Two Russian cosmonauts will visit the University of Dundee to speak to 900 schoolchildren about their adventures in space on Tuesday 19 March. Alexander Martynov and Alexander Volkov will tell pupils about life on board orbital space stations including Soyuz T-14, Salut-7 and MIR.
As part of National Science Week, the Faculty of Science and Engineering has teamed up with Scottish Enterprise Tayside to invite the cosmonauts to Dundee to share their experiences in space. The cosmonauts will bring their space suits, some food that they take into space and moon rock that they have picked up on their space explorations.
The cosmonauts will give three lectures throughout the day. The first to an upper primary school group, then to junior secondary and will finish by explaining their experiences in more depth with pupils from S3-S6. Pupils will have the opportunity to ask the spacemen questions and examine the artefacts from space that they have brought along.
The Faculty of Science and Engineering will display its research conducted by the space systems research group on the technology they have developed which is used by the European Space Agency and NASA.
Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Professor Geoff Hunter said: "The University of Dundee is delighted that Scottish Enterprise Tayside has secured this visit. It is a fantastic opportunity for local school pupils to experience space investigation at first hand. Meeting the cosmonauts will make space exploration much more of a reality in their minds. We are looking forward to welcoming Alexander Martynov and Alexander Volkov to the University on Tuesday."
Ralph Harrison, lifelong learning manager at SET, said, "We are very pleased to have been able to bring the cosmonauts to Dundee and I think it is a very exciting event for the local school pupils. It is important that we try to interest young people in Tayside in pursuing careers in science and this kind of initiative can help to fire their imaginations. We have a growing reputation for excellence in various fields of scientific research here and we need to build on this by inspiring the scientists of tomorrow."
The University of Dundee continues its celebrations of space exploration this summer when it awards Dr Bonnie Dunbar, deputy director of NASA, an honorary degree.
Contact Graeme Findlay, University of Dundee 01382 344182
Picture caption: (l-r)Cosmonauts, Alexander Martynov and Alexander Volkov, with students from Inchture Primary School.