Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov

Forty-five years ago, Bulgaria achieved a significant milestone in its space exploration journey as it sent its first cosmonaut, Georgi Ivanov, into outer space.

On June 7, 1988, 32 years ago, the second Bulgarian cosmonaut Alexander Alexandrov took off. He is the first Bulgarian on a space station and is also the one who spent the longest time in space.

Eastern Europe's cosmonauts say their international crew's spaceflights in the 1970s and 1980s shows how Russia and the United States should cooperate in exploring space today. The Cold War rivals fought a space race, with the then Soviet Unionclocking up milestones such as sending the first animal, man and then woman into space, and the United States putting the first.manon the Moon.

The 40th anniversary of the flight of the first Bulgarian cosmonaut, Georgi Ivanov, is the occasion that will gather in Sofia the first cosmonauts from five European countries.