A Russian cosmonaut has won a $40,000 lawsuit filed in the court of Moscow against a Russian space training facility on Friday.
It is unusual for a cosmonaut to file a case against a space flight training facility in Russia and Sergei Volkov’s lawsuit against Russia’s space training center is one of those rare cases, Red Orbit reports.
Sergei Volkov, 40, is a veteran cosmonaut with more than 199 days logged in space has won his case against Russia’s space training center.
Volkov is the head of cosmonauts at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. The cosmonaut begun as a military pilot and went on extensive missions at the International Space Station in 2008 and 2011. During those times, the officials have decided not to give retired military men of additional pay for their space experience, which, of course, disappointed Volkov. He decided to file a case against the Russian space training facility so that he can get the backpay he deserves.
Volkov stated in his lawsuit that he hadn’t been compensated with his back pay. The court ruled on Friday that the training facility should give cosmonauts with military backgrounds reasonable pay for the spaceflights they have accomplished.
The court in Moscow region ordered the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center to compensate cosmonauts well according to their accomplished missions. A total of $43,500 was also awarded to Volkov as back pay. Additional pay for a space experience for a veteran cosmonaut could be equal to their monthly salary.
During Expedition 29, Volkov worked with Alexander Samokutyaev to do a spacewalk installing a 57-pound satellite created by Russian engineers. He and his team safely got back in Kazakhstan on November 22, 2011.
Sergei Zaletin, also a cosmonaut, told the RIA Novosti news agency, Volkov was not only standing up for himself, thus, he is also representing all military cosmonauts in this lawsuit.
