Samara University’s Youth Aerospace School (YAS) held an annual drawing contest and the Research and Practice Conference “Lunokhod-1”. These formats help pupils of the 5th–11th grades to convey their interest in outer space through creativity and their first scientific research. The YAS is also part of the Roscosmos space classes as some room where children can learn everything about aerospace areas even before entering the University.
The winners’ drawings were signed by six Russian cosmonauts at once. Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Petr Dubrov, Sergey Korsakov, Sergey Prokopiev, Mikhail Kornienko and Oleg Artemiev left their autographs on the children’s works. This became an important gesture for the students: the cosmonauts saw their works and supported the pupils who just began to be interested in space subjects. This warm response has brought closer together two generations – those who explore outer space today and those who dream of doing so in the future.
The drawing contest and the Conference “Lunokhod-1” complement each other: the younger participants start with creative works, the older ones conduct research, get to know the University and try themselves in engineering and scientific fields. Many students who participated in school projects in grades 5–7 later choose Samara University’s specialized courses – aerospace technology, IT, instrumentation engineering, etc.
Tatiana Starostina, Deputy Director of the Youth Aerospace School, specialist in educational and methodological work at the Institute of Aerospace Engineering, notes, “Having seen the signed drawings for the first time, we were genuinely happy for the pupils. For schoolchildren, such moments turn into motivation: this is an opportunity to feel like a part of a great cosmic story, to see that their interest in science and technology is noticed and supported. We observe how after the competitions and classes at the School, the children’s ideas about what they want to do next become much clearer”.
Every year, the number of students at the Youth Aerospace School increases, and more and more of its graduates are enrolled in specialized areas of Samara University. The early interest in outer space gradually turns into a conscious choice of future profession.
