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Berklee Valencia Campus welcomes the Spain Summer Performance Program Students to the City of Arts and Sciences. Photos by Tato Baeza.
五嶋龍是國際知名小提琴家五嶋綠(Midori)的親弟弟，1988年出生於紐約，3歲開始學琴，7歲就在日本札幌的太平洋音樂節登台，以一曲帕格尼尼第一號小提琴協奏曲一鳴驚人。
至今，五嶋龍曾與許多國際知名樂團合作演出，包括美國華盛頓國家交響樂團、英國倫敦交響樂團、加拿大溫哥華交響樂團、義大利托斯卡尼尼交響樂團等;琴藝過人的他，更是許多大師如：阿胥肯納吉、羅林•馬捷爾、麥斯基等人點名合作的對象。在家鄉日本，他更是演出邀約不斷，風靡無數樂迷。
兼具東方的謙和與西方的熱情灑脫，雖然目前是哈佛大學的高材生，五嶋龍可不是個書呆子，既忙於演奏事業，還是空手道黑帶高手、吉他好手，也跟同好組室內樂團「玩」音樂，「天才」美名可不是過譽。
在這場音樂會裡，五嶋龍將帶來當初一曲成名的話題曲目《帕格尼尼第一號小提琴協奏曲》。此外，德國柏林喜歌劇院首席指揮王進還為您帶來羅西尼的《塞爾維亞的理髮師序曲》，以及《羅馬之泉》、《羅馬節慶》等動聽的美麗樂曲。
演出者：
小提琴／五嶋龍 (Ryu Goto, violin)
指揮／王進 (Wang Jin, conductor)
臺北市立交響樂團 （Taipei Symphony Orchestra）
曲目：
羅西尼：歌劇《塞爾維亞理髮師》序曲
G. Rossini：“Barbiere di Siviglia”Overture
帕格尼尼：D大調第一號小提琴協奏曲，作品6
N. Paganini：Violin Concerto No.1 in D major, Op.6
雷史畢基：羅馬之泉
O. Respighi：Fontane di Roma
雷史畢基：羅馬節日
O. Respighi：Feste romane
Financial Wellness Program is a service or resource that can help you make smart choices for managing your money and planning for the future.These programs will help employees to find balance and control over their finances. Enhanced Financial Wellness Group provides you best programs that will meet your both family and business financial needs.
Admiral Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, KG, PC (24 August 1561 – 28 May 1626) was a son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk by his second wife Margaret Audley, Duchess of Norfolk, the daughter and heiress of the 1st Baron Audley of Walden.
After the death of his mother on 10 January 1564, the infant Thomas inherited Saffron Walden and other Audley properties. While imprisoned in the Tower before his execution in 1572, his father urged him to marry his stepsister Mary Dacre, the daughter of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre and Elizabeth Leybourne, the Duke's third wife. He did so; but Mary died, childless, on April 1578 at Walden.[1]
In or before 1583, Howard remarried to Katherine Knyvet, widow of Richard son of Robert Rich, 2nd Baron Rich. A noted beauty, she was also the eldest daughter and heiress of her father, Sir Henry Knyvet of Charlton. The couple had fourteen children:[2]
* Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk (1584–1640)
* Elizabeth Howard (died 17 April 1658), married William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury, then Edward Vaux, 4th Baron Vaux of Harrowden
* Sir Robert Howard (1584–1653), married Catherine Nevill, daughter of Henry Nevill, 9th Baron Bergavenny
* Gertrude Howard (born c.1585)[3]
* Sir William Howard (1587–bef. 1672)
* Catherine Howard (c.1588–1673), married William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury on 1 December 1608
* Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire (1589–1669)
* Emily Howard (born 1589)[3]
* Frances Howard (1591–1632), married Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex c. 1605, divorced 1613, married Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset on 26 December 1613
* Sir Charles Howard (d. 1622), married Mary Fitzjohn and had issue
* Henry Howard (1592–1616), married Elizabeth Bassett and had issue
* John Howard (d. 1595)[3]
* Edward Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Escrick (d. 1675)
* Margaret Howard, {c.1599-1608)
In December 1584, he was restored in blood as Lord Thomas Howard.[1] Lord Thomas commanded the Golden Lion in the attack on the Spanish Armada. On 25 July 1588, the Golden Lion was one of the three ships that counter-attacked the Spanish galleasses protecting the Saint Anne. He was knighted the next day aboard Ark Royal by his kinsman, Admiral Lord Howard of Effingham.[4]
In 1591, he was sent with a squadron to the Azores which was to waylay the Spanish treasure fleets from America. However, one fleet reached Spain before his arrival, and the second would not arrive in the islands until September. Forced by the long delay to land his sick and repair his ships, he was barely able to reballast and get to sea off Flores in time when his scouts reported an arriving fleet. To his horror, this proved to be, not the treasure fleet, but a powerful Spanish force dispatched from Ferrol to destroy his squadron. All of Howard's fleet escaped, by the barest of margins, except Revenge, commanded by the squadron's vice-admiral, Sir Richard Grenville. Revenge, some distance from the remainder of the fleet, attempted to break through the Castilian Squadron and was forced to surrender after a long fight, in which Revenge was virtually destroyed and Grenville mortally wounded.[5]
In 1596, Howard served as vice-admiral of the expedition against Cadiz, which defeated a Spanish fleet and captured the town. Favored by Queen Elizabeth, he was installed as a Knight of the Garter in April 1597, and in June sailed with the unsuccessful expedition to the Azores, which he had partly funded.[1]
He was seriously ill in the autumn of 1597, and was created Baron Howard de Walden by writ of summons. While he recovered from his illness, he was unable to attend Parliament until January 1598. On 2 February 1598, he was admitted an honorary member of Gray's Inn. In 1599, he commanded the fleet in The Downs, and was appointed Constable of the Tower of London on 13 February 1601 after the revolt of the Earl of Essex, and was one of the commission who tried Essex and Southampton. Still active in privateering ventures, he never obtained significant profit from them. At this time, he was also sworn High Steward of Cambridge University, and would hold the post until 1614.[1] (He received an MA from Cambridge in 1605.[6])
A friend of Sir Robert Cecil, he became acting Lord Chamberlain at the close of 1602, and entertained the Queen at the Charterhouse, towards the end of her life in January 1603. Under James I, Howard immediately entered the King's favor, being appointed Lord Chamberlain on 6 April 1603 and a Privy Counsellor on 7 April. Later that year, on 21 July 1603, he was created Earl of Suffolk. He was also appointed a commissioner for creating Knights of the Bath, and from 1604 to 1618 a commissioner for the Earl Marshalcy. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk in 1605, having several years earlier been made Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire.[1]
Suffolk accepted a gift from the Spanish ambassador negotiating the peace treaty of 1604, but his countess proved a more valuable informant and Catholic sympathizer. Avaricious, she accepted an annual pension of £1000 from the Spanish. While Suffolk was less pro-Spanish and pro-Catholic than his wife, she was felt to dominate her husband in matters of politics, a circumstance which would later bring him to grief.[1]
By 1605, Cecil, now Earl of Salisbury, Suffolk, the Earl of Northampton, and the Earl of Worcester were James' principal privy counsellors. Suffolk and Salisbury were both privy to the communications made by Lord Monteagle revealing the existence of the Gunpowder Plot, and Suffolk examined the cellar, spotting the brushwood concealing the gunpowder. Later that evening, the Keeper of the Palace, Sir Thomas Knyvet (Suffolk's brother-in-law) made further search, revealing the gunpowder, and the plot collapsed. Suffolk was one of those commissioned to investigated and try the plotters.[1]
Numbered by James as one of his "trinity of knaves" (with Salisbury and Northampton), he was nonetheless thought loyal and reliable to the King. In December 1608, Salisbury's eldest son and heir, William married Suffolk's third daughter, Catharine. Salisbury, who died in 1612, praised Suffolk's friendship in his will; and upon his death, Suffolk was appointed one of the Lords of the Treasury. Though he disliked Sir Robert Carr, the royal favorite, Suffolk supported his daughter Frances' desire to divorce her husband, the Earl of Essex to marry him. She did so in December 1613, shortly after his creation as Earl of Somerset.[1]
On 8 July 1614, Suffolk was appointed Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, replacing his kinsman Northampton, and on 11 July 1614 was made Lord High Treasurer. His new son-in-law, Somerset, replaced him as Lord Chamberlain, and Suffolk and his family now dominated the court.[1]
In 1615, however, Suffolk's fall began. James had become deeply infatuated with Sir George Villiers, and Suffolk's daughter Frances, now Countess of Somerset, was implicated in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury. Suffolk was accused by James of complicity with Somerset in trying to suppress investigation of the crime, but successfully weathered the storm. However, Suffolk then made the mistake of attempting to undermine the rising power of Villiers by grooming another handsome young man to succeed him in James' favor. Completely unsuccessful, this only provoked a counterattack by Villiers, now (1618) Marquess of Buckingham, upon Suffolk's conduct as Lord High Treasurer.[1]
Suffolk's finances were always in a perilous state. His early privateering and naval ventures nearly bankrupted him, despite some financial help from Queen Elizabeth. Under James, the situation was somewhat eased by his preferment at court, which gave him board and lodging and valuable emoluents, and the regrant of some of the sequestered estates of his father. Some of this he invested in land in East Anglia, and he further benefited from a series of customs farms and bequests from relatives. He had been forced to sell his London residence, the Charterhouse, in 1611, but this was replaced in 1614 when he inherited the Earl of Northampton's house at Charing Cross. Suffolk added to his own troubles by extravagant building programs. Audley End House, built from 1603 to 1616, was the largest private house in England. He also added an expensive new wing to Charing Cross, and his wife built Charlton Park on the Knyvett estates she had inherited. Suffolk's children were also well provided for. He spent considerable sums to keep up their profile at court, and provided generous marriage portions to improve their matches. While this strategy was successful, it generated crushing debts for him, owing £40,000 in bonds and mortgages by 1618. His appointment as Lord High Treasurer in 1614 provided the opportunity for ameliorate his financial position through graft and deals with customs farmers, although it did not completely relieve his debts. It was also to prove the instrument of his downfall.[1]
Through the agency of Buckingham, James was made aware of Suffolk's misconduct in the Treasury, particularly allegations that Lady Suffolk harassed creditors of the crown, and extorted bribes from them before they could obtain payment. Suffolk was suspended from the Treasurership in July 1618. Early in 1619, his wife suffered an attack of smallpox which destroyed her famous beauty, and Suffolk himself pleaded ill health in an attempt to avoid trial. These efforts failed: in October 1619, he, his wife, and their crony Sir John Bingley, Remembrancer of the Exchequer were prosecuted on a variety of counts of corruption in the Court of Star Chamber. Sir Francis Bacon, the prosecutor, compared Lady Suffolk to an exchange woman keeping shop while her apprentice, Bingley, cried "Whad'ye lack?" outside.[3] On 13 November 1619, they were found guilty on all counts. A fine of £30,000 was imposed, and they were sentenced to imprisonment at the King's pleasure.[1]
After ten days, Suffolk and his wife were released, and appealed to Buckingham to intercede for them. Although Suffolk further irritated James by legal maneuvers to avoid seizure of his property, Buckingham was willing to be magnanimous to his rival now that his power had been destroyed. Buckingham obtained for Suffolk an audience with the King, and the fine was subsequently remitted except for £7000. In 1623, Suffolk's youngest son Edward married Buckingham's niece, Mary Boteler. While Suffolk never again rose to high office, he was active in the Lords, and served twice as a commissioner of ecclesiastical causes. He died at Charing Cross on 28 May 1626 and was buried on 4 June at Saffron Walden.[1]
U.S. Forest Service Engineer scoping out options for viewing platform and campsite at Djiji Falls to support development of ecotourism infrastructure in Ivindo National Park, Gabon. (Forest Service photo by Olivia Freeman)
Nursing students go door to door to dispense medication during a medical civic action program, Shinile Woreda, Ethiopia, Oct. 14, 2010.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Kat McDowell
Nursing students from the Arts Medical College of Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, with help from the U.S. Army 418th Civil Function Specialty Team, Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, distributed medications to more than 900 children in seven remote villages during the second phase of a Medical Civic Action Program (MEDCAP) to improve health conditions in the Shinile Woreda (district), south of Djibouti Oct. 19.
