Press releases

Photo courtesy of NASB

MINSK, 12 September (BelTA) – A ceremony took place in the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus on 12 September to bestow commemorative tokens upon space exploration heroes in honor of the 90^th anniversary since the academy’s foundation, BelTA has learned.

Svetlana Savitskaya (the first woman to take a spacewalk), Sergei Krikalev (a former holder of the top total time in outer space record – 803 days in six flights), Yang Liwei (China’s first cosmonaut, director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office), and the USSR pilot-cosmonaut Alexander Aleksandrov took part in the ceremony.

Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Sergei Kilin presented the awards to the cosmonauts for their considerable personal contributions to international cooperation in the area of space exploration. During the ceremony he noted: “It is necessary to restore the contacts we had in the Soviet times. I would like people around you to understand the importance of your contributions.”

The cosmonauts met with top officials of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) and young scientists and discussed possible cooperation avenues. NASB researchers presented Belarusian R&D products in the area of unmanned aerial vehicles and biotechnologies. Peculiarities of operation of various kinds of equipment in space were discussed as well as possible applications of lactoferrin. Medicine and robot technology were also mentioned. The cosmonauts shared their vision of the future promotion of joint scientific projects and talked about peculiarities of introducing R&D products in the space industry.

The 31^st planetary congress of the Association of Space Explorers is taking place in Minsk on 9-15 September. Over 80 cosmonauts and astronauts from 17 countries are taking part in it. Creating the Future of Space is the theme of the congress. Community Day was scheduled for today. The cosmonauts visited Belarusian schools, universities, enterprises, institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus where they talked to workers, scientists, and young Belarusians.

The Association of Space Explorers is an international not-for-profit organization established in 1985 to share the best practices in the area of manned space flights. The ASE planetary congress gathers cosmonauts and representatives of scientific research institutions and national space agencies every year.