Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 10 September (BelTA) - The goal of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) is to help the humanity reach the stars, ASE President, U.S. astronaut Bonnie Dunbar said at the 31st Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers in Minsk on 10 September, BelTA has learned.

“We would like to express our gratitude for everything that is happening here in Belarus. We welcome the opportunity to share experiences and knowledge among professionals. We accumulate the experience and share it. Even after retirement, resignation, our members work to help the humanity to reach the stars,” said Bonnie Dunbar.

The ASE president noted that in order to become an ASE member, one must make one flight into orbit. “Our goal is to share this experience with everyone on Earth,” the astronaut added.

Among the ASE’s goals is promotion of education, exchange of professional competencies, space exploration. Every year the ASE members, more than 400 of them today, meet with thousands of students, parents, teachers around the world to contribute to the development of engineering, mathematics and science. “We create new opportunities for the exchange of experiences and communication between professionals in different avenues,” Bonnie Dunbar said.

According to her, the participants of the congress in Minsk will discuss flights aboard the ISS and will share experiences gained in the framework of the Chinese space program. One of the days of the program will be dedicated to meetings with representatives of the various organizations in Belarus, said the ASE president. The meetings will be held in the Belarusian capital and also across the country so that cosmonauts and astronauts could have a chance to share experience with the younger generation and speak about their achievements.

“We are here to express gratitude to our colleagues from Belarus and all the innovators, researchers, and scientists that work in this country. We plan to present the Crystal Helmet Award [one of the most prestigious awards in astronautics] to representatives of the Belarusian community,” the astronaut said.

Bonnie Dunbar told the media that the number of countries that take part in space exploration and make part of the Association of Space Explorers is currently 38. “We see considerable progress in space exploration and hope it will continue,” she stressed.