Medications distributed were tailored to the results of parasitological testing of samples collected from children in the area during the first phase of the Shinile MEDCAP. Children were treated for Schistosoma mansoni and hookworms, parasitic worms that cause dysentery, dehydration, anemia and skin lesions.
“Part of the sustainability piece of these missions is the collaboration between our medical and nursing experts and the students,” said U.S. Army Maj. Brad Franklin, an FSP nurse practitioner. “Sharing experiences with the students helps guide the next generation of healthcare professionals in Ethiopia.”
Franklin said the participating students would graduate in a year’s time. The MEDCAP provided them practical field experience to better prepare them for future responsibilities, including how to treat patients with limited supplies and capabilities in rural situations.
“Most cases we’ve only read about and haven’t seen,” said Kadar Mohammed, one of the four nursing students involve. “Things like elephantiaisis and gout, we only hear about in class. This experience will help us better care for the people that need it most.”
In the third phase of the mission, more samples will be collected from children in Shinile Woreda and tested for parasites. Data from all phases of the MEDCAP will be provided to the Ethiopian Ministry of Health to augment their knowledge base and awareness of health issues in Shinile.
“The upshot is that healthier populations are more stable populations,” said Staff Sgt. Douglas Rueff, 418th CA combat medic.
“If the government can show it can provide basic services for the people, the people will feel more connected to the government and feel less sympathetic to extremist groups that come through the area. This helps the long-term view,” he said.
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
I was a Canon (fan)boy for quite a long time but I have never owned their manual focus FD line. That is, until now. :)
The Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program. Field Training Sessions took place at the Goddard Space Flight Center during The 17th GLOBE Annual Partner Meeting
Credit: NASA/Goddard/Bill Hrybyk
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Catalog #: 08_00834
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: shows an example of a mission control room
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
Volunteer Teaching Program,Volunteer Teaching Kenya
Description: Teach English, Mathematics, Science and other subjects at our primary schools in urban and rural areas of Kenya. No teaching certificate is required, but native English speakers are preferred.
Your voluntary contribution to teach English as a second language in Kenya or to teach other subjects, will be highly appreciated and fulfilling to yourself. We work with a number of schools where teaching volunteers will be placed..
Those volunteering for international teaching in Kenya are expected to have at least graduated from high school or be enrolled in a college. On completion of a mandatory overseas teaching orientation, the overseas volunteer teachers will be expected to work for between 4 to 5 hours a day.
The number of local teachers per school is normally small. In some schools the student to teacher ratios are so high, but sometimes in Kenya, that’s the only chance the students have to learn and make something out of their lives.
The students range in age from 4 to 14 from pre-kindergarten to class 8. For the younger children, you can help them with conversational English, basic math, arts & crafts, board games, playground games, sports like soccer and running, music, and any other talents you wish to share. For the older students, you can teach more formal subjects like English, science, math, and history. The school schedule is Monday-Friday from 8am to 4pm with a two-hour sports period from 3-5pm where the students do things like cross-country running, soccer, and basketball.
All classes are taught in English in Kenya.
Qualification: Native English speakers are preferred.
Education
No teaching is done during April, August or December due to school holidays in these months.
Program Cost:
2 Weeks : US $740
4 Weeks : US$ 1, 090
Extra Week: US$100
Included in Program Fee
• All Food
• All Accommodations
• Airport Pickup/Dropoff
• Transfer to Project Location
• Orientation
•Sim Card for your Cell Phone
• 24/7country coordination
• First Night Hotel acommodation on Bed and Breakfast
Not Included in Program Fee
• Airfare
• Visa Fee
• Vaccinations
• Internet
• Phone Calls
Host Family Accomodation
For Placement feel free to contact us
To apply for this program, click here
info@lecdenkenya.com
Volunteering in Kenya: Maasailand Teaching
The Maasai have largely managed to remain outside of mainstream African culture and maintain their traditional ways, although this becomes more challenging each year. For this reason Maasai are increasingly seeking the opportunities African society has to offer. With little government support Maasai struggle to find teachers and medical professionals to work in their schools and medical clinics.
Teaching Program: It is estimated that less than half of all Maasai children attend schools, so teaching volunteers are urgently needed to help reverse this trend. Volunteers have the opportunity to educate children at primary school level. Subjects taught include English, mathematics, science, and social studies. Volunteers are also encouraged to initiate extra-curricular activities.
The Maasai have largely managed to remain outside of mainstream African culture and maintain their traditional ways, although this becomes more challenging each year. For this reason Maasai are increasingly seeking the opportunities African society has to offer. With little government support Maasai struggle to find teachers and medical professionals to work in their schools and medical clinics.
It is estimated that less than half of all Maasai children attend schools, so teaching volunteers are urgently needed to help reverse this trend. Volunteers have the opportunity to educate children at primary school level. Subjects taught include English, mathematics, science, and social studies. Volunteers are also encouraged to initiate extra-curricular activities like, art ‘n’ crafts, reading groups, drama, music and sports.
You may find Kenyan classrooms very different to your own past experience. They are often lacking in funding and resources. At best, a standard classroom may consist of chairs, a chalkboard and very little in terms of other equipment. Even textbooks are rare and students often find themselves sharing textbooks if they are available.
Each grade will have its own classroom and you can expect to have a class size of 30 to 50 students. There are 8 classes in a day, with several breaks in between. After three o’clock, there are no classes, but the students do alternative things such as play sports, hold debates, or work on their homework. The official school day begins at 7:50am and ends at 5pm.
The teaching staff is made up of paid and local volunteer teachers. You may be working as the sole teacher in the classroom or in partnership with a Kenyan teacher. Sometimes Kenyan teachers will step down in order for you to take their classes, we do not encourage this and strongly recommend that volunteers work in partnership with Kenyan teachers to introduce new skills, knowledge and practical teaching methods to the classroom that can be carried on after your placement. Working in partnership will also provide volunteers the opportunity to learn another ways of doing things also.
The level of English language skills will offer a challenge. Regardless of the education level, English skills amongst the children will vary due to age and the quality of education they have received. As a result, levels of individuals within classes often differ and you will be expected to work with the varying levels.
School is in session three months at a time (January to March, May to July, September to November) and then the students are given a month break before beginning again. Exams normally occur at the end of term time. Volunteers working during exam time are expected to help prepare students for exams and grade them.
Note: the type of work volunteers will perform is subject to the needs of the particular project they are placed at and their own experience and skills.
Volunteer work expectation
Volunteers are expected to work a minimum of 4 to 6 hours a day, 5 days a week from Monday to Saturday. Sundays are days off. Volunteers are able to work beyond this minimum commitment.
It is vital that you are flexible and willing to adapt to situations as they arise. You cannot predict what each day may bring. We also ask that you are prepared to follow any rules set by us or our partners to ensure continuity of the program. New initiatives you may wish to set up at your project should be discussed with Lecden-Kenya. and your project director supervisor before implementation to ensure that what you set up is appropriate for the project.
Accommodation
Volunteers in the Teaching, Medical/Health and HIV/AIDS program will be accommodated in a homestay situation. While volunteers in the Children’s program may be accommodated in either a homestay, volunteer dormitory, or at the Children’s Home they are working in.
Accommodation at homestays is with everyday members of the community who have invited international volunteers into their homes. Each host situation is different in terms of the number and make-up of people living in the house, their personal circumstances, style of accommodation, and their expectation of you as a guest in their home.
Volunteer dormitory accommodation is where volunteers live together in a house located near their placement and are cared for by househelp.
Accommodation at a Children’s Home is located onsite and provides the volunteer with separate sleeping quarters from the children. Volunteers are cared for by the Home’s staff.
Accommodation providers have been selected to ensure volunteer well-being and comfort, to maintain safety and security, and to give an insight into Kenyan life. Take the opportunity to get to know those at your accommodation. You have a unique opportunity to learn a different way of living and culture. Make the most of it!
