Photo credit: Arnaldo Tamayo Mendes and Yuri Viktorovich Romanenkov / roscuba.ru
Cuban Arnaldo Tamayo Mendes, who became the first Latin American cosmonaut, took part in a teleconference with Orenburg and Star City in honor of the 40th anniversary of the flight of the Soviet-Cuban crew, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper reports.
Russian Ambassador to Cuba Andrei Guskov called the joint flight of 1980 an important event in the development of relations between Moscow and Havana. The diplomat stressed that that space expedition to this day retains its significance for relations between the two countries.
The Cuban cosmonaut agreed that his flight became possible thanks to the Intercosmos program and the "special friendship between our countries", which has been preserved to this day. Arnaldo Tamayo Mendes also thanked all workers in the space industry in Russia.
The cosmonaut, who received the stars of Hero of the Soviet Union and Cuba after the flight, is very respected in the country. He is a member of the Cuban National Assembly, heads the Cuba-Russia parliamentary friendship group and the Cuban-Russian friendship group.
Russkiy Mir
