Igor Volk, Buran Commander has died

[Kerbal01]

Igor Volk was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz TM-12 mission to Salyut 7. He was supposed to be the commander for the first manned Buran flight before that program was cancelled. He died while vacationing in Bulgaria at 79.

[PB666]

1 hour ago, DarthVader said:

Igor Volk was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz TM-12 mission to Salyut 7. He was supposed to be the commander for the first manned Buran flight before that program was cancelled. He died while vacationing in Bulgaria at 79.

Bulgarian vacation? Oh my.

[kerbiloid]

79 is not so bad. A long and interesting life.

 

11 hours ago, PB666 said:

Bulgarian vacation? Oh my.

What's wrong with tour to Bulgaria?

[Jonfliesgoats]

Sad news.  Russian cosmonauts are rarely appreciated in the West, but the few I have met have always been innovative, intelligent and gracious.  I hope Mr. Volk was happy during his vacation.

[Rath]

On 1/5/2017 at 9:17 PM, Jonfliesgoats said:

Sad news.  Russian cosmonauts are rarely appreciated in the West, but the few I have met have always been innovative, intelligent and gracious.  I hope Mr. Volk was happy during his vacation.

You met cosmonauts for long enough to see their personalities?  I need to hear more, and where do I sign up?  Who do I need to kill?

[Jonfliesgoats]

Mostly at airshows through my previous life.  If you are one of the guys who flies a plane with doodads to a given location to talk about a widget to potential customers, you  talk to other folks too, including cosmonauts.  Now that my current life simply has me flying as an airline pilot, I found we actually have one working here.   He started working in the West during the rough Yeltsin years. 

Hang out around airports and talk to strangers, you'll meet a lot of interesting folks.  You'll find that many stories people dismiss as BS are actually true, too.  Turns out there are very few boring people out there, and most of us seem to do amazing things.  Same holds true if you are working at airports too.  Lots of information to be gleaned there.

That's one thing that amazes me.  These people, information, devices are much more accessible than people think.  You just sort of stumble into things as you poke your nose around, ask questions and generally engage in noseybusiness.  Criminals do this too, in different ways.  Frequently talking about valuable freight puts people like truck drivers in third world countries at risk.  That's observation is to another discussion, though.

@Rath

If you are so inclined, you could go snoop around trade shows, etc.  You'd be surprised what you can do if you're willing to look a little silly in the process.

Edited January 7, 2017 by Jonfliesgoats
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