Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko invited to Mumbai, will share experiences above earth

Kornienko has been invited to Mumbai on Thursday as part of the two-day 'Rosatom Festival of Science & Culture' organized by the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai and Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation of Russia, being held here on October 25-26.

Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, among the spacemen who have spent one of the longest periods in space, will arrive here at a function where he will speak on his experiences above the earth, an official said here on Wednesday.

Kornienko has been invited to Mumbai on Thursday as part of the two-day 'Rosatom Festival of Science & Culture' organized by the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai and Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation of Russia, being held here on October 25-26.

The Cosmonaut, who along with NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, spent a staggering 342 days in space on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015, will speak on his experiences in a motivational lecture.

Kornienko, 58, an engineer, and Kelly were together on the 'one-year crew mission' which started on March 27, 2015, the longest by any spacemen aboard the ISS.

Among other things, they studied the effects of a prolonged period in space on human, the physical, psychological and emotional aspects that would help future manned explorations planned in the Solar System.

Selected for Cosmonaut training in 1998, Kornienko has spent a total of a little more than 516 days in space and also carried out two spacewalks lasting over 12 hours total in his extra-terrestrial career.

A book entitled, "Nuclear ABC?" will also be released during the two-day event.

(With inputs from agencies.)