On May 18, 1991, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev departed Earth for the Soviet space station Mir. While he was up there, the country that had sent him ceased to exist, making Krikalev – for a few months at least – the "last Soviet citizen".

Krikalev grew up in Leningrad (which he effectively watched become St Petersburg from space) and obtained a mechanical engineering degree before going to work as a rocket engineer at NPO Energia, where, among other projects, he worked as part of the rescue team when the Salyut 7 space station failed in 1985. Shortly thereafter, he was selected as a cosmonaut and spent years in training, working on everything from repairing the space station to conducting spacewalks.

Unfortunately, his training didn't incorporate what to do when you are left in space with no

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