Space Exploration - The Times Of Central Asia

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Uzbekkosmos and NASA Unite for World Space Week Celebrations in Uzbekistan

The Uzbekkosmos agency has announced a series of events in celebration of World Space Week, which will take place in Uzbekistan from October 4 to 10. This global event, commemorated in nearly 100 countries, was established by a UN General Assembly resolution in 1999, recognizing the importance of space exploration. As part of the World Space Week festivities, Uzbekkosmos is launching several major initiatives. A key highlight is a special exhibition on space history at the Tashkent City Mall Trade and Entertainment Center, which will open its doors on October 4. In addition, on October 5 and 6, Uzbekkosmos, in collaboration with NASA, will host the NASA Space Apps Challenge 2024 hackathon. This event will take place at the Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent, where over 200 young innovators, organized into approximately 40 teams, will showcase their creative projects.

Science International Cooperation Baikonur Space Exploration International Space Station NASA Roscosmos

Crew of Record-Breaking Cosmonauts Land in Kazakh Steppe

The descent vehicle of the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft has successfully landed in the steppe of Kazakhstan, near the town of Zhezkazgan. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson were on board. Cosmonauts Kononenko and Chub spent 374 days in space, making their mission one of the longest in International Space Station (ISS) history. This is second only to the flights of Valery Polyakov and Sergey Avdeev, who spent 438 and 380 days in space, respectively, on the Mir station. Tracy Dyson stayed in orbit for 184 days. During their mission, Kononenko and Chub participated in several scientific experiments, took four Progress MS cargo ships, and conducted two spacewalks. The flight was an important contribution to the development of applied and fundamental research on the ISS. The spacecraft landed yesterday at 14:59, Moscow time. Kononenko and Chub's flight was a significant event for the space programs of Roscosmos and NASA. Despite completing their mission, the crew of the 72nd long-duration expedition, including Russian and American cosmonauts and astronauts, continues to work on the ISS. The station crew includes Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin, Ivan Wagner, and Alexander Grebenkin, and NASA astronauts Donald Pettit, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, Barry Wilmore, and Sunita Williams. The International Space Station (ISS) is one of mankind's most impressive engineering projects. It was launched in 1998, and is the product of 16 countries. The station revolves around the Earth every 90 minutes, allowing the crew to observe 16 sunrises and sunsets daily. In addition, the ISS is the largest object ever built in space, measuring about 109 meters long. The ISS is also considered the most expensive object built by humans, costing an estimated $120 billion by 2014, alone. According to NASA, the ISS "costs about $3 billion a year, roughly a third of NASA’s annual human space flight budget."

Space Exploration CIS International Cooperation Space Science

Uzbekistan to Head CIS Interstate Space Council

Uzbekistan will head the Interstate Space Council of CIS countries for 2024-2025, and Shukhrat Kadirov, Director of the Uzbekcosmos agency, was unanimously elected as the council chairman. This decision was made at the Fifth Council meeting, which was held in Tashkent. According to CIS rules, the council's chairmanship is passed alphabetically between the participating countries; Tajikistan held the previous chairmanship. Kadirov proposed enhancing cooperation in space education and initiating joint projects to train young specialists. He also noted that the council faces ambitious tasks, including coordinating within the UN and deepening cooperation in space technologies. In August this year, Uzbekistan announced its accession to the 1967 treaty on the exploration and use of space. It was also reported that Uzbekistan will not send weapons of mass destruction into space; the country has advocated reducing the risk of space militarization. The CIS Interstate Space Council is an organization established to coordinate the efforts of CIS countries in space activities. The Council deals with space research, technological developments, and the implementation of joint projects in the space sphere. The organization's importance lies in strengthening cooperation between the countries in using space technologies for scientific research, communications, and navigation. The Council also works on coordination within international organizations such as the UN.

Space Exploration Baikonur

Latest Baikonur Space Launch Helps to Set a Record

It seemed almost routine: One American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts traveling to the International Space Station in a Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After all, the Russian-run facility in a remote, barren part of the Central Asian country has been a mainstay of travel to the station for many years. But the three-hour trip on the Soyuz on Wednesday made some space history, increasing the total number of people currently in Earth’s orbit to a record of 19. The previous record of 17 was set last year. The trip brings the number of people currently on the International Space Station to 12, including seven Americans and five Russians, according to NASA. The group will get a little smaller on Sept. 23, when one American and two Russians are scheduled to depart. There are also three people on China’s space station and four people led by billionaire Jared Isaacman on the five-day Polaris Dawn mission, for a total of 19. The new arrivals at the International Space Station are NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. They’ll spend about six months in space and return to Earth in the spring of 2025. It’s the fourth trip to space for Pettit and Ovchinin and the second for Vagner. NASA and Roscosmos currently have a “cross-flights” deal involving travel to and from the International Space Station for three Russian cosmonauts on the U.S. Crew Dragon spacecraft and three U.S. astronauts on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The two space agencies are working on extending the agreement beyond the spring of 2025, the Russian news agency Interfax reported in a story with a Baikonur dateline. It quoted Kenneth Bowersox, NASA associate administrator for space operations. The joint missions are one of the rare areas of collaboration between Russia and the United States at a time of heightened tension over the Ukraine war.

