RAFFAELE PETRALLA – Cosmodrome

: The village of Dolgoshechlye is inhabited by 500 people. Access to not residents is prohibited throughout the whole surrounding area. The village stands on the banks of the river Kuloi, just a few kilometers from its mouth in the Barents Sea. this is the village most exposed to the fall of rockets and is in fact the one with the greatest presence of rocket debris and those who recycle the pieces.

: Dolgoshchelye village. Mezen restricted area. Dimitri and Misha, looking at the horizon beyond the Kuloi river, where the tundra hope to find a rocket and make some business.

: Pavel shows energy accumulators of which the rockets are full, which contain parts in gold. These parts are extracted and the gold is sold by weight. Dolgoshchelye village.

: Mezen district. Arkhangelsk Oblast. Sovpolie village is inhabithed by 150 people. There are about 20 dogs. They are important during the winter to protect the village from wolf attacks.

: Vladimir, 76 year old in his house. Although no rockets fall around the village, all fishermen own a rocket boat. Vladimir bought one for 13,000 rubles.

: Home russian sauna called Banya. The tank has been assembled with rocket pieces, it is used for burning coal and producing hot water. Byechye village. Mezen restricted area. Russia. 2017.

: Byechye village. Mezen restricted area. Olga is seen in the garage of her house looking at the extreme tip of the rocket. This is the part of rocket that can yield more income than all the others. It is made of titanium and is sold for 900 rubles per kilo.

: Arkhangelst Oblast. Plesetsk town. 4km from the town is located the Cosmodrome. It is about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk. The monument of Plesetsk at the railway station.

: Anton, 13 years old, stands near a rocket part in the village of Dolgoshecheye, one of about 10 communities just below the Arctic Circle where residents scavenge for space debris. Mezen restricted area. Dolgoshechlye village. Russia. 2017.

: Dolgoshechelye village. Mezen restricted area.Parts of rockets scattered in the backyard of a craftsman who recovers and recycles them.The external parts of a rocket are entirely recycled and used to build boats and sleds. A rocketa is sold for around 150000 rubles.

: The last Old Believer of the village. He became a veterinarian during the Soviet time. He was born in the Soviet Union time when their religion was officially forbidden. He decided to baptize himself a couple of years ago, only after the fall of Soviet Union.Byechye village. Mezen restricted area. Russia. 2017.

: A just married couple and their relatives walk on the path to reach the House of the People where the official wedding ceremony will be celebrated. In Bychye there is a high percentage of tumors in proportion to the inhabitants, according to the testimonies of some of them. The government provides economic subsidies justified by the extreme living conditions of the place. Bychye village. Mezen restricted area. Russia. 2017.

: Arina Shirokaya, 23. She left the village to go and live in Arkhangelsk. She likes to come back every winter to spend time with her family and relax. She remembered that when she was a child rocket debris was seen as a problem after a little girl playing herself torn her stomach tripping over a piece of metal. Everyone talked about it in the village for a long time but almost nothing was done. A pile of rocket debris was made and left abandoned on the ground. Dolgoshchelye village. Mezen restricted area. Russia. 2018.

: Preparations at the house of the bride’s parents. Mezen restricted area. Byechye village. Russia. 2017.

: Sasha Loktevi with his child. Sasha is the most important horse dealer in the area. Indeed, caravans of gypsies from Romania go to him to buy his horses unique in the world for the ability to transport weights and resistance to cold. The sledges that his horses pull, have the bases made of pieces of rocket. Sovpolie village. Mezensky district. Russia. 2018.

: Alexandr Shorovky, officially woodcutter. His main source of income comes from rocket recovery. From it he recycles and resells every part. On television the photos of when, for the first time, he found a rocket in the tundra. Dolgoshechelye village. Mezen restricted area. Russia. 2018.

: Bychye village. Arkhangelst Oblast. A man along the road leading him from his home to the village’s House Of The People to attend the official wedding celebration of two young members of the community.According to the inhabitants – in this village as in the others of this area – there are many cases of cancer that have been occurring for several years. The government provides economic subsidies justifying them with the extreme living conditions of the place.

: A fisherman on his “Rocketa” boat has just moored with his fish load. He lives alone in a village of 4 inhabitants, 10 hours of sailing from the village of Bychye. During a three days of navigation throught the villages on the river he sells his catch and then starts the trip back home. Byechye village. Mezen restricted area. Russia. 2017.

: Sovpolie village, Mezen district. On the main road stop a horse tied to a sled whose bases are attached pieces of dural, material recovered from a rocket debris. This material allows sledges in these villages to slide better on ice and snow.

: A heap of old machinery for agriculture, coated externally with rocket dibris, lies in the center of the village because it is not possible to transport them to dispose of them due to logistical problems. Soyana village. Mezen district. Russia. 2018.

: Inside a restricted security area/Mezen district.A rocket part pokes through the snow that covers the tundra in a restricted security zone near the town of Mezen, about 300 miles north of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome’s launch pads.

: Pavel, 46 years old, is covering his sled built by himself with rocket parts, with reindeer skins during a trip inside the tundra looking for a rocket. Restricted area in Mezensky district. Russia. 2018.

: A large piece of rocket lies in a courtyard. With this part made of a metal called dural, a “raketa” will be built.

: Lidia Vasilievna. She has left her Nenets community and nomadism life style, to live in a house. Her dress has been made by her and is composed by the hair of four different animals: foxes, dogs, squirrels and dears. Dolgoshechlye village. Mezen restricted area.

: Mezensky restricted area. Arkhangelsk Oblast. On the iced bed of Kuloy river. Men retrieve the hay and load it on sledges pulled by a horse.