时间:2025-04-03 12:08:30 来源:网络整理编辑:焦點
When a Russian spaceship docked as a lifeboat for three stranded men at the International Space Stat
When a Russian spaceship docked as a lifeboat for three stranded men at the International Space Station in February, one may have wondered if Sergei Krikalev, heading the rescue mission, felt any deja vu.
If that name doesn't ring a bell, he's also sometimes known as "the last Soviet" for his more than 311 days spent in space as the Soviet Union collapsed 250 miles beneath him in 1991. He was only meant to be at the Mir station for five months. Instead, he remained for close to a year, never abandoning the outpost.
Today, Krikalev, the former cosmonaut, is the executive director of human spaceflight for the Russian space agency. That means it's on his watch to make sure NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin get back home safely after their ship sprang a leak at the station in December 2022. The three marooned crew members were supposed to return this month. But their mission will now stretch for a year, until a new crew arrives to relieve them on a separate spacecraft in six months.
Krikalev's story of being stranded in space is now getting a perhaps overdue spotlight with a new podcast series called "The Last Soviet." And it's being told by another cosmonaut, Lance Bass.
Tweet may have been deleted
If that name doesn't ring a bell, he's also sometimes known as the other blond heartthrob in NSYNC. That's right: theLance Bass, who sang "Tearin' up my heart" with JT, who had a cameo in Zoolander, a satire on the very serious ambitions of beautiful people.
Bass, now 43, might seem an unlikely bard for a podcast about the fall of the Iron Curtain and a space mission gone awry that left Krikalev without a country. Few may remember that boy-band member Bass almost made it to space on a Soyuz spacecraft himself. In 2002, he spent about six months, off and on, training in Star City, Russia, and was certified by Russia and NASA to fly a mission to the space station. At the last moment, Bass lost his seat aboard the ship when his Hollywood financiers failed to pony up $20 million to pay for the trip.
In a recent interview with Mashable, Bass said he learned about Krikalev's story while training on a Russian military base for his own mission. From then on, he considered the cosmonaut a personal hero.
"I heard it from other people, my professors, after class," Bass said. "We would always kind of bond, and that's where you would sometimes go into the sauna and drink vodka and beat each other with branches, and they would very brilliantly tell their stories of their history."
"The funny thing is," he continued, "I have no idea if I've met him or not."
The podcast, an iHeartPodcasts production with Kaleidoscope and Samizdat Audio, comes at a poignant time, with the past serving as prologue. The Russia-Ukraine War resurfaces tensions from the Cold War, and, yet again, a crew will spend an unplanned year in space, although this time not for geopolitical reasons. Despite the conflict and strained relations with the United States, the two nations' space agencies have continued to work collaboratively at the space station.
Want more scienceand tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newslettertoday.
"You would sometimes go into the sauna and drink vodka and beat each other with branches, and they would very brilliantly tell their stories of their history."
Still, that global hostility has made bringing Krikalev's story to listeners challenging, Bass said.
"Unfortunately, because of the war, Russia is not allowing him to speak, especially to American podcasters," he said. "But we did get his friends and family and colleagues, and we really get the story of him through their eyes."
It's not clear if Krikalev was prevented from participating. He recently joined a NASA news conference and obliged questions from U.S. reporters on the status of the leaky Soyuz spacecraft. He spoke of working "together with our NASA colleagues" to minimize safety risks. Roscosmos, however, did not return a request for comment from Mashable regarding the podcast.
The series, which debuted Feb. 15, weaves in Bass' own experiences with the Russian space program, an unusual story in its own right. The former pop star was just 23 when he pursued an offer to fly aboard a Soyuz spacecraft on a 10-day mission. Space tourism is all abuzz today, but two decades ago when Bass geared up for the trip, only two billionaires had traveled before him in privately paid seats. Had it gone to plan, he might have become the youngest spacefarer, onboard the space station just three months before the deadly Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
At the time, NSYNC was on the last leg of its final tour, Justin Timberlake wanted to pursue a solo album, and Bass was figuring out his next career moves. Aside from the singer's childhood love of space, the idea of becoming a cosmonaut seemed so random to Bass.
