Attendees of the Presidential Library’s cinema club found out why the Russian language had pressed English on the ISS

April 17, 2019 the Presidential Library hosted Cinema Club meeting, dedicated to the Cosmonautics Day. This time it included the viewing and discussion of the film “Russian in Space” by directors Alexander Merzhanov and Sergei Shatilo, after which was held a presentation of the collective three-volume edition “Russian Cosmism as a Project”, created by Y. Malyshev, A. Semyonov, O. Semyonov, V. Sergeev

On April 12, 1961 earthlings first heard human speech from space, which was Russian. Since then, about a hundred of our compatriots have been aired from cosmic heights, more than half a century Russian speech sounds in orbit. The Roskosmos TV Studio film tells about the significance of the Russian language in the history of Earth’s exploration of outer space and answers the questions in which language cosmonauts and astronauts on the ISS speak and why all foreigners learn Russian before space flight, despite the fact that the official language of the ISS is English. It turns out that Russian has always been impossible to replace. Today, everyone who participates in the international space program - not only astronauts, but also those who work on Earth – study the Russian language.  

In November 1998, the Russian Proton launched the first ISS into orbit. One of the experts of the film - the pilot-cosmonaut of the Russian Federation, Hero of Russia Yuri Gidzenko, tells on the screen that at first there was a thought for the Russian crews to speak with ground command in English. But reality was different.   

The Russian word “satellite” was included in foreign dictionaries, many technical and slang definitions that were originally formed in Russian did not want to surrender to their translated analogues. Not to mention the "orbital" food. The words "kitchen", "lunch", "porridge" are firmly in common use of all the international crews... 

Famous cosmonauts, astronauts from NASA and the European Space Agency, teachers of the Russian language, who have been working with astronauts for a long time as well as translators take part in the film including funny stories related to the search for mutual understanding between cosmonauts and astronauts.

The presentation of the three-volume book “Russian cosmism as a project” took place emotionally. According to one of the authors Yuri Malyshev, space exploration is not only the study of near-Earth space, but also an appeal to the man himself, his system of values. In search of ideological orientations, this topic again becomes relevant, because our scientists were the first to comprehend the concept of Russian cosmism. Outside of this phenomenon, it is impossible to find and substantiate the Russian idea, striving towards the rational, kind, eternal, at whose origins the Word and the Deed stand. At the cinema club meeting they recalled the founders - Lomonosov, Fyodorov, Tsiolkovsky, Vernadsky, Korolev and others; they said that Russian cosmism is able to unite all those who are not indifferent to what is happening on Earth and in Space. Gogol had vague aspirations: “Rus’, Rus’, what this vast space prophesy is?” And one of the founders of Russian cosmism N. F. Fyodorov, referring to the powerful Russian type, writes the striking definition quoted in the Russian Cosmism project": "The expanse of the Russian land contributes to the formation of such characters: our open space serves as a transition to the vastness of heavenly space, this new endeavor for a great feat".

The activities of the e-Presidential Library are closely associated with space from the very beginning. The collection "Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935)” has become a part of the extensive collection of the Presidential Library “Outer Space”, which is constantly updated with new exclusive materials. Among them - a selection of 15 theoretical works of such famous researchers as A. Fersman (“Chemical Elements of Earth and Space”, 1923), J. Perelman (“Interplanetary Travel”, 1935), I. Messer (“Star Atlas for Heavenly observations” in 1901) and others, including memorable newspaper issues for April 12, 1961, books on space exploration, including those written by cosmonauts themselves, publicists exploring this topic. In addition, these are postcards, medals, photographs, newsreel footage fully aware of the first rocket launches and space explorers.

In the building on Senate Square, communication sessions with the ISS took place more than once, when astronauts took direct part in the event and answered questions from a large audience live. In 2017, a reprint of the book "Space Rocket Trains" by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky returned to the Presidential Library from a near-earth orbit. The publication, issued in 1929 and printed from an electronic copy of the publication from the Presidential Library, at the end of 2016 was sent to the ISS by an agreement with the Federation of Cosmonautics of Russia.