{"id":1334636,"date":"2026-06-04T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=1334636"},"modified":"2026-06-11T17:18:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:18:35","slug":"soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut \u2014 Aviation in Soviet Propaganda Part 7"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<p>On 18 May 1991 a Soyuz TM-12 capsule lifted off from Baikonur carrying flight engineer Sergei Krikalev to Mir for a six-month mission. He was 32. He was a Soviet citizen.<\/p>\n<p>When Krikalev returned to Earth on 25 March 1992 \u2014 more than ten months after launch, twice his original mission duration, with 311 days in orbit and 5,000 Earth orbits behind him \u2014 the country he had left did not exist. The Soviet Union had dissolved while he was in space. The Soyuz capsule that brought him down landed in a now-independent Republic of Kazakhstan. Krikalev&#8217;s passport, the propaganda apparatus that had launched him, and the flag he had carried into orbit had all become artefacts of a historical state.<\/p>\n<p>The 1990s were the decade Soviet aviation propaganda became Soviet aviation nostalgia. The apparatus did not so much shut down as get inherited by a state that had different priorities.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:16px 20px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:8px;font-size:15px;line-height:1.7\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#333;font-size:16px\">Quick Facts<\/p><p style=\"margin:6px 0\"><strong>Soviet Union dissolution:<\/strong> 26 December 1991<\/p><p style=\"margin:6px 0\"><strong>Krikalev mission:<\/strong> 18 May 1991 \u2013 25 March 1992 (311 days)<\/p><p style=\"margin:6px 0\"><strong>First Shuttle\u2013Mir docking:<\/strong> 29 June 1995, STS-71 Atlantis<\/p><p style=\"margin:6px 0\"><strong>Mir total occupancy:<\/strong> 15 years; 104 crew from 12 countries<\/p><p style=\"margin:6px 0\"><strong>Mir deorbit:<\/strong> 23 March 2001, South Pacific reentry<\/p><p style=\"margin:6px 0\"><strong>Aviamarsh status today:<\/strong> Ceremonial anthem of the Russian Aerospace Forces (adopted by the Soviet Air Force in 1933)<\/p><\/div>\n\n<div style=\"display:flex;gap:14px;flex-wrap:wrap;justify-content:center;margin:18px 0 26px\"><figure style=\"flex:1 1 200px;max-width:31%;margin:0\"><img data-opt-id=1945851527  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/soviet-stamp-mir-soyuz-tm-1988-cpa-5984.jpg\" alt=\"1988 Soviet Mir\/Soyuz-TM stamp\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:6px;border:1px solid #ddd\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:12px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:4px;font-style:italic;line-height:1.4\">USSR 1988 (CPA 5984) \u2014 Mir, the centrepiece of late-Soviet propaganda art, would outlive the state it was built to celebrate by ten years.<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure style=\"flex:1 1 200px;max-width:31%;margin:0\"><img data-opt-id=1718892943  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/soviet-stamp-buran-energia-1988-souvenir-sheet.jpg\" alt=\"1988 Buran souvenir sheet\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:6px;border:1px solid #ddd\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:12px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:4px;font-style:italic;line-height:1.4\">USSR 1988 souvenir sheet (CPA 6036) \u2014 the Buran orbital shuttle. The orbiter flew once; the stamp outlived the shuttle, the programme, and the country.<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure style=\"flex:1 1 200px;max-width:31%;margin:0\"><img data-opt-id=1114093997  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/soviet-stamp-apollo-soyuz-1975-docking-earth.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"1975 Apollo-Soyuz stamp\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:6px;border:1px solid #ddd\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:12px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:4px;font-style:italic;line-height:1.4\">USSR 1975 stamp (CPA 4476) \u2014 Apollo and Soyuz docked. The 1970s &#8220;d\u00e9tente&#8221; visual vocabulary was revived in the 1990s for the Shuttle-Mir era.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">&#8220;The Last Soviet Citizen&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>Krikalev&#8217;s mission was meant to last six months. It lasted more than ten because the country that was supposed to bring him home stopped existing in the middle of his mission. The Soviet rouble collapsed. The Baikonur Cosmodrome, on which his return depended, was now in a foreign country. The cosmonaut training centre at Star City was nearly bankrupt. The crews that were supposed to relieve him on Mir were delayed because the next Soyuz launch had been postponed for budget reasons.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px\"><img data-opt-id=1389539266  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/mir-space-station-1991-1995-post-soviet-scaled.