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This time we placed particular emphasis on education. By that I mean education not only for schoolchildren and college students, but also for adults. In other words, our goal was to share our experience in space with the general public. We held various kinds of exchange events all over Japan. Thanks to regional boards of education, chambers of commerce, non-profit organizations and other bodies that responded to our request, educational events took place in eleven locations across Japan. I had the impression that the host towns and cities wanted not only to create opportunities for their people to meet astronauts and cosmonauts, but also to use the opportunity to boost their international profile. This kind of enthusiasm created deeper exchanges than planned, and the greatly successful events attracted as many as 30,000 people. The participating astronauts and cosmonauts also seem to have been deeply affected by these meetings.
At the closing ceremony, we awarded the Crystal Helmet Award to Ms. Lorna Onizuka, who lost her husband, Ellison Onizuka in the Space Shuttle Challenger accident in 1986. After the accident, she established the Challenger Center with other family members of the Challenger victims, and has made great efforts to promote space education for young people. The award is a sign of our deep respect for Ms. Onizuka and her work. As I have already mentioned, one of the goals of this congress was to promote space education in a broad sense, and I believe that people have understood that this award represents that spirit. |
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An exchange event with astronauts |
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