article. His compulsion to demonstrate that capabilfirst three weeks in space and following his return to Earth
ity helped him convince his government to finance
– periods when he had to adapt to new environments –
the project during the dissolution of the Soviet Union
he experienced “considerable [reductions] of tracking
and the resulting economic chaos in Russia.
performance, as well as elevated [perceived] workload
ratings and clear drops in subjective mood.” However,
Polyakov told Robert Zimmerman, author of Leaving
during the second to fourteenth months in orbit, he
Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest
showed “an impressive stability of mood and perforfor Interplanetary Travel, that he felt very different durmance.” After the mission, there were no long-term reing the launch of his second mission. “Moments before
ductions in performance.
launch, Polyakov’s
Those carefully structhoughts were far dif“My goal was to demonstrate the
tured tests yielded useferent than those on his
ful results, and so did
first flight,” Zimmerman
ability to work on Mars and come
informal observations.
wrote. “Then he had
For example, in his 1996
felt eager, excited, and
back in good health.”
interview, Polyakov talkjoyous about finally geted about experiencing
ting into space. Now he
cosmic radiation. “When
felt only fear. He wasn’t
you sleep at night, if the
afraid of dying. Far from
particle hits your eye,
it. What he feared now
you can see the flash,”
more than anything was
he said, “like sparks in
failure. ‘What if somethe eye when somebody
thing goes wrong?’ he
hits you in the head.”
asked himself.... ‘I had
sacrificed so much
He also experienced
time,’ he thought. ‘The
a common effect of
government has spent
long-duration microgravso much, more than
ity. On Earth, a person’s
they can afford.’”
spine is curved. Without
the normal force of gravBut nothing went
ity, the spine straightens,
wrong. Liftoff was
and the distance besmooth, docking was
tween the discs increassuccessful, and Polyakov
es. After fourteen months
got to work. He and
in orbit, Polyakov’s height
a succession of crew
increased from six feet
mates performed
two and a half inches to
twenty-five ongoing
six feet five inches. That
experiments, mostly in
presented a problem for
life sciences. The topics
the trip back to Earth.
included micrograv“When you come back,
ity’s effects on blood
you have to fit yourself in
chemistry and volume,
the chair that was made
the circulatory system,
for your size as you were
the central nervous syscoming up,” he said. “If
tem, and bone density.
you wear a special suit, it
Polyakov, himself,
is called ‘penguin,’ it kind
was the subject of a
Valeri Polyakov was a cosmonaut from March 1972 until June 1995. He has reof presses you down. In
variety of evaluations.
mained active in space medicine. Credit: New Mexico Museum of Space History
that case you will have
“Mental Performance
less of a problem.”
in Extreme Environments: Results from a Performance
Yet another informal observation came from
Monitoring Study During a 438‑Day Spaceflight,” a 1998
American astronaut Norman Thagard, who arpaper he co-authored, detailed the extensive examinarived aboard Mir six days before Polyakov returned
tions he underwent before, during, and after the mission.
to Earth. “[Polyakov’s] legs were just as big as tree
They measured emotional moods, cognitive perfortrunks,” Thagard told Zimmerman. “If he did that well
mance, the ability to manually track the path of movafter fourteen and a half months, I probably don’t
ing images, and his perceptions of workload intensity.
The results were based on only one person’s responses, have much to worry about for just [a few] months.”
but they offer a glimpse of what other astronauts might
Thagard and Polyakov were reunited in October
experience on a long spaceflight. During the last three
1996, when they were both inducted into the Interdays before launch, Polyakov’s performance declined
national Space Hall of Fame. In an oral history interin cognitive tasks and tracking response rates. During the
view at that time, Thagard said, “Doctor Polyakov
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