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Mir space station\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The Mir space station in orbit. Sergei Krikalev was aboard with his commander Alexander Volkov when the Soviet Union dissolved beneath them on 26 December 1991. Photo: NASA \/ Wikimedia Commons (public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Krikalev kept working. He performed seven spacewalks, conducted dozens of experiments, replaced solar arrays, repaired equipment. He stayed in orbit while the propaganda apparatus that had launched him was being dismantled below him. When he finally landed in March 1992 the new Russian Federation \u2014 Boris Yeltsin&#8217;s government, three months old \u2014 gave him the title &#8220;Hero of the Russian Federation,&#8221; the first person ever to receive it. Krikalev was both a Hero of the Soviet Union \u2014 awarded for his first flight in 1989 \u2014 and the first Hero of the Russian Federation. The propaganda apparatus had handed him from one state to the next without skipping a beat.<\/p>\n<p>Pravda kept running aviation features through 1992 and into 1993, on a steeply declining circulation. By 1994 the newspaper was essentially gone. The Aviamarsh kept being played, but on military parades that no longer had the Soviet Union to celebrate. The cosmonaut posters stayed on Soviet primary-school walls because nobody had the budget to print replacement classroom decorations. Some are still there in 2026, faded but recognisable.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Mir, sold<\/h2>\n<p>The biggest single fact of 1990s Soviet aviation propaganda is that the propaganda apparatus did not so much disappear as get sold to the West. Mir, the post-Soviet jewel, became \u2014 between 1995 and 1998 \u2014 the platform for a US-paid Shuttle\u2013Mir programme that put seven American astronauts on the Russian station for long-duration stays. NASA paid the Russian space agency roughly $400 million for the visits. The propaganda use of Mir flipped, almost overnight, from celebrating Soviet space superiority to celebrating Russian\u2013American cooperation.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px\"><img data-opt-id=103892230  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/atlantis-mir-docking-shuttle-mir-program-scaled.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Atlantis docked to Mir, 1995\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Space Shuttle Atlantis docked to Mir, June 1995 \u2014 the first US\u2013Russian docking since Apollo\u2013Soyuz twenty years earlier. The Shuttle\u2013Mir programme paid the cash-strapped Russian space agency roughly $400 million between 1995 and 1998. Photo: NASA \/ Wikimedia Commons (public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The propaganda machinery, which had spent seventy years framing the United States as the rival, had to relearn how to frame it as the customer. Russian state television and the few surviving propaganda publications did the work. The Aviamarsh kept playing during Shuttle\u2013Mir docking broadcasts. The cosmonaut cult continued, with the names just slightly altered \u2014 Volkov, Polyakov, Avdeyev, Krikalev again \u2014 but the propaganda subtext had changed completely.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The end of Mir, the start of the ISS<\/h2>\n<p>By the late 1990s the post-Soviet propaganda apparatus had also pivoted to the new International Space Station. The first ISS module \u2014 Zarya \u2014 was a Russian-built Functional Cargo Block launched on a Russian Proton rocket on 20 November 1998. The second module \u2014 Zvezda, the Russian Service Module \u2014 launched on 12 July 2000. The Aviamarsh was played during both launches. The Russian state-television commentary used the same vocabulary the Soviet propaganda apparatus had used for Salyut 6 in 1977: &#8220;scientific progress,&#8221; &#8220;international brotherhood,&#8221; &#8220;the road to the stars.&#8221;<\/p><p>Krikalev landed exhausted after more than ten months in orbit, returning to a country with a new name, a new flag, and a new government \u2014 his home city of Leningrad had become Saint Petersburg while he was away. The state that launched him was gone; the family he came home to was still there.<\/p><p>Mir itself was deorbited on 23 March 2001. The station \u2014 by then 15 years old, leaking coolant, struggling on a reduced budget \u2014 was sent into a controlled re-entry over the South Pacific. Fragments fell into the ocean east of Fiji. Russian state television covered the deorbit with the same gravitas the Soviet propaganda apparatus had once used for the funerals of Soyuz 11 and Yuri Gagarin. Some commentators played the Aviamarsh under the broadcast. Most did not.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px\"><img data-opt-id=897474495  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/sergei-krikalev-last-soviet-citizen-2022-scaled.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Sergei Krikalev\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Sergei Krikalev in later life. After his &#8220;last Soviet citizen&#8221; mission of 1991\u201392 he flew four further spaceflights, amassing 803 days in orbit \u2014 a world record at the time. He retired in 2009 as the director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre. Photo: Wikimedia Commons \/ CC BY-SA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<figure style=\"margin:24px 0;text-align:center;padding:14px;background:#fafafa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0\"><img data-opt-id=623657685  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/soviet-poster-poyekhali-lets-go-gagarin.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Poyekhali Lets Go poster\" style=\"max-width:100%;max-height:520px;height:auto;border-radius:4px;display:inline-block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#555;text-align:center;margin-top:10px;font-style:italic;line-height:1.5;padding:0 12px\"><strong>&#8220;\u041f\u043e\u0435\u0445\u0430\u043b\u0438!