We've all imagined what it would be like to visit outer space, but while being an astronaut

is a dream for many young kids, and adults, there's one spaceman out there that found himself

in a real-life cosmic nightmare, being lost in space. So join me on this truly wild tale,

traversing through the collapse of nations and into the territory of literal time travel itself,

and the story of what happened to the astronaut who was lost in space for 311 lonely days.

Our story begins in the Soviet Union, Russia specifically.

Sergei Krakalev was born on August 27, 1958, in the city of Leningrad, known as St. Petersburg

today.

As a young boy, Sergey was all too aware of the intense space

race between the Soviet Union and the USA. In outgrowth of the mid-20th century Cold War,

the space race was a series of competitive technological showcases, with each side aiming to prove

superiority in spaceflight.

As the years went by, Sergei continued to keep his sights set on the stars in his own race for space,

and gained a degree in mechanical engineering in 1981 from the Leningrad Mechanical Institute.

After graduating, Sergei found work with the NPO Innersia, the Russian industrial organization responsible for manned spaceflight activities for the Soviet space program.

In his early years there, Sergei tested spaceflight equipment and worked as part of ground control for space missions.

Sergei played a key role among the ground control team during an in-orbit rescue mission

of the Solute 7 space station after it failed in 1985 and was able to remotely guide repairs of the

station's onboard control system. After these successes, Sergei was selected for cosmonaut training.

This intensive course covered a whole manner

of space-related learning, including astronomy, orbital mechanics, and methods of scientific

experimentation. Upon completing his training, Sergey finally earned his cosmonaut wings in 1986.

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