MINSK, 29 March (BelTA) – Belarus’ first woman cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya and Oleg Novitsky, currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS), communicated with children who gathered in the Mission Control Center in Korolyov, Russia on 28 March, BelTA has learned.
The children asked the cosmonauts if they were superstitious, if the ISS had its own vegetable garden, what astronauts ate and how they rested. Taking part in the session were the winners of the children's drawing contest Glorious Pages of the History of the Fraternal Peoples of Belarus and Russia - We are Together. Many works were devoted to the space theme. The children brought the best drawings to show to the cosmonauts via video link.
More than 30 boys and girls came to communicate with the cosmonauts. The video link with the ISS lasted less than 30 minutes.
“Everything is completely different here in space. Everything is new to me,” Marina Vasilevskaya said answering the children’s questions. “We are busy with our everyday working routine, conducting experiments, photographing the Earth. We have been trained to do this. It is still a little difficult for me to get used to zero gravity. The coordination of movement can be unstable at turns, especially if you accelerate and fly through the module.”
Marina Vasilevskaya is set to have a radio link with the Earth on 29 March. Specialists of the Radiophysics and Computer Technologies Faculty of Belarusian State University will establish a direct signal of communication with the ISS at 17.50 Minsk time at the moment of its flight over Belarus. Students will greet their fellow Belarusian and will speak with the crew of the 21st visiting expedition to the ISS. The link will air live on the BSU YouTube channel.
Marina Vasilevskaya is the first Belarusian cosmonaut in the country’s sovereign history. She arrived at the ISS on 25 March on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft. The crew of the 21st visiting expedition also includes Hero of Russia, pilot-cosmonaut, native of Belarus Oleg Novitsky and American flight engineer, astronaut Tracy Dyson. The crew’s mission will last 12 days on the Russian segment of the ISS.
