First-Ever Visit of a Cosmonaut to UA Includes Presentation for Public

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Two visitors from Russia, cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and space technologist Alexandre Martynov, will visit The University of Alabama campus to give a presentation on the Russian space program titled “From MIR to Mars” on Monday, Feb. 11, from 6-7:30 p.m. in 126 H. M. Comer Hall. This will be the first time that a Russian astronaut has visited UA.

Admission to the event is free, and the public is invited to attend. The lectures are designed to share information with the local audience about space travel and life on a space station, and to stimulate children to extend their knowledge of science and engineering.

Topics will include: living and working on the MIR space station, space technologies in our lives, science labs in space, and the history and future of space exploration. Videos, photos and objects from both the Russian and American space programs will be included in the presentation, and time will be provided for attendees to meet and talk with the visitors.

Vinogradov spent several months on board the Russian space station MIR, and has logged 25 hours of space-walk time. He currently works for a rocket and space corporation in Korolev, Russia, and is in training for future space missions.

Martynov worked in the Russian Mission Control Centre as head of the ballistics department for nearly 30 years and is now a director of foreign relations for the Administration of Korolev. He designed re-entry modules and controlled their flights to provide soft landings on the Earth, Mars, Venus and other planets of the Solar system, and is the author of 120 scientific articles and six books on spacecraft motion control and planetary atmospheres.

The presentation is sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in partnership with the UA College of Engineering and College of Education. For more information, contact Dr. Michael Freeman, associate professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics and coordinator of the event, at 205/348-7304; or visit the “Lectures of Russian Cosmonauts” Web site, at www.spacedu.org.