What you can expect
Volunteers can expect to share a room with one to three other volunteers. Bedding, such as sheets, blankets, pillows, is provided however volunteers will need to supply their own mosquito nets. Mosquito nets cost less than US$10 and can be purchased in Nairobi on day two of Orientation.
Living is basic, but comfortable. In urban areas accommodation is modern relative to rural areas. Houses will generally have electricity, running water, hot water and flushing toilets. Internet, telephone, ATMs, supermarkets, and restaurants are an easy travel distance from accommodation. Public transport is readily accessible and just a short walk from most urban accommodation sites.
In contrast, rural accommodation may not have electricity or running water. Common to all houses are bucket baths, squat toilets and boiled hot water. Internet, bank or ATMs, supermarkets, and restaurants are located in the nearest town which will require public transport to get to. Public transport is available but will normally require volunteers to walk a distance to get to.
Both urban and rural accommodation will not have telephones. For this reason it is recommended volunteers buy a local mobile phone to keep in contact with family and friends at home, other volunteers and program staff. Volunteers will have an opportunity to buy a mobile phone on day two of Orientation and the cost is upwards of US$30. Remember to keep an eye on international calling charges.
Meals
Volunteers will be served two meals per day: breakfast and dinner. While meals will differ from accommodation to accommodation, volunteers can expect the style of food served to be in keeping with the traditional Kenyan diet. An example of the types of meals served:
Breakfast: bread with jam, fruit, and chai tea.
Dinner: a typical dinner includes three dishes of the following: beans, rice, potatoes, meat, spinach, cabbage, mixed vegetables, or chapatti.
Please note that snack food is not provided as part of the meals supplied at your accommodation.
As you can see the Kenyan diet is made up of mostly carbohydrate dishes and meat served at most one to two times a week. For most, this will be a new way of eating and you may like to consider supplementing your diet with vitamins and perhaps purchasing food from a local market or supermarket. If your diet differs from the foods listed above, let your accommodation provider know so not to cause any confusion about your eating habits.
Water
As it is not advisable to drink tap water we recommend that you purchase bottled water. This is widely available in Kenya and you can expect to pay about US$10 per week. This would provide you with 2 liters of water per day. Be sure to check that the seals are not broken.
Boiled water is another good option for safe drinking water. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/travel/contentWaterTreatment.aspx) recommends boiling water as the best method for making water safe to drink. Boiling water as recommended will kill bacterial, parasitic, and viral causes of diarrhea. Directions for boiling water: boil water vigorously for 1 minute and allow it to cool to room temperature (do not add ice).
Where to buy? What you can buy?
Kenya has a large number of outlets where food is sold, ranging from small outdoor markets to large supermarkets, and roadside eateries to world famous restaurants. Prices vary greatly. You can expect to pay what you would in your own country when buying food from a supermarket or eating at a restaurant, while small markets and roadside eateries offer a much cheaper price option.
Transport
Your transport from your arrival location to the volunteer accommodation, and during Orientation is covered by the program fee. Once Orientation is complete volunteers are transferred to their program locations. Volunteers, in most cases, will be accommodated a reasonable walking distance from their project location and will be able to walk to work each day. For those who are accommodated outside of a reasonable walking distance and when public transport is available, money for transport will be provided. Note: any transport money provided in this instance is at the discretion of Lecden-Kenya.
Transport on departure from the program is not covered by the program fee. Volunteers will need to organise and pay for their own transport when leaving the program.
Getting around Kenya
Kenya has about 250 airports and airstrips (of vastly varying quality) and plenty of airlines connecting Nairobi with Mombasa, Kisumu, Nanyuki, Malindi, Lamu and the national parks/reserves of Amboseli, Masai Mara and Samburu. Flying around Kenya and its neighboring countries is a relatively safe way to cover a lot of ground.
Traveling by train between Nairobi and Mombasa is also a popular form of transport.
Kenya has a good network of regular buses, matatus (usually minibuses), shared-taxis and private taxis which will get you where you need to go; from home to the closest town or the neighboring country. To reduce any safety risks, only travel with recommended bus companies and taxi drivers and never travel by matatu at night. Cycling is best done in rural areas due to the chaotic traffic on the main roads, but the distances between towns and the poor condition of roads needs to be kept in mind.
Communication
Keeping in touch by post, telephone and email is generally easy, but sometimes not reliable.
Telephone
Kenya‘s telephone system is improving but the network is limited to main towns and often breaks down in times of heavy usage or bad weather conditions.
Volunteer accommodations do not have telephones, but phone booths are usually located in the cities. Most Kenyans however, rely on mobile phones to keep in contact with the outside world. For this reason we recommend volunteers buy a local mobile phone to keep in contact with family and friends at home, other volunteers and program staff. (Volunteers will have an opportunity to buy a mobile phone on day two of Orientation and cost upwards of US$30. Remember to keep an eye on international calling charges.)
Internet Services
IT has picked up rapidly in Kenya. Internet cafes are available in the main towns and you can expect to pay around US$1 for an hour of internet use. The internet is slow but it is a much cheaper option for keeping in touch with family and friends at home than telephone.
Post
There are several post offices in Kenya scattered around the country. The post, on average, takes a few days to Europe and around ten days to North America, Australia and New Zealand; times from these places to Kenya are slightly longer. It is a good idea to keep copies of letters or photo disks just incase they get lost in the post and we recommend not sending valuables just in case they go missing also.
Electricity
Electricity runs in cities and towns but not in extremely rural areas. Power cuts do occur, so a power surge protector for sensitive equipment and a torch and or head lamp are good ideas. Kenya’s electrical system is characterized by 240 volts AC, 50Hz with a rectangular blade 3 pin plug (http://kropla.com/!g.htm).
Free Time
Volunteers are free to do as they please during down time. For most, free time will be on weekends, public holidays and after volunteer duties are done for the day.
You can use free time to prepare for any future work or activities you may wish to plan. Some volunteers choose to help in other programs when they have free time. You may like to meet up with other volunteers during your free time to swap ideas or simply spend time with them. You may also like to visit local sights of interest.
If you are considering traveling around Kenya and neighboring countries we recommend you take the necessary safety precautions and the advice of our partner organisation and trusted locals. If you would like to discover Kenya by joining a safari you may like to consult our partner who can put you in touch with providers of safari packages at competitive rates. Organizing a safari can be done while in Kenya.
Number of Volunteers
The Kenya program usually has between 30 and 80 volunteers per month, but the number of volunteers varies depending on the season. Generally you are placed with one to three other volunteers at your project.
Program Cost:
2 Weeks : US $740
4 Weeks : US$ 1, 090
Extra Week: US$100
Included in Program Fee
• All Food
• All Accommodations
• Airport Pickup/Dropoff
• Transfer to Project Location
• Orientation
•Sim Card for your Cell Phone
• 24/7country coordination
• First Night Hotel acommodation on Bed and Breakfast
Not Included in Program Fee
• Airfare
• Visa Fee
• Vaccinations
• Internet
• Phone Calls
Host Family Accomodation
For Placement feel free to contact us
Volunteer Programs ,To apply for this program, click here
To apply for this program, click here
info@lecdenkenya.com
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Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule Vostok 1 completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour.
Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight but he served as the backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission, which ended in a fatal crash, killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting with his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach.
Contents
1 Early life and education
2 Soviet Air Force service
3 Soviet space program
3.1 Selection and training
3.2 Vostok 1
4 After the Vostok 1 flight
5 Personal life
6 Death
7 Awards and honours
7.1 Medals and orders of merit
7.2 Tributes
7.3 Statues and monuments
7.4 50th anniversary
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
10.1 Sources
11 Further reading
12 External links
Early life and education
Yuri Gagarin was born 9 March 1934 in the village of Klushino,[1] near Gzhatsk (renamed Gagarin in 1968 after his death).[2] His parents worked on a collective farm:[3] Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin as a carpenter and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina as a dairy farmer.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]
Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia during World War II. Klushino was occupied in November 1941 during the German advance on Moscow and a German officer took over the Gagarin residence. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] His two older siblings were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labour in 1943 and did not return until after the war in 1945.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]
In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] While in Saratov, Gagarin volunteered at a local flying club for weekend training as a Soviet air cadet, where he trained to fly a biplane, and later a Yak-18.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]
Soviet Air Force service
In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] Gagarin twice struggled to land the two-seater trainer aircraft, and risked dismissal from pilot training. However, the commander of the regiment decided to give him another chance at landing. Gagarin's flight instructor gave him a cushion to sit on, which improved his view from the cockpit, and he landed successfully. Having completed his evaluation in a trainer aircraft,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]
On 5 November 1957, Gagarin was commissioned a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces having accumulated 166 hours and 47 minutes of flight time. He graduated from flight school the next day and was posted to the Luostari airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]
Soviet space program
Selection and training
See also: Vostok programme
Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum
Gagarin's selection for the Vostok programme was overseen by the Central Flight Medical Commission led by Major General Konstantin Fyodorovich Borodin of the Soviet Army Medical Service. He underwent physical and psychological testing conducted at Central Aviation Scientific-Research Hospital, in Moscow, commanded by Colonel A.S. Usanov, a member of the commission. The commission also included Colonel Yevgeniy Anatoliyevich Karpov, who later commanded the training centre, Colonel Vladimir Ivanovich Yazdovskiy, the head physician for Gagarin's flight, and Major-General Aleksandr Nikolayevich Babiychuk, a physician flag officer on the Soviet Air Force General Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force.[17]
From a pool of 154 qualified pilots short-listed by their Air Force units, the military physicians chose 29 cosmonaut candidates, of which 20 were approved by the Credential Committee of the Soviet Government. The first twelve including Gagarin were approved on 7 March 1960 and eight more were added in a series of subsequent orders issued until June.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]
Gagarin was a candidate favoured by his peers. When they were asked to vote anonymously for a candidate besides themselves they would like to be the first to fly, all but three chose Gagarin.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] from which the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme would be chosen. The other members of the group were Anatoliy Kartashov, Andriyan Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, German Titov, and Valentin Varlamov. However, Kartashov and Varlamov were injured and replaced by Khrunov and Grigoriy Nelyubov.[25]
As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] Gagarin was also subjected to experiments that were designed to test physical and psychological endurance including oxygen starvation tests in which the cosmonauts were locked in an isolation chamber and the air slowly pumped out. He also trained for the upcoming flight by experiencing g-forces in a centrifuge.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] In August 1960, a Soviet Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows:
Modest; embarrasses when his humor gets a little too racy; high degree of intellectual development evident in Yuriy; fantastic memory; distinguishes himself from his colleagues by his sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings; a well-developed imagination; quick reactions; persevering, prepares himself painstakingly for his activities and training exercises, handles celestial mechanics and mathematical formulae with ease as well as excels in higher mathematics; does not feel constrained when he has to defend his point of view if he considers himself right; appears that he understands life better than a lot of his friends.[21]
The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, they were tested in a simulator at the M. M. Gromov Flight-Research Institute on a full-size mockup of the Vostok capsule. Gagarin, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov all received excellent marks on the first day of testing in which they were required to describe the various phases of the mission followed by questions from commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]
In the end, at the State Commission meeting on April 8, Kamanin stood up and formally nominated Gagarin as the primary pilot and Titov as his backup. Without much discussion, the commission approved the proposal and moved on to other last-minute logistical issues. It was assumed that in the event Gagarin developed health problems prior to liftoff, Titov would take his place, with Nelyubov acting as his backup.
