Space Is Open to All: Roscosmos Ready to Cooperate with the Global South
A flight to the International Space Station (ISS) can help spur the development of space technology. Many countries in the Global South are interested in sending a representative into orbit. The opportunities Roscosmos offers to make this possible were discussed on October 10 during the public talk “A Planet Without Borders: A View from Space,” held as part of the Second Global Digital Forum.
The event was made possible by the Global Digital Forum partner, the Roscosmos State Corporation. Many countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa are interested in developing their own space programs. These efforts include launching satellites for various purposes, developing robotic systems and pursuing human spaceflight. According to Sergey Prokopyev, a cosmonaut and Hero of the Russian Federation, young people in the Global South who are interested in these fields now have many opportunities to pursue relevant education and build careers in space research, the space industry and digital technologies related to space.
Guests at the discussion from Colombia, Cambodia and Namibia wanted to know how a representative of their country could travel into space. Sergey Prokopyev explained that there are currently two ways to do so. The simplest, though very expensive, is space tourism. The more challenging route involves completing the full cosmonaut training program and securing a place on an ISS crew.
“When a country with no previous experience sends its first cosmonaut into space, it immediately sees a major boom in the development of space technology. That is why it is also very important to us that other countries have access to these technologies and can take part in our joint projects,” Sergey Prokopyev emphasized.
Roscosmos is now developing a range of cooperation programs with space agencies in countries that have not previously had a presence in this field.