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Unveiling the Magic: Behind the Scenes of “Baikonur”

Space continues to capture our imagination and inspire our stories, as we try to make sense of this vast final frontier. In the last part of our series on Baikonur, we explore its depiction within cinema. In 2011, German filmmaker, Veit Helmer released Baikonur, a story about space, scavenging and misguided love that was shot within the region. TCA spoke to him about filming in this heavily restricted landscape. TCA: What was the inspiration behind your film, Baikonur? What drew you to this subject matter? Helmer: I was fascinated by the actual place, or what I knew about it; a hidden city with such a glorious past. Whilst researching, I found out about the scavengers who collect the pieces which fall on the steppe when the rockets are heading to space. To tell both stories at the same time intrigued me: space exploration and hunting for scrap metal. TCA: Given you also directed Absurdistan and Tuvalu, would it be fair to say you’re drawn to far-flung places? Helmer: Yes, I love to explore and find locations which haven’t been filmed before. But compared to the locations of my previous films - Tuvalu, which was shot in Bulgaria, and Absurdistan, which was shot in Azerbaijan - to travel to Baikonur was a much longer journey. [caption id="attachment_21684" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Still from the film, "Baikonur," Alexander Asochakov as "Gagarin" leaving, villagers standing near yurt; image: Veit Helmer[/caption] TCA: As stated in the tagline of your film, “Whatever falls from heaven, you may keep. So goes the unwritten law of the Kazakh seppe. A law avidly adhered to by the inhabitants of a small village, who collect the space debris that falls downrange from the nearby Baikonur space station.” The village scavengers portrayed in your film are based in reality; how did you find out about them, and what was your experience with them? Helmer: It was very funny reading the first review from Kazakhstan, where a young journalist wrote that the film is based on the old Kazakh law “Whatever falls from heaven, you may keep,” which in reality was an invention by my screenwriter, Sergey Ashkenazy. But as this fable seems to feel so real, I never tried to dispel that myth. When writing the screenplay, Sergey and me went to Zheskaskan and the surrounding steppe, talking to the hunters of the scrap metal. It was not an ideal moment, because Roscosmos started to collect the debris themselves and the local villagers’ activity became illegal. The new reality was not villages against each other, but villagers against Roscosmos. [caption id="attachment_21685" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Still from the film, "Baikonur," Alexander Asochakov as "Gagarin" (center) cleaning assembly hall in Baikonur ; image: Veit Helmer[/caption] TCA: As a Western filmmaker you were granted a unique opportunity to film within Baikonur - what did you observe of the landscape? What were the highlights of this experience? Helmer: There was a saying among the early cosmonauts that the Central Asian steppe was for them...

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Blast off to Baikonur: A Space Tourist’s Odyssey

Space tourism is a growing industry, with visitors to Baikonur attending launches, especially missions to the International Space Station. The town is a leased Russian enclave ensconced within Kazakhstan, including the cosmodrome which is controlled by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. After NASA ended its Space Shuttle program in 2011, Baikonur became the only launch site to the International Space Station (ISS) until 2020. Now, 60 years after space travel began, it still remains an important gateway to the stars. As described by Megan Eaves, “Baikonur is in many ways a perfect relic of the Soviet 1960s. Stoic mosaics depicting muscular comrades heralding a new era of space still decorate entrance gates and the walls of the town's functional, Brutalist apartment blocks, which once housed construction workers, aerospace engineers and space families. Inside the cosmodrome, crumbling hangars stand side-by-side next to the original, minimalist cottages where Yuri Gagarin and the early cosmonauts slept.” [caption id="attachment_21654" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Statue of Yuri Gagarin in the town of Baikonur, Kazakhstan; image: Ric Gazarian[/caption] Near a hotel where visitors stay is Cosmonaut’s Alley, a path in a wooded area surrounded by trees planted by all those who launched into space from Baikonur. The first tree that greets visitors is Yuri Gagarin’s from 1961. Continuing our coverage of Baikonur, TCA spoke to renowned travel blogger, Ric Gazarian, who in 2018 witnessed the MS-08 launch which sent three men on the 55th expedition to the ISS. TCA: Your blogs about your experience at Baikonur contain a lot of history on the Russian space program; where and when did you find out about Baikonur and the space program? Was there anything in particular that piqued your interest? Gazarian: There wasn’t a specific moment, but I’ve been intrigued by space travel since I was a kid. NASA is exceedingly cool and fascinating, and so is Roscosmos, but with the addition of the exoticness from a Western perspective. The history and rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union’s space program is so rich. So, when I found out about the opportunity to visit Baikonur and witness a space launch, it was immediately added to my bucketlist. It was this unique opportunity to witness firsthand Soviet/Russian space traditions. The added bonus is so few people make the effort to visit. [caption id="attachment_21619" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Museum in the Chelomey International Space School, Baikonur, Kazakhstan; image: Ric Gazarian[/caption] TCA: You stated that “This was not your typical tourist trip to Paris…This was a group of space geeks and Soviet fan boys.” Which one are you? Gazarian: A little bit of both. One experience we had was watching the cosmonauts leave their quarantine hotel and board the bus to take them for their final preparations before the launch. A crowd of a couple of hundred people had circled their bus; it was a rock star moment. To know these guys were soon to be launched into space touches you emotionally. And yes, this is a dream come true for Soviet...