Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

Posts: 803
From: Co. Monaghan, Republic of Ireland
Registered: Mar 2009

Posts: 586
From: Germany
Registered: Apr 2005

Posts: 212
From: Cork, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2012

Posts: 1031
From: The Netherlands
Registered: Jan 2003

Posts: 410
From: Bratislava, Slovakia
Registered: Apr 2009

Posts: 528
From: Houston, Texas
Registered: Aug 2002

Posts: 667
From: New York, NY
Registered: Oct 2010

Posts: 291
From: UK
Registered: Nov 2007

Posts: 1211
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012

Posts: 2610
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Dec 2000

Posts: 480
From: Czech Republic-Europe
Registered: Oct 2007

Posts: 633
From: Poland
Registered: May 2003

Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010

Posts: 551
From: Silver Spring, Maryland USA
Registered: Aug 2003

Posts: 855
From:
Registered: Aug 2001

Posts: 691
From: Monticello, KY USA
Registered: Mar 2007

Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

Posts: 2476
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006

Posts: 1597
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000

Posts: 1156
From: Sandpoint, ID, USA
Registered: Mar 2003

Posts: 2176
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999

Posts: 370
From: Wales, UK
Registered: Dec 2004

Posts: 831
From: Northampton UK
Registered: Nov 2009

Posts: 54
From: Germany
Registered: Jan 2006

Posts: 782
From:
Registered: Mar 2009

Posts: 2169
From: McKinney TX (USA)
Registered: Aug 2005

Posts: 136
From:
Registered: Jan 2005

Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001

Posts: 367
From: Bennington, Vermont, USA
Registered: Feb 2011

Posts: 600
From: Slatington, PA
Registered: Mar 2009

Posts: 3398
From: London, UK
Registered: Feb 2002

Posts: 1328
From: Carrollton, GA USA
Registered: Jan 2003

Posts: 140
From: Middletown, NJ, USA
Registered: May 2010

posted 11-15-2013 11:02 PM               

---

This is very sad news indeed. Alexander was the first cosmonaut I ever met, back in 1992, and subsequently I was honored to have him as a friend. As well as being a great Cosmonaut, he was head of VAKO Soyuz a youth aerospace organization that opened the door to students from outside Russia visiting a "Space Camp" in Star City. I went with the first group of British students there.

Alexander greeted us and was at hand on various days to see how we were doing. He spoke great English, with a characteristic deep voice and a friendly bear like handshake. He was not afraid to speak his mind which was refreshing to hear from any spacefarer. I remember him saying how from space he had seen the oil fires after the first Kuwaiti war and that this was terrible especially as it was also burning up the Earth's oxygen supply.

He was a spacecraft designer as well as a prolific "space walker". One time I met him at his office and he was using a special inhaler. Breathing pure oxygen on so many EVAs had temporarily taken its toll on his voice.

Alexander visited London a few times and spoke at Imperial College. In later years he was a regular at the ASE meetings. I met him in Edinburgh and Prague and also on my trips to Moscow. He was very strong and I remember that at the end of our space camp he eagerly handed out certificates to the students and helped build a fire by chopping wood for the shashlik barbecue; all with the enthusiasm of a boy scout!

He will be very much missed as this was so unexpected and before his time. My deepest sympathy to his family. Thanks Alexander for making Russian space flight more accessible to others as well as being a pioneer in building space stations.

Posts: 212
From: Merseyside, England
Registered: Oct 2004

Posts: 1104
From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK
Registered: Dec 2002

Posts: 503
From: Highland Heights, KY
Registered: Feb 2003

Posts: 1169
From: Honolulu, HI
Registered: Sep 2010

Posts: 946
From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006