Christophe

And, now, inside the Museum...

Ch.

Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

Inside Buran. It has been transformed in a small museum dedicated to space shuttles.

Ch.

Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

Buran's cockpit.

Ch.

Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

Buran Space Shuttle.

Ch.

Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

Oudoors of the Museum, where the Buran shuttle is displayed.

Ch.

Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

Soyuz rocket model.

Ch.

Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

Gagarin.

Ch.

Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

Entrance.

Ch.

Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

At the entrance of the Museum.

Ch.

Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

On the way to the Space Museum.

Ch.

Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

All brains welcome (again) !!!!!

There is a new easy question in the Soviet & Eastern Block Quiz - 2009...

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3308...0&start=208

Please, exerce your brain and try to win this challenge!!!!

Cheers.

Ch.

Question #241

Look at this ruined building. Something tragic happened here...

1. Where is this building ?

2. What happened there ?

3. With what tragic consequence ?

4. When ?

The winner is the first one able to answer the 4 questions.

Good hunt and good luck !!

Ch.

Hi to all,

I was away for a while, and the Quiz has been very very quiet these last weeks...

Will try to reactivate it... with your help !!

Time for a few stats :

Quiz 2009 :

* 20 questions asked,

* with 205 answers,

* and viewed more than 2,510 times.

Nb of good answers for the Quiz 2009 :

* 6 : Christophe

* 4 : Ilja (ilja559)

* 3 : Auke (Ferdinand)

* 2 : Alex (RedMaestro)

* 1 : Christian (Zulus), Doc (Riley1965), Simon (SU1977) & Wild Card

Complete statistics since this Quiz has been launched (on 1 Nov. 2005) :

* 240 questions asked,

* with 2,984 answers,

* This quiz has been viewed more than 38,900 times.

* 46 Members of the Forum played, and 34 correctly answered at least 1 question :

Nb of good answers :

* 46 : Christophe

* 42 : Christian (Zulus)

* 17 : Frank (Knarf)

* 13 : Jim (JimZ)

* 12 : Auke (Ferdinand)

* 11 : Bryan (Soviet) & Marc (Lapa)

* 10 : Dan (Hauptman)

* 8 : Simon (Red Threat)

* 6 : Belaruski, Carol I, Ed (Haynes) & Wild Card.

* 5 : Alex (RedMaestro)

* 4 : Ilja (ilja559)

* 3 : Andreas (Alfred), Ivan (Piramida), Kim (Kimj) & Marco (marcotk).

* 2 : Chuck (in Oregon), Gerd (Becker), Jan (vatjan) & Order of Victory.

* 1 : Brendan (ANZAC), Charles (Hunyadi), Darrell, Daredevil, Dave (Navy FCO), Doc (Riley1965), Dudeman, Eddie (Taz), Filip (Drugo), Rick (Stogieman), Simon (SU1977) & Steen (Ammentorp).

This is a great achievement. Thanks to all for your participation in this Quiz.

Now, let's play for the 241st question, mine !!

Cheers.

Ch.

Only 50 surviving Companions of the Liberation.

As of today, here is the list of these 50 Companions :

Jos? ABOULKER

Marcel ALBERT

Ren? BAUDEN

Henri BEAUGE-BERURE

Robert BINEAU

Henri de BORDAS

Guy CHARMOT

Daniel CORDIER

Louis CORTOT

Yves de DARUVAR

Bernard DEMOLINS

Pierre DESHAYES

Victor DESMET

Jean-Pierre DULAU

Rudolf EGGS

Constant ENGELS

Robert GALLEY

Ren? GATISSOU

Alain GAYET

Hubert GERMAIN

Charles GONARD

Jacques HEBERT

Paul IBOS

Fran?ois JACOB

Henry LAFONT

Pierre LANGLOIS

Claude LEPEU

Ren? LESECQ

Pierre LOUIS-DREYFUS

Louis MAGNAT

Roger MALFETTES

Jean-Pierre MALLET

Robert MASSON

Fred MOORE

Jean MUFRAGGI

Jean NETTER

Roland de la POYPE

Andr? QUELEN

Claude RAOUL-DUVAL

Charles RUDRAUF

Andr? SALVAT

Etienne SCHLUMBERGER

Pierre SIMONET

Jacques de STADIEU

G?rard THEODORE

Elie TOUCHALEAUME

Jean TRANAPE

Edgard TUP?T-THOME

Andr? VERRIER

Nicolas WYROUBOFF

This complete list, with all bios, can be found here :

http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_doc/4_1_2_2.php

Ch.

