Valentin Lebedev
Diary of a Cosmonaut

Slept with the cardiac monitor and didn’t sleep well. Since the first day of arrival I’ve been sleeping on a 7-degree incline — I don’t like it; you lie down as if in a cradle. The toe is better, the swelling has gone down — that alone is a relief. A week remains before the flight, and there’s a lot of work with documentation and systems specialists. Ran out for exercises, played tennis. I loaded a roll into the “Praktika” camera, started rewinding the film — it wouldn’t go. Theory was there, but practice — not so much. Decided not to experiment and asked our photographer — turns out the lens cap was on, it was set to auto, and there wasn’t enough light for the shutter to fire. We had astronavigation sessions; Volodya Kovalyonok shared his experience. Seryozha Afonin led the session. We had an interesting discussion about areas of the stellar sky near the pole, about planetary motion, about the phases of the Moon. At my request they made excellent tables of the instruments and their specifications. At the site, intense work is underway: lots of medical examinations, sessions with specialists, work with documentation — it turns out there’s not even time to rest. By lunchtime I’m drowsy and feel run-down; only sports save me. Talked to Lyusya: everything is fine at home. I can imagine how they’re waiting and worrying.