On December 24, her birthday, Varvara visited the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City. Pilot-cosmonaut and Hero of Russia Oleg Kononenko gave her a personal tour of the centre, showing, among other things, how the Soyuz manned spacecraft simulator worked. Varvara was also shown the legendary Zvezdny bus to carry cosmonauts as well as Yury Gagarin’s Volga automobile.
That same evening, the Smakhtin family attended The Nutcracker ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre.
On December 25, Varvara visited the Mission Control Centre, where she took part in a communications session with the crew of the Russian segment of the International Space Station, speaking with cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikayev, and Oleg Platonov.
In addition, at the Mission Control Centre, the Smakhtin family received New Year’s greetings from the Russian Father Frost from Veliky Ustyug. General Director of the Roscosmos State Corporation Dmitry Bakanov presented Varvara with a personalised flight suit bearing her name.
Varvara later shared her impressions with Vladimir Putin during a telephone conversation. The President also spoke with her mother, Valeria, and extended his warm New Year wishes to the entire family.
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Earlier in December, the head of state, following tradition, took part in the nationwide charity initiative, the New Year Tree of Wishes, and selected three balloon-shaped cards with children’s New Year wishes during the #WeAreTogether International Award ceremony.