Yuri Kondratyuk
Encyclopedia
Yuri Vasilievich Kondratyuk (June 21, 1897–1942), was a follower, supporter and founder of cosmism
, pioneer of astronautics
and spaceflight
. He was a theoretician and a visionary who, in the early twentieth century, foresaw ways of reaching the moon
. He used an adopted pseudonym
, while his birth name was Aleksandr Gnatovich Shargei.
, Ukraine
(then Russian Empire
). His father, Ignatiy Benediktovich Shargei, studied Physics and Mathematics at Kiev University
. Kondratyuk's mother, Ludmila Lvovna Schlippenbach taught French at a Kiev high school, and must already have been pregnant when she married in January 1897. Because of her unusual surname, it is often suggested that Ludmila must have been a descendant of Wolmar Anton von Schlippenbach
, a general who took part in Charles XII of Sweden
's failed invasion of Russia. Ludmila was devoted to social activism and was imprisoned on several occasions for participating in demonstrations
. During her last stay in a Kiev prison, shortly before Kondratyuk was born, she was diagnosed as suffering from a psychological disorder. As a result of this, Ignatiy divorced her when Kondratyuk was still very young, and the boy was raised by his paternal grandmother.
From an early age, Kondratyuk was fascinated by his father's books on physics and mathematics and demonstrated great abilities in these areas. When he was old enough to attend high school, he was admitted straight into the third form of a prestigious high school, where he graduated with a gold medal for proficiency a few years later.
From there, he enrolled at the Peter the Great Polytechnic in Petrograd to study engineering (Now Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University
), where he had influence from Ivan Meshersky
, but before long was drafted into the army as a junior officer at the outbreak of World War I
. During his time of military service, he filled four notebooks with his ideas of interplanetary flight. These included suggesting the use of a modular spacecraft to reach the Moon, leaving the propulsion section of the vehicle in orbit while a smaller lander journeyed to the surface and back (the strategy eventually adopted independently by the engineers of the Apollo program). He included detailed calculations of a trajectory to take a spacecraft from Earth orbit to lunar orbit and back to Earth orbit, a trajectory now known as "Kondratyuk's route" or "Kondratyuk's loop". In 1925, he made contact with Vladimir Vetchinkin
and sent him a manuscript of his unpublished book on rocketry. Up to that time, he and his work were unknown to rocketry enthusiasts in Moscow.
Kondratyuk left the army following the Russian Revolution
and tried to make a living stoking boilers in his native Poltava. The following year, he made an unsuccessful attempt to escape to Poland
but was stopped and turned back by border guards. Ordinarily, he would probably have been shot, but the guards recognised the early symptoms of typhus
in him and perhaps decided to spare themselves a bullet.
He was nursed back to health by a neighbour, and on the advice of friends, realised that it was in his best interests to flee Poltava. As a former officer of the Tsarist army, he was at risk of arrest as an enemy of the people. His friends managed to obtain false identification papers for him, in the name of Yuri Vasilievich Kondratyuk, born in Lutsk
in 1900 (who in reality had died of tuberculosis
in 1921). With this new identity, he left for Siberia
, where he settled in Novosibirsk
.
Working as a mechanic, he completed the manuscript of a book that he titled "The Conquest of Interplanetary Space", dealing with rocket motion and issues concerning the habitation of space. He also suggested using a gravitational slingshot
trajectory to accelerate a spacecraft. While the book was enthusiastically received by fellow enthusiasts in Moscow, no publisher would touch such a fanciful work. Eventually, Kondratyuk paid a Novosibirsk printer to produce 2,000 copies of the 72-page work, and even then had to do much of the typesetting and operating the press himself, both to save costs but also because the equations in the book posed problems for the printer.
Applying his engineering genius to more local problems, Kondratyuk designed a huge grain elevator
(quickly nickname
d "Mastodon
") that was built without a single nail since metal was in such short supply in Siberia. Unfortunately, this ingenuity would work against him when in 1930 he was investigated as a saboteur by the NKVD
. The lack of nails in the structure was used as evidence that he had planned it to collapse. Convicted of anti-Soviet activity, Kondratyuk was sentenced to three years in a gulag
, but because of his evident talents he was sent to a sharashka
(research facility prison) rather than a labour camp. There, he was first put to work evaluating foreign coal-mining machinery for the Kusbass region, and quickly impressed the camp supervisor with his ingenuity. At the supervisor's request, in November 1931 a review board changed Kondratyuk's status from "prisoner" to "deported", and sent him to work on Siberian grain projects.
