The Cosmos conquered from Braşov
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Celebrating 25 years since the first cosmic flight to the Moon, the County Council Braşov organized a unique and impressive meeting with the cosmonauts Alexandrov Alexandr and Ivanov Ghiorghi (Bulgaria), Prunariu Dumitru Dorin (Romania), Popov Leonid (Russia) and the astronauts Russell Schweickart (USA) and Baudry Patrick (France). The County Council?s president Aristotel Căncescu opened the festivities by welcoming the special guests: ?The first Romanian astronaut happens to be born in Braşov county. We were even colleagues and that makes me proud. We are extremely honoured by the presence here of Russell Schweickart, the man who accomplished in 1969 the first flight round the Earth?.
The six daredevils were awarded by the county council?s executive with diplomas of honour.
Sacrifices for Cosmos
The journeys in Cosmos sometimes request sacrifices, the speech referred: 5% of the cosmonauts died as a result of their highly hazardous profession. In 1961 the man conquered the cosmic space and in 1969 he was walking on the Moon The then prognosis showed that in 1980 or shortly after Planet Mars was the be conquered too, although the astronauts didn?t accomplish yet this daring goal of the scientific community.
An inveterate fan of cosmonautic, Aristotel Căncescu promised to keep organizing that kind of events every five years, to celebrate the moonlanding.
The event was also attended by the mayor of Braşov, George Scripcaru, who confessed that in 1960 he was just brought into the world and never suspected to have one day the occasion to shake hands with those famous astronauts. He felt therefore extremely honoured.
Eight Days in Space
In spite of the self-control the cosmonauts usually prove, Dumitru Prunariu, the Braşov-born space pioneer, seemed the most excited to return in his natal town. 25 years after his unique 8 days experience in space, he works as a Cosmos?s scientific searcher in Romania. Since 1998 he is the president of the Romanian Spatial Agency, which unfolds the aerospatial national program and collaborates with the Spatial European Agency. He has been highly awarded for his activity. As a courtesy of the well-known astronaut, the event included a view session of a movie shot in the cosmic space.
A lifetime Friendship
Leonid Popov, who accompanied Dumitru Prunariu in their journey to Cosmos, spoke about the relationship between him and the Romanian, a friendship which strengthened along the years. His presence was itself a message for Romania from the Russian cosmonauts.
Russell Schweickart emphasized the importance of the flight that gathered an international crew in full Cold War while Ivanov Ghiorghi stated that the team work unfolded by the Americans and the Russians within the inter-cosmos program served the goals of our civilization.
Patrick Baudry accomplished his training in USA and was the first proficient member of the international crew instructed in Russia and the United States which included the first Arabian astronaut. The golden, or rather silver dream of the astronauts gathered in Braşov is to return on the Moon.
