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Westphalian Peace Prize for ISS crew by DT1 on 25 Oct, 2014 09:20
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Every two years since 1998 the Westphalian city of Muenster/Germany awards its Westphalian Peace Prize, remembering the peace treaty of 1648 after the 30-year war.
This year (today) one of the two prizewinners is the crew of the International Space Station ISS.
A live transmission is currently running on the West German Radio and TV Station WDR.
The photo below shows the prize in form of a bronze sculpture of the saxon steed ("Westfalenpferd").
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#1 by DT1 on 25 Oct, 2014 09:34
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The astronauts Thomas Reiter (ESA/Germany), Michael Lopez-Alegria (USA) and Pavel Vinogradov (Russia) will receive the prize on behalf of the ISS crew (http://www.wirtschaftliche-gesellschaft.de/?id=243 in German):
"Männer und Frauen, die noch zur Zeit des Kalten Krieges in verfeindeten Blöcken lebten, arbeiten und leben heute ganz selbstverständlich zusammen auf engstem Raum: 400 Kilometer hoch über der Erde, in der Internationalen Raumstation „International Space Station“ (ISS).
Die ISS gilt als das größte Technologieprojekt aller Zeiten und ist ein Gemeinschaftswerk der US-amerikanischen NASA, der russischen Raumfahrtagentur Roskosmos, der europäischen Weltraumagentur ESA sowie der Raumfahrtagenturen Kanadas und Japans. Der Erfolg dieses „Außenpostens der Menschheit“ im All belegt, dass eine friedliche internationale Zusammenarbeit von Partnern unterschiedlichster Kulturen möglich ist.
1993 unterzeichneten Russland und die USA ein Abkommen über zehn Shuttle-Flüge zur russischen Raumstation Mir sowie über Langzeitaufenthalte einiger US-Astronauten. Unter Präsident Clinton wurde dann das Projekt einer großen Raumstation zusammen mit Russland neu aufgelegt – Russland steuerte die Pläne der geplanten Mir-2-Station bei.
Die ISS ist seit November 2000 permanent besetzt. Die ersten zwölf Expeditionen bestanden ausschließlich aus russischen und US-amerikanischen Raumfahrern. Der Deutsche Thomas Reiter wurde im Juli 2006 als erster ESA-Raumfahrer zu einem Langzeitaufenthalt auf die ISS gebracht.
Im Januar 2013 unterzeichnete US-Präsident Obama ein Gesetz über eine Verlängerung der Zusammenarbeit mit Russland im Weltraum bis 2020. Damit ist dauerhaft gesichert, dass die ehemals verfeindeten Supermächte auch weiter partnerschaftlich und im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes eng miteinander kooperieren."
"Men and women who lived in enemy blocks during the Cold War work and live naturally together today in a confined space: 400 km above the Earth onboard the International Space Station ISS.
[...]
The ISS is regarded as the biggest technology project of all times.
[...]
The success of this outpost of humankind proves that a peaceful cooperation between partners of different cultures is possible.
[...]" -
#2 by DT1 on 25 Oct, 2014 09:47
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The prizewinners onboard the ISS during their stay in 2006
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#3 by DT1 on 25 Oct, 2014 09:59
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I will give a short summary of the speeches later after the live event (sorry, no live shots possible).
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#4 by DT1 on 25 Oct, 2014 11:26
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Event summary, part 1:
The ISS part of the live event opened with the theme music of Star Trek. Then Tom Buhrow, the intendant of the WDR, delivered the laudatory speech. Here some not completely literally translated excerpts (the whole speech in German can be found here: http://www.wirtschaftliche-gesellschaft.de/fileadmin/user_upload/presse/laudatio_buhrow.pdf):
The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, recently addressed the United Nations General Assembly with a warning against a relapse into the Cold War. The world is in disarray this year and one could recognize this from space as well. Alexander Gerst, the current German ESA astronaut onboard the ISS, tweeted a picture from Gaza naming it his saddest photo. That says a lot about the spirit on the ISS. The astronauts indicate the vulnerability of our Earth and they regard their work not only in a scientific sense but also as a political mission.
