Astronaut reveals his first emotion as he returned to Earth after being stranded in space for 311 days
Imagine being in space so long that when you come back your country ceases to exist?
It's hard to believe how Sergei Krikalev was feeling when he returned to planet earth on 25 March, 1992.
The cosmonaut spent 311 days aboard the Mir space station, in orbit from 1986 to 2001.
It was supposed to be a routine mission lasting five months, but things took an unexpected turn.
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While Krikalev was up among the stars, the Soviet Union had dissolved in December 1991 into independent nations.
As a result, Krikalev had to stay at the station for ten months due to him no longer having a country, which was double the length of time he was supposed to be there.
The reason being, money had dried out in what was once the newly independent Kazakhstan, so Sergei knew that the financial means required to bring him back wasn't there.
He said while on Mir: “The strongest argument was economic because this allows them to save resources here.
"They say it’s tough for me - not really good for my health. But now the country is in such difficulty, the chance to save money must be top priority."
Although some of the astronauts managed to make it back during the time he was up there, Krikalev also didn't want to jeopardise the actual mission.
Ten months on, Krikalev's replacement was sent to Mir so that he could finally come home.
In a 2015 interview with The Guardian, he explained what was going through his mind on returning to earth.
He said: “It was a long process and we were getting the news, not all at once, but we heard about the referendum, for example.
“I was doing my job and was more worried about those on the ground - our families and friends - we had everything we needed.
“I think I felt satisfaction that I had done my job, and done it well. The second one was a sort of relief as I had held a huge responsibility for many months.”
Krikalev valued his time in space and has logged more than 800 days aboard the International Space Station, Mir space station, Soyuz spacecraft, and the space shuttle.
"You start to understand that in many cases, our separation on Earth is more artificial," he said in an interview with NASA.
"We are living on the same surface. When you see a forest fire, you see that smoke is going sometimes for hundreds of kilometers. They cross all borders... You start to see that we are more united."
Anish Vij