cosmonaut--once the dream job of a lifetime formillions in this country--is increasingly less attractive because it is nolonger the ticket to international fame or a fortune. As a result, the pool ofqualified candidates for positions in Russia's cosmonaut corps is shrinking,experts said.
"In the 1960s one would dream of becoming acosmonaut, now the young men are dreaming of becoming bankers," said Sergei Shamsutdinov, an editor atthe Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine, which is published "under the aegis" of theFederal Space Agency (Roskosmos) and Space Forces. "The romantic aspect of themanned space exploration is no longer there; it has been replaced by gray dailyroutine," Shamsutdinov told Space News in a recent telephone interview.
"Theseuniversities offer very good, fundamental education, which is in demand amongemployers in the private sector," he said.
Energia has 15 cosmonauts, while the Institute has two. The Air Force, which also managesthe Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, has 17, according to Shamsutdinov. In addition, Yuri Shargin is with the Russian Space Forces, Sergei Moshchenkoworks at the Khrunichev State Research andProduction Space Center, and Sergei Zhukov is director general of Roskosmos'Center for Technology Transfer, according to Shamsutdinov.
While Air Force pilots still displaystrong interest in joining the Russian military's Cosmonaut Unit because itleads to an increase in pay, qualified civilians are not asinterested, given the opportunities in the private sector, Shamsutdinov said.
Since the latest campaign to enrollnew members into Energia's cosmonaut unit began in 2005, the organization'smanagers have had little success convincing employees to apply, Shamsutdinovsaid.
Serova, 30,is also an employee of Energia and would become the first female added to Russia's cosmonaut's corps since2004, according to Shamsutdinov.
In aninterview with the Russian edition of Newsweek in October, Pavel Vinogradov, commander of Energia's cosmonautunit, acknowledged the drop in interest. "I cannot say there is noone at all, but it is very different from the times when we had thousandsstanding in line," Vinogradov told the magazine.
Vinogradov'sdeputy and renowned Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri also acknowledged that fewer young men and women are interestedin applying to become cosmonauts.
"Of course, we are no match forbankers," Kaleri, who is deputy commander of Energia's cosmonaut unit, said inan Oct. 27 interview with Space News. Kaleri also blamed the Russian media"for throwing stones at the manned space exploration, speculating that there isno longer as much need for it as there used to be."
In spite ofthe lessened interest, Russia currently has "more than enough" cosmonauts tomeet the current requirement of three cosmonauts per year for the Russian segmentof the International Space Station. Should the requirement grow to six persons for the space station a year as originally planned, the currentpersonnel strength of the Russian cosmonaut corps still would be sufficient, Kaleri said, but withonly a few in reserve.
And Kaleri expects the interest inthe job of cosmonauts to pick up if Energia ever gets around to implementingits ambitious plans to send manned missions to other planets. "Interplanetary flights will definitelyrekindle the interest," he said.
For now,however, students of Moscow's best technical schools snub manned exploration ofspace.
"I dream toget a good job with a high salary and I don't think there are too many studentsleft who would be romantic enough to abandon material gains for cosmonautics,"David Tarkhanyan, a second year student at the BaumanUniversity, told Space News in an Oct. 30 phone interview.
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