Cosmonautics Day is a holiday that celebrates the first manned space flight made on April 12, 1961 by 27 year old Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin of the USSR. The holiday is celebrated in Kazakhstan too, because USSR's and the Russian's (now) space program is based out of Kazakhstan. Currently Russia leases the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. When you hear of Russia launching a rocket (or a Backstreet Boy), they are launching them from Kazakhstan.
Many historic flights lifted off from Baikonur: the first operational ICBM; the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957; the first spacecraft to travel close to the Moon, Luna 1, on January 2 1959 ; the first manned orbital flight by Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961; and the flight of the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963. 14 cosmonauts of 13 other nations, such as Czechoslovakia, East Germany and France, started their historic journeys from here.
(Glory to the explorers of space!)
On a more local level, Kazakhstan's first cosmonaut is from the Karkaraly District (in other words, he was born in a small village outside Karkaraly). His name is Toktar Aubakirov. On October 2, 1991 he launched into space for an 8 day flight. Aubakirov was the first Soviet citizen to go into space without actually being certified as a cosmonaut, because his flight was hurried forward due to the flight being a part of the Baikonur rental agreement between Kazakhstan and Russia.
So happy Cosmonautics Day!
Last week was a little down. The weather wasn't as cold when we returned from our PC training. In fact, it was so warm that the town was a bowl of mud.
But by Tuesday and Wednesday a snow storm had covered up the mud and made the town white again. That was April 7th. That is significant because our first snow fall was November 5th. That is five solid months of snow and white. But the snow is gone again now and its back to being a muddy mess. I bought some rubber boots in Karaganda and they are coming in handy for the messy walk to work (above).
My internet has been having a problem. Its a classic PC story. The bill was paid for, but internet still got turned off, then they stall by saying "tomorrow you'll have it" for a solid week until you demand it...then more delays until the weekend where they say "we'll do it Monday". So I didn't have it all last week, but I have it back now.
An interesting thing happened to me yesterday. Gambrill and I went for a walk on the southern part of town. Our two dog friends, Abby and Shakes, came with us. You've met Abby before- she is a great dog, really nice, but has a problem of jumping on you when she is excited. The dogs loved the walk- chased each other on the steppe, chased (and caught) a chicken, chased cows, and had an overall great time. After the walk I went over to Gambrill's for lunch and the dogs walked home. Later, I was walking home around 8pm and I saw a dead dog in the middle of the street. I walked over and noticed that the dog was Abby. I wasn't initially sure- the way it was positioned, it was difficult to really tell (and it was dark), but after a few minutes of investigation I was certain it was her. I went in and got an old piece of cloth and went back out, carried her across town to the forest near Gambrill's house. She saw it and got upset. We took the dog into the woods. There isn't much to do when an animal dies here (no animal control). The reason I carried it to the forest is because I didn't like the idea of other dogs getting at her. So I walked home and without thinking, I walked in with the cloth that I carried the dead dog in. Ludmila, my host mom, got upset with me, so I walked back out to throw it away.
As I was walking to the dumpster, I felt something jump on the back of my legs. I turned around and it was Abby! I was shocked and for a split second thought I was looking at ghost. But she real! Then it dawned on me that all that mess was a mistake- and I didn't know who that other dog was! I promise that this dog looked exactly like Abby- Gambrill didn't question it for a second. In hindsight its funny- I carried a dead dog 15 minutes across town only to return to discover it wasn't the dog I thought it was! haha.
That's all from here. Work is going ok. I'm writing a small grant to try and get some computers for the office. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. In the meantime, have a great cosmonautics day!
(Glory to the Soviet Science!)