&#8221; \u2014 &#8220;Let&#8217;s go!&#8221;<\/strong> The Soviet state did not survive the 1990s. The phrase did. Gagarin&#8217;s last word before launch, painted onto Soviet propaganda posters from 1961 onward, is now the official radio call of every Russian crewed launch and the unofficial motto of the post-Soviet aerospace industry. The propaganda apparatus that built it is gone. The image, the phrase, and the man are still everywhere.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What remained<\/h2>\n<p>Three things from the Soviet aviation propaganda apparatus outlived the state that built them.<\/p>\n<p>The first is the Aviamarsh itself. Yuli Khayt&#8217;s 1923 march tune, with Pavel Herman&#8217;s &#8220;higher, higher and higher&#8221; lyrics, was declared the official march of the Soviet Air Force in 1933 and remains the ceremonial anthem of Russia&#8217;s Aerospace Forces today. It is still heard at Russian military aviation parades in 2026. Its lyrics \u2014 written for a Soviet state that no longer exists \u2014 are still printed on official ceremony programmes.<\/p>\n<p>The second is the cosmonaut iconography. Yuri Gagarin&#8217;s face is still printed on Russian schoolbook covers. His statue in Moscow&#8217;s Gagarin Square \u2014 a 40-metre titanium figure on a fluted pedestal, raised in 1980 \u2014 is still maintained. April 12 is still Cosmonautics Day in Russia, an officially recognised state holiday.<\/p>\n<p>The third is Krikalev&#8217;s career. After his 1991\u201392 mission Krikalev flew four more spaceflights, including the first Space Shuttle mission to carry a Russian cosmonaut (STS-60, 1994) and ISS Expedition 11 as commander (2005). At his retirement in 2009 he held the world record for most cumulative time in space \u2014 803 days \u2014 and was the director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre. The propaganda figurehead of the dissolved state had become the institutional leader of its successor.<\/p>\n\n<figure style=\"margin:24px 0;text-align:center;padding:14px;background:#fafafa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0\"><img data-opt-id=795825745  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/klucis-1934-youth-onto-airplanes-poster-scaled.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Klucis 1934 - Youth onto the airplanes\" style=\"max-width:100%;max-height:520px;height:auto;border-radius:4px;display:inline-block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#555;text-align:center;margin-top:10px;font-style:italic;line-height:1.5;padding:0 12px\"><strong>Gustav Klucis, &#8220;\u041c\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0434\u0451\u0436, \u043d\u0430 \u0441\u0430\u043c\u043e\u043b\u0435\u0442\u044b!&#8221; (1934)<\/strong> \u2014 the painted propaganda image that opened the Stalin era of Soviet aviation. The poster outlived Klucis (executed by the NKVD in 1938), Stalin, the Soviet Union itself, and survives in major museum collections today. It is the visual artefact this seven-decade series began with.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Aviamarsh at the end<\/h2>\n<p>The story of Soviet aviation propaganda begins and ends with the same song. Yuli Khayt&#8217;s 1923 tune, with its three-chord rising bridge and its single-line chorus &#8220;higher, and higher, and higher,&#8221; outlived everyone who had used it. Stalin&#8217;s funeral played it. Gagarin&#8217;s parade played it. Krikalev&#8217;s homecoming played it. The Buran landing in 1988 was scored to it. The deorbit of Mir in 2001 was \u2014 depending on the broadcaster \u2014 scored to it again.<\/p>\n<p>The country the song was written for no longer exists. The aviation industry it celebrated no longer exists in the same form. The propaganda apparatus that built and maintained the cult of the pilot, the cult of the cosmonaut, the cult of the flying truck, the cult of the supersonic airliner, the cult of the auto-landing space shuttle \u2014 that apparatus is now historical. What remains is the airframes preserved in museums, the cosmonaut portraits on classroom walls, the Aviamarsh on official parade-ground loudspeakers, and a substantial body of state-sponsored visual culture that art historians are still cataloguing in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>It is not nothing. It is, in fact, the largest body of single-themed state propaganda produced by any government in any era of human history. Aviation gave the Soviet Union the visual language it needed to sell itself to itself. The Soviet Union returned the favour by producing seventy years of the most ambitious, sustained, and visually disciplined aviation propaganda anyone has ever made.<\/p>\n<p>The Aviamarsh is, in 2026, a piece of recorded music. The state it accompanied is, in 2026, a piece of history. The aircraft are still flying. Several of them are still flying with paint schemes that the Soviet propaganda apparatus designed. The chorus is still vyshe, i vyshe, i vyshe. Higher, and higher, and higher.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sources: Asif Siddiqi, &#8220;The Soviet Space Race with Apollo&#8221;; David Hoffman, &#8220;The Dead Hand&#8221;; Andrew Jenks, &#8220;The Cosmonaut Who Couldn&#8217;t Stop Smiling&#8221;; Sergei Krikalev oral-history interview, NASA Johnson Space Center (2004).