Sergei Kracliff, the astronaut on the Soviet space station MIR, had the best view of the world. But he could not see the political fire burning in his own country.
On May 18, 1991, Sergei Cricalf's spacecraft set sail for the Soyuz MIR station on a five-month mission to orbit the Earth.
He was accompanied by Soviet astronaut Anatoly Artisbarsky and British astronaut Helen Sherman.
The spacecraft took off from the Baikonur Kazmodrom base in Kazakhstan. It was the base by which the Soviet Union overtook the United States during the space race. From here, the first satellite, Sputnik, entered orbit. And then from here the first bitch named Laika and then in 1961 the first man Yuri Gagarin was sent into space.
By then, the MIR station had become a symbol of the Soviet Union's power in space exploration.
Baikonur Kazmodrom, a base in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan's base used for Soviet space missions
Sergei Cricalf's mission was as usual. They had to go there and do the necessary repairs and install modern equipment in the station. Work in space was well under way, but the Soviet Union had begun to collapse on Earth.
Sergei was busy in space at the same time when a strong country like the Soviet Union was falling apart.
Sergei, who was on an easy mission, was trapped in space for several months. His mission dragged on unexpectedly, which began to have a negative effect on his body and mind.
They roamed the earth for more than ten months and then returned to a land that had lost its existence and its parts were divided.
He was dubbed the "last Soviet citizen" in history after being treated in space.
