Space Talks with the 103rd Human Being in Space Cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu
When the Columbia Memorial Space Center received Dr. Dumitru Prunariu, Romania’s first cosmonaut and the 103rd human being in space, it marked an unprecedented event. His arrival has been in the making for at least one year at the invitation of two Romanian American researchers: Dr. Bogdan Marcu a propulsion expert with more than 20 years of experience in the United States rocket industry and Dr. Virgil Adumitroaie of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, both adjunct professors at University of Southern California. The event was organized by the Viitorul Roman Society (The Future Romanian Society) and its President Adrian Barbu, one of the longest standing organizations in the United States nearing 100 years of uninterrupted activity.
The Space Talks’ special guest united two cultures through his stories of exploration, research and human courage. The glimpse of a real-life cosmonaut opened the hearts of the audience and filled them with awe and hope.
In 1981 Dr. Prunariu along with Russian Cosmonaut Leonid Popov completed a 7-day, 20 hour, 42 minute and 52 seconds mission aboard Soyuz-40, Saliut-6 and Soyuz-T4. It was part of the Interkosmos program and ended its first phase as a collaboration between Romania and the Soviet Union. Research cosmonaut crew member Dr. Prunariu, described during his speech the idea that fascinates, unlike anything else, the human eye and mind. The arrival in space:
“The first thing that is fascinating and it just hits your eye is the thinness of the atmosphere above the Earth. The atmosphere is very, very thin. Just imagine an apple and its skin. The apple is the Earth and the skin is the atmosphere. It’s shocking.
You just realize this whole life is developing in this very thin atmosphere above the Earth. At the same time, we pollute this atmosphere. We do a lot of bad things connected to the Earth. It’s (also) shocking.
Then you have the image of the Earth. Turning around the Earth with a speed of 28,000 kmph. The feeling is that you stay (still) in space, just float somewhere, up there, and the Earth is turning above you at a very high speed. It’s like a big stone. Like a big and very powerful stone. This is the feeling that you have looking at the Earth above you, turning.
The first feeling is that you are a very small being into space. Very fragile, that could be hit by an asteroid, meteoroid, a space debris and you disappear; nobody knows what happened to you. But at the same time, you have the feeling of a very strong and powerful person that managed to build a technology, that brought you there to the outer space and ensures your security flying around the Earth. There are two opposite feelings at the same time. You have to deal with it during the entire space flight.”
One can only imagine the feeling of leaving the comfort of gravity and the perspective of looking up towards a celestial body, away from today’s modern graphics, holographs or other virtual reality tools. The thrill of meeting an astronaut becomes even greater when we realize the degree of capability and courage to accomplish his mission and return safely to Earth. “There is no space flight without at least a special situation,” said Dr. Prunariu.
During his week-long mission, a device that measures and orients the spacecraft with the engine in front that allows it to turn on if needed and land automatically - when the crew is not able to act aboard - failed. However, his ability and that of Cosmonaut Popov to acquire knowledge from other devices, integrate it and take a decision to fix the issue, was successful. Another event that tested their character and nerves of steel was during the landing when their parachute opened later than normal. “From the time when the top of the parachute from the container is ejected it takes exactly 16.5 seconds until the big parachute opens. We feel the container open. We feel the extracting parachute going out. We feel a lot of other things, but we stayed with the timer and…”
“It said 16, 17, 18. We became white…I look at Popov and he looked at me. We listened in our headsets to the sounds and the discussion from the command center near Moscow. Then a full silence. They understood that something bad was happening. Eventually the parachute just opened. When the parachute opened, we heard in our headsets, ‘hurray, they are saved!’” said Dr. Prunariu.
“If we can count, about 4.5% of astronauts die during missions. It is dangerous but at the same time very fascinating activity. They asked me after I landed, ‘would you like to go back to space?’ And I said, yes, tomorrow if it’s possible!”
Among the members that welcomed Dr. Prunariu was Columbia Memorial Space Center President & Executive Director Ben Dickow. A key figure in the expansion of the historic center, Dickow recalled the value of international collaboration. The CMSC holds a replica of the Apollo command module and proudly commemorates as part of the center’s exhibit the City of Downey large aeronautics workforce during the 1960’s. “It’s always a thrill to host an astronaut. I wanted to be an astronaut as a kid. I studied science. But I realized, I wanted to tell people about science more,” said Dickow.
“It is always a thrill when I get to meet an astronaut, when we host one here at the Space Center. It is my honor to host you tonight Dr. Prunariu. It is also my honor to have the Consul of Romania and his lovely wife, Mirela Dumitrescu, here tonight.”
