Outer space makes us realize that our Universe is huge and unattainable and man on the Earth is infinitely small and in order not to feel insignificant he needs love and friends. On July 7, 2005, the Russian Cultural and Information Center invited friends to present a unique photo exhibition of the Bulgarian pilot r. o. Karamfil Stamenkov, who has been collecting various facts about the events in the sky for 50 years. The exhibition became an occasion for a meeting between the people from the glorious Bulgarian era in aviation and space, including the Bulgarian astronaut Georgi Ivanov. Special guest at the event was the Russian pilot-astronaut Valery Korzun.

The guest from space

Major-General Valery Korzun, hero of Russia, knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor (France), recipient of Space Flight and Public Service medals from NASA. He is in the astronauts’ squad since 1987. He made two record flights in terms of length. In 1997, as captain of the orbital complex Mir he spent 197 days in orbit. In 2001, he headed a six-month expedition of the International Space Station. He walked in space four times. At the moment he is first deputy head of the Astronauts Training Center.

Valery Korzun arrived in Bulgaria at the invitation of the federation “Union of the Compatriots” and had meetings in different cities in the country. At the cocktail in the Russian Cultural and Information Center he was surrounded by the special attention of people interested in space and willing to get firsthand information on the problems and the world achievements in this field. Some of them expressed regret from the interference of space structures in natural processes, more specifically the launching of the NASA space probe to the Temple-1 comet. The astronaut answered: “I don’t welcome the human interference in natural processes. In his striving for survival, man destroys the water, the atmosphere, etc. There were projects of dumping radioactive waste on the Moon. But I think the concrete event is one of the symbols of progress. It is not easy to hit a bullet with another bullet. The comet and the space probe launched from the Earth met. Sooner or later the Earth might be threatened by a crash with a celestial body and we have to be prepared for this.”

Because he is known for having studied English in space, Valery Korzun shared his experience. With these activities he made good publicity for his friend who is head of the Center for Language Psychology. Later other astronauts also studied foreign languages during the physical training or relaxation. According to Korzun, this method allowed one to learn even the most difficult language or dialect in only three weeks following an individual program in accordance with one’s psychological characteristics.

During a cocktail on an occasion like this, it is completely relevant to talk about the food in space. On the Earth the real gourmets indulge themselves in many ways, the yogis appease their hunger with a walnut. But there are no limitations in space. It is agreed that at the moment there are Russian and American meals in equal parts. But the difference in the nutrition habits and traditions is obvious. The Americans prefer hamburgers, while the Russian astronauts cannot live without borshch. Otherwise, the food on the ship is tasty and earthly: chicken and rice, lamb with vegetables, fish, omelet with plums and many other things according to the personal taste.

Recalling the flights of the Bulgarian astronauts, Major-General Korzun said that now the international space partnership is implemented through the international space station by 16 countries, among which Russia, the USA, Canada, Japan, and by the European Space Agency.

Of course the interest in the latest topics was huge – the flights to Mars and space tourism. The guests learned that in the autumn an American tourist will fly in space and a Japanese tourist will fly in the spring of next year. Those willing to set foot on the red planet first have to prove they can spend 500 days together in a model of the spaceship on the Earth. The first observations show that this is quite hard both biologically and psychologically.

The members of the international crews certainly have a lot of differences in their attitude to the facts of life but the sense of humor is evidently one of the compulsory qualities of any astronaut. Attacked by journalists and guests, the Bulgarian and the Russian astronauts couldn’t talk much to each other. At the end of the cocktail, Valery Korzun asked: “Do you know what is the occupational disease of the astronauts?” “A corn on the tongue,” Georgi Ivanov answered laughing.

Svetlana Tyutyundjieva