Kazakh's First Space Flight

In 1994 Kazakhstan welcomed back from the orbit its first astronaut since the gain of Independence. The head of state Nursultan Nazarbayev personally greeted “Soyuz TM-19” flight engineer Talgat Musabayev.

The chronicle of the events of that period was captured by the journalist and photographer Gennady Kononov. In this picture from June 27, Talgat Musabaev gets on a bus that will take him to the Chkalovsky military airfield. They head to Leninsk, now Baikonur. The spacecraft will take off in 4 days.