Publication of an astonishing book at GOST Books : Some Worlds Have Two Suns by Andrew McConnell.
Every three months, a space rocket carrying three astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Around the same time, to the northeast, in isolated grasslands, three other astronauts return to earth. The photographs in Some Worlds Have Two Suns document these comings and goings of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and the local community whose lives are accidentally linked to this portal to space.
I became interested in the Soyuz landing after seeing the event in a documentary in 2014. It was the middle of winter and the spacecraft parachuted down into a world of ice. A ground team struggled in difficult conditions to open the capsule and when finally three humans emerged, my heart skipped a beat… I had just returned from a war and witnessed the worst of humanity, and yet here were humans working together and achieving what seemed to be impossible. It was deeply moving and I decided to go see for myself.
During McConnell's first visit in 2015, while the astronauts and cosmonauts were participating in the landing ceremony, he saw a group of residents from the village of Kenjebai-Samai who had come to witness the strange event taking place virtually behind at their home. Although he was initially drawn to space travelers, it was the local community residing in the isolated grasslands that compelled him to return.
Each visit, I stayed at Kenjebai-Samai or explored further afield. The steppe, which initially appeared as a limitless void, would reveal unexpected details over time. I discovered a people largely indifferent to space travelers and yet connected in one way or another to this strange ritual. These descendants of nomads once again on the edge of a new horizon.
The Soyuz spacecraft has been in service since the late 1960s, and due to its long service life, it is considered the safest and most cost-effective space vehicle. The spacecraft's capsules, which are not reusable, are only 2.2 meters long and 2.1 meters wide. They can carry up to three people, take only six hours to reach the space station and descent module, and only three and a half hours to return. For a period after NASA's Space Shuttle retirement in 2011, launches of the Russian Soyuz rocket in Kazakhstan were the only functioning portal to the International Space Station. The word “Soyuz” means “union” in Russian.
Andrew McConnell began his career working for a daily newspaper in Belfast during the final stages of the Troubles and the transition to peace. Having worked as a photojournalist for over a decade, his work today focuses on long-form projects that explore socio-political issues, displacement and the environment.
Andrew McConnell : Some Worlds Have Two Suns
GOST Books
292 x 355mm
104 pages
www.gostbooks.com