Post by kerouac2 on Oct 15, 2017 14:44:31 GMT
This is a quite private club about which I had never heard, because it is reserved for astronauts, cosmonauts, spationauts and taikonauts from the 37 countries that have sent a person into space: Afghanistan, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, China, Cuba, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam. Each member has to have completed at least one orbit around the planet, which means about 400 people on the planet.
I almost certainly would never have learned of its existence, except for seeing a French article that 110 members are gathering in Toulouse next week for the 30th congress of the association, which was created in 1985. It was inspired by a Romanian cosmonaut (Dorin Prunariu, Soyuz 40, 1981) who got together with Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts who wanted to discuss their problems and experiences outside of a government structure. The first meeting involved 25 men from 13 countries and has grown ever since. Currently, one of the principal objectives of the association is educational with the hope of creating vocations among young people. Obviously, "space explorers" know they have experienced one of the most incredible things currently available to the human race, and they are all totally dismayed at how the world has turned away from space exploration even though it was so important in the 1960's and 1970's.
Buzz Aldrin (one of the six moonwalkers still alive) had to cancel due to health issues, but Alexeï Leonov, the first spacewalker in 1965 will be there at age 83. Claudie Haigneré and Julie Payette will be there to share memories of when they were new mothers and shared the same nanny when they were at Star City in Moscow. Julie Payette has just become Governor General of Canada. American Scott Kelly will also be there; he spent almost a year in space. All of the spacepeople will be staying at the same hotel in Toulouse because they want to spend at much time with each other as possible. People who were part of the same space mission have even stronger ties with each other and need to talk about their shared experiences. The biggest star in France is the most recent spationaut, Thomas Pesquet, who turned out to be a total expert in the use of every medium imaginable. He is an Air France pilot when earthbound. That's another thing that is important to the participants -- the fact that the military no longer controls the space programmes and that doctors, geologists, biologists and other scientists now make up the crews.
Perhaps Donald Trump should be sent into space, because all of these people are extremely concerned with the ecology of the planet. They have seen the fragility of the atmosphere, the deforestation of the Amazon, the evaporation of the Aral Sea and all sorts of incidents of smoke and haze covering the populated areas.
Why Toulouse? Because it is the home of the Cité de l'espace, the principal space museum of Europe. And it is also the location of the biggest share of the space industry on the continent. For this event, tickets have been sold for "only" 20,000 visitors because the site cannot accommodate more people. I am just happy that every now and there there is good news to report rather than the usual shit.
