 Returning to the USSR, the crew had popularity close to that of cosmonauts, and took a major role in Soviet popular culture.Soviet government expressed gratitude to the "Kearsarge" for its gesture; the crew was soon returned home, first traveling to Paris on RMS "Queen Mary" cruise liner, and then flying to the USSR, as doctors recommended against taking a transatlantic flight.The name of Askhat Ziganshin was well known in the pop-culture of the Soviet Union in the 1960s as Askhat "Ate-His-Boot" Ziganshin.