Vostok 1
Main article: Vostok 1
Poyekhali!
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Gagarin's voice
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On 12 April 1961, 6:07 am UTC, the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) spacecraft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Aboard was Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, using the call sign Kedr (Russian: Кедр, Siberian pine or Cedar).[31] The radio communication between the launch control room and Gagarin included the following dialogue at the moment of rocket launch:
Korolev: Preliminary stage ... intermediate... main... LIFT-OFF! We wish you a good flight. Everything's all right.
Gagarin: Off we go! Goodbye, until [we meet] soon, dear friends.[32][33]
Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] The five first-stage engines fired until the first separation event, when the four side-boosters fell away, leaving the core engine. The core stage then separated while the rocket was in a suborbital trajectory, and the upper stage carried it to orbit. Once the upper stage finished firing, it separated from the spacecraft, which orbited for 108 minutes before returning to Earth in Kazakhstan.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]
File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media
An April 1961 newsreel of Gagarin arriving in Moscow to be greeted by First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev.
"The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended", Gagarin wrote in his post-flight report.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]
At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. There were concerns Gagarin's spaceflight record would not be certified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body for setting standards and keeping records in the field, which at the time required that the pilot land with the craft.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] an omission which became apparent after Titov's subsequent flight on Vostok 2 four months later. Gagarin's spaceflight records were nonetheless certified and again reaffirmed by the FAI, which revised it rules, and acknowledge that the crucial steps of the safe launch, orbit, and return of the pilot had been accomplished. Gagarin continues to be internationally recognised as the first human in space and first to orbit the Earth.[42]
After the Vostok 1 flight
Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961
Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program and he became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, as well as a worldwide celebrity. Newspapers around the globe published his biography and details of his flight. He was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev awarded him the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Other cities in the Soviet Union also held mass demonstrations, the scale of which were second only to World War II Victory Parades.[43]
Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964
Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] While in Manchester, despite heavy rain, he refused an umbrella, insisted that the roof of the convertible car he was riding in remain open, and stood so the cheering crowds could see him.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]
In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] and was elected to the Central Committee of the Young Communist League. He later returned to Star City, the cosmonaut facility, where he spent several years working on designs for a reusable spacecraft. He became a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Forces on 12 June 1962, and received the rank of colonel on 6 November 1963.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai Kamanin, tried to keep Gagarin away from any flights, being worried about losing their hero in an accident noting that he was "too dear to mankind to risk his life for the sake of an ordinary space flight".[54] Kamanin was also concerned by Gagarin's drinking and believed the sudden rise to fame had taken its toll on the cosmonaut. While acquaintances say Gagarin had been a "sensible drinker", his touring schedule placed him in social situations in which he was increasingly expected to drink alcohol.[5][10]
Gagarin with U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou and the Gemini 4 astronauts at the 1965 Paris Air Show
Two years later, he was re-elected as a deputy of the Soviet Union but this time to the Soviet of Nationalities, the upper chamber of legislature.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] and was backup pilot for his friend Vladimir Komarov on the Soyuz 1 flight after five years without piloting duty. Kamanin had opposed Gagarin's reassignment to cosmonaut training; he had gained weight and his flying skills had deteriorated. Despite this, he remained a strong contender for Soyuz 1 until he was replaced by Komarov in April 1966 and reassigned to Soyuz 3.[56]
The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] He was also grounded from flying aircraft solo, a demotion he worked hard to lift. He was temporarily relieved of duties to focus on academics with the promise that he would be able to resume flight training.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]
Personal life
Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.
Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.
Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]
In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] Following his rise to fame, at a Black Sea resort in September 1961, he was reportedly caught by his wife during a liaison with a nurse who had aided him after a boating incident. He attempted to escape through a window and jumped off a second floor balcony. The resulting injury left a permanent scar above his left eyebrow.[5][10]
Death
Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27
Plaque indicating Gagarin's interment in the Kremlin Wall
On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died when their MiG-15UTI crashed near the town of Kirzhach. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and their ashes were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] According to a biography of Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin, the KGB worked "not just alongside the Air Force and the official commission members but against them."[75]
The KGB's report declassified in March 2003 dismissed various conspiracy theories and instead indicated the actions of airbase personnel contributed to the crash. The report states that an air-traffic controller provided Gagarin with outdated weather information and that by the time of his flight, conditions had deteriorated significantly. Ground crew also left external fuel tanks attached to the aircraft. Gagarin's planned flight activities needed clear weather and no outboard tanks. The investigation concluded Gagarin's aircraft entered a spin, either due to a bird strike or because of a sudden move to avoid another aircraft. Because of the out-of-date weather report, the crew believed their altitude was higher than it was and could not react properly to bring the MiG-15 out of its spin.[76] Another theory, advanced in 2005 by the original crash investigator, hypothesizes that a cabin air vent was accidentally left open by the crew or the previous pilot, leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving the crew incapable of controlling the aircraft.[73] A similar theory, published in Air & Space magazine, is that the crew detected the open vent and followed procedure by executing a rapid dive to a lower altitude. This dive caused them to lose consciousness and crash.[74]
On 12 April 2007, the Kremlin vetoed a new investigation into the death of Gagarin. Government officials said they saw no reason to begin a new investigation.[77] In April 2011, documents from a 1968 commission set up by the Central Committee of the Communist Party to investigate the accident were declassified. The documents revealed that the commission's original conclusion was that Gagarin or Seryogin had manoeuvered sharply, either to avoid a weather balloon or to avoid "entry into the upper limit of the first layer of cloud cover", leading the jet into a "super-critical flight regime and to its stalling in complex meteorological conditions".[78]
A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying
Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, a member of a state commission established to investigate Gagarin's death, was conducting parachute training sessions that day and heard "two loud booms in the distance". He believes that a Sukhoi Su-15 was flying below its minimum altitude and, "without realizing it because of the terrible weather conditions, he passed within 10 or 20 meters of Yuri and Seregin's plane while breaking the sound barrier". The resulting turbulence would have sent the MiG-15UTI into an uncontrolled spin. Leonov said the first boom he heard was that of the jet breaking the sound barrier and the second was Gagarin's plane crashing.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "unauthorized" Su-15 flying in the area. However, as a condition of being allowed to discuss the declassified report, Leonov was barred from disclosing the name of the Su-15 pilot who was 80 years old and in poor health as of 2013.[80]
Awards and honours
Medals and orders of merit
Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.
On 14 April 1961, Gagarin was honoured with a 12-mile (19 km) parade attended by millions of people that concluded at the Red Square. After a short speech, he was bestowed the Hero of the Soviet Union,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]
He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of Cuban Revolution (26 July), President Osvaldo Dorticos of Cuba presented him with the first Commander of the Order of Playa Girón, a newly created medal.[87]
Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] He received numerous awards from other nations that year, including the Star of the Republic of Indonesia (2nd Class), the Order of the Cross of Grunwald (1st Degree) in Poland, the Order of the Flag of the Republic of Hungary, the Hero of Labor award from Democratic Republic of Vietnam,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]
Tributes
The date of Gagarin's space flight, 12 April, has been commemorated. Since 1962, it has been celebrated in the USSR and most of its former territories as Cosmonautics Day.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]
Yuri Gagarin statue at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London
A number of buildings and locations have been named for Gagarin. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] The launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome from which Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1 were launched is now known as Gagarin's Start. Gagarin Raion in Sevastopol, Ukraine, was named after him during the period of the Soviet Union. The Russian Air Force Academy was renamed Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]
Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin left the small Fallen Astronaut sculpture at their landing site as a memorial to the American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who died in the Space Race; the names on its plaque included Yuri Gagarin and 14 others.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]
Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] He was the inspiration for the pieces "Hey Gagarin" by Jean-Michel Jarre on Métamorphoses, "Gagarin" by Public Service Broadcasting, and "Gagarin, I loved you" by Undervud.[109]
Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001
Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]
Two commemorative coins were issued in the Soviet Union to honour the 20th and 30th anniversaries of his flight: a one-ruble coin in copper-nickel (1981) and a three-ruble coin in silver (1991). In 2001, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, a series of four coins bearing his likeness was issued in Russia; it consisted of a two-ruble coin in copper-nickel, a three-ruble coin in silver, a ten-ruble coin in brass-copper and nickel, and a 100-ruble coin in silver.[112] In 2011, Russia issued a 1,000-ruble coin in gold and a three-ruble coin in silver to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight.[113]
In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] A Russian docudrama titled Gagarin: First in Space was released in 2013. Previous attempts at portraying Gagarin were disallowed; his family took legal action over his portrayal in a fictional drama and vetoed a musical.[116]
Statues and monuments
There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), Orenburg, Cheboksary, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and Yoshkar-Ola in Russia, as well as in Nicosia, Cyprus, Druzhkivka, Ukraine, Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and Tiraspol, Moldova. On 4 June 1980, Monument to Yuri Gagarin in Gagarin Square, Leninsky Avenue, Moscow, was opened.[117] The monument is mounted to a 38 m (125 ft) tall pedestal and is constructed of titanium. Beside the column is a replica of the descent module used during his spaceflight.[118]
Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India
In 2011, a statue of Gagarin was unveiled at Admiralty Arch in The Mall in London, opposite the permanent sculpture of James Cook. It is a copy of the statue outside Gagarin's former school in Lyubertsy.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]
In 2012, a statue was unveiled at the site of NASA's original spaceflight headquarters on South Wayside Drive in Houston. The sculpture was completed in 2011 by artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] The Russian Federation presented a bust of Gagarin to several cities in India including one that was unveiled at the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata in February 2012.[123]
In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than week. A new work was commissioned following the outcry over the disproportionately small size of its head which locals said was an "insult" to Gagarin.[124][125] Belgrade City Manager Goran Vesic stated that neither the city, the Serbian Ministry of Culture, nor the foundation that financed it had prior knowledge of the design.[126]
50th anniversary
50th anniversary stamp of Ukraine
The 50th anniversary of Gagarin's journey into space was marked in 2011 by tributes around the world. A film titled First Orbit was shot from the International Space Station, combining sound recordings from the original flight with footage of the route taken by Gagarin.[127] The Russian, American, and Italian crew of Expedition 27 aboard the ISS sent a special video message to wish the people of the world a "Happy Yuri's Night", wearing shirts with an image of Gagarin.[128]
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation released gold and silver coins to commemorate the anniversary.[129] The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft was named Gagarin with the launch in April 2011 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first manned space mission.
