Touchdown at QE
Two Russian space experts recently visited the College to talk to students about space travel and exploration.
Cosmonaut Alexandre Alexandrov described from first-hand experience the excitement of his missions and living in orbit. His first mission was in 1983 as a flight engineer on Soyuz 9 which docked with the Salyut-7 space station; Alexandrov spent 149 days on the space station during which time he had two walks in space. His second mission in 1987 took him to the Mir Space Station where he worked for 160 days.
Alexandre Alexandrov was accompanied by Alexandre Martynov, an academic who was responsible for landing space vehicles on the surfaces of the Moon, Mars and Venus. He currently works at Starcity, the Russian base for cosmonaut training and space projects, and is involved in the co-ordination of international space projects.
The visit to QE was part of a week-long series of events in the Tees Valley sponsored by a variety of organisations in the area, including the learning & Skills Council, The Ropner Trust, Lucite (Chemicals) and Excellence in Cities. During the week the space experts talked to students and pupils from more than 21 schools and colleges along the Tees Valley and gave three public lectures at the University of Durham.
October 15, 2003