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Bulgaria marks 55 years of space research and 45 years since the flight of а Bulgarian cosmonaut

Georgi Ivanov - the first Bulgarian astronaut
Photo: Lovech municipality

The Institute for Space Research and Technology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences will solemnly celebrate today its 55th anniversary together with the 45th anniversary of the flight of the first Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov.  Bulgaria's first cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov will also take part in the event, which is held under the auspices of President Rumen Radev.

In 1969, the Scientific Group on Space Physics was founded at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, which in 1987 grew into the Institute for Space Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. 

The first Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov (right) with Soviet cosmonaut Nikolai Rukavishnikov before the launch of Soyuz-33, Baikonur, April 10, 1979.
The first Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov (right) with Soviet cosmonaut Nikolai Rukavishnikov before the launch of Soyuz-33, Baikonur, April 10, 1979.

In 1979, Georgi Ivanov was selected to join the crew of the Soviet spacecraft "Soyuz 33". On April 10 of that year, he took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, along with Soviet cosmonaut Nikolai Rukavishnikov. The mission of the first Bulgarian cosmonaut was to carry out scientific research and test new space technologies. 

Thus, Bulgaria became the sixth space country in the world after Russia, USA, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Germany.


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