris Volynov are the last two remaining cosmonauts from the Air Force Group 1 selection, the first cosmonauts team
Soyuz-4/5, 1969
Komarov shortly before the Soyuz-1 mission that would end his life
Got to go to the National Air and Space Museum in DC today as an early birthday gift, here are some of my favorite Soviet (& US) gems! + an Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 pin I got :)
I usually don’t post my art on tumblr, but considering today is the 58th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight, here’s my attempt at a painting of Yuri
Leonid Kizim, 1984, Soyuz T-10
Sergei Korolev and Valentin Glushko, two Soviet rocket engineers that had a big impact on the Soviet Space Program, were both arrested by the NKVD and tortured in the Gulag during Stalin’s Great Purge in 1938. They were both freed in 1944, but the charges against Korolev didn’t drop until 1957. Although they did work together in building rockets, they didn’t get along very well
54 years ago today on March 18, the Soviet Union launched Vokshod-2 into space, with the pilot being Alexei Leonov and the commander being Pavel Belyayev. Leonov became the first man to spacewalk, that lasted for a total of 12 minutes.
Happy 92nd birthday to Vladimir Komarov!
One of my favorite cosmonauts, he was originally selected for the first cosmonauts in 1960, but would later be removed due to not being able to meet the age, height, and weight requirements. But he would contribute to the designs for Voskok and Voskhod, and his friends have been quoted of saying that he was a great friend and had a brilliant mind. Korolev himself said that if Komarov met the age, height, and weight requirements back in 1960, he would’ve undoubtedly chosen Komarov for Vostok-1.
His life was almost as short as Yuri’s, he died only a month after his 40th birthday. But he’ll always be remembered as someone who was brave, someone who tried to save their friend from dying. We will never forget the things Komarov accomplished during his short lived life. ❤️❤️
Vladimir Komarov during his Cuba visit in 1965
Happy 85th birthday to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space!
Personally one of my favorite historical figures, Yuri was the reason why I became so interested in the Space Race/the history of space exploration. He was a down to earth and caring person, and befriended almost everyone he met. His spaceflight was the start of a new era for science and technology, and he’ll always be remembered for that. Although he died at the age of only 34, his legacy still lives on over 50 years after his spaceflight, and his legacy will continue to live on. ❤️❤️❤️
On July 25, 1984, Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to spacewalk. She flew two space flights: Soyuz T-5/Soyuz T-7 and Soyuz T-12. It was during Soyuz T-12 that she did a spacewalk. Cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov and her conducted an EVA outside on the Salyut-7 space station, and they spent over 3 hours outside the spacecraft. Happy Internaitonal Women’s Day!
Happy 82nd birthday to the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova! С днём рождения !
April 12th marks the anniversary of two huge firsts in space exploration: The launch of a human into space, and the launch of a reusable space shuttle.
The human in question was Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who piloted the Vostok 1 into Earth’s orbit in 1961.
The space shuttle in question was NASA’s Columbia, seen here lifting off in the control of Commander John Young and Pilot Robert Crippen in 1981.
Learn more in How the Space Race Worked.
[Photo credits: NASA and more NASA]
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