- Elena Olegovna, you are a wife, mother, cosmonaut and politician.

What did you want to become as a child?

How did you come to astronautics?

- When I was asked in my childhood who I dream to be, I told everyone that I was a doctor.

Once, having watched a wonderful Soviet film, where a soldier with a dog was shot and wounded, I felt terribly sorry for them.

I decided that I simply had to help people.

This dream also partly came true - on board the ISS, I was, among other things, also a doctor ...

Love for space began at school.

The teachers told a lot about what was happening, who was flying.

They knew all the first cosmonauts by heart ... This is how the fascination with space began.

Therefore, after finishing school, I entered the Aerospace Faculty of the Moscow Aviation Institute and graduated from it.

Already, together with their future spouse, they came to work at the Energia rocket and space corporation in Korolev, Moscow Region.

There I worked at the Mission Control Center as a specialist in the Soyuz-Progress spacecraft system, then I went to the flight documentation.

  • At the Mission Control Center in Korolev

  • RIA News

  • © Sergey Mamontov

And already as a young mother, when my daughter was three years old, she applied to the cosmonaut corps.

Thought, suddenly I will pass medicine, pass exams?

And so it happened.

Although as a little girl I did not admit such a thought, it somehow did not occur to me.

- Space is far away ...

- Partly far away.

Although until the age of 18 I grew up in a military family.

In garrisons, among aviators, pilots.

Aviation was no stranger to me.

But space, of course, was a little further.

- You had your first flight in 2014.

How did you prepare, train?

What was special about the preparation, what difficulties did you encounter?

- First they come to the cosmonaut corps as candidates for astronauts.

They are undergoing general space training, which lasts about two years.

We have studied in sufficient detail all the systems of the Soyuz spacecraft, the Mir station, and the entire technical component.

Prepared for some experiments on board the International Space Station.

Biotechnology, astrophysics, astronomy, the study of the starry sky are a mandatory training program.

Plus, physical activity is added and, of course, medicine ... It is very important that the cosmonaut remains healthy during the entire training stage and can go through all the stages.

It is impossible not to say about special training.

Special parachute training reveals the ability to react quickly in extreme situations, taking into account the lack of time, and at the same time make competent, correct decisions.

In free fall, we solve logical problems that are attached to our hand.

And we can open them only in free fall.

All this is solved in the mind, dictated to the dictaphone, while you keep track of the height ...

- Tell us about the day you flew into space.

- There was a feeling of composure.

As the first flight engineer, I solved certain tasks, I had certain responsibilities.

The Soyuz spacecraft is operated by two people - the commander and the first flight engineer.

Of course, there is automation, but in any case, turning on and off the systems is done manually.

There are programs and algorithms that operate automatically, and there are commands that we issue ourselves.

We must monitor the state of the ship's systems.

If suddenly we go into some kind of emergency situation, we need to very quickly navigate and understand how it is developing, take a set of necessary measures, issue those commands that will ensure our existence, our flight.

- You have been in space for over 167 days.

What did you do aboard the ISS?

- Any cosmonaut is an engineer, a researcher.

I also had an additional function - I was the crew doctor.

We took turns performing certain routine maintenance.

For example, to replace equipment in a particular system ...

  • Elena Serova aboard the ISS

  • © NASA

- Was there a spacewalk?

- We were all ready for a spacewalk ... This mission was not planned for me, but I was ready.

Plus there was a lot of research work.

The crew performed over 60 different experiments in biotechnology, astrophysics, chemistry.

There were even experiments conducted by schoolchildren.

We performed them on board and sent the results back to Earth so that the guys could analyze and draw conclusions on the work done.

The range of tasks was quite large.

- Were there any extraordinary situations?

- On the Soyuz spacecraft, the left solar battery did not open just from my side.

The situation was not critical, we flew in a short six-hour pattern.

Now, if we flew for a long time - two and a half days, it would be critical.

We might not have enough electricity in the event of a long flight.

During the docking with the ISS, this solar array opened up.

The second abnormal situation on board is an ammonia leak.

This is one of the most dangerous situations practiced on Earth.

Among them are fire, depressurization, toxicity of the atmosphere ... Depressurization sensors were triggered.

We were very lucky that a very competent specialist was on duty at NASA at that moment, who managed to block the section where there was a leak, to let ammonia along the siding.

- What threatened it?