Part of the JavaScript code that was attached to an e-mail as a fake invoice in a zip file.
Once the user opens the malicious zip file the JavaScript code is executed and the ransomware software is downloaded from an infected website.
When the ransomware software is running it will encrypt all files that match particular extensions.
After encryption, a message (displayed on the user's desktop) instructs them to download the Tor browser and visit a specific criminal-operated Web site for further information.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransomware
A Weapon Intern Program class learns about the MK-5 bomb from Erik McIntire.
See the complete “A day in the life of Sandia — 70 years and counting” photo essay at bit.ly/2WxBcF0
Photo by Randy Montoya
Language(s): English
Format: Still image
Subject(s): Health Education, African Americans
Abstract: Nurses training program class of white and African American nurses.
Related Title(s): Is part of: Archives, 1894-1952, box 1.; See related catalog record: 2934107R
Extent: 1 photographic print..
NLM Unique ID: 101441859
NLM Image ID: A014811
Permanent Link: resource.nlm.nih.gov/101441859
Catalog #: 08_00819
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: shows the design for the module buttons
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
Miércoles 5 de octubre de 2011
El Programa Conectar Igualdad realizará la entrega de premios a los ganadores del Primer Concurso Conectar Igualdad para estudiantes secundarios. Los finalistas expondrán sus trabajos el viernes 7 de octubre en el Espacio Cultural Nuestros Hijos (ECuNHi – EX ESMA), Av. del Libertador 8465 desde las 14 hs, en un evento que contará con espectáculos gratuitos de La Bomba de Tiempo y el Combinado Argentino de Danza y del que participarán chicos de escuelas públicas de todo el país. El ministro de Educación de la Nación, Alberto Sileoni, visitará la exposición y entregará los premios a los trabajos ganadores.
Del concurso participaron 150 escuelas de todo el país. Los proyectos seleccionados en cada categoría serán presentados por sus autores a partir de lo cual se realizará la selección de los ganadores. Las categorías en las que participaron los alumnos de escuelas públicas secundarias e instituciones de educación especial, fueron Igualdad 2.0, Mi netbook transforma mi mundo e ImaginArte.
El concurso es una iniciativa impulsada por el Ministerio de Educación de la Nación, la Administración Nacional de la Seguridad Social (ANSES) y el Portal educ.ar en el marco de Conectar Igualdad, una política de inclusión digital de alcance federal que está distribuyendo 3 millones de netbooks a cada alumno y docente de educación secundaria de escuela pública, de educación especial y de institutos de formación docente.
Todas las categorías del Concurso tienen premios para los alumnos y para las escuelas. Además, se otorgará un premio especial para el curso que exhiba un mayor nivel de participación, compromiso y presentación de proyectos, que consiste en un viaje de una semana para todo el curso a un destino a elegir entre Mar del Plata, Bariloche o Córdoba.
Los criterios de selección de los finalistas fueron la creatividad, el nivel de búsqueda o exploración previa, la cantidad de recursos involucrados, el grado de elaboración del proyecto y su nivel de involucramiento con el contexto, el jurado eligió a los proyectos finalistas.
Proyectos seleccionados:
CATEGORÍA IGUALDAD 2.0
Blog del Poli (Blog del centro Polivalente de Arte) Francisco Oropeza y Elías Nazareno Dagún – Centro Polivalente de Arte, provincia de Salta.
El sector 15 – Eugenia Tonelli, Leonardo Tuesca, Ana Laura Acevedo y Cristian Fernández – Escuela Secundaria Normal Superior N° 15 “Domingo F. Sarmiento”, provincia de Entre Ríos.
Conociendo el Coliseo
Mariana Edith Giménez, María Florencia Bazán, Melanie Elizabeth Toled y Varinia Soledad Fuentes Reyes – Escuela Normal “Dr. Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros”, provincia de La Rioja.
Los derechos humanos
Mamaní Evelyn y Dolly Leila Soledad Guerrero – Colegio Provincial Polimodal nº 25 “Lago del Desierto”, provincia de Santa Cruz.
Midis al alcance de tu PC
Gabriel Ignacio Aramayo y Arnaldo Oscar Huaranca – Instituto de Educación Media, Dr. Arturo Oñativia, provincia de Salta.
CATEGORÍA MI NETBOOK TRANSFORMA MI MUNDO
La palabra es de todos/as Cintia Barrionuevo, Nicolás Angeleli, Analía Barrientos y Virginia Ayelén Núñez – E.E.S. N° 10, provincia de Buenos Aires.
Una vida más… una vida menos…
Michelle Naira Falcón, Rodrigo Ismael Rodríguez, Jorge Oscar Baseggio y Agustín Ariel Aguilera – IPEM N° 27 “ Dr. René Favaloro”, provincia de Córdoba.
Vida o sida
Darío Giannini, Débora Antonella Argüello, Antonella López y Andrés Chalier – Colegio Provincial de Educación Tecnológica, provincia de Tierra del Fuego
Aprender a escuchar
Nicolás Melgarejo y Federico Figueroa – Normal Superior Nº 6, C.A.B.A.
Otra mirada de embarazo adolescente
Camila Ávila, Maximiliano Lovera, Soledad Sarco y Florencia Rodríguez – E.E.S. 330, provincia de Buenos Aires.
CATEGORÍA IMAGINARTE
N´vike (violín de lata) profecía QOM Rita Medina, Agustín Moreno, Facundo Moreno y Matías Vargas – C.E.P. n° 118, provincia de Chaco.
Interés adolescente
Vanina Florencia Álvarez, María de los Ángeles García y Marianela Jackeline Fernández Bravo – Colegio Secundario “Prof. Armando Alfageme”, provincia de La Pampa.
Caperucita Durmiente
Pamela Ficicchia, Marlene Lucero, Fabiana Belén Urruchúa y Douglas Perroud – Escuela Secundaria Nº 1 “Juan Hipólito Vieytes”, provincia de Buenos Aires.
La Bella y la Bestia
Vanesa Solange Arriagada Peña, Sheila Romina Brambilla, María de los Ángeles Corraro y Andrea Fabiana Pereyra – Escuela Secundaria Nº 1 “Juan Hipólito Vieytes”, provincia de Buenos Aires.
Mi enfermedad
Marcelo Javier Trod – Escuela de Educación Media nº 203, provincia de Buenos Aires.
Los salvadores
Mauro Achával – E.S.C.B. N°24, provincia de Buenos Aires.
Paz Urbana
María Florencia Koller – Colegio Manuel Belgrano, provincia de La Pampa.
Ana & Mauro. Una historia más de amor
Rocío Belén Di Venancio, Ana Belén Pascoual, Ana Mailén Palacios y Marcelo Javier Trod – Escuela Media N°203 “José Hernández”, provincia de Buenos Aires.
CATEGORÍA PREMIOS ESPECIALES: son premios únicos, que reconoce la participación y el compromiso de los alumnos de un curso con este concurso, presentando más de un proyecto.
Categoría Igualdad 2.0
- Escuela de Enseñanza Técnica N°298 de la provincia de Santa Fe.
Alumnos: Mateo Santiago Renk, Daiana Erni, Brenda Lagger, Virginia Zingerling, Camila Calza, José Zaida, Claudia Cian, Yamila Risso y María Pierott.
Categoría ImaginArte
- Colegio Hipólito Vieytes, de la provincia de Buenos Aires.
Alumnos: Marisol Caruso, Tamara Torres, Marcos Cicarelli, Carla Sansobrino, Pamela Ficicchia, Marlene Lucero, Fabiana Belén Urruchúa, Vanesa Solange Arriagada Peña, Sheila Romina Brambilla, María de los Ángeles Corraro, Andrea Fabiana Pereyra y Douglas Perroud.
- Escuela de Educación Media nº 203 de la provincia de Buenos Aires.
Alumnos: Marcelo Javier Trod, Lucas Negrete, Tamara Aguirre, Tamara Jaime y Silvana Andrea Leiva.
Photo credit: Elena Olivo
Copyright: NYU Photo Bureau
The Fall 2010 Student Hackathon brought in hundreds of students from 30 universities to NYU's Courant Institute for 24 hours of creative hacking on New York City startups' APIs.
Selected startups presented their technologies at the beginning of the event, and students formed groups to brainstorm and begin coding on their ideas. Many students worked into the night, foregoing sleep to fulfill their visions.
