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Dear Dr Martynov I would now like
to express our great appreciation of your contribution to our Saturday
events. There is no doubt
that your participation was instrumental in attracting more visitors than
ever before to our National Science Week program and, in particular, in
reaching out to many people who had not participated in National Science
Week in previously years. Our programme overall, attracted over 23,000
visits and 24% of our visitors were new to Science Week. Your audience on
Saturday very much enjoyed your presentation and you certainly enthused
them all with the excitement of space travel. Linton Village College have
also asked me to convey to you their grateful appreciation. The children
were fascinated to meet you and your visit was described as 'absolutely
brilliant'. I enclose details
of press coverage of the whole week's activities including your visit and
some photographs. I am still trying to obtain copies of the photographs
which appeared in the local newspaper and will forward them to you. Some
digital photographs were taken outside Kings College and I have asked a
colleague to forward them to you by e-mail. Once again, thank
you very much indeed for participating in our programme. Yours sincerely, DR LYNNE HARRISON C O L L E G E DERBY ALEXANDER MARTYNOV Back in 1996, we
received a letter from Russia, via the Mayor of Derby's office, inviting
us to establish links with the City of Korolev, the famous Star City, just
outside Moscow; we did not quite appreciate the exciting times ahead. The author of the
letter was Alexander Martynov, Head of External Relations in the City Of
Korolev, who modestly did not reveal his past exploits and involvement
with the Space Programme. This became more
apparent as our friendship developed and we explored collaborative projects. This is no ordinary
man; he is a distinguished scientist, academic and engineer. He was Head
of Ballistics, involved with nothing less exciting than firing rockets
into orbit. He rubbed shoulders
with distinguished cosmonauts and although he did not float with them in
zero gravity, they depended upon his skills to deliver them safely to their
destination. Through Alexander
Martynov, I have had the privilege and the pleasure of being introduced
to prominent cosmonauts like Vladimir Soloviev and Alexander Volkov. Cosmonaut Vladimir
Soloviev is Director General of flight control for the MIR Station and
for the international Space Station project. Cosmonaut Alexander Volkov
has broken a few records and was decorated for his courage. In January 1997,
Alexander Martynov made his first UK lecture tour and he chose Mackworth
College Derby as a launch pad for this event. Vladimir Soloviev accompanied
him and they both entertained large and diverse audiences with insights
and first hand accounts of life on board the MIR station. Their presence
in the City of Derby and in Derbyshire was greeted with a lot of enthusiasm
and interest from a public that was fascinated by space exploration. Derby became a special
place for Alexander Martynov and his friends from Star City. He paid us
a second visit in 1998, this time with Alexander Volkov and once again
they entertained large audiences with their experience in space. Around 3000 people
attended these lectures and groups of Derbyshire students have had opportunities
to participate in the International Space Olympics in Korolev. Alexander Martynov's
lecture tours are now truly international, as he has entertained audiences
in Tunisia, France, Belgium, USA, to name but a few. We are proud that
Alexander came to Mackworth College Derby for his first UK lecture tour.
We learned a lot from him and we value his friendship. Rafik Sfar-Gandoura
Director-International
Office
PR I NC E CHAR1 E S AVEIM U E
Phone: {250) 763-2417
May 15th, 2000
Attention: Dr. Alexander
Martynov
Dear Dr. Martynov
and Commander Volkov, As Director of the
Kelowna Museum I would like to thank you on behalf of our museum staff
and board of directors for your visit to our city in late March. When we
made the decision to use your lecture series as our millennium project
we had no idea that the end result would be so positive and have such an
impact in our community. The Kelowna Museum
has become well known in our region for innovative programming and your
presentations which were adaptable to a wide variety of audiences helped
us to celebrate the new millennium by taking a look at the history of space
exploration as well as a view into the future. We were particularly
pleased with our audience attendance at the eleven lecture sites and with
the amount of media attention that you received. Lastly, from a personal
perspective we truly appreciated meeting two very gifted gentlemen from
Russia who shared their lives with us and who hopefully left Canada with
the knowledge that they have made some strong Canadian friendships. We would gratefully
recommend your lecture series to any community that is inquiring about
speaking arrangements and if we can be of any service in bringing you back
to Canada again, we look forward to the opportunity. Yours truly, Wayne
Wilson
School of Applied
Sciences
Foreign Relations
Department,
National Science
Week 2000 at the University of Glamorgan Thank you once again
for the lecture tour by yourself and Commander Colonel Alexander Volkov.
