Space Talks with the Romanian Hero of 1981, Dumitru Prunariu, in Los Angeles

The Romanian hero, Dumitru Prunariu, who received the award of Hero of Romania and of Soviet Union in 1981, shared his experience about Soyuz 40 mission with the Romanian diaspora in Los Angeles and American experts in the filed. The event was organized by Viiotrul Roman Society at Columbia Memorial Space Center.

The audience find out more about how Space feel like? What does one feel when watching the Earth from Space? How do we get to the Moon? How do we explore the Planets and how do we measure and interpret the scientific data telling us what is beneath the surface of the Moon, Jupiter, Jupiter’s moons, the asteroids and comets?

Romanian Cosmonaut Dr. Ing. Dumitru Prunariu is the 103rd human who flew into space, aboard a Soyuz 40 rocket in 1981, and executing an 8-day mission on the Salyut 6 space laboratory. Attendants will hear firsthand from Dr. Prunariu about man’s presence in space.

Born on 27 September 1952 in Braşov, Romania, Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu graduated in 1971 from the Physics and Mathematics high school in Braşov and in 1976 from the Politehnica University of Bucharest, obtaining a degree in Aerospace Engineering.

Prunariu worked as a Diploma Engineer at Industria Aeronautică Română, an aircraft industry facility, prior to enrolling in the Romanian Air Force Officers Training School in 1977. Between 1993 and 2004 he has been the permanent representative of ASE at United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) sessions.

Among other special guests were Dr. Virgil Adumitroaie, Data Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, an expert in planetary environmental modeling, remote sensing and data interpretation, currently working with the Juno Mission team.

As well, Dr. Bogdan Marcu, expert in Liquid Propulsion technology, author of designs for the Space X Falcon 9/Merlin engines, the Space Shuttle, and Delta IV rockets was happy to share his insights about Moon recent discoveries.

The event was organized by Viitorul Roman Society from Los Angeles in association with the Columbia Memorial Space Center offering a great insight into the details of Space Exploration.