Last message

Dear all,
Today all members of the CryoSat-2 team will fly back to their respective bases: Friedrichshafen for ASTRIUM and Noordwijk for ESA.
The custom clearance has been obtained for our campaign equipment as well to return home.
So it is time now to say good bye.
To celebrate this moment I have a last surprise for all of you: A shot of these freshly opened Подснeжник, Snowdrops (Perce-neige). These photos were made yesterday 12/4 in the park of the Cosmonaut Hotel.

The break out of these first flowers in Baikonur beautifully materialises the seasonal transition and the renewal of the nature. So After the formal end of the CS-2 campaign, life continues and each of us will now be assigned to new activities or new projects. A new life will start.

After 102 messages published more or less in real time, it is time now to close this blog. For those interested to re-visit such or such topic of the campaign, all what has been posted so far will remain on line. May be after proof reading and few corrections, a DVD may be considered to capture these information and pictures but this has still to be confirmed.

In the mean time, I want to thank those who were supporting us during this 3 month launch campaign and those who have showed regular interest to our activities sending feed back from time to time. This has been much appreciated.

On my side, it is has been extremely interesting experience and a pleasure to share these moments with you.

I take this opportunity given by this last message to wish you all the best!

Poka

Kirill B.

PS:
I forgot to tell you that after 4 days in space our spacecraft is working extremely well. After SIRAL switch on, the first echoes of the radar altimeter have been received. You can then easily imagine the excitement at ESOC the last days. DORIS, the unit providing precise positioning of the spacecraft was performing also very well. To date, the LEOP* has now been successfully completed. The Commissioning phase that will prepare the calibration of the instrument and and hand over of the Spacecraft to the user community has started and will last till next June.
Let's wish that the success we have known so far will continue and soon scientists, after processing the CS-2 data, will be able to better understand the environmental changes we are facing today on planet Earth.

*LEOP Launch and Early Orbit Phase

Gagarin's day

In Baikonur, April the 12th is celebrated each year to remember Yuri Gagarin maiden flight to space in 1961. It is a bank holidays for most of the workers of the cosmodrome. Due to the dramatic plane crash which killed the Polish President and the top army executives last Saturday near by Smolensk, Russian authorities declared April the 12th as a national day of mourning to show compassion to their Polish neighbours. Therefore all celebrations for the 49th anniversary of the Gagarin's day were canceled in Baikonur.
However, this morning the Korolev memorial was decorated with few flowers.
Here under is a picture of the memorial dedicated to the man, S. P. Korolev (kept under secrecy for a long time by the Soviet regime), without which the Russian space programme would not have reached its fame and the rank it still has today.

Another important point of commemoration today could have been the memorial the city of Baikonur devoted to Gagarin first flight just opposite to the Baikonur first school.

Credits Julio
"On 12/4/1961 for the first time in the world the launch of a spaceship with a man on board, citizen of the Soviet Union, was achieved".

The CryoSat-2 team was invited for a guided tour a Cosmonaut hotel. There are now many buildings on this historical area were the cosmonauts and politicians use to stay. Constructions are surrounded by a park where some open air sport facilities and swimming pool are available.
The main building we visited today was build in 1968. A nice monumental mosaic on the eastern immediately captures visitor's attention. This modern hotel accommodates today astronauts and cosmonauts just before their flight.

At the reception, stained glass window reminds the style of interior decoration as it was already seen at different places in the city and at the Orion swimming pool in particular.

The quarantine area is the section of the hotel reserved for accommodating the astronauts just before their mission. It is a tradition that astronauts write their names on the door of their room. Here is the door of suite where lived two of the three astronauts who took off April 2010 for the International Space Station.

Outside, the hotel, there is park which is certainly very nice when the spring is a bit more advanced. Anyway, despite the stormy weather, we had the chance for a last view on the Syr Daria river on the platform at the very end of the Cosmonaut Path. As you already now know each cosmonaut has his/her own tree along this path to commemorate his/her flight.

Today 12th April 2010 is the perfect day for a last picture aside the Gagarin tree which should be exactly...49 years!
Trees planted along this path are elms (Вяз)

C праздником и С днем рождения!

Living costs

Price of few items or services as seen in Baikonur city in April 2010 are provided below. All selected examples are for information only and may vary. The selected exchange rate is 1€=40 rubles

• Basic standard salary ca 9000 rubles (225€)
  
• Rent for standard apartment 3000 rubles (75€)
  
• Bus ticket 8 rubles (20 cents of euro)
  
• Taxi ride 20 t0 50 rubles per person (0,5 to 1,25€)
• Second hand sedan car Lada (BAZ 21091) 1996 40.000 rubles (1000€)

• Man shoes 800 rubles (20€)
• Women boots ca 3000 to 4000 rubles (75 to 100€)
  

• Newspaper Baikonur 11rubles (28 cents of euro)
• 0,5 liter vodka from 100 (rubles 2,5€)

• 0,5 L beer at terrace 35 rubles (88 cents of euro)

• Fresh Uzbek Bread at the market 12 rubles (30 cents of euro)

• Haircut (man) 100 rubles (2,5 €)

• 100g black chocolate 30 rubles (75 cents of euro)

• Ice cream 12 to 20 rubles (30 to 50 cents of euro)
• Soap 100g 40 rubles (1 €)
• 3 course dinner in restaurant from 400 to 800 rubles (10 to 20€)
• Fresh coffee cup at the market 10 rubles (25 cents of euro)
• 4Gb SD memory cards 690rubles (17,25€)
• Computer optical mouse with USB plug 200 ruble (5€)
  

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Turyatam (KZ) April 2010 - Mosque in construction (to be ready by September)