Consul General Cosmin Dumitrescu commended the attendance of Dr. Prunariu as sign of cooperation and partnership between Romania and the United States. “Romania and the United States of America are developing a very strong strategic partnership. Of course, that partnership regards a lot of aspects: economic, cultural. Practically the most important one is that of the military and defense,” said Consul Dumitrescu.
“The presence of a Romanian astronaut here is only stressing out a bit one dimension of our cooperation that is very active between our countries.”
“It’s very important for Romania to show publicly some of its values in science, technology, research. Dr. Prunariu is a symbol of that.”
With dreams from a young age to follow in the footprints of science and inspired by the journey of Dr. Prunariu, Consul Dumitrescu titled the mission of today’s astronaut as one which will “explore and expand the human universe.” Even more he envisions how tomorrow’s space missions will take off, departing from old standards. “The space race was more media and politics than science. If you talk to scientists, I am sure that at the time, similarly to what is happening right now, they were looking only for science progress, for breakthrough discoveries for the humankind. They were not politicians or military. They were only scientists trying to do the best for the world,” said Consul Dumitrescu.
Dr. Marcu, engineering expert in liquid propulsion technology with more than 20 years of experience in the United States rocket industry, author of design for the SpaceX Falcon 9, the Space Shuttle and the Delta 4 rocket turbines expanded that vision with a different sense of urgency: to explore sustainably and secure space resources for the economy of future generations. Also, in the face of Chinese determined budgets. While honoring the 50 years since the landing on the Moon, today our eyes look towards the sky to find new sustainable solutions. “We got there on this model that we call today footprints and flags. That is, we went there, left footprints on the moon, planted the flag and then said good-bye,” said Dr. Marcu.
“Today it’s all about economics. Today is the pressure of future generations that felt, in avant premiere so to speak, a sense that we will need new resources. We will need access to space as an economic necessity rather than prestige.”
Dr. Virgil Adumitroaie, data scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, an expert in planetary environmental modeling, remote sensing and data interpretation, currently working on the Juno mission, gave a bird’s eye view of the development and applications of remote sensing to the exploration of the Universe, from learning about its past to discovering extrasolar planets. When asked about the Dr. Prunariu: “He’s my idol. When I was little, like everyone else, I wanted to go into space. When I saw that he can do it, I decided I will try the same thing,” said Dr. Adumitroaie.
“I got a little envious and I tried to follow his path, only I faltered, but I kept going. You shoot for the stars, you get a planet.”
At the conference in attendance there were a total five people (counting the speakers) that graduated from the prestigious Politehnica University of Bucharest within the same aerospace engineering department, including Crina Prunariu, former Romanian Ambassador to Armenia, engineer and wife of Dr. Prunariu. A cheer of applause and bouquet of flowers was given to her in admiration for her backstage contribution of sending a human, in this case a husband and father to two boys, in space.
Dr. Prunariu’s mission today continues as an international figure part of the Romanian Space Agency (R.O.S.A), European Space Agency, United Nations, the Association of Space Explorers and more. He also supports the Galileo Program which is the Global Positioning System of Europe and the future industrial development in Romania of the Arian 6 launch vehicle, developed by ESA. As the Vice-Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) Working Group Space Agenda 2030, the committee’s mission is to advance safe and sustainable space exploration as well as defense from the threat of asteroids.
Almost 40 years ago Dr. Prunariu participated as part of one of the largest international space explorations projects, the Interkosmos Program, which selected and trained astronauts worldwide from Romania, France, Austria, United Kingdom, Japan, Syria, India and other countries. Even more, as we exit the first two decades of the 21st century, his visit in the United States continues to send a powerful message of global human partnership while we begin to embark on future journeys.
Dr. Virgil Adumitroaie of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu and Dr. Bogdan Marcu, Engineering Expert within the rocket industry..
Viitorul Roman Society President Adrian Barbu, former Ambassador Crina Prunariu and Cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu.
Dr. Virgil Adumitroaie of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu , Dr. Bogdan Marcu, Engineering Expert within the rocket industry and Consul General of Romania in Los Angeles, Cosmin Dumitrescu.
Dr. Bogdan Marcu welcomed Cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu at the Columbia Memorial Space Center, in Downey, California.
Viitorul Roman Society members Aneta and Gabriel Mihailescu proudly hold the portrait of Romanian Cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu during his Space Talks visit at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey, California.
Photography Credits by DIAMONDS MIRROR Photographer Cristian Coldea – Produced by DIAMONDS MIRROR videography COLDEA PRODUCTIONS
