Anniversary of first space flight of Mongolian celebrated

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ A scientific conference on modern science of space ran Sunday at "Independence" House dedicated to 34th anniversary of the first space flight of Mongolian. Participants delivered reports on modern space science, on ways of developing space science in Mongolia, on exploiting the space. The Museum of Astronomy and Geophysics Institute at the Academy of Sciences organized a competition of model cars and opened its museum for the public free-of-charge. On March 22 of 1981, a citizen of Mongolia cosmonaut Mr J.Gurragchaa flew by the "Soyuz-39" spacecraft together with V.A.Zhanibekov, a cosmonaut of the former Soviet Union, in frames of the "Intercosmos" program. Launched from the Baikonur cosmodrom, the flight of the “Soyuz-39” continued eight days, circling Earth 124 times. It landed on March 30. They performed about thirty experiments during the mission. For the contributions to science of space, Gurragchaa received the titles of Hero of Mongolia and of the Soviet Union in 1981. Born 1947 in Bulgan province, J.Gurragchaa studied in Ulaanbaatar to become an aerospace engineer, joined the air force, rising to the rank of Major-General. He served as the Defense Minister of Mongolia between 2000 and 2004.