Astronaut Shares His First Thoughts When Returning To Earth After 311 Days Stranded In Space
Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returned to Earth on March 25, 1992, after spending an unplanned 311 days aboard the Mir space station. Originally meant to stay for five months, Krikalev found himself stranded when the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991. The political and economic collapse left Kazakhstan, the base for Mir’s operations, unable to fund