Experts Recall USSR-Cuba Space Flight 43 Years Later

Havana, Sept 26 (ACN) Experts from 11 countries of the world attended a ceremony in Havana marking the 43 year of the USSR-Cuba space flight by Astronauts Yuri Romanenko and Arnaldo Tamayo onboard the Soyuz 38 spaceship.

The homage to the event of September 18, 1980 opened the agenda of the 10th Surveying Conference at Havana’s Tryp-Habana Libre Hotel which will run till Saturday with the attendance of surveyors and young students in the field. The event will also launch an exhibit of products, services and technology.

Only eight countries had sent astronauts to outer space before Cuba did, with results of huge significance for science and innovation, said Luis Enrique Barrizonde, director for outer space attention at the National Office of Hydrography and Geodesy.

Barrizonde referred to applications useful for navigation assistance, cartographic updates, seismological research techniques and risk management in case of tropical storm, among others.

British Rear Admiral Angus Essenhigh, who heads the Meso-American and Caribbean Hydrography Commission, gave a lecture calling attention on the future of navigation, as did his Cuban colleague Tatiana Delgado.

Representatives of Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, the U.K., and other nations witness the recognition of 39 Cuban experts in the context of Suveryor’s Day.

Antonio Guerrero, Hero of the Republic of Cuba and president of the Association of Cuban Architects and Engineers, entity promoting the conference, presided over the ceremony in which the experts received their diplomas recognizing their merits.