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Sergei’s visit to Mars

…The town of Mars in Pennsylvania, that is! Patricia Palazzolo, a Pennsylvania Teacher-in-Space/NASA Space Ambassador, sent me this delightful story of Sergei’s very first visit to the USA, in 1989!

While checking on some info for an education project in which I am involved, I accidentally came across your site – and was fascinated! I first met Sergei during what I believe was very likely his first visit to the US, and have been amazed by him ever since. So, I thought you might be interested in knowing that he is, in fact, the first cosmonaut to set foot on Mars – and he did it way back in 1989! Here’s the story.

I am a teacher and was one of the finalists for the “Teacher-in-Space” mission (on Challenger) way back in 1986. I represented my state of Pennsylvania as Christa McAuliffe represented her state of New Hampshire. Despite the Challenger accident, the “educational mission” continued – and continues to this day. So, I am often called upon to work with other schools doing special “space projects” (in addition to all the crazy space projects I come up with on my own for my own students.) Anyway, back in the autumn of 1989, a school district in a very small, rural town north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania decided that they wanted to have their students realize that there was more to the world than just their own backyard. They raised funds that they hoped to use to bring “cultural events, special speakers, and the like” to their town. Someone brainstormed that they should think “really big” in coming up with something. Well, they said, “Hey, how about we try to get a cosmonaut to come her e! .” (Back then, it was still the USSR, so this was really a “pie in the sky” idea.)

Now, what you need to know is that this little town’s name was – you guessed it, “Mars.” The children wrote to Gorbachev and said, “Wouldn’t you like the Russians to be the first ones on Mars (Pennsylvania, that is!)?” No response… until a telex of only a few lines arrived saying: “Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov will visit the children of Mars in three weeks.” That was about all the info they had! So, even though it wasn’t the school district in which I teach (I teach much closer to the city of Pittsburgh. I’m about an hour away from Mars.), I was contacted to help out with programming and activities for Sergei’s 10-day visit. Everyone scrambled to prepare… planning all sorts of events from school visits to a parade through town to evening presentations for the community to taking the soon-to-arrive cosmonaut to a baseball game. To top it off, they wrote to NASA and said, “Hey, you’re not going to let the Russians beat us to Mars, are you?” (This resulted in NASA sending astron aut Mario Runco Jr. to Mars – and thus took place the first “US-Soviet Joint Mission to Mars.” The two men left their footprints in concrete in a special place in town to prove it.)

The day came for Sergei to arrive. There he was – young (barely 31 and looking younger), handsome, a newlywed, as curious about everything as my middle school students. He was sent to us with no translator (he spoke only a few words of English at the time – although we suspected he understood more than he let on :-)…

He was just incredible with the children of all ages. From 6-year-olds to 18-year-olds, they adored him! We did find a translator to help us – but not for the whole extent of his visit, so we all did our best at miming! His kindness, deep interest in others, and intelligence came across in any language. However, it was his curiosity that tickled me the most. At one point, the community leaders were showing him the new fire engine that was the town’s pride and joy. They let him get up in the seat, sitting at the steering wheel – and, to their shock, he put it in gear and drove off! The look on the faces of the politicians as they turned to each other was priceless! Without a word, it was as if they were saying, “My gosh, what do we do now!? What if he crashes the thing? Will it cause some incident between the US and the USSR?” Then, they all started running after the firetruck, screaming, “Sergei!! Sergei!! Wait!” Sergei took on several other similar “explorations” that kept us hopping – and caused the whole town to fall in love with him

[…]

In 1994, when Sergei flew on STS-60 as the first cosmonaut on the shuttle, I coordinated a SAREX (ham radio) contact between him and students from both my school and the school in Mars. That was another “adventure” – ice storms on Earth, interfering aurora in space – but, on the third try, we finally heard “U5MIR” (Sergei’s callsign) – and it was amazing! (We even ended up getting to speak with NASA astronaut Jan Davis because, I think, it was a bit difficult for Sergei to understand the voices of children asking questions in English over the radio. He answered several questions and then turned it over to her. So, it turned out that it was another “joint US-Russian” experience for the students.) I also had a press pass and went to Florida to cover the launch of STS-60 for our Pittsburgh newspaper. I noticed that the press corps all spoke fondly of Sergei… and those who had actually met him would smile a “you have to meet him to believe him” look. (That is why I was so fascinate d by your site. If you have never met him, and because he really does NOT seem to get the “media attention” you’d THINK would go with all his accomplishments, personality, and “central casting” looks, I was wondering what inspired YOU to become so interested in his career.)

Anyway, the last time I saw Sergei was at the Johnson Space Center, about 2 hours before he was to fly back to Russia to prepare to launch on Expedition 1. His English was fantastic […] very strange experience for me to converse with him so easily in English! Bizarre! We spoke briefly of his “Mission to Mars” – which he referred to as “long, long ago.” (I was surprised to see his hair looking grayish on your website. It was still as brown as ever and he looked as young as ever when he was going up on Expedition 1 – but I guess even that was, what – 4 years ago? Time flies!) I updated him on how he had inspired many of those kids to go on to pursue careers in science.

Well, this is much longer than I had intended […] but I thought someone who refers to Sergei as “the greatest spaceman” might appreciate the little story on “Mars.” For his efforts, our government passed a resolution that officially honored him as “Hero of Mars, Pennsylvania.”

House Resolution No. 330

The General Assembly Of Pennsylvania

House Resolution No. 330 Session of 1992 Introduced By Carone, Battisto, Cohen, Itkin, Josephs, Kosinski, Laughlin, Mihalich, Pesci, Steighner, Trello, Wozniak, Farmer, Gerlach, Hershey, Nyce, Tomlinson And Cappabianca, May 19, 1992

Adopted, May 19, 1992

A RESOLUTION

Designating Russian Cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalyov from the Commonwealth of Independent States as a “Hero of Mars, Pennsylvania.”

WHEREAS, Cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalyov has spent more than 432 days in space with ten months of continuous weightlessness aboard the space station Mir; and

WHEREAS, Cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalyov is an agent of world peace through his ten-day goodwill “Mission to Mars,” Pennsylvania, with United States Astronaut Navy Lieutenant Commander Mario Runco, Jr. during the month of September 1989; and

WHEREAS, Cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalyov’s gentle demeanor and genuine interest in the children of Mars, Pennsylvania, demonstrated the common ties of humanity which bind all human beings; and

WHEREAS, Cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalyov is a “Hero of the Commonwealth of Independent States” for his service to humankind, both in space and on earth; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate Cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalyov a “Hero of Mars, Pennsylvania.”

Photo gallery

Thanks to Pat Palazzolo for the photos!

Astronaut Mario Runco, Jnr., Pat Palazzolo, Sergei and Walt Tremer at the Mars Middle School.

Mario Runco Jnr. and Sergei Krikalyov

Astronaut Mario Runco. and Sergei Krikalyov.

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