DATE This modest, laconic cosmonaut has not only space routes and work on Soviet, Russian and American ships behind his back. He observed terrestrial cataclysms from space - natural, like hurricane Rita recently, or ... This modest, laconic cosmonaut has not only space routes and work on Soviet, Russian and American ships behind his back. He observed earthly cataclysms from space - natural, like the recent hurricane Rita, or political, like the collapse of the USSR in 1991.