Yuri Kochetkov / EPA

International Space Station expedition 40/41 crew members, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman (right) of the United States, Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev (center) and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst (left) of Germany, practice in Star City, outside Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 23, 2013.

A group of astronauts set out on a camping trip in a snowbound forest outside Moscow on Wednesday, as they took part in a training exercise to practice survival techniques in case of a crash landing. 

The team of three — an American, a Russian and a German — are preparing for a mission to the International Space Station in May 2014.

-- Reuters, European Pressphoto Agency 

Yuri Kochetkov / EPA

Maxim Suraev (left) and Reid Wiseman gather wood to build a shelter.

Sergei Remezov / Reuters

(From left) Maxim Suraev, Gregory Wiseman and Alexander Gerst stand by their shelter.

Sergei Remezov / Reuters

(From left) Maxim Suraev, Alexander Gerst and Gregory Wiseman try to keep warm.

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Gherman Titov, Russia's forgotten spaceman

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Nobody remembers the guy that came second, do they?

50 years ago this Saturday, Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titov became the second man to orbit the earth, a historic achievement long eclipsed by the first space flight of his friend and rival Yuri Gagarin just a few months earlier.

AFP - Getty Images, file

A file picture dated August 1961 of Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov during a training session before the Vostok 2 space mission.

The AFP takes a look back at Titov's life today in an article that describes his lasting disappointment at being passed over in the race to be the first man in space:

The Soviet authorities only made the decision in favor of Gagarin on the eve of the flight. In the archive footage, Titov makes no attempt to disguise his disappointment, hanging his head as the official decision is announced.

"Journalists said I was so glad for Gagarin," Titov said in rare comments in 1985. "Of course, there was nothing of the sort."

AFP - Getty Images, file

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (C) embraces cosmonauts Gherman Titov (L)and Yuri Gagarin (R) after Titov returned from the Vostok 2 space mission, on Red Square in Mosco, on August 9, 1961

Remarkably, Titov remains the youngest person to have made it into space, according to space.com. He was a month shy of his 26th birthday when he launched into orbit.

Denise Chow of SPACE.com reports: A Russian Soyuz spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan today, bringing NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and two Russian cosmonauts safely back to Earth after a months-long stay at the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-01M capsule touched down in Kazakhstan about 50 miles north of the town of Arkalyk on the snowy steppes of Central Asia at about 3:54 a.m. EDT.

Dmitry Kostyukov / AFP - Getty Images

A Russian Soyuz capsule with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri and US astronaut Scott Kelly on board lands near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan on March 16. The capsule carrying the previous crew of the International Space Station (ISS) landed successfully, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Onboard the Soyuz were the space station's Expedition 26 commander Scott Kelly of NASA and Russian flight engineers Oleg Skripochka and Alexander Kaleri. They landed under harsh conditions, with ankle-deep snow and 30-knot winds reported by recovery crews.

"The Soyuz landed on its side, but in good shape," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said from the landing zone.

The wind apparently dragged the spacecraft by its parachute about 75 feet (nearly 23 meters), Navias added.

"You would think that was a scene out of the North Pole," Navias said, calling it "viciously cold" at one point. "It was a bull's-eye landing under very harsh conditions."

Dmitry Kostyukov / AFP - Getty Images

A Russian Soyuz capsule with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri and US astronaut Scott Kelly on board lands near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan on March 16.

Kelly is the twin brother of fellow NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, who is set to command the space shuttle Endeavour on its final mission to the space station next month. Mark Kelly is the husband of injured Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering after being shot in the head during a Jan. 8 attack in Tucson that injured 13 people and killed six others.

Scott Kelly has said that he hopes to help his sister-in-law with her recovery when he returns home to Houston.

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