Research Ship “Cosmonaut Viktor Patsayev”

Kaliningrad Oblast
1 Petra Velikogo Emb., Kaliningrad
Phones: +7 (4012) 53-17-44
Web site: https://world-ocean.ru/en/

Four world-renowned cosmonauts were from Kaliningrad (Alexey Leonov, Viktor Patsayev, Yuri Romanenko and Aleksandr Viktorenko). One of Kaliningrad’s new attractions is the World Ocean Museum, which was created in 1990. It is the best maritime museum in Russia. On the Pregolya river, near the Gothic cathedral where Immanuel Kant is buried, several museum ships are moored. The largest of them is “Cosmonaut Viktor Patsayev”.

Built in 1968, the ship was part of the Soviet space flotilla: such vessels were used to ensure communication with spacecraft from different parts of the world's oceans. With the collapse of the USSR, most of these vessels were scrapped (by that time, satellites coped with their function better), and only the “Patsayev” ship survived, combining the functions of a stationary communication point and a museum from 2001 to 2017. The displays show the personal belongings of cosmonauts, memorial signs and awards, as well as photos from the cosmonauts’ family archives. You can also see models of spaceship fleet, learn about life on a research vessel in the 1980s and 90s, visit the ship's control cabin and walk along its decks.

On the embankment, next to the torpedoes and bathyscaphes, you can also see the spacecraft's landing vehicle.

The real firing key that launched the “Soyuz-Apollo’ space program. However, the ship itself is a unique must-see exhibit.

The ship "Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev" became part of the legendary Star flotilla in 1978 and until 2017 was an active ship of space communications. In the period from 1978 to 1994, he made 14 flights, performed work with spacecraft and became a participant in all space programs implemented by the USSR, and then Russia. The ship provided communication with the Salyut-6, Salyut-7, and Mir orbital stations, with the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, and with the Energia-Buran space transport system. In 1995, the space station "Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev" was transferred to the Russian Space Agency. In 2001, it became part of the museum flotilla of the Museum of the World Ocean, remaining the property of ROSCOSMOS. It is the only space communication vessel in the world with a museum exhibition on board.

The museum embankment of the historical fleet is a unique structure in Russian maritime museum practice. The following vessels are moored at the museum quay: the Vityaz, the largest research museum ship in the world; the only post-war museum submarine afloat in Russia; the Kosmonavt Viktor Patsayev, uniquely designed for space communication and currently housing a museum exposition onboard; and the SRT-129, the only fishing trawler in Russia. The embankment has stretched over to Saint-Petersburg, where the Krasin, the oldest and only museum icebreaker in Russia is moored. The history of exploration and development of the World Ocean is presented onboard the museum ships. The coastal museum complex in Kaliningrad includes the main building and The World of the Ocean, A Glimpse… — an exposition containing amazing saltwater aquariums, collections of seashells and corals, geological and paleontological exhibits, as well as the biggest skeleton of a cachalot in Russia. It also houses the exhibition and expositional buildings of Maritime Koenigsberg-Kaliningrad, Packgaus and other objects.