The four day visit to Glamorgan during National Science Week resulted in
over 2000 students, school pupils and members of the general public hearing
two of Russia's leading space experts. You were very welcome
and special guests for us. We have had nothing but praise and good reports
from those who came to your lectures. It was particularly exciting for
our students to see what life is like in space and to learn much about
the details of planning and maintaining a space programme. Our sponsors, British
Telecom, Mid Glamorgan Education Business Partnership, South East Wales
TEC, Pontypridd Town Council and the British Association, were very pleased
with the extensive media coverage which included BBC Radio Wales, BBC Wales
Today, BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, as well as Web coverage on BBC
Online (this report can be read at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/wales/newsid_68
1000/68101 4.stm) We thank you very
much for including us in the tour, and would be very happy to accommodate
you again on your next visit. We would also be interested in coming to
see you in Russia some time in the future, perhaps to be involved in the
Space Olympics. Yours sincerely
Mark Brake
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Last week, the first
module of a new Russian-built international space station blasted off from
Kazakhstan paving the way for journeys to Mars and beyond. FAY NAYMAN talks
to Russian cosmonaut, Commander Alexandre Volkov, Hero of the Soviet Union,
director of the Russian space programme and a former commander of the space
laboratory, Mir, and space scientist Dr Alexandre Martynov to find out
its impact on future exploration.
On a cold Friday morning, a 41ft-long space module, built by Russia and owned by the United States, trailblazed into the sky sparking a row over its potential uses and whether the money would have been better spent on the ageing Mir space station. As the first part of the 330ft orbiting space station - named Zarya - reaches its destination, the project is already being criticised for its rising costs, delays, lack of public interest and weak focus. Involving 16 nations and more than 100 different elements, it will take 45 assembly flights to build with more than 100 rocket launches and 160 space walks - totalling more than 1,000 hours - to fit the station together. At an estimated cost of ×60bn, it is a far cry from the ×2bn predicted by Nasa, 30 years ago. However, Commander Alexandre Volkov, now in charge of all Russian cosmonaut training, sees the project as the only way the earth will survive the devastation wreaked upon it by man. Having spent a total of 365 days is space, directing hundreds of biological and physical experiments and seeing the earth from a different view, he is well qualified to comment. "By the year 2006 this new station will be available to accommodate space crews acting as a half way house between Earth and Mars," he said. "This means within our lifetime missions to Mars and beyond will no longer be a dream. "The technology on board can monitor the atmosphere and warn of impending natural disasters like hurricanes and floods and avert massive suffering. "Also, within the next 50 years we will have all our harmful industries that pollute the skies; floating around in space instead of down here. Cmdr Volkov thinks it is ludicrous to believe we are alone in the universe and is sure there are other human-like life-forms way beyond our reach. "We are not alone in this life. We are only one system and I am sure we will find DNA in other stellar systems," he said. Although he does not believe aliens will look like us, he laughs at the idea of green, one-eyed warty monsters as portrayed in comic books and science fiction. Accompanying Cmdr Volkov on a tour of northern colleges and universities, including the Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington, was Dr Alexandre Martynov, a specialist in flight control systems. He was head of ballistics at space mission control from 1968 until 1992 and directly responsible for landing space vehicles on the surfaces of the Moon, Mars and Venus as well as for the safe return of cosmonauts to earth. As chief of foreign relations for the city of Korolev, which houses the base for cosmonaut training and space projects, he has visited many countries to organise international projects. He believes it is important to keep Mir in orbit as a precursor to problems that could occur as the new station ages. "Mir has been in orbit for more than 