Russian cosmonaut Denis Matveev answered questions on Oct. 20 in an online session with over 50 schoolchildren and students from India that extended over an hour, reported TASS. The meeting was organized by the Russian House in Mumbai and the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, also in Mumbai, and by Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia. Matveev was the Flight Engineer aboard the Soyuz MS-21, a mission launched in March 2022 to the International Space Station, and which returned safely to Earth in September 2022.
Director Yelena Remizova of the Russian House in Mumbai told a TASS correspondent: “This was the first time we organized such an online meeting with a cosmonaut. … The kids were interested in everything—from training and requirements for future cosmonauts to scientific experiments and weird situations on board a spaceship or orbital station.”
Noting the rapid increase in academic interest in science and space exploration, especially among the youth, Remizova pointed out that the Russian House in Mumbai intends to continue cooperation with the Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, and added that “the Russian cosmonaut heartily wished success to his Indian colleagues” for India’s first crewed mission (called “Gaganyaan”— from Sanskrit: gagana, “celestial” and yāna, “craft, vehicle,” hence, “vehicle to the sky”) to orbit in 2024, through the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
