On 13 April 2024, the European Slavic Literature and Culture Foundation organised a thematic lesson Man in Space, dedicated to the International Day of Human Space Flight.
On 12 April 1961, every radio station on Earth reported the sensational news - there is a man in space! It was a 27-year-old citizen of the Soviet Union, Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin.
Thanks to the materials on the history of space exploration from library and archive, the participants of the event created a precise chronology of the events of that time: the first artificial satellite of the Earth, the first human flight into space, the first human landing in open space, the first space rendezvous, the first orbital station....
Participants also spoke about Slovakia's role in contributing to space exploration. Ivan Bella was the first Slovak cosmonaut to fly to the Russian research station Mir. In 1999, together with V. Afanasiev and J.-P. 
Henrière went into space as part of a programme of biological experiments and the cultural project Flag of Peace. Slovakia thus became the 29th country to go into space. After this event, the country joined the club of space powers. The participants were particularly interested in the fact that cooperation between Slovakia and Russia in the field of space exploration has been going on for more than 100 years. In 1905, M. R. Štefánik also carried out several studies with the Russian astronomer Alexei Ganský. In 1906, after arriving in St. Petersburg, Štefánik became more familiar with the Pulkovo Observatory. Together with Russian scientists, he took part in a scientific expedition to the Samarkand region, where they observed a solar eclipse. The portrait of M. R. Štefánik can still be seen in the museum of the Pulkovo Observatory.
At the end of the event, the participants opened a spirited discussion on the current possibilities of Slovaks flying into space and expressed their hope for cooperation between the countries in the field of space.
Translation: Bc. Lívia Murárová