Prepared for the future

SpaceFest in Bucharest

Eugen Cojocariu, 05.08.2023, 14:00

The Polytechnic University in Bucharest played host to SpaceFest, an event dedicated to the exploration of the cosmic space. It was a unique experience for the several thousand youngsters who participated in the event. Dumitru Prunariu, the only Romanian astronaut to have flown in the cosmic space, Nicole Stott, of the USA, the tenth woman who flew in space and Sara Sabry of Egypt, the first African, Arab and Egyptian woman who reached the cosmic space, came up with thought-provoking stories…

Google Maps and the Weather Forecast are also the outcome of the cosmic space research as well as other contributions to terrestrial activities. The traditional approaches are no longer used, already, because of their inefficiency. These are domains where the Romanians play an important part, even though our official presence in space has not been recorded since Dumitru Prunariu.

Attending the event, Dumitru Prunariu told Radio Romania International the following:

“Here, at the Polytechnic University in Bucharest, in an auditorium with a seating capacity for 1,200 people, I had the chance of a very interesting encounter, with youngsters, with children, with students, and not only did they listen carefully to what the three astronauts told them, the people who are here today, but also they asked very interesting questions. We have regular meetings also as part of the Cosmic Space Explorers Association, it is the professional association of astronauts and cosmonauts, It is true that the woman astronaut from Egypt is not yet a member of this association, she was on a brief, ballistic flight, she spent ten days in imponderability, whereas we, the others, and Nicole Stott is one of us, travelled further and we flew more, ours is a different experience, yet any cosmic flight, no matter how short it is, opens other perspectives and anyone has unusual things to tell, things he experienced and about which his colleagues may not know, about their personal experience, about their own feelings, about their interaction they had with the people, after the cosmic flight. At the moment, apart from the governmental agreements between certain states, companies, organizations training astronaut, and they are only three in the world, the Americans, the Russians, the Chinese, as we speak, there are also private agreements. There are astronaut broker companies that have begun to send, for millions of dollars, it is true, people in the cosmic space, while spatial tourism has developed significantly. So we might have the surprise to see that a second Romanian may be a member of this category.”

It is also from Dumitru Prunariu that we found out there are also plans we can call interstellar.

“The Moon is an outpost for the flight to Mars. As part of the Artemis program, the American program that has already kicked off, which has already sent a test spaceship around the world and which next year will send a first human crew around the Moon in a bid to test the equipment, testing the spaceship, testing the environment where those people will work, all that is only the beginning. In 2025, the first moon landing is scheduled as part of the new Artemis program. And that is only a beginning. Because this time we are not going to fly to the Moon only to return from there to the Earth, but we will fly there to stay. It is a very important message, the fact that the human beings will stay there. Of course, they will roll some of the crews, with certain permanent bases that will be built around the Moons South Pole, there will be, in the foreseeable future a space station orbiting the Moon, at will be a permanent hub for the astronauts who come from the Earth and descend on the Moon, returning on the Earth. Also, there will be a scientific research base for the moon environment, and all that will prepare, for the future the flights to Mars. “

Nicole Stott, the tenth woman who reached the cosmic space, told us that, although she spent a little over a hundred days in space, she would like to return there for one more day, at least, as joy, curiosity and delight are the emotions that are permanently experienced.

“A hundred and four days in space, it was not long enough. I mean, I really felt like the time flew by, I could not believe it when it was the time to come home and I wish I could go back and have at least one more day in space, that would be nice. I was the tenth woman to perform a spacewalk, I didnt think about that at the time, I didnt know that was the number, I think the point is that a rocket-ship doesnt care if youre a boy or a girl, and so we all just have to be doing our best with the work that we do and I wish I could go back and have at least one more day in space, that would be nice. Weve shown our women may be capable even more on this mission and I think we just need to be encouraging more young women to pursue these kinds of things. Even when things were going, you know, when the alarm was going off, or, whatever, I think it was more anxiousness than a fear because we were trained so much how to deal with those kinds of things. I would absolutely repeat my space journeys, you know, on one hand I would be the way it was, you know, with the crews that I was with, the experience that we had, also to be able to fly again and experience maybe something a little different from a mission.”

Sara Sabry of Egypt is the first African, Arab and Egyptian woman who reached the cosmic space. She attended the SpaceFest and shared with us the joy of signaling a change.

“Its an incredible honor to be representing my country for the very first time in space and to be the first Arab woman to do this. It shows you how much things are changing. Finally, we have a transition. I grew up not seeing someone that looked like me that was able to do things like this, so for the very first time Im so honored and grateful. I am just happy to have the next generation see that people are capable of doing this. Women in our side of the world can do things, can do something like this. Seeing earth from space really changes your perspective on the whole world we havent biologically evolved to see earth from space or, like, from the outside, so when it does happen it breaks the reality. “

And, if you have never thought of what it would be like to live or travel to another planet, it is high time you did that !