Kondratyuk learned of a competition to design a large wind power
generator for the Crimea
, sponsored by Sergo Ordzhonikidze, then People's Commissar for Heavy Industry. With fellow deportee engineers Pyotr Gorchakov
and Nikolai Nikitin
, Kondratyuk submitted a design for a 165 metre (500 ft) high concrete tower supporting a four-bladed propeller
with a span of 80 metres (240 ft) and capable of generating up to 12,000 kW. In November 1932, Ordzhonikidze selected this design as the winner and invited the team to meet with him in Moscow
before sending them to Kharkov to finalise the design and have it built. While in Moscow, Kondratyuk had the opportunity to meet Sergei Korolev, then head of the GIRD
(rocket research group). Korolev offered Kondratyuk a position on his staff, but Kondratyuk declined, fearing that the scrutiny he would come under from security would reveal his true identity.
Kondratyuk, Gorchakov, and Nikitin worked on the wind power project for the next four years until Ordzhonikidze's "mysterious" death in 1937. Overnight, the project was deemed to be too expensive and dangerous and was shut down, the tower only half-built. Nikitin would later use what he had learned on this project when he designed the Ostankino Tower
in the 1960s. Meanwhile, the men went to work on designing smaller wind turbines (in the 150-200 kW range) to power farms. During this time, Kondratyuk learned of the arrest of Korolev on charges of treason for wasting time on designing spacecraft. He immediately decided to divest himself of his own copious notes on the subject. The former neighbour in Novosibirsk who had nursed him back to health after his episode of typhus agreed to take his notebooks and eventually took these to the United States
when she escaped there with her daughter following World War II
. He also sent a copy of his published work to the Tsiolkovsky museum in Kaluga
.
Kondratyuk joined the Soviet army as a volunteer in June 1941 and perished in 1942 in February 25 near Kaluga
. The exact circumstances of his death are not known. His unit was involved in heavy fighting against the German
army in October 1941, and October 3 is sometimes given as the date of his demise. Evidence collected in the 1990s suggests that he disappeared in the January or February 1942 while repairing a communications cable at night near Zasetski. Because no body was ever recovered, conspiracy theories
circulate that he escaped from the Soviet Union and eventually made his way to the United States and worked on the space programme there under yet another identity. There is no evidence to support these claims. Because he, as supporter of philosophy of cosmism
was the spiritual opponent of fascism and even Ukrainian nationalism, that he proved in the book "Conquest of interplanetary spaces".
are dedicated to him, and the crater Kondratyuk
on the Moon
. A minor planet
3084 Kondratyuk
discovered by Soviet
astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh
in 1977 is named after him. Ukraine
has issued postage stamp
s and coin
s bearing his image. When Neil Armstrong
visited the Soviet Union after his historic flight, he collected a handful of soil from outside Kondratyuk's house in Novosibirsk
to acknowledge his contribution to spaceflight.
Russian cosmism
Russian cosmism was a philosophical and cultural movement that emerged in Russia in the early 20th century. It entailed a broad theory of natural philosophy combining elements of religion and ethics with a history and philosophy of the origin, evolution and future existence of the cosmos and...
, pioneer of astronautics
Astronautics
Astronautics, and related astronautical engineering, is the theory and practice of navigation beyond the Earth's atmosphere. In other words, it is the science and technology of space flight....
and spaceflight
Spaceflight
Spaceflight is the act of travelling into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft which may, or may not, have humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the Russian Soyuz program, the U.S. Space shuttle program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station...
. He was a theoretician and a visionary who, in the early twentieth century, foresaw ways of reaching the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. He used an adopted pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
, while his birth name was Aleksandr Gnatovich Shargei.
Biography
Kondratyuk was born in PoltavaPoltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
(then Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
). His father, Ignatiy Benediktovich Shargei, studied Physics and Mathematics at Kiev University
Kiev University
Taras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure...
. Kondratyuk's mother, Ludmila Lvovna Schlippenbach taught French at a Kiev high school, and must already have been pregnant when she married in January 1897. Because of her unusual surname, it is often suggested that Ludmila must have been a descendant of Wolmar Anton von Schlippenbach
Wolmar Anton von Schlippenbach
Wolmar Anton von Schlippenbach was Governor General of Swedish Estonia from 1704 to 1706.-Biography:Born in Livonia, Schlippenbach participated as a captain in the Swedish army Scanian War under Charles XI and served later as a major in Swedish Pomerania and Prussia...
, a general who took part in Charles XII of Sweden
Charles XII of Sweden
Charles XII also Carl of Sweden, , Latinized to Carolus Rex, Turkish: Demirbaş Şarl, also known as Charles the Habitué was the King of the Swedish Empire from 1697 to 1718...
's failed invasion of Russia. Ludmila was devoted to social activism and was imprisoned on several occasions for participating in demonstrations
Demonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
. During her last stay in a Kiev prison, shortly before Kondratyuk was born, she was diagnosed as suffering from a psychological disorder. As a result of this, Ignatiy divorced her when Kondratyuk was still very young, and the boy was raised by his paternal grandmother.