<\/em><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed\" style=\"margin:0 0 28px\"><div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iT2xmO23LtU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:6px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">How Mir was De-Orbited in 2001 \u2014 the technical reconstruction of the final hours of the Soviet-built space station, fifteen years after its launch and ten years after the Soviet Union itself.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Aviation in Soviet Propaganda \u2014 Series Index<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\">\u2192 <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-overview\/\">Series Overview<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\">\u2192 <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1930s\/\">The 1930s: Stalin&#8217;s Falcons<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\">\u2192 <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1940s\/\">The 1940s: The Great Patriotic War<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\">\u2192 <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1950s\/\">The 1950s: Jets and Sputnik<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\">\u2192 <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1960s\/\">The 1960s: The Cult of the Cosmonaut<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\">\u2192 <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1970s\/\">The 1970s: The Routine Cosmonaut<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\">\u2192 <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1980s\/\">The 1980s: Mir and Buran<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0;color:#888\">\u2192 <strong>The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut<\/strong> (you are here)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 18 May 1991 a Soyuz TM-12 capsule lifted off from Baikonur carrying flight engineer Sergei Krikalev to Mir for a six-month mission. He was 32. He was a Soviet citizen. When Krikalev returned to Earth on 25 March 1992 \u2014 more than ten months after launch, twice his original mission duration, with 311 days [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1334518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1334636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut \u2014 Aviation in Soviet Propaganda Part 7 | MiGFlug.com Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How Soviet aviation propaganda shaped the image of cosmonauts and pilots through the 1990s \u2014 from Sergei Krikalev stranded in orbit to fading Aeroflot posters on classroom walls.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut \u2014 Aviation in Soviet Propaganda Part 7 | MiGFlug.com Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How Soviet aviation propaganda shaped the image of cosmonauts and pilots through the 1990s \u2014 from Sergei Krikalev stranded in orbit to fading Aeroflot posters on classroom walls.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MiGFlug.com Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-04T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-11T15:18:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/mir-space-station-1991-1995-post-soviet-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2494\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tamika Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tamika Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tamika Johnson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a3b0f1b2c017dca146d1474d88a7f2db\"},\"headline\":\"The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut \u2014 Aviation in Soviet Propaganda Part 7\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T14:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-11T15:18:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1729,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/05\\/mir-space-station-1991-1995-post-soviet-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"History &amp; Legends\",\"Military Aviation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/\",\"name\":\"The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut \u2014 Aviation in Soviet Propaganda Part 7 | MiGFlug.com Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/05\\/mir-space-station-1991-1995-post-soviet-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T14:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-11T15:18:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a3b0f1b2c017dca146d1474d88a7f2db\"},\"description\":\"How Soviet aviation propaganda shaped the image of cosmonauts and pilots through the 1990s \u2014 from Sergei Krikalev stranded in orbit to fading Aeroflot posters on classroom walls.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/05\\/mir-space-station-1991-1995-post-soviet-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/05\\/mir-space-station-1991-1995-post-soviet-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2494},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Startseite\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut \u2014 Aviation in Soviet Propaganda Part 7\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/\",\"name\":\"MiGFlug.com Blog\",\"description\":\"for those interested in flying military jets and aviation related  topics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a3b0f1b2c017dca146d1474d88a7f2db\",\"name\":\"Tamika Johnson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0aec3158aff3d47ac0cba1da9c62fe9994a454e4e6a14b6260de35a598abdb4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0aec3158aff3d47ac0cba1da9c62fe9994a454e4e6a14b6260de35a598abdb4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0aec3158aff3d47ac0cba1da9c62fe9994a454e4e6a14b6260de35a598abdb4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tamika Johnson\"},\"description\":\"Tamika finds the human story behind every headline. A political science graduate with a passion for aviation history, she writes about the people who shaped the skies \u2014 from the Night Witches to modern-day female fighter pilots. Her pieces read like narrative journalism: vivid, emotional, and impossible to put down.