On Sunday afternoon students presented their projects to an audience including a judging panel, which selected the final winners.
hackNY hosts hackathons one each semester, as well as a Summer Fellows Program, which pairs quantitative and computational students with startups which can demonstrate a strong mentoring environment, a problem for a student to work on, a person to mentor them, and a place for them to work. Startups selected to host a student are expected to compensate student Fellows. Students enjoy free housing together and a pedagogical lecture series to introduce them to the ins and outs of joining and founding a startup.
For more information on hackNY's initiatives, please visit www.hackNY.org and follow us on twitter @hackNY
(The following is a completely fictional history!)
By 1982, the deficiences of the SA-77C Wildfire program were rapidly becoming apparent, and so the FIRAF began looking at a replacement. To preserve the FIR’s self-sufficiency and desire for armament sources beyond the United States, Minister of Defense Akela Canis authorized Intelani Aeronautics to begin designing a replacement for the Wildfire in strict secrecy. Emphasis was placed on affordability and manueverability above all other aspects of the new design. Like the SA-77C, it would be a pure fighter rather than a multirole aircraft.
The design team decided to start from scratch, and numerous ideas were put on the table. This included a license-built, simplified F-16A (based on the unsuccessful F-16/79 proposal), resurrecting the Northrop YF-17 Cobra (which had provided the prototype for the F/A-18 Hornet), and essentially a scaled-down version of the Wildfire with variable-sweep wings. The proposal that was liked the most was to design something that would be “radical and practicable,” and centered around the research being made by Grumman Aerospace on forward-swept wing designs. The forward swept wing (FSW) would offer unparalleled (at the time) manueverability, excellent low-speed handling characteristics, and high-Alpha capability.
With the permission of Canis, IA contacted Grumman and offered to partner with them in the design of a testbed for the FSW design, which would become the X-29, in August 1983. The X-29 had already begun design work funded by DARPA, and Intelani Aeronautics’ involvement in the design was officially “observer only,” and the fact that much of the research funding came from IA was kept secret.
In the interests of speed and cost, the X-29 prototypes were adapted from existing F-5A Freedom Fighter airframes, retaining the forward fuselage and nose landing gear of the type, with main landing gear and control surface actuators of the F-16A. IA, with a better knowledge of composites than Grumman, provided the wings. The X-29 first flew in December 1984.
By this time, the Third World War had begun, and a crash program was started to design a military version of the X-29, designated XF-31 Stingray. The second X-29 was designed with a strengthened wing to simulate the addition of hardpoints and first flew in March 1985. By this time, the third X-29 prototype was already being reworked into the first XF-31.
Though the X-29 performed well in all respects, Intelani Aeronautics made some improvements to the design. The wing was made slightly larger with more area, while the forward fuselage was made slightly longer and deeper to accommodate the APG-65 radar of the F-16A. A gatling gun setup similar to that of the F/A-18 was proposed, but ultimately rejected in favor of two M39A2 20mm cannon; this was because the F-5 fuselage that the XF-31 was adapted was easily fitted with the M39s and FIRAF pilots were already more used to the cannon armament of the SA-77C and A-4ES. The analog cockpit of the X-29/F-5A was revised to include three multifunction displays, and, taking advantage of combat reports from Europe, an undernose Television Camera System (TCS), adapted from the F-14A+ Tomcat, was added underneath the nose. Because of weight distribution, the decision was made to place the TCS behind the forward landing gear rather than in front of it.
Wingtip and underwing fuselage hardpoints were added (the fuselage being too narrow for an underfuselage hardpoint), with the inner pylons “plumbed” for drop tanks. Though the XF-31 was cleared for unguided rocket pods and bombs, and software included for air-to-ground missions, the Stingray was meant to be a pure fighter first and foremost. For the same reason, the canopy was revised as a bubble canopy and the rear fuselage slightly cut down from the X-29, giving better all-around visibility, though not as good as the F-16’s.
The most radical change to the X-29 design was the rear fuselage. While it retained the long rear-leading edge extensions (RLEX) of the X-29, a forked twin-tail configuration was adapted for better handling. It was also planned to equip the XF-31 with two engines instead of one, but in the interests of speed the X-29’s single F404 powerplant was retained. The “canoe” that the X-29’s tail was mounted on was retained and used to hold a Holly Stinger ECM suite, essentially equipping the Stingray with internal ECM equivalent to the ALQ-119 pods used over wartime Europe. It was also a “no-frills” aircraft, designed to be built purely for the air superiority role in a hurry at a reasonable price; indeed, the flyaway cost of the Stingray was only $6.2 million per aircraft, half that of the F-16. Because of the speed required to get the aircraft into production, no two-seat conversion trainer F-31 was built.
For all the design changes, the XF-31 first flew in May 1985. Again, it was found to be generally a good design, and not as difficult to fly as first thought; the forward swept wing made it virtually impossible to stall, and it was found to be controllable even at an angle of attack of 67 degrees. The heavier nose and twin tails caused some airflow problems, and so the canards were raised a foot higher than those on the XF-31 and made fully controllable; pilots could angle the canards completely down and drop their airspeed precipitously, though this made the Stingray very difficult to control. Strakes were added to the nose (similar to that of the IAI Kfir) to improve longitudinal stability.
Production of the standard F-31A was already begun before testing of the XF-31 prototype was complete, and the first production aircraft was rolled out in August 1985. This was done without a formal ceremony to keep the design secret, and the first three F-31As were intended purely for research; these were flown against captured MiG-21s and MiG-23s to develop tactics. Instrumental in this development was Akela Canis Jr., the top-ranked intelani ace, who test-flew the Stingray in October 1985 and proclaimed the design “superb.” The formal announcement of the F-31A was made in November, by which time six were already in Europe with the 51st Fighter Squadron.
The Stingray saw its first combat in December, and pilots reported that Soviet pilots were obviously stunned by the radical design being operational. These combat trials also revealed a number of small technical problems, mainly with the guns and TCS system; it also showed the Stingray’s Achilles heel, though one that had been anticipated: the design was very short-ranged compared to other fighters, and was not truly suited for all-weather operations over Europe. Nonetheless, the design was a huge leap forward over the SA-77C and A-4ES, and was placed in full production with priority over all other weapons for the FIR armed forces.
Akela Canis Jr. lobbied hard for his 1st Fighter Squadron to be reequipped with Stingrays, and got his wish in February 1986. Pairing the most manueverable fighter then in existence with some of the best-trained fighter pilots in the world proved to be a deadly combination, and “Polar” would go on to score an incredible 420 aerial kills in the Stingray between February 1986 and May 1987. Canis, in his memoirs, attributed this high number to a number of factors: the Stingray’s sudden appearance caught the Soviets by surprise and did not give them enough time to develop counter-tactics; the marked decrease in Soviet pilot quality by summer 1986, which meant poorly-trained pilots were going up against hardened veterans; the Stingray’s unmatched capability in the short-range turning dogfight—up to that point one of the Soviets’ best tactics against large, less manueverable fighters like the Wildfire, F-4, and F-15. This, in Canis’ words, gave Polar the “perfect storm” they needed to achieve a murderous kill ratio, fully ten percent of all NATO kills of the war.
The heavy use of composites in the Stingray also made it a very resilient aircraft; Canis returned to base with an entire wingtip missing, while Matthew White, another Polar ace, collided with a flagpole on a strafing mission and managed to return home despite a huge rent in the lower fuselage.
The Stingray proved wildly popular, and by the end of the war, four squadrons were equipped with them. It was thought that as many as twenty squadrons might be reequipped with Stingrays, but postwar cuts and the F-31A’s shortcomings proved to limit their numbers. While the Stingray had proven to be arguably the best fighter of the Third World War, it was nonetheless hampered by a lack of range and lack of multirole capability.
F-31As were committed to Operation Desert Shield/Storm, using oversize ferry tanks to improve their range. Once more, put into an environment where they excelled, the Stingray reigned supreme, scoring 32 kills, nearly half of all Coalition aerial victories of the war.
Though outnumbered by F-15s and F-16s in FIRAF service, the F-31C Stingray remains an important part of the FIRAF and a much-sought after assignment. 72 Stingrays are in service with the FIRAF. These aircraft are slated to be replaced beginning in 2015, possibly by F-32A Mantas or F-35A Lightnings.
Completely made-up history aside, I got the idea of equipping my literary characters and fantasy air force with FSW fighters from my childhood, when one of my favorite toys was the GI Joe X-30 Conquest. Dad and I collaborated on the F-31 design, with Dad using the 1/48 scale Hasegawa X-29 kit. He used F-18 tails for the twin tails of the Stingray design, moved the canards to the top of the intakes, added the guns to the nose, and some assorted bumps and such for ECM. (There is a TCS taken from a F-14B kit, but it can't be seen from this angle.) Then hardpoints were added under the wings and on the wingtips, with two drop tanks, two AIM-120 AMRAAMs, and two AIM-9L Sidewinders. Most decals were taken from a F-16 sheet, with JASDF hinomarus used for the "Free Intelani Air Force" roundels; a F-15 sheet supplied both the bear and the blue/white starburst for the tail logo (the bear is from a JASDF F-15 unit, while the starburst is from the 318th FIS from McChord AFB, WA). The whole thing was painted in F-16 style camouflage.
The end result was a great looking kitbash, and it was our favorite collaboration. I ran the design by some aviation designers, and they said it was a viable design--though the tails should be moved down to the ends of the RLEXs, as the split tail doesn't offer any benefits to aerodynamics as placed. I was interested to see that the Iranian F-5 Shahegh variant uses a similar tail configuration...
When I was making the programs/fans, I didn't know what to put on the back, so I thought about what I wanted to see when I looked out at the crowd. Of course! My aunt with a mustache.
Photo by www.flickr.com/photos/kriegsaz/
Ferrari FXX (evo ?) at $WAP SHOPS, in Florida ... With F40, F50 and Enzo (unless you can't see it) behind
Catalog #: 08_00936
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: Space Shuttle Mock up
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
United Nations Headquarters
New York, New York
10:18 A.M. EDT
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen: Seventy years after the founding of the United Nations, it is worth reflecting on what, together, the members of this body have helped to achieve.