12 years now and it will be a good idea to continue flights to and from there to monitor how long it can work outside of the atmosphere," he said. But he disagrees with the criticisms that the money should have been spent on Mir and not on a new project. "I think it is good to have two stations. Although there are new scientific devices on board Mir, I think there is much we can learn from the technology bound for use on the Zarya station." On December 3, American space shuttle Endeavour launches the second piece - a 22ft-long connecting unit - to be attached to the module during three space walks, using Endeavour's robot arm. Next July or August, the Russian - built service module, packed with life - support systems, will dock with the station, but the first crews are not expected on board until the end of next year. As the frontiers of space are pushed back further, the half-way house in space will allow future crews to reach Mars in a total of two-and-a-half years. Although Cmdr Volkov is aged 50, he has not hung up his space boots and hopes to match the 77 - year - old former US senator Mr John Glenn, who made his record - breaking flight into space last month - 36 years after being the first American to orbit the earth. Cmdr Volkov says age is not an issue for flying but a fit mind and body are very important. "It is vital to keep fit before and during flights. During my last mission I lost 15pc of red cells in my blood and I have only just managed to regain them. "We also used to lose bone calcium through long periods of weightlessness but now during flights we exercise for 30 minutes a day on treadmills and bikes held down by two rubber straps around our waists.' The effects space has on the mind, says Cmdr Volkov, is the way it changes your philosophy on life, making realise life on earth is so precious. "When you see the earth from way up there you understand there is no difference between countries or people. "Earth is all our homes and we should all be friends. It made me love my land more than I did before," he said. With over 80 different menu choices available for cosmonauts in space, eating well and staying in peak mental and physical condition is no longer a problem. Perhaps it is time to launch some of the world's leaders into space to show them the beauty of our planet and make them understand the consequences for everyone if decisions are made with only a few in mind. |
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Russian cosmonaut Alexander
Volkov has never seen Star Trek but he had some fascinating information
for Derby school children when he visited Derby this week. Sue Williams
asked him about life in space. Russian cosmonaut
Alexander Volkov admits he now views the world in a totally different light
after spending over a year in space looking down on our remarkable planet.
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YOUNGSTERS QUIZ
TOP COSMONAUTS
STARDATE 1997: Mackworth College - The final frontier. This is the story
of two Russian cosmonauts who visited the city this week - and the pupils
from Brackensdale Junior School and Reigate Junior School who boldly went
to meet them. If an astronaut
told you that he believed in aliens you might start taking the X-Files
a bit more seriously. Veteran spaceman
Vladimir Solovev has spent more than a year of his life in space and although
he hasn't actually seen little green men he's sure they are out there somewhere.
These are some
questions asked by children: Robert Molloy
(10) Q. How do you
sleep in space?
Verity Wiles
(11)
Scott Clarke
(11)
Lisa Miles (eight)
Matthew Armstrong
(10)
Heather Gomez
(10)
Jack Coulson
(nine)
Wayne Woodrow
(nine)
Heather Sims
(11)
Lyndsey Sherwin
(10)
Crew's cuddly
addition WHEN the Cosmonauts
leave the city today they will not be alone.
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Cosmonauts have
landed Two of Russia's
leading cosmonauts have landed on Teesside with a ground-breaking mission
to encourage students to take up science.
Probing The visit has
been jointly arranged by Slockton Sixth Form College, Guisborough's Prior
Pursglove College, Darlington's Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, the
Science and Technology Regional Organisation and Teesside University.
Innovative "There are 21
events, illustrated by video clips from the space programme, scale models
and artefacts." he said.
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McNeese engineering
students Monday heard a firsthand account of life on the Russian MIR Space
Station.
