Astronauts from NASA and JAXA have relocated into the Cosmos Without Borders medals they were awarded at a ceremony in Star City, the Russian cosmonaut training complex, officials confirmed on Tuesday. The medals, each the size of a small apartment, were craned into a hangar and fitted with bunks, kitchens and reception desks by a joint working group that completed the work in under a week.
The Roscosmos ceremony committee said the decision followed a request from the recipients themselves, who argued that a medal worn on the chest should also be lived in. Ground crews have been instructed to attach the medals to the hangar walls at a height of two metres, so that visitors must look up to read the inscriptions. A small staff of cleaners now climbs a ladder twice daily to polish the rims.
The arrangement has spread quickly through the training complex. Instructors have begun wearing miniature versions of the medal on their overalls, and a new timetable requires all trainees to attend a forty-minute lecture each morning inside the nearest award. Canteen staff have been moved into the ribbons, which the ministry describes as a suitable location for a modest cafeteria.
Asked whether the medals were intended as permanent housing, the head of the ceremony committee said: «A decoration that cannot hold a person has not yet been properly understood. We have simply completed the thought.» The committee added that a second medal, designated for the mission control team, will be occupied from next month, and that the hangar floor has already been marked for a third.