Fifteen astronauts to mark Slovak colleague's anniversary in Bratislava

Fifteen European astronauts will meet in Bratislava later this month at an international event to mark the 20th anniversary of the first flight into space by a Slovak, Ivan Bella. "It will be a unique event that hasn't yet taken place in Slovakia," Bella, who initiated and organised the event, told TASR. Then 34-year-old Bella took off into space on February 20, 1999 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on board the Soyuz TM-29 spacecraft for the Stefanik Space Mission along with Russian cosmonaut Viktor Mihailovic Afanasiev and French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haignere.