Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, a flight engineer on board the International Space Station, has snapped a photo of the highest volcano in Asia Mount Damavand. This is his first flight into Earth orbit. He was born in Baikonur.
“At any time it can get really hot here”
Sergey captured the picture of dormant stratovolcano suggesting the followers in social media to guess the photo puzzle. Earlier, his friend Ivan Wagner also twitted the photo to guess what the image was. (Then I was lucky to find out among the sands that it was Luxor).
Sergei decided to snap for a quiz the giant Damavand, the highest peak of which is rising to 5,610 meters.
The cosmonaut wrote: “It is located on the territory of Iran, in the Elburz Mountains (do not confuse it with Elbrus Mountains!), close to the southern shore of the Caspian Sea.
A majestic and extraordinarily beautiful volcano that thought to have originated several million years ago.Mountain climbers regularly climb the summit this is one of the most accessible mountain measuring at least five thousand meters in height.
I would definitely climb there!”
The day before, he also captured the pictures of volcanoes, located at the Kamchatka Krai, which, with amazing history and beautiful panorama views, attracts a huge number of tourist across the world. “The capital of the Krai is located very close to three volcanoes Koryaksky, Avachinsky and Kozelsky.
They are called the “home” volcanoes.Out of three, Avachinsky volcano is one of the most frequently visited in Kamchatka.There are several reasons for this: it is located very close to the city, it is one of the most popular volcanoes for climbing as it does not require special climbing skills and here you can find an unforgettable view and beautiful panorama,” Sergei Kud-Sverchkov shared.
Avachinsky Sopka (hill), as he noted, is half the size of the giant on the Caspian Sea coast. While, it is not a dormant, but an active volcano. He called Kamchatka as a unique place that can enchant and attract attention not only from the Earth’s surface, but also from space.
“Snow has been lying on the slopes of volcanoes for a long time, but at any moment it can get really hot here,” the astronaut noted.By the way, Klyuchevskaya Sopka is located here, which is the highest active volcano of Eurasia. “The photo shows the moment when the volcano is still smoking after the recent eruption,” Sergei made notes on the photo.
“The dunes are like giant waves”
From the height of the near-earth orbit, Sergei Kud-Sverchkov admires not only mountain peaks, but also deserts. One of his pictures shows the sand dunes of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
“Dunes are the result of centuries of accumulation of wind-blown sand and can be found anywhere across our beautiful planet, from Mongolia to Australia.The space station makes one trip around Earth every 90 minutes and we can see from the station even the most inaccessible parts of the deserts: Arabian, Gobi, Victoria and, of course, the Sahara.
The dunes are like giant waves.All of them are unique in their own way they differ in color, shape and amaze with their diversity!I will definitely tell and show pictures in the next posts,” the cosmonaut promised.
He has previously shown the “Eye of the Desert”, calling it “one of the most mysterious geographical objects that can be clearly seen from the International Space Station.” This is the Richat Structure. “It is also called Guelb er Richât (“Eye of the Desert”), a prominent circular feature about 50 km in diameter located in Mauritania,” Sergei signed the photo.
It should be noted this object is one of the most popular captured by astrophotographers.Earlier, cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko’s teammate Sergei Prokopiev told me about it during one of the educational broadcasts for schoolchildren.
I asked how the sands are seen from space.After all, this landscape even on Earth is almost alien in its impressions.Sergei Prokopiev cited Rishat as an example, calling it the “Eye of Africa”, which “can be seen from orbit with the unaided eye.” This miracle of nature has been excellent reference point for astronauts for many years.
So, Valentin Lebedev aboard the still Soviet “Salut” compared this “eye” with a children’s pyramid made of multi-colored rings. “This anomaly is really very clearly visible,” explained Sergei Prokopiev. “It looks like a meteorite crater, although it is believed that it is still not a crater, but just a geologic dome.”
I was destined to fly into space
Among the steppes in Kazakhstan, Sergei Kud-Sverchkov found a landmark place for all cosmonauts Baikonur. For him, the city near the cosmodrome is also a home place, because he was born here.
“I do not remember this city much as I was just a 3-year little boy when my family moved to the Moscow region.These memories could remain the only ones that bind us.
But life decided differently, and over many years, I returned there as a cosmonaut,” Sergei says.We wish him good luck and looking forward to seeing new pictures.
And also we are waiting for answers to questions that he began to gather at his page in social media that he promised to read after his first spacewalk.
I hope to get answer to my question that is: Where on Earth a person can feel same as state of weightlessness?Cosmonaut Igor Volk, for example, told me that he found something common with such a state in the waters of the Turkmen resort of Mollakara, where he was undergoing rehabilitation.
Something similar can be felt when plunging into mud volcanoes, which in Russia are also used as natural sanatoriums.
About science and 3D printing in space
On Science Day, which was celebrated in Russia the other day, Roskosmos recalled in social media about the unique experience that was conducted aboard the station by the cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, who was born in Turkmenistan.
In a post titled “Why is there a 3D printer on board the ISS or science at an altitude of 420 km”, subscribers were told that two years ago, Oleg Kononenko conducted the experiment at the International Space Station, when he bioengineered human cartilage tissue for the first time on a new magnetic Bioprinter Organ.Aut. “When the experiment was completed, the tissue was sent to Earth for analysis.
Scientists have confirmed: cells are viable.So we hope that in the future, cosmonauts will be able to “patch up” broken joints and internal organs directly in a living organism with the help of a robotic arm,” the corporation’s post reads.