Ahead of Monday’s launch to the International Space Station, cosmonauts told the media which superpower would have helped them in space, and what they might do in their own back yard with their new knowledge of the Soyuz rocket.
Russian cosmonaut and Soyuz MC-11 commander Oleg Kononenko said an ability to shift between human and alien form, just like the Venom character from the recent superhero flick, would have been useful in space.
“If, for example, I needed to go on a spacewalk it would’ve been great if another me – the one that’s inside – would’ve come out and simply done the job without the spacesuit. But when I returned [to the station] another me would’ve worked in the atmosphere,” Kononenko told Rossiya 24 when asked if he wanted to have superhero powers.
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Comic book character Venom is a sentient alien lifeform that needs a host to survive. After bonding with a human it grants him or her strength and other enhanced powers.
Kononenko will be the commander of the Soyuz MC-11 spacecraft, which is set to deliver the latest expedition to the International Space Station on Monday. It’s going to be the first launch of the Soyuz craft with people aboard since the rocket’s failure in October.
Space flights have been on hold after the Soyuz-FG rocket with Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague malfunctioned about two minutes after lift-off, forcing the men to use the escape pod. However, cosmonauts and astronauts have praised Soyuz as an extremely reliable piece of hardware, saying that they were sure there’ll be no more problems.
“I went inside feeling absolutely safe,” Luca Parmitano, Italian cosmonaut and backup crew member said of the spacecraft. “It’s a bit small. As an Italian I wish that Ferrari could take part in the design,” he joked.
Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques, who is going to the ISS together with Kononenko and Anne Charlotte McClain of the US, said that the preparations from the space mission have been very thorough.
Saint-Jacques told journalists that he even made a joke that the knowledge he had after a year of training would allow him to easily build a Soyuz spacecraft in his backyard.
Watch more about Soyuz launch preparations in Maria Finoshina’s report.
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