The XXV Congress will be hosted by Saudi space flier Prince Sultan bin Salman, who is a founder member of the ASE. Prince Sultan is also the chairman of the Saudi Commission For Tourism and Antiquities.
From June 17 to 24, 1985, Prince Sultan made history by becoming the first (and to date, only) Saudi astronaut, as well as being the first Arab, the first Muslim, and the first Middle Easterner in space.
He served as a payload specialist aboard the American space shuttle Discovery to launch the satellite ARABSAT-1B during the trip. Prince Sultan spent seven days, one hour, and 38 minutes in space, and circled the earth 111 times. During the flight, he became the first person to offer Islamic prayers and read the Qur’an outside of the earth’s atmosphere.
The last Congress was held in Moscow in 2011. The attendees at the three-day executive meeting will include ASE President Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu.
Prunariu works for the Romanian Space Agency as an expert within the Airspace Consulting Association. He was elected chairman of the UN committee on the peaceful uses of outer space (COPUOS) for the period of June 2010-June 2012. He also serves as president of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) and ASE Europe.
Prunariu is co-author of several books on space technology and space flight and has presented/published numerous scientific papers. His Ph.D. thesis produced new developments in the field of space flight dynamics. Prunariu earned a degree in aerospace engineering from the University Politehnica of Bucharest.
The other committee members are Alexander Alexandrov from Moscow, Karol “Bo” Bobko from New York, Rein Ewald from Germany, Soichi Noguchi from Kanagawa in Japan, Richard Richards from Florida, Victor Savinykh from the Russian city of Berezkiny and Charles Walker from Indiana.
As the only professional association for space fliers, ASE supports the advancement of space exploration by providing opportunities for communication among space professionals at international level. ASE works closely with other space organizations to expand and invigorate international dialogue on issues such as crew safety, operational compatibility and the potential hazards of near earth objects. It regularly sponsors international discussions among astronauts and cosmonauts on space flight operations.
ASE is represented by over 375 space fliers from 35 different countries, including Afghanistan, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.
