 |
 |
That afternoon, the fliers returned to the Hotel Metropole for the first working session of the Congress on Crew Safety and Technical Issues. Chaired by Frederick Gregory and Gennadi Strekalov, the session featured a presentation by Hank Hartsfield Jr., who proposed a series of high-level caution and warning standards developed by the ASE Crew Safety Committee's Sub-committee on Advanced Crew Safety Concepts. Alexander Lazutkin gave a behind-the-scenes and personal account of the MIR-Progress collision in June, 1997 with additional commentary by TsUP Flight Controller Vladimir Solovyov. Presentations were also made by KSC personnel Don Doerr and Pat Simpkens on “Bioregenerative Life Support System Safety Issues for Long-Duration Spaceflight” and the “Human Factors Event Evaluation Model,” respectively. Following the session, the astronauts and cosmonauts gathered for the traditional Congress poster signing ceremony. That evening, the delegations were treated to a buffet dinner hosted by the Minister-President of the Flanders Region at Technopolis,a newly developed technology exhibition featuring interactive displays and educational space- and technology-related materials. Wednesday was Community Day at the 14th Congress. All attending astronauts and cosmonauts traveled in small groups to visit over 20 venues all across Belgium. The fliers visited schools in the communities of Hasselt-Kermt, Koersel, Koksijde, Lier, Waasmunster, Antwerp, Heule, Mechelen, Rumst-Reet, Zottegem, Sint-Niklaas, Genk, Gent-Oostakker, Haacht and Ieper. Additionally, 8 fliers participated in debates at UFSIA in Antwerp, the Europlanetarium in Genk, the CTL Campus in Gent, and at the University of Leuven in Leuven. That evening, the fliers and spouses attended the opera La Noce de Figaro at the Palais de La Monnaie Opera House in Brussels. Thursday morning the delegates traveled to Transinne for a day at the Euro Space Center and Space Camp Belgium. The first session of the day was the traditional International Space Programs Review, chaired by Michael Lopez-Alegria and Vladimir Titov; Talgat Musabayev recounted his last flight aboard the MIR space station and showed a video of the EVA performed by he and Nikolai Budarin to replace an external thruster assembly, Don Peterson presented the second half of the work done by the ASE Crew Safety Committee's Sub-Committee on Advanced Crew Safety Concepts and Michael Lopez-Alegria discussed ISS assembly requirements and schedules. That afternoon, the Executive Session was held at the Space Center and Miroslaw Hermaszewski and Dorin Prunariu were re-elected to the ASE Executive Committee. Additionally, Romania was approved as the site for the 15th Congress and Spain was tentatively approved to host the 16th Congress. A proposal for ASE to issue a statement in support of keeping the MIR station flying through ISS construction was defeated by the general assembly and ASE participation at UNISPACE III was approved. Following the Executive Session, the Closing Ceremony was held, the General Statement was released and the 14th Congress was officially adjourned. Friday the fliers and their spouses traveled by bus to Bruges, where they took a canal boat tour of the historic city and were welcomed by the Mayor of Bruges at a City Hall reception. Returning to Brussels that evening, the delegations attended the Closing Banquet at the Concert Noble, hosted by the Executive Club of Belgium. Included in the program was the presentation of awards to the members of the local organizing committee and staff for their efforts in producing what turned out to be a very well planned and executed Congress. |
|
|