posted 09-02-2010 02:39 PM               

Nomination Of Astronaut Surayev For Hero Of Russia Title Sent Directly To Kremlin

The Federal Space Agency has nominated astronaut Maxim Surayev for the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. The nomination was submitted directly to the presidential administration, bypassing the Defense Ministry.

"The nomination of pilot and astronaut Maxim Viktorovich Surayev for the Hero of the Russian Federation title was twice submitted to the Russian Defense Ministry. Now the nomination was sent directly to the Russian Presidential Administration," a report posted on the agency website on Thursday said.

The agency confirmed that the Defense Ministry had twice declined the nomination.

The agency made no comment earlier, saying that it did not want to wash dirty linen in public. The Cosmonaut Training Center did not make any comments either.

Astronaut Oleg Kotov, who returned from an International Space Station Mission in June, told Interfax-AVN that the Defense Ministry did not support Surayev's nomination.

He said that the Cosmonaut Training Center made the nomination twice. Surayev spent almost six months on the ISS. "Both nominations were turned down. The ministry said there were no sufficient grounds for supporting the nominations," Kotov said.

posted 09-08-2010 10:59 AM               

"The entire Russian cosmonaut community is up in arms at what is happening and in the end they may all go on strike," [Roskosmos spokesman Alexander] Vorobyov said, adding that the space agency had appealed to President Dmitry Medvedev to intervene.

The Hero of Russia medal confers housing, pension and travel benefits, as well as a state funeral.

These perks compensate cosmonauts for wages much lower than those paid to astronauts in the United States space programme NASA, Vorobyov argued.

"Our cosmonauts earn a lot less than NASA's astronauts, so in some ways it is a moral compensation," he said. "If they're not going to make them Heroes, then at the least they have to raise their salaries."

posted 01-07-2011 02:56 PM               

First, I will name those whose work is associated with danger and is extremely necessary for us to develop our country’s scientific and industrial potential: I mean the work of test pilots and cosmonauts. The people who choose this profession have a vocation. Heroes of Russia Stars are awarded to test pilot Oleg Kononenko and cosmonaut Maksim Surayev.

Without a doubt, all of our efforts in space make us a very strong country, show that we have potential for development and for tackling various challenges. Therefore, this research is absolutely vital, and those who will receive the highest state awards today are true heroes.

This is especially true because, as my experience shows, it sometimes becomes necessary to show political will in order to decorate someone. It happens. All people are subject to various passions and do not always find the courage to present state awards to their colleagues. We have a President for that, after all...