- Title: KAZAKHSTAN: Young rocket fans bring own space designs to Baikanour space centre.
- Date: 12th October 2009
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) LADA IVANOVA, 14 YEARS OLD, CHAMPIONSHIP PARTICIPANT, SAYING "I have attended space modelling classes together with my mother since my early childhood and when I was seven years old, I built my own rocket and now I have been doing this for seven years already." VARIOUS OF GIRLS SETTING ROCKET ON LAUNCH STAND PEOPLE WATCHING
- Embargoed: 27th October 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kazakhstan
- Country: Kazakhstan
- Topics: Space
- Reuters ID: LVACY1NDFMXSUGM3Q6OEF45LSYP1
- Story Text: Rockets rise in the sky over the Baikonur cosmodrome but this time model ones fires off by children and teenagers.
Dozens of a rocket-obsessed children and teenagers gathered in the Baikonur cosmodrome on the Kazakh steppe for the International Model Rocketry Championship which was held in early October, to coincide with the latest Soyuz launch.
Baikonur has a special place in the history of Soviet space exploration. It was the location from which Soviet Union's first manned space flight, carrying Yuri Gagarin blasted off in 1961.
For young model rocket builders, it is the stuff of legend and makes the Baikonur Model Rocket Championship ground very significant.
"Baikonur is a very special place and it attracts all who makes rocket models no matter which country they are from" said Igor Volkanov, one of the judges of the championship.
Family and friends accompanied the competitors to cheer on their launches.
Model rocketry grew rapidly in the 1950's with the wave of interest in the new space age. It made rocket science accessible to the school-age generation, using safe, commercially available motors and thus avoided the dangers of mixing ones own propellants.
It remains a popular hobby both for adults and young people in post-Soviet times, throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States.
"My dream is to fly out into space, as a spaceship commander," said ten year old Oleg Yevtushenko, the youngest competitor in the championship.
Oleg travelled to Baikanour with his family for the contest, from the Kazakh metals mining town Temiratau.
Temiratu is on the Kazakh steppe close enough to the space centre to suffer falling debris from the frequent launches.
Amateur rocketry has boomed in the past few years with numerous clubs and regular rocket meets springing up across the CIS.
The growth of interest has brought renewed efforts to ensure enthusiasts get the training and skills to deal with the dangers and complexities of building their own rockets.
Model solid rocket motors work with engines run on liquid fuel or hybrids of solid and liquid propellents.
"I have attended space modelling classes, together with my mother since my early childhood and when I was seven years old, I built my own rocket and now I have been doing this for seven years already," said 14-year-old Lada Ivanova, a teenage girl competitor, whose home town is Baikanour itself.
Some amateur rocketry groups, however, now are closing in on amateur high altitude records, reaching close to the official borderline of space, around 100km.
The time of this year's model rocket competition coincided with the launch of the new ISS crew from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.
A Russian Soyuz space capsule carrying Laliberte and a Russian-American crew touched down in the vast steppe near Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan on Sunday (October 11).
The ISS 21 crew members are Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev, NASA astronaut Geoffrey Williams, and space tourist Guy Laliberte were blast off from the Russian launch site Baikonur in Kazakhstan onboard Soyuz TMA-16 spaceship.
Surayev and Williams will spend six months in orbit while Laliberte spent 11 days in space. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains identifiable children: users must ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations governing the publishing of this material.
