A day of test dynamics and developing new autonomous navigation modes based on my proposal from before the flight. I did this work with great pleasure. Now we can independently aim the station at stars or Earth landmarks using Delta, knowing only their coordinates. I spoke with the head of the department that developed this system; he said they consider me a co-author of these modes and asked my consent to include me in the inventor team. Savchenko came with good news — the “Piramig” and PSN films came out excellent. Both our and French specialists are pleased with the quality, which was mainly ensured by precise manual stabilization using the S-2 sextant.

In the middle of the day there was a live TV session honoring the 125th anniversary of K. E. Tsiolkovsky from his house in Kaluga. For the traditional family tea with pies, his relatives gathered: a grandson, nephews, and Sergei Pavlovich Korolev’s daughter Natasha. They set up a table in the yard, put out a samovar, and had tea outdoors, as Konstantin Eduardovich had loved to do. We spoke warmly and said that on such a momentous day it’s pleasant to work in space and fly over the Motherland, where our Russian giant and countryman foresaw and theoretically grounded flights in near and deep space.

“He, man, in pursuit of light and space, will first timidly venture beyond the atmosphere, and then will conquer all the circumsolar space.” With the wisdom of a great scientist, he already foresaw that the exploration of space would give humanity mountains of bread and masses of power.

The station is silent. We don’t turn on music. Tolya and I hardly talk. I’ve been sleeping badly, waking at 4-5 AM. I think some anxious state from constant agitation sits inside me, but the day’s accumulated fatigue suppresses it. So I fall asleep right away, but as the fatigue wears off in sleep, there comes a moment when anxiety reasserts itself and wakes me. I save myself by trying to tire myself out more during the day. Tonight, lying in the sleeping bag, I felt something pressing, oppressing me. Then suddenly I felt a breeze of tension departing, as if something burst and a pleasant lightness and freedom arrived. And it became so calm and bright. I fell asleep at once.