"I thought it was a joke at first because it just sounds silly to even say," he said. "I really did think Ashton Kutcher was 'punking' me because that was such a huge show."
Soon he found himself in a U.S. hospital undergoing a surgical procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat that could have otherwise prevented him from space flight. Then, he was on a plane to a Russian military base, immersed in a new language, and cramming astrophysics lessons.
There were parabolic flights and rides on a centrifuge, like the Gravitron at an amusement park, to simulate the effects of weightlessness in space. Even camping trips to test his wilderness survival instincts.
The preparations ended unceremoniously, two weeks before his rocket launch. Without the payment, Roscosmos gave his seat to another cosmonaut.
Now, with so many opportunities for private citizens to fly to space with Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX, Bass is interested in finishing what he started. It was the podcast that rekindled his fire, he told Mashable. He hopes it will have the same effect on his listeners, claiming a new audience excited about space.
Meanwhile, as others ponder Krikalev's space legacy, he's not done composing it. The recently damaged Soyuz spacecraft will return empty to Earth later this month so Roscosmos can perform a post-flight investigation.
Both the Russian space program and NASA determined in January it was unsafe to bring the crew back. They will oversee the men's return home later this year on the spacecraft sent to replace it.
"We know that situation is not very good," Krikalev said then, "but it's not a situation with deadend where we don't have any solution."
TopicsNASA
Fake news reports from the Newseum are infinitely better than actual news2025-04-03 11:42
檀健次《追光吧哥哥》開播 回歸舞台發掘更好的自己2025-04-03 11:32
正午出品 ,大咖匯聚 ,孔笙執導 ,八台聯播 ,《山海情》太猛了2025-04-03 11:32
叫你演變態,沒叫你超越啊2025-04-03 11:09
Katy Perry talks 'Rise,' her next batch of songs, and how to survive Twitter2025-04-03 10:41
《獅子山下的故事》首播反響熱烈 ,群星匯聚演繹同根同源中華情2025-04-03 10:19
《沐浴之王》兩天過億 ,情節敷衍硬傷多 ,女孩色眯眯樣子太離譜2025-04-03 10:07
演技不夠表情湊 ?劉敏濤都退步到被00後碾壓了2025-04-03 10:05
WhatsApp announces plans to share user data with Facebook2025-04-03 09:56
0:2 !阿根廷小組第一出線,避開法國 ,梅西射丟點球+追平馬拉多納(荷蘭vs阿根廷半決賽直播)2025-04-03 09:50
One of the most controversial power struggles in media comes to a close2025-04-03 11:47
《大秦賦》口碑急速下滑,到底是誰的鍋?40歲張魯一並不無辜2025-04-03 10:41
《浣溪沙》確定檔期 ,優酷獨播,湖南衛視上星,韓庚佟麗婭主演2025-04-03 10:30
合體宣傳 ?成毅《琉璃》被曝上星衛視黃金檔,袁冰妍或與歡瑞和解2025-04-03 10:15
Dog elected for third term as mayor of Minnesota town2025-04-03 10:12
檀健次《追光吧哥哥》開播 回歸舞台發掘更好的自己2025-04-03 10:02
《沐浴之王》兩天過億,情節敷衍硬傷多,女孩色眯眯樣子太離譜2025-04-03 10:01
2022年世界杯1/8決賽小結 :依然是強者的天下(2018世界杯最後一場比分)2025-04-03 09:57
Mom discovers security cameras hacked, kids' bedroom livestreamed2025-04-03 09:40
電視劇網播熱度榜:《雲南蟲穀》跌至第三 ,第一連續10天霸占榜首2025-04-03 09:32