Russia-India ties in space exploration marked at the RCSC in New Delhi

Source: RCSC

The 50^th anniversary of the first space walk and the 40^th anniversary of the Russia-India cooperation in the field of space explorationwere markedat an auspicious function organised at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture (RCSC) in New Delhi on March 17, 2015.

The function comprised the multi-media presentation “Alexei Leonov: First 5 minutes in space”, and the screening of the documentary film “Cosmodrome Vostochny”. The programme devoted to the anniversaries continued on March 18 with the screening of the film “9 Minutes before Space”.

Source: RCSC

Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, born in 1934, on March 18, 1965, became the first human to conduct extra vehicular activity exiting the capsule during the Voskhod-2 mission for a 12-minutes space walk. Leonov was awarded with the Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Friendship, Order of Lenin, Order of Red Star, and several others honours.

The Chief Guest of the event, Mr. C. B. Devgun, President, Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE), addressing the gathering dwelt at length upon the decades-long Russia-India cooperation in the field of space exploration. He made particular emphasis on the landmark achievement of Alexei Leonov for his maiden space walk. He focussed on the significance of space medicine for the development of which Russia has made important contribution. Mr. Devgun recalled his visit to the Star City during his visit to Russia. He also made a special note of appreciation on the research projects being undertaken by Russia in the sphere of space.

C. B. Devgun. Source: RCSC

Earlier, Alexander Zhmyrev, Head of the Science and Technology Section of the RCSC, made the lecture-cum-demonstration on the Soviet/Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who accomplished the first space walk.

Alexander Zhmyrev noted that Russia and India are focussing on forging and developing cooperation in space monitoring and in the field of training forces to respond to emergency situation. In this context, he referred to the just-concluded third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in the Japanese city of Sendai following within the framework of which it emerged that Russian Emergency Situation Ministry and India’s Ministry of Home Affairs are planning to bolster cooperation in the development of space monitoring systems and carry out joint training of rescue teams.

Alexander Zhmyrev. Source: RCSC

While the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation  said that combining the potentials of Russia and India would create such technologies, and our cooperation would be useful and constructive, the Indian Home Ministry noted that Russia and India must join efforts to develop space monitoring, adding that Indian side would like to learn from the Russian side in the field of rescue infrastructure.

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