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On Tuesday crews of Pacific Fleet (PF) search-and-rescue ships receive congratulations on the Astronautics Day as they consider themselves concerned, reports RIA Novosti referring to PF Commander's press-secretary Capt 1 rank Roman Martov.
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Structure of the Navy,
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Pacific Fleet servicemen monitoring space launches celebrate the Astronautics Day
04/12/2011 |
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Half a century ago, on Apr 12, 1961 Soviet citizen Yury Gagarin carried out the first-ever space flight on Vostok-1 spacecraft; the flight lasted 108 minutes which was one turn around the planet. Those minutes opened the new age in mankind's history.
"Since the Gagarin's flight up to the present moment PF warships, naval aviation, communication centers, and monitoring stations have participated in over 120 space launches and tracked spacecrafts to the orbit within PF responsibility zone from Lake Khanka in Primorsky Krai to the Pacific Ocean", said the interviewee.
As for him, one of the tasks of PF Search and Rescue Service operating various classes of ships is support of space launches and tracking spacecraft flights. The service has in inventory two ships capable to search astronauts autonomously in case they happened to land in the ocean.
"Rescue tug Mashuk has returned to home port Vladivostok from the Pacific Ocean on the eve of the Astronautics Day. The tug's crew and aircrews of 8 PF aircrafts and 12 helicopters maintained the launch of manned space transport Soyuz TMA-21 on Apr 5. PF seamen and aviators have successfully accomplished all assigned tasks", said the interviewee.
He pointed out that PF aviation plays specific role in search of space vehicles. ASW aircrafts Il-38 and SR helicopters Ka-27 continuously practice emergency interactions and are always stand-by during every launch of a manned spacecraft.