Ukrainian cosmonauts address community gathering in Newark (02/22/98)

Ukrainian cosmonauts address community gathering in Newark

by Roma Hadzewycz

NEWARK, N.J. - After his historic flight aboard the U.S. space shuttle Columbia, Ukrainian cosmonaut Leonid Kadenyuk and his back-up, Yaroslav Pustovyi, visited Ukrainian communities in Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Houston, New York and Newark, N.J.

Their Newark stop was on Friday evening, January 9, at the gymnasium of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School, where the two cosmonauts addressed what was billed as a "meeting with youth" and afterwards a general community gathering. The event was organized by veterans' organizations of Newark and the local branch of the Ukrainian Engineers' Society of America.

Independent Ukraine's first space-faring cosmonaut, Col. Kadenyuk, flew aboard the Columbia from November 19 to December 5, 1997, as a payload specialist. While in space he conducted various experiments to study the effects of microgravity on plant growth. His 16-day flight aboard the American space shuttle has been hailed as a symbol of the expanding strategic partnership between the United States and Ukraine.

At the beginning of his talk, Col. Kadenyuk provided a bit of advice for the kids: study hard, for this is the key to success in any endeavor.

He then told his audience of youngsters and their parents a little bit about himself. He hails from the Bukovyna region of western Ukraine, and had wanted to be an astronaut since he was a boy. He first became a test pilot and then a cosmonaut. He was chosen as one of eight cosmonauts in the Soviet Union to train for the position of commander of the Buran, the Soviet version of the space shuttle. Ultimately, he related, the Buran program was canceled due to a lack of funds.

In 1990, he continued, there was a proposal to send an all-Ukrainian crew to the Soviet space station Mir. Col. Kadenyuk was named its commander. However, due to conflicts between Ukraine and Russia over the Black Sea Fleet and Crimea, this mission never took place.

Finally, in November of 1994, Presidents Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine and Bill Clinton of the U.S. signed an agreement on cooperation in space. That pact led to the participation of Col. Kadenyuk, 46, and Dr. Pustovyi, 27, in Columbia mission STS-87. Both men - selected by the National Space Agency of Ukraine - trained in the U.S. as payload specialists; later, while Col. Kadenyuk conducted his plant experiments in space; Dr. Pustovyi did parallel studies on Earth.

Col. Kadenyuk told the schoolchildren what he took into space aboard the shuttle: a Ukrainian flag; a portrait of Ukraine's greatest poet, Taras Shevchenko, and a copy of his Kobzar; and recordings of Ukrainian songs sung by famous Ukrainian artists such as Anatolii Solovianenko, Dmytro Hnatiuk, Sofia Rotaru and others; as well as a recording of the Ukrainian national anthem, "Sche Ne Vmerla Ukraina."

He played the anthem for his fellow astronauts and twice organized what he called "evenings of Ukrainian song" aboard the Columbia. Col. Kadenyuk also said he tried to teach crew members Ukrainian and noted that they did make some progress. "It was a pleasure to see the crew interested in learning; they liked the language because it is melodic," he commented. "After this flight everyone knows about Ukraine. Thus, the flight had both scientific and political significance," he concluded.

Dr. Pustovyi then addressed the gathering. He emphasized, first of all, that "Ukraine and the cosmos have always been connected." He listed three Ukrainians who made immeasurable contributions to space exploration: Mykola Kybalchych (1853-1881), an inventor, foresaw space flight and developed the idea of jet propulsion; Yurii Kondratiuk (1897-1941/1942), a scientist and inventor, was a pioneer in rocketry and space technology who came up with the concept of multi-stage rockets; Serhii Korolov (1907-1966), an aeronautical engineer, designed the first Soviet guided missiles and spacecraft.

He also noted that Pavlo Popovych, a Ukrainian, became the USSR's fourth cosmonaut in 1962. Thus, he said, it can be said that Ukraine always was a space-faring country. This space shuttle flight by Col. Kadenyuk, he continued, is "Ukraine's return to the cosmos."

Dr. Pustovyi spoke of his older colleague's 21 years in training before he actually made it into space. "He is the most committed astronaut in the whole world, " he stated.

In a lighter vein, he added that Col. Kadenyuk's flight aboard the Columbia "is the first independent Ukrainian confirmation that the Earth is round - - previously we knew this from Polish scientists like Copernicus and other scholars."

"I asked Col. Kadenyuk what the earth looks like, and he replied that it is round. But I am a skeptic, a scientist - I want to see this for myself," he said, obviously referring to his own dream of space travel.

Dr. Pustovyi also spoke a little about himself. His father was a military man; he grew up outside of Ukraine; and as a youth he had wanted to be a sailor. He added proudly that he is a member of the Ukrainian Kozak Brotherhood, a historical/cultural society.

At the conclusion of the youth portion of the gathering, Ukraine's top cosmonauts graciously agreed to pose for a group photograph with all the children present and then signed autographs for their young admirers, exchanging a few words with each autograph seeker.

The only disappointment of the evening, as expressed by one first grader present, was that the cosmonauts did not arrive in a spaceship. Otherwise, all the children (and parents) seemed thrilled to have met two real-life cosmonauts.

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