MAI graduate became the participant of the world's first jump from the stratosphere to the North Pol

On Cosmonautics Day, April 12, the Russians made the first jump from an IL-76 aircraft flying at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters to the North Pole. There was a MAI graduate, cosmonaut pilot, Hero of Russia Mikhail Kornienko, instructor pilot Alexander Lynnik and Denis Efremov, the founder of the Stratonavtika Aerospace Laboratory.

The participants were in free fall for about two minutes and opened their parachutes at an altitude of about 1 km. Mikhail Kornienko dedicated the record to Russia and its role in the development of the Arctic.

– It was our people who were the first to make a non-stop flight across the North Pole at the beginning of the last century, it was the flag of Russia that was set on the ocean floor at the point of the North Pole in 2007, and I always believed that it was we, the citizens of Russia, who should make a record stratospheric jump. This is a patriotic project, a mission, the purpose of which is to emphasize the continuity of generations and the importance of the region, – said the cosmonaut and the main initiator of the jump.

The skydivers were training for several months. Before the jump, Mikhail Kornienko noted that the main feeling was the same to the one he experienced before going into outer space – it was huge responsibility.

– Because we've been preparing for a long time. And there are a lot of people engaged into our training process. And we must do everything flawlessly, without making any mistakes. So that it would be another record for Russia, – he said.