Syrian cosmonaut about Putin and Russia. The first Syrian cosmonaut Syrian astronaut

In general, Syria had no chance to get into space on its own, but friendship with the Soviet Union helped. In 1987, the Soyuz TM-3 spacecraft went into orbit, the crew of which included the first (and so far the last) cosmonaut from Syria - Mohammed Ahmed Faris, he is in the photo on the left.
And then his fate was very interesting.

In general, Mr. Faris is a military pilot. He entered the Aleppo Air Force Academy in 1969, graduating with honors in 1973. He served in military aviation, then taught other pilots. In 1985, he was chosen as one of the candidates for the Syrian cosmonauts, underwent a long training in the USSR, after which he went into orbit. He spent 8 days in space, doing some experiments, but most of all he was interested in shooting Syria from space. Upon his return, he received the gold star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and waved back to his homeland.

At home, Mr. Faris was favored by the authorities, still a hero! He continued to serve in the Air Force, and made a dizzying career. By 2001, he became the head of the Institute for the Training of Military Pilots in the same Aleppo, held the position for 8 years, then went even higher - the head of the military aviation department in Damascus. However, in 2012, this high-ranking official unexpectedly fled to Turkey, from there he began to fiercely criticize the Assad regime, while supporting the opposition Free Syrian Army. And then he began to very actively water Russia, accusing her of a number of war crimes, including the killings of civilians.

It is noteworthy that he once named one of his sons Mir, in honor of the Soviet orbital station.

Muhammad Ahmed Faris(arab.; born May 26, 1951, Aleppo, Syria) - cosmonaut-researcher of the Soyuz TM-3 spacecraft (Soyuz TM-2) and the Mir orbital research complex; the first and only cosmonaut of Syria.

Biography

My father was engaged in dyeing threads and fabrics.

From 1969 to 1973 he studied at the Syrian Air Force Academy at the Neyrab airfield near the city of Aleppo (Aleppo). Since 1973 he served as a pilot and instructor at the same airfield.

At the end of September 1985, he was selected in Syria as one of two candidates for astronauts. In October 1985, he arrived at the Gagarin TsPK for training and began it. In December 1986 he was assigned to the main crew.

From July 22 to July 30, 1987 he made a space flight on the Soyuz TM-3 spacecraft (landing on the Soyuz TM-2 spacecraft). During the flight, he performed experiments in space medicine and materials science, and also surveyed Syria from space.

On July 30, 1987, the Soyuz TM-2 with the crew of A. Viktorenko, A. Laveikin and M. Faris undocked from the Mir station and made a successful landing on the same day.

After a space flight in 1987, he again returned to serve in the Syrian Air Force. In 2001, he headed the Institute for the Training of Military Pilots in Aleppo (Aleppo). He was in this position for 8 years, then he worked in Damascus as a director of the department.

On August 4, 2012, he fled to Turkey and joined the opposition, supporting the Free Syrian Army, which is waging war against President Bashar al-Assad.

In February 2016, he accused Russia and Putin of killing 2,000 Syrian civilians.

Awards

• Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 30, 1987).
• Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (April 12, 2011) - for a great contribution to the development of international cooperation in the field of manned space exploration.

Family status

Wife Gind Akil (Gind Akil), housewife. They have three children: daughter Gadil born in 1979, son Kutayba born in 1981. (in 2002 he studied at the Department of Informatics at the University of Aleppo) and another son, who was born on December 30, 1987, after his father's flight, and received the name Mir (Mir), in honor of the Soviet orbital station.

Muhammad Ahmed Faris(Arab. محمد أحمد فارس ‎‎; genus. May 26, 1951, Aleppo, Syria) - cosmonaut-researcher of the Soyuz TM-3 spacecraft (Soyuz TM-2) and the Mir orbital research complex; the first cosmonaut of Syria; lieutenant colonel.

From 1969 to 1973 he studied at the Syrian Air Force Academy at the Nayrab airbase near the city of Aleppo (Aleppo). Since 1973, he served as a pilot and instructor at the Neirab airbase.

At the end of September 1985, he was selected in Syria as one of two candidates for astronauts. In October 1985 he arrived at the TsPK im. Gagarin to prepare and started it. In December 1986 he was assigned to the main crew.

From July 22 to July 30, 1987 he made a space flight on the Soyuz TM-3 spacecraft (landing on the Soyuz TM-2 spacecraft). During the flight, he performed experiments in space medicine and materials science, and also surveyed Syria from space.

On July 30, 1987, the Soyuz TM-2 with the crew of A. Viktorenko, A. Laveikin and M. Faris undocked from the Mir station and made a successful landing on the same day.

After a space flight in 1987, he again returned to serve in the Syrian Air Force. In 2001, he headed the Institute for the Training of Military Pilots in Aleppo (Aleppo).

On August 5, 2012, he fled to Turkey and joined the opposition waging war against President Bashar al-Assad.

• Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 30, 1987).
• Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (April 12, 2011) - for his great contribution to the development of international cooperation in the field of manned space exploration

Wife Gind Akil (Gind Akil), housewife. They have three children: daughter Gadil born in 1979, son Kutayba born in 1981. (in 2002 he studied at the Department of Informatics at the University of Aleppo) and another son, who was born on December 30, 1987, after his father's flight, and received the name Mir (Mir), in honor of the Soviet orbital station.

