Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev stayed in orbit so long that the country which launched him collapsed, and he kept doing his job in space while the world he trusted to bring him home fell apart below

Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev stayed in orbit so long that the country which launched him collapsed, and he kept doing his job in space while the world he trusted to bring him home fell apart below

Sergei Krikalev left Earth as a citizen of the Soviet Union on 18 May 1991. When he returned 311 days and 20 hours later, the Soviet Union no longer existed. The facts are extraordinary without the usual claim that he was forgotten or abandoned in orbit. Krikalev agreed to remain aboard Mir after two planned crew flights were combined into one. A Soyuz return craft, mission control and a functioning space programme remained behind him. What chan…