Only 50 surviving Companions of the Liberation.

On 31 May 2009 died Roger Lescure, Companion of the Lib?ration.

Roger Lescure, born in 1912, is a member of the French Communist Party when the war began. As part of the Resistance, he is arrested in April 1943, and will evade in September 1943. He will continue to participate in the Resistance and be part of the FFI forces. He will participate to the liberation of the town of Egletons in Correze, and be part of FFI forces until the end of the war.

After the war, he will be have several commercial activities.

Here is his bio (in French) :

http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_compagnon/599.html

After his death, there are now only 50 surviving Companions of the Liberation.

Ch.

Pic : Chancellerie de l'Ordre de la Lib?ration.

Great Fran?ois. Thanks.

Cheers.

Ch.

Hi Fran?ois,

Do you have a serial number on you Medal for Bravery ?

Cheers.

Ch.

Interesting question...

Here is my partial count (I have more, but mot 'cataloged', because acquired a long time ago :

1914-15 : 2

1914-16 : 1

1914-17 : 1

1914-18 : 4

And, not including some framed (probably 1914-1918).

Cheers.

Ch.

Would it be the Order of Personal Courage ?

Ch.

Hi Ilja,

Your turn, now...

Cheers.

Ch.

Yes, Ilja, good try... Here is probably gathered all the equipment used to deal with Chernobyl accident...

Ch.

Not an easy one... A Russian helicopters exhibition show, somewhere, but where...

Ch.

Hi Rick,

Yes, you're right... When one lands in Baikonur, seems quite desertic, what my pics show...

I landed in the North airport (there are two in Baikonur), the Yubileyny Airfield, the one used by Buran and Antonov 124 and 225. BTW, there was an Antonov 124 taking off with us when leaving Baikonur back to Moscow (pics will follow). It just had delivered military stuff...

In the 80s, Baikonur was said to reach a peak of more than 100.000 inhabitants. Today, officially, there are 70.000 persons. The North-West quarter of the city is called the "ghost-city". Totally empty, abandoned, and decaying... We saw it from far, but accesses are blocked by Checkpoint #1. Even in other areas of Baikonur, you can see abandoned buildings and flats. That's the case in the Proton area (the second pic I posted).

I don't know if this figure of 70.000 people is real. For sure, when we visited the city, we did not meet a lot of people... Even in the local / central market (as future pics will show) there were really few people, and the market did not seem the right size for such a big city of 70.000... Few public transports as well... No, or few private cars... So... I have gone several times in Far-East Russia, even easter than Siberia, and never saw such a deserted city...

The only real new industrial building I saw (showing signs of investement) is the Starsem one. Very new, and stylish in blue and white. It is very close to the ruined building of which I posted some photos. The air in baikonur seems very dry; maybe this explains why this ruined building seems like it has exploded yesterday...

More to come, though pics...

Cheers.

Ch.

Here's a clearer pic. I forget where I found it though. I think it is from this year.

Please, note that his 5th Order of Red Banner has not plate with the "5", and seems very goldish / yellow...

Nice photo.

Ch.

Why would such a distinguished and highly decorated member of the FSB lower himself to wearing those 2 "Xmas tree ornaments"??

Hi Fran?ois,

These two medals, even if unofficial, have in my opinion a very nice design and very sober, soviet-style, ribbons. I like them in terms of look and feel.

Cheers.

Ch.