Students of the flagship university met with veterans of Baikonur
The meeting was held as part of the celebration of the International Day of Cosmonautics. Alexander Gurov and Alexander Kushnarev from the regional organization of veterans of the Armed Forces Union of Officers told about their experience in the space field.
The dialogue began with watching a film dedicated to the first manned flight into space and that very first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin. From the documentary tape, students learned why Yuri was chosen from all the applicants, and also what difficulties he faced, because in 108 minutes of flight 11 emergencies occurred.
“Gagarin’s flight into space was such an upswing for the whole country,” commented Alexander Kushnaryov, a member of the Belgorod Union of Officers regional organization. - This is a feat of the Soviet people commensurate with the feat during the Great Patriotic War. Because in difficult years, when half of the country was in ruins, we were able to send a man into space. We developed advanced technologies and reached the highest level of production. ”
Alexander Kushnaryov told students about the special mentality of the Soviet man, his love for the Motherland, pride in her, patriotism and the burden of work.
After that, we started talking about important and key developments in the space field. One of them was the Buran, a reusable spacecraft capable of delivering various loads into orbit and returning them to Earth. November 15, 1988, he performed a successful orbital flight.
Alexander Gurov, now chairman of the Belgorod regional organization "Union of Officers", 28 years worked as a test engineer, 22 years of which - at the Baikonur cosmodrome. He was preparing to launch "Buran", sent the ship on its first flight. He shared his memories with students, told about interesting moments of work, about what thorough preparation preceded the launch of “Buran”, what difficulties arose. Students saw archival images of the runway, the test team, the ship itself and the cosmodrome.
Alexander Gurov also noted that “Buran” is important not only as a space development. Many technologies have been used for other areas of society. Thus, in the Soviet Union, panel houses appeared, a new system of urban lighting, thanks to the work of Soviet scientists on the spacecraft.