The Soyuz spacecraft on which Yusaku Maezawa will board will be launched in this way What is the history of Baikonur: Asahi Shimbun GLOBE +

"I'm full of feelings that my dreams will come true." December 7th. Maezawa said at a press conference in Baikonur.

The press conference was held online to prevent the infection of the new coronavirus. Originally, a large number of reporters gathered in a room of a facility related to Baikonur and exchanges proceeded. Characteristically, there is a glass separation between the astronauts on board and the press.

As you can see from the interview, Mr. Maezawa also talks through the glass. This is not the effect of the new Corona, it has been like this for some time. This is to protect astronauts from viruses that cause various illnesses such as colds.

By the way, I interviewed the site in July 2012 when Akihiko Hoshide went to space. At the press conference at that time, Mr. Hoshide said, "The spacecraft and crew are all ready. I'm relaxed now. The important thing is that there is one team in orbit (ISS) and on the ground." Is impressive.

Now, while the astronauts are preparing for boarding, the preparation of the aircraft is also proceeding at the same time. In the case of Mr. Hoshide's launch, the morning before the press conference, the launch vehicle was carried out from the hangar on a special train in a state of lying down, and moved to the launch site (range) at a slow speed.

Upon arriving at the launch site, the rocket will stand upright and wait for fuel injection.

And on the day of launch. It was two days after the interview with Mr. Hoshide, but the astronauts got up early in the morning when the sky was still dark, changed into space suits, and appeared in front of us.

After greeting the executives of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos), board the spacecraft Soyuz toward the launch site. By the way, the spacesuit is shaped so that the body is in a slightly forward leaning posture. He told me that he would fit best when he got into the cockpit.

At the time of launch, we reporters will be interviewing at a distance of about 1.5 km from the launch site. The shock wave when the rocket was launched was tremendous, and even at such a distance, I felt wind pressure on my body, and the camera mounted on the tripod tilted.

The aircraft pierced the clouds and disappeared in tens of seconds. It's an instant event.

Now, when the Soyuz spacecraft separates the rocket and safely enters the orbit, it will dock with the destination ISS.

At the time of Mr. Hoshide, I docked two days after the launch, so I once moved from Baikonur to the Central Control Center in Moscow and watched the time come.

An image from Soyuz was projected on the huge monitor of the center. Beyond that, the ISS was projected, and the image gradually became larger. The monitor displayed how many meters were left, and when I finally approached and thought that it was docking, the staff of the control center suddenly left and the control room became quiet.

Time went by without knowing if it was docked, but at this time the docking was successful. I thought that the moment would be reached with applause, but a Russian Space Agency official said, "Docking has many processes for us, and it is difficult to think of it as docking. Is a process that is repeated over and over again, so it may not be very moving. " It was a convincing answer.

However, when the video of the moment when the astronauts moved to the ISS was projected, the control room was also applauded.

Mr. Maezawa is also looking forward to seeing his smile at what moment after the launch.

By the way, why is a Russian spacecraft launched from Kazakhstan? This is because Kazakhstan once formed a nation called the "Soviet Union" with Russia.

The Soviet Union was a superpower that existed until 1991, and operated the state based on socialism. It was an era of the Cold War, in which proxy wars were fought in various places, even if the two countries did not fight directly, as they were in conflict with Western countries such as the United States, which adopted capitalism.

Until 1995, Baikonur was called "Leninsk" after Lenin, the father of the Soviet Union, and was one of the closed cities that was off limits to anyone except those involved.

It is an important place for Russia as a base for space business, and even after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it still pays rent to Kazakhstan and rents the entire city. It is a concession, so to speak, the Russian currency ruble circulates in the city, and Russian law is applied.

It was renamed Baikonur during the Yeltsin administration and now has about 80,000 people living in it. Being a city for launch bases, most of the inhabitants have related jobs.

Until now, space development has been the sole domain of the US-Soviet Union and the US-Russia, but other countries such as China are also overheating by improving their technological capabilities. Private companies, like SpaceX, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, have also been able to launch spacecraft.

Under these circumstances, Russia has repositioned space development as an important business, and plans to build a new launch base "Vostochnyy" in the Far East and reduce its dependence on Kazakhstan, which has become another country.

Nevertheless, this Baikonur must still be an important place for Russia's space exploration. Of particular interest to me was the fact that the Russian Space Shuttle, the "Blanc" aircraft, was on display at the museum.

Not only is the aircraft similar in appearance to the American Space Shuttle, but it is also a reusable aircraft. It was another "option" for the Soviet Union, which was promoting disposable Soyuz.

In 1988, Bran made an experimental flight in which he was unmanned, launched from Baikonur, orbited the earth, and returned again. The plan was to make a manned flight in 1992, but on December 25, 1991, the year before, the Soviet Union collapsed and there were no plans.

It will soon be 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Baikonur, one of the sites that symbolizes the prosperity of the Soviet Union, is noticed by the news of Mr. Maezawa's launch, which is personally deeply emotional to me, who has interviewed the site.