More details about Belarusian candidates for manned space flight revealed

MINSK, 21 December (BelTA) – Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Vladimir Gusakov talked to reporters about Belarusian candidates for a manned space flight on 21 December, BelTA has learned.

Vladimir Gusakov said: “Preparing our cosmonaut for the flight is a nationwide project. The head of state is the initiator of this project. An entire space industry has been created in Belarus and our president supports it very much. Those, who were born in Belarus, have already flown into outer space but as Russian cosmonauts. Now we've come to a point where we need a cosmonaut of our own. And it was decided that a girl should be the first Belarusian cosmonaut.”

The official also mentioned what criteria the candidates had had to pass to be shortlisted for the space flight. Over 2,000 people enrolled in the program. Girls 22-35 years of age were selected as a result. Their health was scrupulously checked. Apart from that, a girl cosmonaut will have to represent the beautiful and well-developed country Belarus. “We kept in mind these criteria during the selection process,” the chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences stressed.

Six Belarusian candidates for the space flight have already arrived in a Russian cosmonaut training center. They will have to undergo thorough medical examination. The main candidate and a backup one will be selected as a result. They will have to go through a very serious training process, which will end next autumn, Vladimir Gusakov clarified.

The Belarusian girl cosmonaut will have to complete a series of scientific experiments while in orbit. Those are studies in the area of physiology, biotechnology and biopreparations, agriculture, and the testing of devices and equipment, which performance in orbit needs to be examined. Tangible results are needed, Vladimir Gusakov pointed out.

Once the flight is over, the Belarusian girl cosmonaut is expected to keep working as part of the Russian cosmonaut group. “More flights may happen after that. In other words, we hope we will have a cosmonaut of our own and more than one,” Vladimir Gusakov shared the ambitious plans.