Yuri Baturin: Cosmonautics Day as a Key Unifier for Russia

Yuri Gagarin was the first man to go to space on 12 April 1961.  This day is losing its significance for the Russian people today; we no longer follow developments in space, nor do we know what has happened to former cosmonauts.

The RIAC editorial staff thought it appropriate to draw the attention of our readership to this situation, so we posed a few questions to Russian space pilot Yuri Baturin, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Director of the Vavilov Institute of History of Natural Science and Technologies, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Yuri, how important is international cooperation in space today? Don’t you think that space exploration programmes had more impact during the period of confrontation between the USSR and the US?

Few know that the space race between the USSR and the US notwithstanding, cooperation between the two countries has existed almost from the start of the space era. On 20 June 1958, the US National Security Council approved its US Policy in Outer Space (NSC 5814), which, inter alia, said:

“Perhaps the starkest facts which confront the United States in the immediate and foreseeable future are:

(1) the USSR has surpassed the United States and the Free World in scientific and technological accomplishments in outer space, which have captured the imagination and admiration of the world;

(2) the USSR, if it maintains its present superiority in the exploration of outer space, will be able to use that superiority as a means of undermining the prestige and leadership of the United States; and

(3) the USSR, if it should be the first to achieve a significantly superior military capability in outer space, could create an imbalance of power in favor of the Sino-Soviet Bloc and pose a direct military threat to U.S. security.

The security of the Unites States requires that we meet these challenges with resourcefulness and vigor.”

This document went on to list various aspects of space operations: research and development; intelligence; defence; manned flights as well as political and legal implications, including international cooperation.

International cooperation in some areas of space exploration was recognised as particularly desirable both from a scientific and political point of view; and in other areas, it was also deemed essential from the military point of view for the US and its allies. Agreements on international space cooperation, with the participation of the US, were believed to strengthen US leadership and help save resources.

Competition was subject to a key rule: you either win or lose. In a brief collection of his lectures entitled “Blundering into Disaster: Surviving the First Century of the Nuclear Age”, Robert McNamara, a prominent US statesman and Defense Secretary under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, reiterates that the then existing military terminology based on the arms race practically did not allow for any other interpretation of events at the time: the US was either ahead or behind, i.e. either a leader or a loser. Basically, this was a zero sum mentality, when the victory of one party meant a loss of the other, and vice versa.  The Soviet Union at the time had absolutely the same mentality.

But then came a time when the USSR and the US gradually matured in their understanding that wins and losses could be shared - largely in the arms race, but also in the race to space. This was the time when the zero sum mentality was gradually abandoned.

The first bilateral space exploration agreement between the USSR and the United States of America was adopted on 8 June 1962 in Geneva. It was between the USSR Academy of Sciences and NASA. In the mid-1960s, this agreement helped scientists and engineers in the two countries conduct some joint research projects.

Notably, during the tense days of the Caribbean Missile Crisis or, more precisely, on 30 October 1962, NASA Director James Webb and Mstislav Keldysh, President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, exchanged letters that effectively launched the space agreement.  More notably still, President John Kennedy then only asked not to do anything under this agreement until the Cuban crisis was resolved, but he didn’t break it!

Between 1970 and 1975, Soviet-US cooperation in space became exceptionally intense and culminated in the experimental flight of Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft, nicknamed a “space handshake”. On 15 July 1975, Soyuz 19 was launched from Baikonur with a flight crew of Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov, followed a few hours later by the US spacecraft Apollo-ASTP manned by Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand and Donald Slayton. On 17 July 1975, at 19 hours 12 minutes and 10 seconds Moscow time, the two spacecraft docked, symbolically, over the Elba River.

At the same time, it would be wrong to overestimate politically the level of cooperation reached at the time. Henry Kissinger in 1971 stressed the need to avoid deluding the Russians into idealistic thinking that, because space experts from the USSR and the US succeeded in reaching an agreement to cooperate in outer space, they could address other political differences that existed between the two countries on Earth. And although the US diplomat was proven right by later developments, the Soyuz-Apollo mission remained a bright landmark in the Soviet-US relations. The level of cooperation launched in those long gone days has now become multilateral and involves the US, Russia, Canada, the European Space Agency and Japan. There is also ongoing bilateral cooperation with China.

Are there any cosmonauts associations today?  If so, what do they do?

There is the International Association of Space Explorers (ASE), an NGO active since the mid-1970s (at the height of space cooperation in the 20th century). The Russian Association of Space Explorers is a member. Cosmonauts and astronauts from various countries conduct annual meetings at congresses convened by the ASE, in turn, in different member countries.

Can a retired cosmonaut become a goodwill ambassador and contribute to international affairs? 

I don’t like the name – a “retired cosmonaut”. I’d rather talk about “cosmonauts who are no longer completing space flights”.

There arise situations in life, for instance, in the aftermath of natural disasters with many casualties, and when the United Nations sends good-will ambassadors – famous football players or artists – to draw attention to the needs of the victims, help with fund-raising, etc. Cosmonauts could do this job very well. There are just slightly over 500 cosmonauts and astronauts who have been to space between 12 April 1961 and today. Many, sadly, have left us. They are just a few hundred in the entire history of mankind. Not all of them may want to assume certain international functions but they all have seen the Earth from above, and they all agree we should protect it from wars or environmental disasters. All of them, due to their unique experience, are capable of global, planetary thinking and are well-respected worldwide. They could have a positive influence on international affairs too.

Is the cosmonaut profession prestigious today?

Being a cosmonaut is still prestigious in the world but, unfortunately, no longer in Russia. Young professionals weigh the money they are offered versus the risks. Pragmatically, being a cosmonaut is not a lucrative profession. We still have people, and we continue to train them, but, in all fairness, their numbers are not sufficient.

Do you think, Yuri, that the first manned space flight piloted by a cosmonaut from this country on this day, 12 April, is our nation’s unifier?

I believe Yuri Gagarin’s space flight was the last unifier in the history of this country. It had a very strong effect on its development and it is something we are desperately missing today.