Lukashenko: Belarus is now real space power

The launch of the first cosmonaut in the history of sovereign Belarus has placed the country among space powers – as stated by President Aleksandr Lukashenko during his today’s working trip to the Grodno Region

“It's not just the image: this is a whole industry," the President said.

The Head of State thanked the Russian side and Vladimir Putin personally for assisting in the preparation and organisation of the Belarusian cosmonaut’s flight and for resolving financing issues.

Aleksandr Lukashenko also shared his personal feelings about Marina Vasilevskaya's flight and informed on his conversation with Roscosmos CEO Yuri Borisov. The President admitted that there had been certain worries after an emergency situation when the first attempt of the flight failed – particularly because Aleksandr Lukashenko witnessed an unsuccessful launch of the BelKA Belarusian satellite in 2012. However, Roscosmos CEO Yuri Borisov explained to the Belarusian leader in detail that the launch had been automatically cancelled due to a battery-related problem. He then promised that the flight would definitely take place.

“We witnessed the launch in the end, and that was my favourite scene. The rocket was beautiful,” the President smiled.

Sharing his impressions of the historic event, Aleksandr Lukashenko said, “I am rejoicing together with you that we have reached the pinnacle in space. We have really become a space power, a nuclear power. We are gradually changing our old obsolete shoes – [figuratively speaking] – into modern ones, so that you would never (after my time as President) be called out-of-date. No, we are a space power, and we have done this thanks to pursuing the right policy – sorry for saying this without modesty. We did not fight with Russians, but learned a lot from them.”

At the same time, the Head of State explained that the country has no plans to build its own cosmodrome or create rockets, since it can implement its projects in co-operation with the Russian side. It is much more important to have national space programmes and be able to create space satellites. Belarus already possesses these technologies, and it is developing its competencies.