- It threatened to lose the station.

Because it is unrealistic to completely replace the atmosphere of the station.

Ammonia is highly toxic.

When it was closed, our foreign colleagues quickly put on their oxygen masks, we put on gas masks.

They flew to us very quickly.

We closed the hatches.

When we took samples of the atmosphere, our atmosphere was clean.

We spent half a day, even a whole day in our segment.

The fire detection sensors were also triggered three times.

The alarm panel was lit in all colors, I even have photographs ...

- How did you work with foreigners?

- Very good.

We had quite well-coordinated crews.

There were no problems, no language boundaries.

We have two international languages ​​on board the ISS - Russian and English.

The Americans took the Russian language, we took English.

European and Japanese friends and colleagues should have known both Russian and English.

On board the station, we talked in such a mixed, on a mix, we called it rushinglish or rushinglish.

  • ISS-41/42 prime crew members: NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova

  • RIA News

  • © Grigory Sysoev

Our brain is arranged in such a way that it tries to take, remember a shorter word.

Even on Earth, I sometimes remember the English version, but Russian does not pop up in my head.

They all worked very well.

Each had their own tasks that were planned on Earth.

On weekends they got together.

First on the American segment, then on the Russian one.

We celebrated holidays together, just Friday, a day off.

We watched a movie, listened to music, talked.

- Did you have a day off?

- Definitely.

Saturday and Sunday are days off.

Of course, there was also some work.

However, not as intense as on weekdays.

Therefore, the guys and I even sang to the guitar, which is on board the station.

- You have spent a long time in space.

Your husband is also an astronaut.

What was the connection with your family at this time? 

- Yes, my husband is also an astronaut.

Unfortunately, he was not able to fly into space.

Here, on Earth, my relatives and friends had a special tablet on which a program was installed to communicate with the station's board.

This connection was communicated at a certain predetermined time.

As a rule, it was Saturday, when we could communicate with each other via video link.

- You have a daughter.

Has she decided who she wants to become?

Maybe you have a dynasty and everyone will be astronauts?

- The daughter knows a lot about space, but she chose her own path.

She is a very talented girl.

She has two directions - architectural and legal.

Well, my task as a mother is to support her, help her in her aspirations.

- Tell us about nutrition in space.

Is there a variety?

- Certainly, there is some variety in the diet, although the set of products is quite standard, at least from the Russian side.

Although we could take bonuses from the American side as well.

By the way, American astronauts also ordered our Russian products.

- What is the difference, if not a secret?

- We have canned meat, they have it in bags.

They look like the military.

You open this bag, and there is meat in this sauce.

It's a little different with us.

Canned meat, fish, with vegetables.

There are also similarities.

Lots of freeze-dried food.

For example, pasta, various cereals, dry potatoes.

This is a natural food that has been dehydrated and freeze-dried using special methods.

We had Russian soups.

Borsch, pickle, noodle soup.

- Do you feel nostalgia for the moments of takeoff and return to Earth, adrenaline rush?

- I would not say that I miss adrenaline very much.

But I miss space.

The feeling of flight is a special feeling ... In the American segment, there is such a dome module, it is completely glass.

Our station makes 16 revolutions around the Earth per day, we often find ourselves above the night side of the Earth.

Hanging in this dome, turning off the light, you seem to be flying over the Earth and do not feel the station.

Like an angel hovering over the Earth.

This is something to be missed.

  • Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the VII convocation Elena Serova at a meeting

  • RIA News

  • © Maxim Blinov

- Upon your return to Earth, you became a State Duma deputy.

What did you manage to do in the new field?

- I ran in a single-mandate constituency, where a lot is done for the people.

Planned work with voters is underway.

Now I am on the Ecology Committee.

I believe that we need to improve legislation, which is what we are doing.

This issue is very relevant not only for Russia, but in general for all countries.

On board the ISS, I conducted a series of experiments, including those on ecology.

I took a huge series of pictures of glacier melting in Patagonia, saw how fast this is happening.

But I can say that this is not our doing.

We flatter ourselves very much when we think that we can greatly influence the Earth's climate.

Of course, we can partly influence global processes, but not as globally as they are trying to prove to us.

I know many scientists will not support my point of view ...

Of course, we must put our rivers, lakes, forests in order - the environment in which we live.

It is important in what condition we will pass the country on to our descendants.