1. The astronaut docked with the rebels
2. Opposition: Syrian cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, spoke out against Assad
3. Syrian cosmonaut fled to Turkey on fourth attempt, media claim (Russian) . NEWSru.com (August 5, 2012). Retrieved 7 July 2013. Archived from the original on 3 September 2013.
4. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of April 12, 2011 No. 437 "On awarding foreign citizens with the medal "For Merit in Space Exploration"

Partially used materials from the site http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/

What guides an ordinary person when choosing political preferences in adulthood? As a rule, even the most desperate nihilists and perpetrators of conflicts between generations become adherents of the religion and beliefs of their fathers, reaching 50. The first Syrian cosmonaut sent into earth orbit, to the international space station Mir by the Soviet Union, was no exception.

In Syria, Faris is a national hero, a school and an airport are named after him, he keeps the Order of Lenin and the star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. But now he is an ardent opponent of Russia and, living in Turkey, hundreds of miles from his birthplace, Aleppo, he supports the Syrian opposition.

And back in 1985, he was one of four young Syrians applying for participation in the Interkosmos training program in Star City near Moscow. At that time, Syria's ties were strengthened with the Soviet Union, which supported the father of Bashar Hafez al-Assad, who came to power as a result of a coup d'état in 1970. In return, Syria allowed the opening of the USSR naval base in Tartus, which remains in Russian hands today.

Here is what Faris says about how he became a member of the international crew: two of the candidates were, like then-president Hafez al-Assad, Alawites, one was a Druze, and, finally, he himself was a representative of the Sunni majority.
From a political point of view, the Alawites, of course, had every chance to enter the cosmonaut corps. However, it soon became clear that it was Faris - both in terms of health and qualifications - that was more suitable than others for preparing for a flight into space. The Syrian leadership, according to Mohammed Faris, "it was easier to appoint me as prime minister than to agree that I would become the country's first cosmonaut." However, the Soviet military unexpectedly showed firmness, insisting that it was Faris who entered the cosmonaut corps, writes the Guardian.

In these statements, one can feel the hurt national pride. Sunnis make up the majority of the population of Syria, and representatives of the Alawite minority are in power. Nevertheless, Faris managed to make a good career. When Hafez died and his son Bashar came to power in 2000, Faris was one of the first people to meet with the country's top leadership. As head of the country's air force academy, he became a military adviser.
When peaceful, according to the first Syrian cosmonaut, opposition protests began, he joined them. Faris believes that the officers who support Assad are mostly Alawites, or "brainwashed" people

In 2012, he emigrated to Turkey, becoming the highest-ranking defector. And, what is insulting, now he is throwing mud at Russia and rejecting the help offered by his former colleagues. Of course, one can agree with his statement that Putin is not the Soviet Union. But his accusations against Russia speak of undisguised hatred.

However, he also does not favor the West. Although Faris received asylum offers from European NGOs, he thinks that they want to use him for their own political purposes. "They didn't intervene when needed," he says of Europe and the US.


And although the first Syrian cosmonaut says that neither religion nor weapons will solve the problems in Syria, the question arises, and who? After all, Faris himself shows a clearly expressed attitude to everything precisely on a religious basis.

Mohammed Faris spent more than a week on the Mir orbital station in 1987, becoming the first Syrian citizen to go into space. Today he lives in Turkey as a refugee and supports the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.

The story of Faris is told by the British newspaper The Guardian. In thirty years, he went from a national hero and "friend of the USSR" to a refugee and deserter, who was forced to leave not only by the civil war, but also by the unwillingness to put up with Assad's rule.

Faris was a pilot in the Syrian Air Force and was one of four candidates for the Soviet cosmonaut corps. In 1985, the choice fell on him, and the pilot went to the USSR to be trained in Star City. The commission chose him, despite the fact that he was of Sunni origin, and his competitors were two Alawites and a Druze. The Syrian leadership did not want to put up with his candidacy for a long time: it was the Soviet specialists who insisted on it.

The Soviet cosmonauts Alexander Viktorenko and Alexander Laveykin joined the same detachment with the Syrian. During the flight, Faris conducted medical experiments, did material science work, and filmed Syria from space. The space flight for him lasted 7 days 23 hours 5 minutes and made Faris a national hero. Streets and schools were named after him. In the late 1980s, it was hardly possible to find a person more popular than him, not counting the president.

After Bashar al-Assad came to power in 2000, at first everything went smoothly in Faris's life: he was the head of the Air Force Academy, a military adviser to the government. But in 2011, a civil war broke out. The Faris family, Sunnis, were forced to flee to Turkey a year later: it became dangerous for them to stay in Syria. In fact, since Faris continued to serve in the armed forces at this point, from the point of view of Damascus, he is a deserter from among the senior officers.

The pilot still keeps Soviet awards - the star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin - but speaks with dislike of today's Russia, where his colleagues often call him. Putin, from his point of view, is not at all the same as the Soviet Union. He blames the Russian military for the deaths of civilians, and he cannot find a common language with his former colleagues from Russia.

The Russian media wrote that Mohammed joined the Free Syrian Army, became one of the commanders and participates in hostilities. But this is not true, although the former cosmonaut supports the opposition morally and politically. He is a member of the Syrian National Coordinating Committee for Democratic Change and speaks at various events.

Muhammad Faris with children and grandchildren

In Europe and the USA, Faris is also welcomed with open arms, but he is in no hurry to go there either. He treats the Western allies of the coalition opposing Assad with caution. Leaving Syria, the man promised his little son that they would return in a month. The promise could not be kept, but Mohammed Faris hopes that it is not so long to wait for Bashar al-Assad to leave and peace to be established in his homeland.