Russian cosmonaut Col. Alexandr Volkov, a veteran of three tours of duty on the space station, presented the program in the McNeese Alumni Center. He was accompanied by Alexandr Martynov, chief of foreign relations department for the administration of the city of Korolev. He served as interpreter for Volkov and gave a brief history of space exploration. The Russians are touring the United States to talk about the Russian space program and the 40th anniversary of the first Sputnik flight. Volkov said he was born in 1948 and attended the Russian military aviation school. He then became an instructor at the school and also spent eight years as a test pilot, during which time he tested about 30 new airplanes. He was awarded his nation's highest honor, "Hero of the Soviet Union". In 1976 he was invited to attend cosmonaut school, which takes two years. He then took part in the Russian space shuttle program until it was canceled, then joined the space station program. Volkov used videos taken on MIR to show the engineering students what life is like on the space station. He said it takes two days to reach MIR, which currently is manned by two cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut. Volkov said the routine includes performing various experiments and engaging in physical activities to keep muscles toned. He said the cosmonauts spend 30 minutes a day on an exercise bicycle and run in place. The cosmonaut showed a typical space meal, which included canned fish, cheese, tea and bread. They also have learned to cut each other's hair. "I'm a good barber now," he said in Russian. He also showed, on the video, the sleeping quarters and toilet facilities on the MIR. Recreation included playing a guitar and singing. The tours of duty last for six months. Volkov said in the 12-year history of the MIR, the space station has had two fires and two collisions. He said MIR will operate for two more years before it will be replaced by a joint Russian-American space station, which is being built now in Russia. The new space station will also have elements supplied by Japan, Europe and Canada. He said it will be able to accommodate six cosmonauts and astronauts. Martynov is the former head of the Ballistics Department of Control Center, which was responsible for the process of landing space vehicles on the surface of the Earth and other planets. He outlined the history of space exploration, beginning with the Russian satellite Sputnik in 1957, and the American Explorer in 1958. Martynov said future space efforts will require international cooperation. He expects future ventures into outer space to include the new international space station and exploring other planets. Another future project is the creation of a space launching facility on the equator, which he said would allow for a 20 percent increase in pay load. He said the future will also see such developments as power stations orbiting the Earth. |
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The most highly
decorated cosmonaut with the Russian Space Agency visited SSC on March
30 to speak of his experiences in space aboard the Russian space station
Mir.
Col. Alexander Volkov, commander of the cosmonauts team at the Cosmonauts Training Center in Russia, gave a lively presentation to SSC employees and students from local high schools in the Visitors Center auditorium. His comments were interpreted by Alexandr Martynov, chief of the Foreign Relations Department of the City of Korolev, Moscow Region, in Russia. "The Russians are great space pioneers," SSC Director Roy Estess said. "One of the great things about the state of the world today is our ability to reach out and work with our Russian colleagues in the space program." Volkov's visit was part of the Russian Space Exploration Program, during which he spent a week making presentations in Louisiana at schools, libraries, civic clubs and other organizations. During his presentation, Volkov outlined the history and development of the Russians' work in space exploration. Videos and still photographs taken aboard Mir showed experiments that were conducted with water and fire in a zero-g environment. Volkov also showed pictures of the damage to Mir caused when the resupply spacecraft collided with the Spektr module on June 25, 1997. About 60 students from Hancock High School, Bay High School, Picayune High School and Pearl River Central High School attended the presentation. Among the students was Yuliya Chernova, a Russian exchange student at Hancock. Chernova had the chance to meet Volkov, something she had wanted to do for a long time. In fact, it was the first time she had ever met a cosmonaut. Volkov was a cosmonaut researcher on board the orbital research complex Sojuz T-14, Salut 7 in 1985. He also served as chief of the Soviet-French program team on board Mir from Nov. 28, 1988 to April 27, 1989. His third flight aboard Mir was from Oct. 2, 1991 to March 25, 1992. Volkov was conferred the rank of a Hero of the Soviet Union and Space Pilot of the USSR. He was also decorated by Order of Lenin, Order of October Revolution and received a Golden Star medal for courage and heroism shown during his flights. |
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Three Russian cosmonauts
chose Lafayette as the only American city to visit as part of the Russian
Space Education Program.
