Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 11 September (BelTA) – The international community welcomes every country’s contribution to space exploration, German astronaut Reinhold Ewald told journalists on the sidelines of the 31st Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers in Minsk on 11 September, BelTA has learned.

During the congress the astronaut got familiar with Belarus’ achievements in space exploration, its scientific developments. “Space exploration is a common task. We welcome any country’s contribution to it. I did not have the chance to work with Belarusian space technologies but I was impressed with what I saw yesterday,” Reinhold Ewald said.

“I am happy to be here today, at the National Academy of Sciences, because science is crucial to space exploration. I am a physicist myself, I am interested in cooperation between European countries in this area,” the astronaut added.

Reinhold Ewald made a space flight aboard the Soyuz TM-25 in 1997. The flight lasted almost 20 days.

Minsk is playing host to the 31st Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers on 9-15 September. Over 80 cosmonauts and astronauts from 17 countries are taking part in the event. The theme of the congress is Creating the Future of Space. The space explorers laid flowers at the Victory Monument in the morning on 11 September. During the day the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus is hosting two technical sessions built around the theme “Our Future in Space”.

The Association of Space Explorers is an international not-for-profit organization that unites cosmonauts and astronauts from many countries. It was established in 1985 to share the best practices in the area of manned space flights. The Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers gathers cosmonauts and representatives of scientific research institutions and national space agencies on an annual basis.