Pilots-cosmonauts addressed at a meeting at the Presidential Library on the Cosmonautics Day

The annual conference "Cosmonautics Day at the Presidential Library" timed to coincide with several memorable dates that are celebrated this year: the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Baikonur cosmodrome, the 60th anniversary of the creation of the first cosmonaut corps of the USSR and the 50th anniversary of the beginning work of "Lunokhod-1" on the lunar surface was held on October 6, 2020. The event has been organized jointly with the North-West Interregional Public Organization of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation with the support of the Roscosmos State Corporation.

Young scientists, students and senior pupils of educational institutions from St. Petersburg and other Russian cities took part in the conference via video-conferencing mode.

Cosmonautics Day at the Presidential Library has been opened by a video greeting of the Soyuz MS-16 crew members Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Wagner from the International Space Station. They noted that another significant date was celebrated on October 4 - the 63rd anniversary of the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite created in the Soviet Union. Domestic and world cosmonautics began their countdown from this day. It was possible to take the first step in the exploration of outer space thanks to the work and talent of our scientists and designers.

“We can clearly see from space how beautiful our planet is, how fragile our Earth is - our common home. On this memorable day, we call on you to jointly explore the vastness of the Universe in our common interests”, - the astronauts stressed.

A meeting with Alexander Lazutkin, a pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of the Russian Federation, who in 1997, as part of the 23rd expedition, visited the Mir orbital station has become possible thanks to the video-conferencing mode. This flight into space was complicated by emergency situations. However, the crew members masterfully coped with all the difficulties. Alexander Lazutkin said that the knowledge and skills gained during training in the cosmonaut corps helped him find a way out in extreme cases. Now he himself is engaged in the development of scientific and educational projects that help young people to learn more about the profession of an astronaut.

Oleg Mukhin, Vice-President of the North-West Regional Organization of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation, greeted the conference participants. He emphasized the importance of cooperation with the Presidential Library, which has been going on for several years. According to him, joint work and the opportunity to hold such events as the "Cosmonautics Day at the Presidential Library" in an online format, allow to attract young people from all over Russia to the study of cosmonautics.

“We will be happy to continue to cooperate. It is necessary to talk about cosmonauts, and that there are many other areas in this industry - in electronics, technology, in the creation of spacecraft and rockets... ”, - said Oleg Mukhin.

Within the framework of the conference, technical issues of space exploration were also raised. Thus, Vladimir Gaponov, retired Colonel, honored test engineer of space technology of the Russian Federation, honored tester of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, spoke about the high quality and reliability of national rocket and space technology, as well as about the features of its testing.

The specifics of the development of space technology were considered at the event: the conference participants learned about the history of lunar rovers from one of the developers of remotely controlled self-propelled spacecraft-planetary rovers Boris Gladkikh. He told how the work on the apparatus was going on, and demonstrated the part of the lunar rover, which he developed with his own hand. Boris Gladkikh presented the Presidential Library with a copy of the inventor's certificate for the invention of the lunar rover chassis, issued to a group of developers by the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the USSR Council of Ministers, as well as the book "My Track", which describes the years of his work on the rover. In the future, these materials will be digitized and will enter the Outer Space collection, which includes documents spotlighting various milestones in the development of cosmonautics: newsreel fragments, periodicals, books, postcards, commemorative medals and badges.   

The conference participants watched a documentary film "Space everyday life at the Cosmonaut Training Center" about training specialists for work in outer space. Dmitry Shishkin, Director of the Personnel Development and Project Support Department of the Roscosmos State Corporation, and Semyon Panferov, Head of the School for Young Space Explorers, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Space Research of the Lomonosov Moscow State University told about personal qualities that are necessary for a young specialist in the rocket and space industry to succeed in the profession.

The conference "Cosmonautics Day at the Presidential Library" was broadcasted live on the Presidential Library’s portal in Live broadcasts section, in the official group on the VKontakte social network and on the institution's YouTube channel.