#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. At the invitation of the Severny Gorod media company, pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of Russia, traveler and public figure Sergey Ryazansky has visited the Obogatitelnaya Fabrika (eng.: Cocentrating Factory) project.
The spacecraft commander, the world’s first scientist in this position, visited Norilsk at the invitation of the Severny Gorod media company. Before participating in the Obogatitelnaya Fabrika project, he went down into the workings at the Skalisty mine, and then spoke to Norilsk residents and students at school No. 8. Sergey Ryazansky also found a few minutes for the Severny Gorod’s audience.
– Being such a multifaceted person, who do you most feel like in your work – an astronaut, a scientist, a traveler, a public figure?
– In fact, I perform a little in all of the listed guises. In my lectures and conversations with people, I am a bit of an astronaut, a traveler, a scientist, and a public figure – a social worker, so to speak, since I lead projects with children.
– As a traveler, have you considered visiting Taimyr in your plans?
– Until recently, Taimyr was not in my travel plans, but my like-minded people and I have become interested in the Putorana plateau. I have climbed the Orizaba volcano in Mexico, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Elbrus, traveled to Altai, Kamchatka, and the Kola peninsula. As for Putorana, we are currently considering something like a forest trip with rafting down a mountain river. I have been dreaming about this for a long time, we are now working out the trip details, perhaps we will appear here in August next year.
– How do you find the Severny Gorod’s project, when speakers come to Norilsk, share their experiences and tell their stories?
– It’s cool when there is an organization that can provide such an opportunity, and I would like more people to be involved in educational programs.
– What projects are you planning now?
– We are planning to climb Everest, we are preparing for a trip around the world – I’ve recently got a yacht skipper’s license and am continuing my training for the next qualification. And if there is an interesting space project, I am ready to return to the cosmonaut corps.
– In your opinion, do children now dream of becoming astronauts, as before?
– In my opinion, they do not, though it is sad to realize it. In order for children to dream of becoming astronauts, as before, we need to popularize this. That is why in the Russian Schoolchildren Movement (RSM), whose interests I represent, the divisions RSM-Science and RSM-Space were created. As part of these projects, children create their own space programs, develop technologies, construct satellites and demonstrate this at a festival in Samara on the basis of the Samara Aerospace University.
This trend turned out to be very popular among young people, and we managed to get schoolchildren interested in it. My personal task in this process is to show children, including my own ones, the full range of possibilities, so that the child can choose for himself what he wants to do, choose a vocation. In this process, the participation of the state, the work of thematic sections, clubs, and communities is very important. So, perhaps, the children will realize their mission and it will be possible to say that they dream of space.
– Were you surprised by the aviation and cosmonautics museum in the Norilsk school?
– I didn’t expect to see it in faraway Norilsk. I can imagine where and what museums exist, because in the Russian schoolchildren’s movement there are many children from various regions of the country. But we haven’t had anyone from Norilsk yet, so I was pleasantly surprised by the work of enthusiasts in the Arctic.
This Is Taimyr previously told about the Obogatitelnaya Fabrika project’s 10-year anniversary and the visits of Business-FM host Kira Altman, actor and director Alexey Chadov, TV presenter and famous blogger Avrora, actor, singer and politician Dmitry Pevtsov.
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Text: Denis Kozhevnikov, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko and Denis Kozhevnikov