From an early age, Kondratyuk was fascinated by his father's books on physics and mathematics and demonstrated great abilities in these areas. When he was old enough to attend high school, he was admitted straight into the third form of a prestigious high school, where he graduated with a gold medal for proficiency a few years later.
From there, he enrolled at the Peter the Great Polytechnic in Petrograd to study engineering (Now Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University
Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University
Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University is a major Russian technical university situated in Saint Petersburg. Previously it was known as the Peter the Great Polytechnical Institute and Kalinin Polytechnical Institute .-Imperial Russia:...
), where he had influence from Ivan Meshersky
Ivan Vsevolodovich Meshcherskiy
Ivan Vsevolodovich Meshchersky was a Russian mathematician who gained fame for his work on mechanics, notably the motion of bodies of variable mass....
, but before long was drafted into the army as a junior officer at the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. During his time of military service, he filled four notebooks with his ideas of interplanetary flight. These included suggesting the use of a modular spacecraft to reach the Moon, leaving the propulsion section of the vehicle in orbit while a smaller lander journeyed to the surface and back (the strategy eventually adopted independently by the engineers of the Apollo program). He included detailed calculations of a trajectory to take a spacecraft from Earth orbit to lunar orbit and back to Earth orbit, a trajectory now known as "Kondratyuk's route" or "Kondratyuk's loop". In 1925, he made contact with Vladimir Vetchinkin
Vladimir Vetchinkin
Vladimir Petrovich Vetchinkin was a Soviet scientist in the field of aerodynamics, aeronautics, and wind energy, Doctor of Technical Sciences , Honored Science Worker of the RSFSR ....
and sent him a manuscript of his unpublished book on rocketry. Up to that time, he and his work were unknown to rocketry enthusiasts in Moscow.
Kondratyuk left the army following the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
and tried to make a living stoking boilers in his native Poltava. The following year, he made an unsuccessful attempt to escape to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
but was stopped and turned back by border guards. Ordinarily, he would probably have been shot, but the guards recognised the early symptoms of typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
in him and perhaps decided to spare themselves a bullet.
He was nursed back to health by a neighbour, and on the advice of friends, realised that it was in his best interests to flee Poltava. As a former officer of the Tsarist army, he was at risk of arrest as an enemy of the people. His friends managed to obtain false identification papers for him, in the name of Yuri Vasilievich Kondratyuk, born in Lutsk
Lutsk
Lutsk is a city located by the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Volyn Oblast and the administrative center of the surrounding Lutskyi Raion within the oblast...
in 1900 (who in reality had died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in 1921). With this new identity, he left for Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, where he settled in Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
.
Working as a mechanic, he completed the manuscript of a book that he titled "The Conquest of Interplanetary Space", dealing with rocket motion and issues concerning the habitation of space. He also suggested using a gravitational slingshot
Gravitational slingshot
In orbital mechanics and aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot, gravity assist maneuver, or swing-by is the use of the relative movement and gravity of a planet or other celestial body to alter the path and speed of a spacecraft, typically in order to save propellant, time, and expense...
trajectory to accelerate a spacecraft. While the book was enthusiastically received by fellow enthusiasts in Moscow, no publisher would touch such a fanciful work. Eventually, Kondratyuk paid a Novosibirsk printer to produce 2,000 copies of the 72-page work, and even then had to do much of the typesetting and operating the press himself, both to save costs but also because the equations in the book posed problems for the printer.
Applying his engineering genius to more local problems, Kondratyuk designed a huge grain elevator
Grain elevator
A grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator, which scoops up, elevates, and then uses gravity to deposit grain in a silo or other storage facility...
(quickly nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
d "Mastodon
Mastodon
Mastodons were large tusked mammal species of the extinct genus Mammut which inhabited Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Central America from the Oligocene through Pleistocene, 33.9 mya to 11,000 years ago. The American mastodon is the most recent and best known species of the group...
") that was built without a single nail since metal was in such short supply in Siberia. Unfortunately, this ingenuity would work against him when in 1930 he was investigated as a saboteur by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
. The lack of nails in the structure was used as evidence that he had planned it to collapse. Convicted of anti-Soviet activity, Kondratyuk was sentenced to three years in a gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
, but because of his evident talents he was sent to a sharashka
Sharashka
Sharashka was an informal name for secret research and development laboratories in the Soviet Gulag labor camp system...
(research facility prison) rather than a labour camp. There, he was first put to work evaluating foreign coal-mining machinery for the Kusbass region, and quickly impressed the camp supervisor with his ingenuity. At the supervisor's request, in November 1931 a review board changed Kondratyuk's status from "prisoner" to "deported", and sent him to work on Siberian grain projects.
