From April 15 to 16, 2024, a Space festival was held at the Russian House in Dar es Salaam. It was dedicated to the celebration of Cosmonautics Day.
The event was attended by more than 100 young Tanzanians – students of local universities, students of Russian language courses, as well as Russian compatriots and graduates of Soviet and Russian universities.
On April 15, as part of the Festival, open lectures on the history of space exploration in Swahili were held at the Russian House in Dar es Salaam. Interns from Moscow State University named after Lomonosov (MSU) told about the most famous Soviet cosmonauts, about the first flights into space and about working on the ISS.
On April 16, the Grand Hall of the Russian House in Dar es Salaam hosted the ceremonial part of the Festival. Alexey Bondaruk, Head of the Rossotrudnichestvo representative office in Tanzania, made a welcoming speech to the audience, expressing hope to see the first Tanzanian satellite and the first Tanzanian cosmonaut soon.
The guests of the event were lecturers of University Tumaini A. Bura and L. Kerefu, who told young Tanzanians about cooperation with Russian universities in the field of space exploration.
Russian test cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Oleg Artemyev, who specially prepared video messages for the Festival, also congratulated the Tanzanians on Cosmonautics Day. In October 2023, the hero of Russia, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov came to Tanzania and gave a lecture at the Russian House as part of the Robotics Festival.
In the second part of the Festival, the RT Documentary “How I became an astronaut” was shown, as well as a fun quiz on the topic “Space Exploration” in Swahili was held. It was prepared by students of Moscow State University. The winners of the quiz received certificates and prizes.