"The Four Lives of Alexander Serebrov"

About exhibition

On the 80th anniversary of the birth of A. A. Serebrov, pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, Honorary Citizen of the city of Kirov. The exhibition is dedicated to the outstanding pilot-cosmonaut Alexander Alexandrovich Serebrov (1944–2013). The exhibits tell about his childhood and youth in Kirov, where he studied through the 7th grade. There he met remarkable teachers; there the world of knowledge and the world of sport opened up to him. It was in Kirov that Sasha saw the first artificial Earth satellite in the sky; there his dream of the heavens was born, and there the character of this remarkable man was formed. A. Serebrov was the Honorary Chairman of the Youth Tsiolkovsky Readings and was among the first donors to our museum. Rare photographs, documents, and items donated by A. Serebrov to the museum tell of his four flights into space. A. Serebrov was the first to test the "space motorcycle" in open space, he designed a "space sauna," and his ten spacewalks were entered into the Guinness Book of Records. The profession of cosmonaut is one of the most dangerous. Three times in four flights A. Serebrov found himself in life-threatening situations. Serebrov himself joked about having four birthdays because of this. Colleagues admired his courage, his ability to never lose self-control, and to find a way out of seemingly hopeless situations. Even during his lifetime he became a legend of national cosmonautics. Serebrov's books in various languages, videotapes of his educational program "Lessons from Space," documents, photographs, souvenirs from the All-Union Aerospace Society "Soyuz" (VAKO), which the cosmonaut founded, a gift from the 45th Vice President of the United States, Al Gore, an award from an American magazine, and the certificate awarding him the title of Honorary Citizen of the city of Tampa, USA — all these exhibition items convey an impression of A. Serebrov as a well-known public figure, a tireless popularizer of the ideas of peaceful space exploration and the importance of preserving the environment, and a talented educator.