The only one in Cuba with visa to travel outside the country.
Yes, it was Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, the Cuban Guantanamero who, on September 18th, 1980, as a sign of identification, announced from circumstellar orbit that the joint Soviet Union-Cuba flight was real.
The Cuban Revolution and the integration that existed between the countries of the former socialist camp in the 1980s made it possible for the first -and until today- the only cosmonaut in Latin America, to be a young man of African descent and so humble that he had to work to help his family from an early age.
The voice of that boy who at the age of 13 sold newspapers and advertised his services as a shoeshine boy, was the same, only a little thicker, that was heard coming from the cosmos.
This is Taimyr-2, this is Taimyr-2, from the cosmic spacecraft piloted by Soyuz 38 commander Yuri Romanenko and the citizen of the Republic of Cuba Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez.
Yes, it was Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, the Cuban citizen of Guantanamo who, on September 18th, 1980, announced from circumstellar orbit that the joint Soviet Union-Cuba flight was real.
That day, at 3:11 p.m., self-propelled engine fire allowed the launch of the carrier rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which placed the Soyuz 38 spacecraft in orbit, with the crew of Yuri V. Romanenko and Arnaldo Tamayo, together with two other Soviet cosmonauts, Leonid Popov and Valeri Riumin.
Among the high-level delegations that went to the site to bid farewell to the crew-inventors was Army General Raúl Castro, then Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
The conquest of the cosmos has always required substantial financial resources and a high level of scientific and technical development, which is why the flight was part of the InterCosmos Program, promoted by the now defunct Soviet Union.
This program, which integrated the member countries of the then Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CAME), facilitated the management and execution of experiments that were economically and scientifically useful for research progress in countries with fewer resources.
Hence, the Soyuz 38 team, after 128 revolutions around the Earth and a week of work, studied the laws of physics and biology in cosmic space, the psychological compatibility of the crews and meteorology, in addition to taking photographs of our planet from the cosmos.
Topics such as the influence of weightlessness on human behavior, the immune system, visual perception, metabolism and possible genetic mutations were studied by the Cuban and Russian cosmonauts.
Special attention was given to the field of remote sensing of the atmosphere by analyzing the links between cloudiness and the structure of the tropical atmosphere in the North Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico during cyclone and cold front seasons.
And Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, the Cuban who, after the triumph of the Revolution, took advantage of every opportunity to improve and 44 years after his feat continues to be an example of tenacity, honesty, modesty, love and commitment to the defense of the homeland, was part of this chapter of history.
Written by Ana González Goicochea.