Out of the ashes of the Second World War, having witnessed the unthinkable power of the atomic age, the United States has worked with many nations in this Assembly to prevent a third world war -- by forging alliances with old adversaries; by supporting the steady emergence of strong democracies accountable to their people instead of any foreign power; and by building an international system that imposes a cost on those who choose conflict over cooperation, an order that recognizes the dignity and equal worth of all people.
That is the work of seven decades. That is the ideal that this body, at its best, has pursued. Of course, there have been too many times when, collectively, we have fallen short of these ideals. Over seven decades, terrible conflicts have claimed untold victims. But we have pressed forward, slowly, steadily, to make a system of international rules and norms that are better and stronger and more consistent.
It is this international order that has underwritten unparalleled advances in human liberty and prosperity. It is this collective endeavor that’s brought about diplomatic cooperation between the world’s major powers, and buttressed a global economy that has lifted more than a billion people from poverty. It is these international principles that helped constrain bigger countries from imposing our will on smaller ones, and advanced the emergence of democracy and development and individual liberty on every continent.
This progress is real. It can be documented in lives saved, and agreements forged, and diseases conquered, and in mouths fed. And yet, we come together today knowing that the march of human progress never travels in a straight line, that our work is far from complete; that dangerous currents risk pulling us back into a darker, more disordered world.
Today, we see the collapse of strongmen and fragile states breeding conflict, and driving innocent men, women and children across borders on an epic scale. Brutal networks of terror have stepped into the vacuum. Technologies that empower individuals are now also exploited by those who spread disinformation, or suppress dissent, or radicalize our youth. Global capital flows have powered growth and investment, but also increased risk of contagion, weakened the bargaining power of workers, and accelerated inequality.
How should we respond to these trends? There are those who argue that the ideals enshrined in the U.N. charter are unachievable or out of date -- a legacy of a postwar era not suited to our own. Effectively, they argue for a return to the rules that applied for most of human history and that pre-date this institution: the belief that power is a zero-sum game; that might makes right; that strong states must impose their will on weaker ones; that the rights of individuals don’t matter; and that in a time of rapid change, order must be imposed by force.
On this basis, we see some major powers assert themselves in ways that contravene international law. We see an erosion of the democratic principles and human rights that are fundamental to this institution’s mission; information is strictly controlled, the space for civil society restricted. We’re told that such retrenchment is required to beat back disorder; that it’s the only way to stamp out terrorism, or prevent foreign meddling. In accordance with this logic, we should support tyrants like Bashar al-Assad, who drops barrel bombs to massacre innocent children, because the alternative is surely worse.
The increasing skepticism of our international order can also be found in the most advanced democracies. We see greater polarization, more frequent gridlock; movements on the far right, and sometimes the left, that insist on stopping the trade that binds our fates to other nations, calling for the building of walls to keep out immigrants. Most ominously, we see the fears of ordinary people being exploited through appeals to sectarianism, or tribalism, or racism, or anti-Semitism; appeals to a glorious past before the body politic was infected by those who look different, or worship God differently; a politics of us versus them.
The United States is not immune from this. Even as our economy is growing and our troops have largely returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, we see in our debates about America’s role in the world a notion of strength that is defined by opposition to old enemies, perceived adversaries, a rising China, or a resurgent Russia; a revolutionary Iran, or an Islam that is incompatible with peace. We see an argument made that the only strength that matters for the United States is bellicose words and shows of military force; that cooperation and diplomacy will not work.
As President of the United States, I am mindful of the dangers that we face; they cross my desk every morning. I lead the strongest military that the world has ever known, and I will never hesitate to protect my country or our allies, unilaterally and by force where necessary.
But I stand before you today believing in my core that we, the nations of the world, cannot return to the old ways of conflict and coercion. We cannot look backwards. We live in an integrated world -- one in which we all have a stake in each other’s success. We cannot turn those forces of integration. No nation in this Assembly can insulate itself from the threat of terrorism, or the risk of financial contagion; the flow of migrants, or the danger of a warming planet. The disorder we see is not driven solely by competition between nations or any single ideology. And if we cannot work together more effectively, we will all suffer the consequences. That is true for the United States, as well.
No matter how powerful our military, how strong our economy, we understand the United States cannot solve the world’s problems alone. In Iraq, the United States learned the hard lesson that even hundreds of thousands of brave, effective troops, trillions of dollars from our Treasury, cannot by itself impose stability on a foreign land. Unless we work with other nations under the mantle of international norms and principles and law that offer legitimacy to our efforts, we will not succeed. And unless we work together to defeat the ideas that drive different communities in a country like Iraq into conflict, any order that our militaries can impose will be temporary.
Just as force alone cannot impose order internationally, I believe in my core that repression cannot forge the social cohesion for nations to succeed. The history of the last two decades proves that in today’s world, dictatorships are unstable. The strongmen of today become the spark of revolution tomorrow. You can jail your opponents, but you can’t imprison ideas. You can try to control access to information, but you cannot turn a lie into truth. It is not a conspiracy of U.S.-backed NGOs that expose corruption and raise the expectations of people around the globe; it’s technology, social media, and the irreducible desire of people everywhere to make their own choices about how they are governed.
Indeed, I believe that in today’s world, the measure of strength is no longer defined by the control of territory. Lasting prosperity does not come solely from the ability to access and extract raw materials. The strength of nations depends on the success of their people -- their knowledge, their innovation, their imagination, their creativity, their drive, their opportunity -- and that, in turn, depends upon individual rights and good governance and personal security. Internal repression and foreign aggression are both symptoms of the failure to provide this foundation.
A politics and solidarity that depend on demonizing others, that draws on religious sectarianism or narrow tribalism or jingoism may at times look like strength in the moment, but over time its weakness will be exposed. And history tells us that the dark forces unleashed by this type of politics surely makes all of us less secure. Our world has been there before. We gain nothing from going back.
Instead, I believe that we must go forward in pursuit of our ideals, not abandon them at this critical time. We must give expression to our best hopes, not our deepest fears. This institution was founded because men and women who came before us had the foresight to know that our nations are more secure when we uphold basic laws and basic norms, and pursue a path of cooperation over conflict. And strong nations, above all, have a responsibility to uphold this international order.
Let me give you a concrete example. After I took office, I made clear that one of the principal achievements of this body -- the nuclear non-proliferation regime -- was endangered by Iran’s violation of the NPT. On that basis, the Security Council tightened sanctions on the Iranian government, and many nations joined us to enforce them. Together, we showed that laws and agreements mean something.
But we also understood that the goal of sanctions was not simply to punish Iran. Our objective was to test whether Iran could change course, accept constraints, and allow the world to verify that its nuclear program will be peaceful. For two years, the United States and our partners -- including Russia, including China -- stuck together in complex negotiations. The result is a lasting, comprehensive deal that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, while allowing it to access peaceful energy. And if this deal is fully implemented, the prohibition on nuclear weapons is strengthened, a potential war is averted, our world is safer. That is the strength of the international system when it works the way it should.
That same fidelity to international order guides our responses to other challenges around the world. Consider Russia’s annexation of Crimea and further aggression in eastern Ukraine. America has few economic interests in Ukraine. We recognize the deep and complex history between Russia and Ukraine. But we cannot stand by when the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation is flagrantly violated. If that happens without consequence in Ukraine, it could happen to any nation gathered here today. That’s the basis of the sanctions that the United States and our partners impose on Russia. It's not a desire to return to a Cold War.
Now, within Russia, state-controlled media may describe these events as an example of a resurgent Russia -- a view shared, by the way, by a number of U.S. politicians and commentators who have always been deeply skeptical of Russia, and seem to be convinced a new Cold War is, in fact, upon us. And yet, look at the results. The Ukrainian people are more interested than ever in aligning with Europe instead of Russia. Sanctions have led to capital flight, a contracting economy, a fallen ruble, and the emigration of more educated Russians.
Imagine if, instead, Russia had engaged in true diplomacy, and worked with Ukraine and the international community to ensure its interests were protected. That would be better for Ukraine, but also better for Russia, and better for the world -- which is why we continue to press for this crisis to be resolved in a way that allows a sovereign and democratic Ukraine to determine its future and control its territory. Not because we want to isolate Russia -- we don't -- but because we want a strong Russia that’s invested in working with us to strengthen the international system as a whole.
Similarly, in the South China Sea, the United States makes no claim on territory there. We don't adjudicate claims. But like every nation gathered here, we have an interest in upholding the basic principles of freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce, and in resolving disputes through international law, not the law of force. So we will defend these principles, while encouraging China and other claimants to resolve their differences peacefully.
I say this, recognizing that diplomacy is hard; that the outcomes are sometimes unsatisfying; that it's rarely politically popular. But I believe that leaders of large nations, in particular, have an obligation to take these risks -- precisely because we are strong enough to protect our interests if, and when, diplomacy fails.
I also believe that to move forward in this new era, we have to be strong enough to acknowledge when what you’re doing is not working. For 50 years, the United States pursued a Cuba policy that failed to improve the lives of the Cuban people. We changed that. We continue to have differences with the Cuban government. We will continue to stand up for human rights. But we address these issues through diplomatic relations, and increased commerce, and people-to-people ties. As these contacts yield progress, I’m confident that our Congress will inevitably lift an embargo that should not be in place anymore. (Applause.) Change won’t come overnight to Cuba, but I’m confident that openness, not coercion, will support the reforms and better the life the Cuban people deserve, just as I believe that Cuba will find its success if it pursues cooperation with other nations.
Now, if it’s in the interest of major powers to uphold international standards, it is even more true for the rest of the community of nations. Look around the world. From Singapore to Colombia to Senegal, the facts shows that nations succeed when they pursue an inclusive peace and prosperity within their borders, and work cooperatively with countries beyond their borders.
That path is now available to a nation like Iran, which, as of this moment, continues to deploy violent proxies to advance its interests. These efforts may appear to give Iran leverage in disputes with neighbors, but they fuel sectarian conflict that endangers the entire region, and isolates Iran from the promise of trade and commerce. The Iranian people have a proud history, and are filled with extraordinary potential. But chanting “Death to America” does not create jobs, or make Iran more secure. If Iran chose a different path, that would be good for the security of the region, good for the Iranian people, and good for the world.
