First MAI Summer Space School for experts from Africa is launched

Moscow Aviation Institute hosted the opening ceremony of the first Summer School in Russia for African experts. 17 experts from South Africa, Angola, Mali and Zimbabwe are participating in the project.

Summer School is the part of the Russian-African Network University consortium and is held under the support of Glavkosmos. MAI has developed a special Basic Aerospace Course, and during the following two weeks foreign students will explore the specifics of complex programs based on small spacecraft from different angles, including the formation of business strategies, program management, digital design of devices and systems, and development of services. In addition, the participants of the Summer School will learn how to formulate and set tasks related to personnel forecast and support for space programs.

Mikhail Pogosyan, Rector of MAI, and the member of the Soyuzmash Bureau, Augusto da Silva Cunha, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Angola to Moscow, and Vitaly Safonov, Deputy General Director for Marketing of Glavkosmos, congratulated foreign students on the start of their studies.

"Roscosmos cooperation with African countries is of global and long-term character. We believe that our School is the first step towards building closer cooperation in the field of training space industry personnel in the Russian Federation and African countries," Mikhail Pogosyan stressed in his address to the project participants.

Augusto da Silva Cunha noted in his speech that MAI Summer School is a great opportunity for foreign specialists to gain valuable skills that will help in the development of the space industry on the African continent.

"As far as the training of specialists in various fields is concerned, be it scientific, economic, political, military or industrial, we have always counted on Russia’s help. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to MAI for the invitation to take part in such a large-scale project and wish the participants great success,” added Augusto da Silva Cunha.

In turn, Vitaly Safonov emphasized that all participants will enjoy the program rich in practice, and the knowledge gained will help them in the implementation of their ambitious tasks.

"I am confident that space technology will help socio-economic development in our countries and play huge role in ensuring international security. After completing the Summer School at Moscow Aviation Institute, specialists will receive valuable knowledge that will be very useful for the development of the space industry in their native countries. And this is truly a new step in partnership relations with Russia", concluded Vitaly Safonov.