Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot-cosmonaut Georgy Mikhailovich Grechko recently visited Ufa and gave an exclusive interview
Georgy Mikhailovich, would you like to fly into space again?
- Not. At one time, I was a good astronaut. I know what it's like to be in space if you don't feel well. I am 79 years old, my health and memory are not the same. I won't be a good astronaut, but I don't want to be a bad one.
Do you believe in UFOs, aliens?
- I am very interested in this topic, I have a whole cabinet of literature on these UFOs. Unidentified objects do fly, they were seen by serious people, but science does not yet know what they are. I am a Russian person - until I personally feel the flying saucer, I don’t believe in aliens. I’ll come up and say: "Guys, you are astronauts, I am an astronaut, let's have a drink … that is, let's talk." American Zachariah Sitchin published in his book a snapshot of a flying saucer, which allegedly has been on Sinai for 20 years. I called Sitchin on the expedition, but he refused and we went without him. We drove 500 km in an old jeep. And two kilometers before the right place, the Arabs stopped us and said that there were mines here after the war, and we could not go further. But I have had experience with explosives, so I know how to walk through a minefield. And then we went on foot. We got it. It turned outthat this is an absolutely natural hill. In a photo taken from a helicopter at Sitchin, he looked like a plate.
Well, how do you feel about astrology, mysticism?
- I don't believe in horoscopes. Once I asked Pavel Globa: is there a cause-and-effect relationship between human destinies and the stars? And I found out that there are a number of unfounded rules. Well, what kind of astrologer is he if he could not predict his own divorce? And I do not believe in mysticism, but I admit that besides the physical world there is something else. Once in my life I had a prophetic dream. I dreamed that my wife was dead. I talked to her, but I understood that she was dead. And I woke up in fear, for the first time in my life. Three hours later, my wife was killed by a train.
There is a version that the Americans did not actually fly to the moon. What do you think about this as a specialist?
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- Here I do not need to believe or not believe. I know they flew. There were six flights, 12 astronauts visited the moon. But my son does not believe. Indeed, there are pictures that the Americans claim to be taken on the moon. For example, I had to stamp envelopes from various postal museums in the world in space, and the stamp on return to Earth had to be immediately destroyed. Stamping in a weightless state was very difficult. I ruined some of the envelopes. And in Germany, in a museum, I saw a perfectly stamped envelope that I did not print. Just before the stamp was destroyed, the envelopes were re-stamped on Earth. It's the same with the moon photographs. In a spacesuit, and even on the Moon, it is very difficult to photograph - these pictures were taken already on Earth.
Recently the Japanese have taken pictures of the moon with a very powerful apparatus. You can see everything there - the place where the launch vehicle landed, the path along which the tools were dragged, and the thrown tools themselves. But my son still doesn't believe.
When are we going to Mars? Do I need to fly there at all?
- You need to fly to Mars. Look at how humanity developed - at first they ran with a stick, then they invented the wheel, invented a steam locomotive, an airplane, flew into space. And now we seem to have stopped in development, we are degrading towards monkeys. We are not interested in anything, young people will soon have only one finger to pound on the computer. Astronomy in schools was canceled when the whole world celebrated the Year of Astronomy. What do we want - to start all over again, to run with a stick?
We are losing the right to be called civilization. And if we want to remain a civilization, we need to fly to Mars. And then, when we want to raise our head, we will not be able, due to the fact that there will be a pork neck. As for the timing - they say that we will fly to Mars in 2035. But the person who promised this will no longer lead in 35. And the one who will lead will say: "I did not promise."
Does space inspire creativity?
- You know, space doesn't add anything. But it enhances what is in a person, both good and bad. The cosmos did not reveal the creative gift in me. In my youth, I wrote a little, I loved Mayakovsky. And he wrote such advertising poems, to imitate him: "For everyone, including for you, Bread kvass is always on sale."
But cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko brought 20 songs from space flight. And these were real deep poems. Later these songs were even performed at the Grushinsky festival.
How do you remember Yuri Gagarin?
- Gagarin was just a good young pilot. He went through fire, water, and copper pipes, worked very hard. He demanded to be taken on a space flight again. I asked him once: how are you? And he: "I live badly, I also have to work." He was a military pilot, and I was a civilian. And so he helped us, civilians, although there was competition between us. Gagarin withstood the test of fame, did not become conceited. He won over with his simplicity and openness. Korolyov said that Gagarin was very talented and if he received the appropriate education, he could become a great scientist. And when it was necessary to choose between Gagarin and Titov, we were on the side of Titov. But Korolev chose Gagarin. And when Gagarin began to travel around the world, we realized that you couldn't think of a better representative of our country.
How Gagarin died is not clear. When he and Seregin were returning from a mission, the plane went into a tailspin and crashed. This is clear. But what was the reason for this is still not clear. In any case, there was no sabotage, he did not go mad, he was not taken by aliens and he did not fly drunk to Tashkent for football. The wreckage from the accident is preserved and sealed. Maybe someday they will be opened and we will find out the truth.
Is the Earth beautiful from space?
- I cannot answer where it is more beautiful - here or in space. The most beautiful place in our country is, perhaps, Kamchatka. From space, these volcanoes, mountains covered with ice, shine in the sun like diamonds. The desert looks incredible. It turns out that sand is yellow, red, and black. And the winds draw triangles and waves on the sand.
DOSSIER
Georgy Mikhailovich Grechko - cosmonaut, twice hero of the Soviet Union. Born on May 25, 1931 in Leningrad. He flew into space three times as a flight engineer - in 1975, 1977-78 and 1985. He set the USSR record and the world record for the duration of space flights. Candidate of technical sciences, doctor of physical and mathematical sciences.
Evgeny SOKOLOV
