Bulgaria Marks 35 Years Since First Flight in Space

Lt. Gen. Georgi Ivanov, who became Bulgaria's first cosmonaut. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria is to celebrate this week the 35th anniversary of its first manned space flight.

Between April 9 and April 17, a number of events will be held honoring Georgi Ivanov, the country's first astronaut (or cosmonaut, as men in space were referred to during the Cold War).

The celebrations start on April 9 with a documentary, "Obliged to Survive", at 18:00 at Sofia's Odeon Cinema.

Georgi Ivanov became the first Bulgarian in space on April 10, 1979 after Russia launched its Soyuz-33, which went around the Earth 31 times and spent a day, 23 hours and 1 minute into space.

The original goal of Soyuz-33 was to dock with the Salyut-6 space station, but a technical problem prevented it from carrying out the maneuver.

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