TEDxVorobyovy-Gory - Alexander Lazutkin - Earth: Our Only Home In The Universe April 3, 2011

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Alexander Lazutkin is a Russian cosmonaut. His first spaceflight was Soyuz TM-25, on which he was the flight engineer. Lazutkin was aboard the Mir Space Station when the collision with the resupply vessel occurred. During a personal account of this event, he stated that it was clear that the air was escaping from the station. Although not audible above the noise of the station, the reduction in pressure became evident in the ears. The crew retreated to the safe part of the station and Lazutkin himself shut the hatch on the damaged section. Instantly, he knew air was no longer escaping but realised his hands were shaking as a result of what had happened. He describes quite wonderfully that he was so scared he didn't realize... that was why his hands were shaking. Shortly afterward, the station lost power as it receded around the night side of the earth. The silence and darkness he describes as unlike anything he had ever experienced before or since. As he gazed down at the dim lights of the earth shining up from the surface, as he contemplated his own mortality and his dire situation, he thought, "This is not so bad, I'm still alive".

TEDxVorobyovy-Gory - "Cosmos" - took place on Saturday, March 19th, 2011 at Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow. The year of 2011 named in Russia as The Year of Astronautics, also it is the year when russians celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight commited by Yuri Gagarin and the 70 anniversary of his birth. This is why we devote our first conference in 2011 to the topic of Cosmos. Senior speakers from different fields of science, business and art gathered together to share their ideas about exploration of space. 12 talks reflect their achievements, inspirations, wishes and scientific discoveries.

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