NUR-SULTAN – Roscosmos cosmonaut, International Space Station (ISS) flight engineer Oleg Artemyev shared a video of Lake Balkhash from space on Tiktok.
“When will there be such an opportunity again? Here he is, on the left we have Balkhash. What an amazing place! Soon we will fly to Issyk-Kul. Balkhash is a very beautiful lake”, the cosmonaut said.
Earlier, Russian test cosmonaut Artemyev participated in 14-day and 105-day preparatory experiments under the MARS-500 program, simulating a flight to Mars. Artemyev holds the titles: Hero of the Russian Federation, pilot-cosmonaut of the Russian Federation (2016), instructor-test cosmonaut of the 2nd class.
He is also an honorary citizen of the Kazakh city of Baikonur.
Balkhash is a drainless semi-freshwater lake in the south-east of Kazakhstan. It is the second largest non-drying salt lake (after the Caspian Sea) and the 14th in the list of the largest lakes in the world.
The lake consists of two completely different parts: fresh and salty. Due to the narrow strait and the Saryesik peninsula, the waters of the lake do not mix at all.
The video of Lake Issyk-Kul starts from 01:27.
