MINSK, 27 September (BelTA) – During a meeting with students in BSUIR Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko was asked whether to expect a new selection of candidates for space travel as it was before the flight of Marina Vasilevskaya, the first cosmonaut in the history of sovereign Belarus, BelTA learned.
“Vasilevskaya’s flight was the result of my agreement with President Putin. I understand what a flight into space is. It’s a lot of training. It's a lot of money,” the head of state noted.
When asked by one of the female participants of the meeting, Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “It's not a question of getting you into space, I can arrange for you to join the squad of cosmonauts. But you will fly, maybe, in 11 or 12 years. This is the way things are done. This is how cosmonauts are trained. It's all about time, time, time... Well, you'll have a slight advantage because you're a girl. After all, there are practically no women in the Russian cosmonaut program”.
“Vasilevskaya’s flight was the result of my agreement with President Putin. I understand what a flight into space is. It’s a lot of training. It's a lot of money,” the head of state noted.
When asked by one of the female participants of the meeting, Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “It's not a question of getting you into space, I can arrange for you to join the squad of cosmonauts. But you will fly, maybe, in 11 or 12 years. This is the way things are done. This is how cosmonauts are trained. It's all about time, time, time... Well, you'll have a slight advantage because you're a girl. After all, there are practically no women in the Russian cosmonaut program”.
The president said that when Belarus was planning the first flight, the idea was to send a female representative. A selection was carried, as a result of which Marina Vasilevskaya flew into space. “It was an exception. Whether you fly depends on your abilities. Of course, I will provide my support. But this will take years. It is you who will have to work on a certain [scientific] program: either you will breed cockroaches there, roughly speaking, or grow plants at the station. It will already be a specific program. And it will take years.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that a cosmonaut is a profession and requires professional growth. “He who strives for their goal will achieve it sooner or later,” the president assured.
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