The cosmonauts, Alexander Martynov, Vladimir Lobachev and Vladimir Soloviev held a press conference Monday at the Hotel Acadiana. "We are all quite old now and looking for new people to continue," Lobachev said with the help of an interpreter. "We love your city for educational purposes because it's located very well between two space centers: Houston and Florida". Philippe Gustin, Le Centre International Director, said Lafayette was also selected because Martynov had been to Lafayette twice before and wanted to return. Martynov, Lobachev and Soloviev are talking to local middle and high school students for the next two weeks about their space achievements. Carencro High was visited Monday by the cosmonauts. There the cosmonauts showed a video they made while on the space station Mir. In the video, the cosmonauts explain physics and biology experiments. "We saw students very much interested and asked questions," Lobachev said. "When we meet with students we watched their eyes light up." Lobachev helped design space vehicles and works for Russian Space Mission Control. Soloviev was the first cosmonaut to fly to the space station Mir. He was also part of the Salyut-7 space station crew. Now he is flight control director for Mir. Martynov planned the landing of unmanned probes to Mars, Venus and the Moon. He is now the Head of Foreign Relations for the City of Korolev in the Moscow Region of Russia. Also in town for the press conference was NASA Astronaut Jim Halsell. Halsell was a pilot in the STS-74 mission between the space shuttle and Mir. He returned an Acadian flag he brought last year into space. The flag was signed by the crew of the space shuttle and Mir. The flag was one of 20 items Halsell, a Louisiana native, was allowed to bring into space. Mayor Kenny Bowen, who was on hand to receive the flag, said he will hang it in a prominent spot in City Hall. During the joint space mission between the Russians and NASA, the space shuttle brought cargo to the cosmonauts on Mir, according to Halsell. Most of the people on the mission were former active duty military officers, who 10 years ago were waiting to go to war with one another, he added. The mission signified how much the world has changed for the better, he continued. Halsell and the other NASA astronauts were in space for eight days as compared to Soloviev and the cosmonauts who stayed in space for eight months. "That should give you an idea of how developed the Russians are with space endurance," Halsell said. Other presentations the cosmonauts are scheduled to make include Doing Business with Russia at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Le Centre International at 735 Rue Jefferson. |
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LAFAYETTE - Space
isn't just the final frontier.
It's the newest marketplace. From 1968 through 1992, Alexander Martynov was head of the Ballistics Department of the Russian space program. As the head of that department he was responsible for the process of landing of space vehicles on Mars and Venus. This past week
he and Col. Alexander Volkov have been touring Acadiana answering questions
about the Russian space program and space exploration in general. Martynov is now
the chief of foreign relations for the Korolev and Volkov, who has spent
391 days in space, is commander of cosmonauts at the Cosmonauts Training
Center. The two were
visiting Acadiana as part of a program sponsored by several organizations
and businesses. For Martynov, the next big step in the exploration and
commercialization of space is the International Space Station. "The first module
will be launched from Russia later this year", Martynov said. Construction
of the first international outpost in space will begin and by the end of
the year, he said, the first crew of two cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut
will be onboard. The first module
of the space station has been built in Russia and will be launched from
a Russian spaceport. The U.S. will send most of its modules for the station
into orbit onboard space shuttles. "It will take
about two-and-a-half years to complete construction of the space station,"
Martynov said. Within 15 years, he said, new industries will be developing
in space onboard the space station. "The first things
we will learn will be about new materials that we can manufacture in space,"
Martynov said. Among those new materials are medicines, building materials
as well as medical knowledge about how humans react to long-term periods
of weightlessness. "That will help
us get ready for missions to Mars," Martynov said. "A trip to Mars and
back will take about three years. There are thousands of experiments waiting
for us up in space. "The more we
learn about how humans react in space, the better for us. I don't know
when, but I do know that we will soon have men on Mars and then an outpost." He said that
with the recent discovery of ice on the moon, that will help push the nations
of the Earth to speeding up efforts to land men back on the lunar surface. "The ice can
be used for fuel and oxygen," he said. "It gives us the materials we need
to survive and to go even further." Martynov said
the only way space can be opened for commercial possibilities is through
"an international effort with the nations working together." Before that,
though, Martynov said Russian companies, working with a firm in the Ukraine
and the U.S. Boeing Co. are collaborating on a project called the Sea Launch
Program. Martynov said
the companies involved in this project will use offshore platforms that
have been towed to a position near the equator. From there, they will be
used to launch commercial satellites and spacecraft into orbit. By launching
from the equator, Martynov said, "we will be able to increase the payload
by almost 20 percent." He explained that it is easier to reach a Near Earth
Orbit from the equator because of the way the planet's gravitational field
is affected by centrifugal force of the Earth's spinning on its axis. "Space is the
new marketplace," Martynov said. "There is a lot of interest in commercial
launches and the exploration of space and that interest is growing and
I do not see it stopping." |