Kondratyuk learned of a competition to design a large wind power
Wind power
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships....
generator for the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
, sponsored by Sergo Ordzhonikidze, then People's Commissar for Heavy Industry. With fellow deportee engineers Pyotr Gorchakov
Pyotr Gorchakov
Prince Pyotr Dmitrievich Gorchakov was an Imperial Russian Army general from the Gorchakov family of Russian nobility.He served under Mikhail Kamensky and Mikhail Kutuzov in the campaign against Turkey, and afterwards against France in 1813–1814. In 1820 he suppressed an insurrection in the...
and Nikolai Nikitin
Nikolai Nikitin
Nikolay Nikitkin was a structural designer and construction engineer of the Soviet Union, best known for his monumental structures.-Biography:...
, Kondratyuk submitted a design for a 165 metre (500 ft) high concrete tower supporting a four-bladed propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
with a span of 80 metres (240 ft) and capable of generating up to 12,000 kW. In November 1932, Ordzhonikidze selected this design as the winner and invited the team to meet with him in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
before sending them to Kharkov to finalise the design and have it built. While in Moscow, Kondratyuk had the opportunity to meet Sergei Korolev, then head of the GIRD
GIRD
The Moscow-based Group for the Study of Reactive Motion was a Soviet research bureau founded in 1931 to study various aspects of rocketry . In 1933 it was incorporated into the Reaction-Engine Scientific Research Institute .-History:...
(rocket research group). Korolev offered Kondratyuk a position on his staff, but Kondratyuk declined, fearing that the scrutiny he would come under from security would reveal his true identity.
Kondratyuk, Gorchakov, and Nikitin worked on the wind power project for the next four years until Ordzhonikidze's "mysterious" death in 1937. Overnight, the project was deemed to be too expensive and dangerous and was shut down, the tower only half-built. Nikitin would later use what he had learned on this project when he designed the Ostankino Tower
Ostankino Tower
Ostankino Tower is a free-standing television and radio tower in Moscow, Russia. Standing tall, Ostankino was designed by Nikolai Nikitin. It is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers, currently the tallest in Europe and 4th tallest in the world. The tower was the first free-standing...
in the 1960s. Meanwhile, the men went to work on designing smaller wind turbines (in the 150-200 kW range) to power farms. During this time, Kondratyuk learned of the arrest of Korolev on charges of treason for wasting time on designing spacecraft. He immediately decided to divest himself of his own copious notes on the subject. The former neighbour in Novosibirsk who had nursed him back to health after his episode of typhus agreed to take his notebooks and eventually took these to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
when she escaped there with her daughter following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He also sent a copy of his published work to the Tsiolkovsky museum in Kaluga
Kaluga
Kaluga is a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: It is served by Grabtsevo Airport.-History:...
.
Kondratyuk joined the Soviet army as a volunteer in June 1941 and perished in 1942 in February 25 near Kaluga
Kaluga
Kaluga is a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: It is served by Grabtsevo Airport.-History:...
. The exact circumstances of his death are not known. His unit was involved in heavy fighting against the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
army in October 1941, and October 3 is sometimes given as the date of his demise. Evidence collected in the 1990s suggests that he disappeared in the January or February 1942 while repairing a communications cable at night near Zasetski. Because no body was ever recovered, conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
circulate that he escaped from the Soviet Union and eventually made his way to the United States and worked on the space programme there under yet another identity. There is no evidence to support these claims. Because he, as supporter of philosophy of cosmism
Cosmism
Cosmism can refer to:*A religious philosophical position from the writings of Hugo de Garis*Russian Cosmism, a philosophical and cultural movement in Russia in the early 20th century...
was the spiritual opponent of fascism and even Ukrainian nationalism, that he proved in the book "Conquest of interplanetary spaces".
Legacy
A science centre and college in NovosibirskNovosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
are dedicated to him, and the crater Kondratyuk
Kondratyuk (crater)
Kondratyuk is a worn crater on the Moon's far side. It is located to the west-northwest of the large walled plain Fermi, and to the northeast of the crater Hilbert. To the north-northwest is Meitner, and to the northeast lies Langemak....
on the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. A minor planet
Minor planet
An asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...
3084 Kondratyuk
3084 Kondratyuk
3084 Kondratyuk is a main-belt asteroid discovered on August 19, 1977 by N. Chernykh at Nauchnyj.- External links :*...
discovered by Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh
Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh
Nikolay Stepanovich Chernykh was a Soviet and Russian astronomer.Chernykh was born in the city of Usman' in Voronezh Oblast...
in 1977 is named after him. Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
has issued postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s and coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s bearing his image. When Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
visited the Soviet Union after his historic flight, he collected a handful of soil from outside Kondratyuk's house in Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
to acknowledge his contribution to spaceflight.