Twelve cosmonauts from Russia, Sweden, Germany and the USA will visit the Belarusian State University on September 12.

This is the first large-scale visit of famous astronauts to the leading university in the country. It is organized in the framework of the 31st International Congress of the Association of Space Flight Participants. Among the guests were Valery Tokarev, Anton Shkaplerov, Victor Savinykh (Russia); Christer Fuglesang (Sweden); Gerhard Thiele (Germany); Kevin Ford, Shannon Lucid, Gregory Olsen, Loren Acton, Jeffrey Hoffman, Anna Lee Fisher, Mario Runco (USA).

During the event there will be meetings with students, teachers and scientists of six faculties: mechanical-mathematical, biological, physical, chemical, geographical, radiophysics and computer technologies. Also guests will meet members of the Institute of Applied Physical Problems. A.N. Sevchenko.

The famous guests will get acquainted with the achievements of the university in the space sphere, discuss prospects for the development of space research, hold open lectures. During the conversation, participants will learn about the necessary skills,

knowledge and education that an astronaut should have, perspective aerospace technologies, the role of international cooperation in space exploration, possible discoveries in the field of studying the universe, etc. Speeches of cosmonauts will be related to the particularities of educational and scientific activities of the BSU units. For example, the Faculty of Geography will be visited by Mario Ranko, who holds a bachelor's degree in meteorology and physical oceanography. For a long time he worked as a scientific expert in Earth exploration and planetology. After the meetings everyone can get an autograph and take part in a photoshoot.

Reference. The Association of Space Flight Participants (ASE) is an international non-profit organization, established in 1985 to share experience in the field of manned spaceflight. The International Congress annually gathers astronauts and representatives of scientific research institutions and national space agencies. The 31st International Congress is held in Minsk on 9-15 September.