Ukrainian cosmonaut flies aboard U.S. shuttle

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Col. Leonid Kadenyuk, the first Ukrainian cosmonaut to fly on a U.S. spacecraft, met with President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine here on November 19 before the liftoff of the Columbia space shuttle. The 46-year-old Col. Kadenyuk is also the first Ukrainian to fly in space since Ukraine gained its independence in 1991.

The New York Times quoted Mr. Kuchma as saying, "When I felt the soil trembling, I immediately had a thought about the mightiness of the United States." The Times also reported that this was the first time the Ukrainian president, a former aerospace industry executive, had viewed a launch in the open; previously he had watched launches through a periscope from an underground chamber.

Eastern Economist reported that Col. Kadenyuk, an air force pilot who flew various kinds of jet fighters, informed Mr. Kuchma that he and the crew of four American and one Japanese astronauts flying aboard Columbia are fully prepared for the 16-day mission - the sixth time NASA has sent up a shuttle on time in 1997.

President Kuchma also visited the John Kennedy Space Center. In an exclusive interview with Ukrainian television (UT-1), the president said that the idea of a Ukrainian astronaut's participation in a shuttle mission was discussed with President Bill Clinton back in 1994.

Although Col. Kadenyuk had trained as the leader of a Mir and Buran rescue mission team for two years after the collapse of the USSR, he never made it to the station. Aboard the Columbia he is the payload specialist and will conduct a series of microgravity science experiments called the Collaborative Ukrainian Experiments.

Col. Kadenyuk and his back-up for the mission, Dr. Yaroslav Pustovyi, were both selected to take part in the mission by the National Space Agency of Ukraine.

The November 19 launch went ahead as scheduled at 2:46 p.m. New York time (9:46 p.m. Kyiv time).

President Kuchma traveled from Cape Canaveral to New York, where he was to attend on November 20 the meeting of donor countries that aims to raise an additional $500 million (U.S.) for the Shelter Implementation Plan at the Chornobyl nuclear power station.

Ukraine's junior scientists attend launch

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 23, 1997, No. 47, Vol. LXV

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