Out of Mongolia

Many are cold, but few are frozen 
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January 24, 2009

Son of Russia: Yuri Gagarin in Mythical Art

                                       
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He looks like Captain Kirk to me

I've always been fascinated by the Soviet Union's attempts to create new myths. Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, was a perfect subject. Young, heroic and good-looking, he was a poster child for the Soviet Union's scientific accomplishments.

In 1993, I found a collection of cards telling the story of Gagarin's life in a bookstore in Moscow. They were printed in 1987, by which time the Soviet dream was fading fast. The images are beautiful, drawn with the same passion you would expect in religious art. When you look at them, you almost start believing.

Gagarin died in a test-plane crash when he was still young, his martyrdom propelling him to Soviet sainthood. Interestingly, the title of the card series is "Son of Russia," not "Son of the USSR." Maybe the artist already knew that the Soviet Union would soon be history.

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Filed under  //   Art   Gagarin   Myth   Russia   Soviet   Space   USSR  

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December 10, 2008

Why I Would Suck at Being a Space Colonist

I'm an adaptable guy. I've lived in a lot of wild places, among people from vastly different cultures. In some places, I lived without heat, water, or electricity. So you'd think I'd be an ideal candidate for colonizing new planets, where conditions would be vastly different from those on Earth. But Mongolia has taught me a lesson: I would actually suck at being a space colonist.


Mongolia is the closest I'll ever be to living on an alien planet. Conditions here are extreme. This morning, it was a body-numbing -27º, so cold that your sinuses crack when you inhale. In winter, the air in Ulaanbaatar is toxic, not unlike the atmosphere of Jupiter. And it's either light or dark most of the time, depending on the time of year: right now we only get about eight or nine hours of daylight.

I say No to colonizing other planets

I am not adapting well to these conditions. I don't sleep well in summer, when it's light from 4am to 11pm, and in winter I hardly dare to breathe. I have to wear so many layers of clothing that I can't find my cell phone before the caller gives up. I just hate that.

Conditions on other planets would probably be more extreme. What if there were two suns, and it never got dark? Or if the sky was the wrong color? Of if there were a whole bunch of moons, orbiting irregularly?  I don't think I could handle it.

So I've had to readjust my entire sense of identity. I am not adaptable. I dream of living within 1000 km of the equator, where it gets light and dark at the same time all year round, and the temperature almost never changes. Heat? Humidity? Bring it on! Your skin never dries out and you don't need a jacket. Or Chapstick. Ever.

Space colonization? No thanks! Good thing I never had the choice.

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Filed under  //   Alien   Cold   Colonization   Extreme   Humor   Mongolia   Planet   Space  

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