Of course, around the globe, we will continue to be confronted with nations who reject these lessons of history, places where civil strife, border disputes, and sectarian wars bring about terrorist enclaves and humanitarian disasters. Where order has completely broken down, we must act, but we will be stronger when we act together.
In such efforts, the United States will always do our part. We will do so mindful of the lessons of the past -- not just the lessons of Iraq, but also the example of Libya, where we joined an international coalition under a U.N. mandate to prevent a slaughter. Even as we helped the Libyan people bring an end to the reign of a tyrant, our coalition could have and should have done more to fill a vacuum left behind. We’re grateful to the United Nations for its efforts to forge a unity government. We will help any legitimate Libyan government as it works to bring the country together. But we also have to recognize that we must work more effectively in the future, as an international community, to build capacity for states that are in distress, before they collapse.
And that’s why we should celebrate the fact that later today the United States will join with more than 50 countries to enlist new capabilities -- infantry, intelligence, helicopters, hospitals, and tens of thousands of troops -- to strengthen United Nations peacekeeping. (Applause.) These new capabilities can prevent mass killing, and ensure that peace agreements are more than words on paper. But we have to do it together. Together, we must strengthen our collective capacity to establish security where order has broken down, and to support those who seek a just and lasting peace.
Nowhere is our commitment to international order more tested than in Syria. When a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own people, that is not just a matter of one nation’s internal affairs -- it breeds human suffering on an order of magnitude that affects us all. Likewise, when a terrorist group beheads captives, slaughters the innocent and enslaves women, that’s not a single nation’s national security problem -- that is an assault on all humanity.
I’ve said before and I will repeat: There is no room for accommodating an apocalyptic cult like ISIL, and the United States makes no apologies for using our military, as part of a broad coalition, to go after them. We do so with a determination to ensure that there will never be a safe haven for terrorists who carry out these crimes. And we have demonstrated over more than a decade of relentless pursuit of al Qaeda, we will not be outlasted by extremists.
But while military power is necessary, it is not sufficient to resolve the situation in Syria. Lasting stability can only take hold when the people of Syria forge an agreement to live together peacefully. The United States is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict. But we must recognize that there cannot be, after so much bloodshed, so much carnage, a return to the pre-war status quo.
Let’s remember how this started. Assad reacted to peaceful protests by escalating repression and killing that, in turn, created the environment for the current strife. And so Assad and his allies cannot simply pacify the broad majority of a population who have been brutalized by chemical weapons and indiscriminate bombing. Yes, realism dictates that compromise will be required to end the fighting and ultimately stamp out ISIL. But realism also requires a managed transition away from Assad and to a new leader, and an inclusive government that recognizes there must be an end to this chaos so that the Syrian people can begin to rebuild.
We know that ISIL -- which emerged out of the chaos of Iraq and Syria -- depends on perpetual war to survive. But we also know that they gain adherents because of a poisonous ideology. So part of our job, together, is to work to reject such extremism that infects too many of our young people. Part of that effort must be a continued rejection by Muslims of those who distort Islam to preach intolerance and promote violence, and it must also a rejection by non-Muslims of the ignorance that equates Islam with terror. (Applause.)
This work will take time. There are no easy answers to Syria. And there are no simple answers to the changes that are taking place in much of the Middle East and North Africa. But so many families need help right now; they don’t have time. And that’s why the United States is increasing the number of refugees who we welcome within our borders. That’s why we will continue to be the largest donor of assistance to support those refugees. And today we are launching new efforts to ensure that our people and our businesses, our universities and our NGOs can help as well -- because in the faces of suffering families, our nation of immigrants sees ourselves.
Of course, in the old ways of thinking, the plight of the powerless, the plight of refugees, the plight of the marginalized did not matter. They were on the periphery of the world’s concerns. Today, our concern for them is driven not just by conscience, but should also be drive by self-interest. For helping people who have been pushed to the margins of our world is not mere charity, it is a matter of collective security. And the purpose of this institution is not merely to avoid conflict, it is to galvanize the collective action that makes life better on this planet.
The commitments we’ve made to the Sustainable Development Goals speak to this truth. I believe that capitalism has been the greatest creator of wealth and opportunity that the world has ever known. But from big cities to rural villages around the world, we also know that prosperity is still cruelly out of reach for too many. As His Holiness Pope Francis reminds us, we are stronger when we value the least among these, and see them as equal in dignity to ourselves and our sons and our daughters.
We can roll back preventable disease and end the scourge of HIV/AIDS. We can stamp out pandemics that recognize no borders. That work may not be on television right now, but as we demonstrated in reversing the spread of Ebola, it can save more lives than anything else we can do.
Together, we can eradicate extreme poverty and erase barriers to opportunity. But this requires a sustained commitment to our people -- so farmers can feed more people; so entrepreneurs can start a business without paying a bribe; so young people have the skills they need to succeed in this modern, knowledge-based economy.
We can promote growth through trade that meets a higher standard. And that’s what we’re doing through the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a trade agreement that encompasses nearly 40 percent of the global economy; an agreement that will open markets, while protecting the rights of workers and protecting the environment that enables development to be sustained.
We can roll back the pollution that we put in our skies, and help economies lift people out of poverty without condemning our children to the ravages of an ever-warming climate. The same ingenuity that produced the Industrial Age and the Computer Age allows us to harness the potential of clean energy. No country can escape the ravages of climate change. And there is no stronger sign of leadership than putting future generations first. The United States will work with every nation that is willing to do its part so that we can come together in Paris to decisively confront this challenge.
And finally, our vision for the future of this Assembly, my belief in moving forward rather than backwards, requires us to defend the democratic principles that allow societies to succeed. Let me start from a simple premise: Catastrophes, like what we are seeing in Syria, do not take place in countries where there is genuine democracy and respect for the universal values this institution is supposed to defend. (Applause.)
I recognize that democracy is going to take different forms in different parts of the world. The very idea of a people governing themselves depends upon government giving expression to their unique culture, their unique history, their unique experiences. But some universal truths are self-evident. No person wants to be imprisoned for peaceful worship. No woman should ever be abused with impunity, or a girl barred from going to school. The freedom to peacefully petition those in power without fear of arbitrary laws -- these are not ideas of one country or one culture. They are fundamental to human progress. They are a cornerstone of this institution.
I realize that in many parts of the world there is a different view -- a belief that strong leadership must tolerate no dissent. I hear it not only from America’s adversaries, but privately at least I also hear it from some of our friends. I disagree. I believe a government that suppresses peaceful dissent is not showing strength; it is showing weakness and it is showing fear. (Applause.) History shows that regimes who fear their own people will eventually crumble, but strong institutions built on the consent of the governed endure long after any one individual is gone.
That's why our strongest leaders -- from George Washington to Nelson Mandela -- have elevated the importance of building strong, democratic institutions over a thirst for perpetual power. Leaders who amend constitutions to stay in office only acknowledge that they failed to build a successful country for their people -- because none of us last forever. It tells us that power is something they cling to for its own sake, rather than for the betterment of those they purport to serve.
I understand democracy is frustrating. Democracy in the United States is certainly imperfect. At times, it can even be dysfunctional. But democracy -- the constant struggle to extend rights to more of our people, to give more people a voice -- is what allowed us to become the most powerful nation in the world. (Applause.)
It's not simply a matter of principle; it's not an abstraction. Democracy -- inclusive democracy -- makes countries stronger. When opposition parties can seek power peacefully through the ballot, a country draws upon new ideas. When a free media can inform the public, corruption and abuse are exposed and can be rooted out. When civil society thrives, communities can solve problems that governments cannot necessarily solve alone. When immigrants are welcomed, countries are more productive and more vibrant. When girls can go to school, and get a job, and pursue unlimited opportunity, that’s when a country realizes its full potential. (Applause.)
That is what I believe is America’s greatest strength. Not everybody in America agrees with me. That's part of democracy. I believe that the fact that you can walk the streets of this city right now and pass churches and synagogues and temples and mosques, where people worship freely; the fact that our nation of immigrants mirrors the diversity of the world -- you can find everybody from everywhere here in New York City -- (applause) -- the fact that, in this country, everybody can contribute, everybody can participate no matter who they are, or what they look like, or who they love -- that's what makes us strong.
And I believe that what is true for America is true for virtually all mature democracies. And that is no accident. We can be proud of our nations without defining ourselves in opposition to some other group. We can be patriotic without demonizing someone else. We can cherish our own identities -- our religion, our ethnicity, our traditions -- without putting others down. Our systems are premised on the notion that absolute power will corrupt, but that people -- ordinary people -- are fundamentally good; that they value family and friendship, faith and the dignity of hard work; and that with appropriate checks and balances, governments can reflect this goodness.
I believe that’s the future we must seek together. To believe in the dignity of every individual, to believe we can bridge our differences, and choose cooperation over conflict -- that is not weakness, that is strength. (Applause.) It is a practical necessity in this interconnected world.
And our people understand this. Think of the Liberian doctor who went door-to-door to search for Ebola cases, and to tell families what to do if they show symptoms. Think of the Iranian shopkeeper who said, after the nuclear deal, “God willing, now we’ll be able to offer many more goods at better prices.” Think of the Americans who lowered the flag over our embassy in Havana in 1961 -- the year I was born -- and returned this summer to raise that flag back up. (Applause.) One of these men said of the Cuban people, “We could do things for them, and they could do things for us. We loved them.” For 50 years, we ignored that fact.
Think of the families leaving everything they’ve known behind, risking barren deserts and stormy waters just to find shelter; just to save their children. One Syrian refugee who was greeted in Hamburg with warm greetings and shelter, said, “We feel there are still some people who love other people.”
The people of our United Nations are not as different as they are told. They can be made to fear; they can be taught to hate -- but they can also respond to hope. History is littered with the failure of false prophets and fallen empires who believed that might always makes right, and that will continue to be the case. You can count on that. But we are called upon to offer a different type of leadership -- leadership strong enough to recognize that nations share common interests and people share a common humanity, and, yes, there are certain ideas and principles that are universal.
That's what those who shaped the United Nations 70 years ago understood. Let us carry forward that faith into the future -- for it is the only way we can assure that future will be brighter for my children, and for yours.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
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