While we speak of a new cold war the ISS crews ask the easy questions: When it is possible to work peacefully together in space, why are we making things so difficult for us here down on Earth?
Of course, a Romantic is speaking here. But I have not given up the hope for a more peaceful world, yet.
But you could also see life on the ISS pragmatically: Everybody needs everybody. Howard McCurdy from the American University compared the partners in the ISS program with a divorced couple that still lives, chained together, in the same house.
[…]
As the US correspondent for the ARD [1st German TV channel] I could often report on the ISS. And I saw the determination of its crews for progress AND peace. The idea to give this prize to the ISS crew came to prize founders during a visit to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington where they saw a model of the ISS.
[…]
The ISS shines in the sky as a symbol of peace.
The photo below shows (from left to right): Vinogradov, Lopez-Alegria, Reiter, Buhrow
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#5 by DT1 on 25 Oct, 2014 12:16
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Event summary, part 2:
After the laudation a short film was shown reporting on some aspects of the history of the ISS. The comment in the end was: Since 14 years a peaceful cooperation takes place in space onboard the ISS.
Then came the official award ceremony and afterwards some comments by the astronauts:
Lopez-Alegria, speaking in English, congratulated the jury for their choice and reminded of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 that limits space for peaceful purposes. It is a fitting prize not only for the astronauts but to the thousands of workers on the ground around the world.
Vinogradov, speaking in Russian and translated by Reiter, reminded of his more than 500 days in space. It is difficult to fly in space but together it is possible.
Reiter said the goal of the ISS is to expand our knowledge and contribute, for example, to try to get rid of some health scourges of humankind. It is so easy to speak about international cooperation onboard the ISS but it takes thousands of teams on the ground working together to make this possible. When we look down to the Earth with this knowledge this prize gets the special meaning that the ISS serves the understanding among peoples. -
#6 by DT1 on 25 Oct, 2014 12:47
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Event summary, part 3:
Then a few questions were asked to Alexander Gerst on the ISS (not live but recorded a few days ago; the whole interview can be watched on his twitter account @astro_alex https://twitter.com/Astro_Alex/status/525986161404039169):
Gerst expressed his thanks for this prize and greeted Muenster from space. Asked how life practically works on the ISS he said that he found this very fascinating even before his flight. If the ISS was not there he thought that this would be impossible at all. But it works well.
For him the human relationship onboard is easier than one could think. He and his two crewmates know each other now for years and they are best friends. They know each other’s culture and fun and humor can overcome the cultural frontiers.
They follow the conflicts on Earth and read the news. The burning towns in conflict regions can be seen from space. That touches them when you see the fragile Earth from space. The more important it is to capture this perspective and share it with all people on Earth.
Gerst described his most beautiful moments as the time of laughing and friendship, but most of all the view from the window. To realise being in space was overwhelming.
In the end Gerst said good bye from space wishing more peace to planet from the ISS.
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#7 by DT1 on 25 Oct, 2014 13:18
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Event summary, part 4:
The live event concluded with a few comments by Reiter:
It changes your vision of the world when you have a continental-wide view and circle the planet every 90 minutes. These impressions remain for a whole life. You read the news differently than before. You place them into a different proportion.
You return from space with a vast amount of new knowledge wishing you could balance the circumstances on Earth with your new view.
[…]
You look differently at daily events, not only political but very ordinary ones. For example, when you are in a traffic jam with your car, you keep calm and say: there more important things than this!
Concerning cooperation one more time: 15 nations work together in the ISS program and 53 nations are conducting research on the ISS. It is fascinating alone to see how within ESA with its 20 member states cooperation works well.
All this will continue – in Low Earth Orbit and beyond. And we can only do this together. -
#8 by DT1 on 25 Oct, 2014 13:24
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That concludes my report on this event.
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#9 by Chris Bergin on 27 Oct, 2014 13:17
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That concludes my report on this event.
Great work and great news!