Finalists of the “Sputnik” Competition Took Part in the Conference in Baikonur City

On September 7–13, the 27^th International Research and Practice Conference “Rocket Modeling in Aerospace Education of Youth” was held in the city of Baikonur. The large-scale event gathered about 230 participants in the heart of this space harbor, and among them, there are finalists of the All-Russian Competition of Young Researchers-Engineers with International Participation “Sputnik”: Arina Filippova (School No. 121, Samara), Aleksandr Oparin (Aviation Profile Lyceum No. 135 (Basic School of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Samara), Vasily Andreev (Secondary School No. 9, Chapaevsk). The schoolchildren are not just the project winners, but also its ambassadors.

The Conference was hosted by Academician V. N. Chelomey Lyceum International Space School, where the schoolchildren presented their research works on a par with schoolchildren, students, postgraduates from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow Region, Novosibirsk Region, Sverdlovsk Region, the Republic of Belarus in the area “Space. Aviation. Engineering”.

Within the Conference program, schoolchildren had a unique opportunity for getting acquainted with the Baikonur Cosmodrome facilities and directly observe the preparation and the launch of the “Soyuz-2.1a” rocket carrier (RC) with the “Soyuz MS-26” manned spacecraft and the international crew of cosmonauts on board. The launch took place on September 11, from Site No. 31 (the “Vostok” launch complex).

The Conference participants visited the “Soyuz” RC launch complex, the “Zenit” RC rocket and space complex, the Museum of Cosmonautics of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the memorial houses of S. P. Korolev and Yu. A. Gagarin, the “Buran” orbiter, the “Gagarin’s Start” launch complex, the rocket and space complexes of the “N-1” Lunar Rocket and “Energiya – Buran”, the “Energiya” RC launch command centre, the runway of the “Buran” orbiter, the “Proton” rocket and space complex, the “Proton” launch complex and the Cosmonauts Alley.

Besides presentations and educational points of the program, participants were able to communicate with Oleg Germanovich Artemyev, Hero of the Russian Federation, a pilot-cosmonaut of the Russian Federation, the 118^th cosmonaut of Russia / 534^th cosmonaut of the world, and ask him questions. On the day of the launch, the schoolchildren also had the opportunity for communicating and getting autographs from the cosmonauts and astronauts who came to the “Soyuz” RC launch.

“The Baikonur Cosmodrome is full of bright and unforgettable feelings and emotions, it is one of my dreams to have come true, it is inspiration for the whole future life! Every day we visited places iconic for the space history of our country and the entire world. The main purpose of the trip was presenting my report and watching the “Soyuz” RC manned launch, the most incredible and impressive thing I have ever seen. During the trip, I gained a lot of new knowledge, interesting acquaintances and vivid memories. Thank you, Samara University!” shared Arina Filippova, the Conference participant, her impressions.

“I liked everything – from the trip itself to the whole outer space. It was just fantastic, so thank you very much, Samara University! You’ve done everything cosmically! I’m going to enter the University!” said Aleksandr Oparin, a participant of the trip.

“Trips like this – to the Baikonur Cosmodrome play a key role in training future specialists in the rocket and space industry. For schoolchildren, it means the opportunity for watching with their own eyes this powerful scientific testing complex to have been created by the large team of people with technical education; it’s a real miracle of engineering. This is a chance to meet professionals in their field, who are in love with space, to find like-minded people among their peers from other regions. And most importantly, a chance to make own choice regarding the area of training and consider the opportunity for entering the University within the target admission quota provided, for example, by “RCC Progress” JSC or “UEC-Kuznetsov” PJSC. I would like to express special gratitude to Dmitry Vladimirovich Shatalov, Director of the International Space School, Honorary Worker of General Education and Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation, who has been promoting aerospace education for over 30 years”, commented Kristina Vorotyntseva, Deputy Head of the Directorate for Samara University’s Contingent Formation.

It is very soon, when Samara University officially announces the start of the 9^th season of the All-Russian Competition of Young Researchers-Engineers with International Participation “Sputnik”, which, throughout the years, has carried the idea that space begins with a child’s dream, and dreams must come true!

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Today, the Baikonur Cosmodrome is our country’s main space harbor to have opened the way to scientific and technological progress for the world, and the way to outer space – for humanity.

It was this cosmodrome that launched the first Satellite declaring the beginning of the space age. From Baikonur, Yury Gagarin set off on his first space flight in the history of humanity. Rockets-carriers with German Titov, Valentina Tereshkova, Aleksey Leonov, Svetlana Savitskaya and other space heroes of our country on board launched from this cosmodrome.