Order and letters of gratitude presented to Roscosmos representatives on behalf of Belarus’ President
The Order and letters of gratitude of the President of Belarus have been presented to the representatives of the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities at a solemn ceremony hosted today by the Embassy of Belarus in Russia, BelTA reports
In accordance with the decisions of Belarus’ President Aleksandr Lukashenko, the Order of Friendship of Peoples has been presented to Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov. In turn, Executive Director for Manned Space Programmes at Roscosmos Sergei Krikalev, test cosmonaut of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre Oleg Novitsky and Head of the Centre Maksim Kharlamov have been honoured with the President’s Gratitude. They were awarded for significant achievements in the field of space activities, a great contribution to scientific research, training of highly qualified personnel, and strengthening international co-operation.
"Co-operation in the field of space has become one of the important stages in building the Union State. On this solemn day, on behalf of the President of the Republic of Belarus, Aleksandr Grigorievich Lukashenko, let me carry out an honourable mission and award the persons who are of great significance for both countries, who made a great contribution to the first flight of Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya and Belarus’ joining the club of space powers," Belarus’ Ambassador to Russia Aleksandr Rogozhnik said at the ceremony.
"Thank you for the recognition of our work. We are very touched," Mr. Borisov said on behalf of all the awardees.
The Roscosmos Director General noted that space exploration plays a special role in co-operation between Belarus and Russia. "We are liaising closely with Belarusian enterprises, and work is underway to create a Russian-Belarusian spacecraft for remote sensing of the Earth. We keep close contacts with our colleagues from the Peleng enterprise, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, and the State Committee for Military Industry. Our co-operation is getting stronger. The flight of the first Belarusian cosmonaut, Marina Vasilevskaya has become a landmark event this year. She passed the training stage with dignity, completed the planned programme, and made a significant contribution to space exploration," he stressed.
"We hope that was not the last flight. We are currently developing a new Russian orbital station, and we really hope that there will be a place for Belarusian cosmonauts there as well. It would be even better if we jointly build a separate Belarusian module as part of our station, which will explore near-Earth space for many years to come,” Mr. Borisov added.