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/author\\\/tamikajohnson\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut \u2014 Aviation in Soviet Propaganda Part 7 | MiGFlug.com Blog","description":"How Soviet aviation propaganda shaped the image of cosmonauts and pilots through the 1990s \u2014 from Sergei Krikalev stranded in orbit to fading Aeroflot posters on classroom walls.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut \u2014 Aviation in Soviet Propaganda Part 7 | MiGFlug.com Blog","og_description":"How Soviet aviation propaganda shaped the image of cosmonauts and pilots through the 1990s \u2014 from Sergei Krikalev stranded in orbit to fading Aeroflot posters on classroom walls.","og_url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/","og_site_name":"MiGFlug.com Blog","article_published_time":"2026-06-04T14:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-11T15:18:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":2494,"url":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/mir-space-station-1991-1995-post-soviet-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tamika Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tamika Johnson","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/"},"author":{"name":"Tamika Johnson","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#\/schema\/person\/a3b0f1b2c017dca146d1474d88a7f2db"},"headline":"The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut \u2014 Aviation in Soviet Propaganda Part 7","datePublished":"2026-06-04T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-11T15:18:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/"},"wordCount":1729,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/mir-space-station-1991-1995-post-soviet-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["History &amp; Legends","Military Aviation"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/","name":"The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut \u2014 Aviation in Soviet Propaganda Part 7 | MiGFlug.com Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/mir-space-station-1991-1995-post-soviet-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-04T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-11T15:18:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#\/schema\/person\/a3b0f1b2c017dca146d1474d88a7f2db"},"description":"How Soviet aviation propaganda shaped the image of cosmonauts and pilots through the 1990s \u2014 from Sergei Krikalev stranded in orbit to fading Aeroflot posters on classroom walls.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/mir-space-station-1991-1995-post-soviet-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/mir-space-station-1991-1995-post-soviet-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":2494},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/soviet-aviation-propaganda-1990s\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Startseite","item":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The 1990s: The Last Soviet Cosmonaut \u2014 Aviation in Soviet Propaganda Part 7"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#website","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/","name":"MiGFlug.com Blog","description":"for those interested in flying military jets and aviation related  topics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#\/schema\/person\/a3b0f1b2c017dca146d1474d88a7f2db","name":"Tamika Johnson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0aec3158aff3d47ac0cba1da9c62fe9994a454e4e6a14b6260de35a598abdb4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0aec3158aff3d47ac0cba1da9c62fe9994a454e4e6a14b6260de35a598abdb4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0aec3158aff3d47ac0cba1da9c62fe9994a454e4e6a14b6260de35a598abdb4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tamika Johnson"},"description":"Tamika finds the human story behind every headline. A political science graduate with a passion for aviation history, she writes about the people who shaped the skies \u2014 from the Night Witches to modern-day female fighter pilots. Her pieces read like narrative journalism: vivid, emotional, and impossible to put down.","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/author\/tamikajohnson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1334636"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1714009,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334636\/revisions\/1714009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1334518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1334636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1334636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1334636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}