Romania celebrates 35th anniversary of its only flight to outer space

The Romanian Academy on Monday celebrated the 35th anniversary of the first and the only flight to the outer space of a Romanian, namely cosmonaut Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu.

The anniversary session started by Academy Chairman Ionel-Valentin Vlad, who reviewed the developments in astronautics from the first cosmic flights to today's wide-ranging programs.

He also talked about Romania's contribution to the development of European and international space programs and high tech in the area.

Prunariu, 63, in his speech, talked about the international astronautics cooperation, especially the Interkosmos program, which started in 1967 and put Romania on the world map of astronautics when it adhered to it in 1968, as well as information about the cosmic flight in which he took part in 1981.

Attending the event were also 12 astronauts and cosmonauts from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Russia, Britain and the United States.

In May 1981, Prunariu completed an eight-day space mission on board Soyuz 40 space aircraft and the Salyut-6 orbital space station, together with Russian cosmonaut Leonid Popov and the station team made up of cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalionok and Viktor Savinyh.

The first and the only Romanian cosmonaut is the 103rd human being to fly into the outer space.

In 2011, the Romanian Academy elected Prunariu as an honorary member in recognition of his extraordinary achievement.

(APD)