60th Anniversary of Counci Interkosmos.
Posters
Space Research Institute, Moscow, 2026, 38 p.
Аннотация
On 30 May 2026 we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the foundation of Council for International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space under the USSR Academy of Sciences – Interkosmos.
In fact, it was the first and in many ways unique project aimed at developing international cooperation in space research and exploration.
The Council founded on May 30, 1966 paved a way to the eponymous program for international cooperation (1967). In total, ten countries have joined it: Bulgaria, Vietnam, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Cuba, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union. Indeed, representatives of other States, such as France and Sweden, also participated in the program.
The Council was tasked to establish mechanisms for international cooperation based on the principles of transparency, as well as to provide partner countries with opportunities to conduct scientific research in outer space at global level and participate in manned flight missions.
The Interkosmos program gave rise to an unprecedentedly wide range of joint research, observations, and experiments using more than a hundred spacecraft and numerous unique instruments developed in the Member States. A great variety of joint projects such as a unified system for receiving and processing telemetry information have been created.
Cosmonauts from more than ten countries took part in scientific missions on manned spacecraft and orbital stations.
As part of the program, scientists developed tools for studying the Moon, Mars, Venus and Halley's Comet, contributing to the exploration of the bodies of the Solar system.
Obtained scientific results have been highly welcomed by the world academic community. State Parties to the Interkosmos program have gained significant intellectual, scientific and technical experience in fundamental space research.
To commemorate the anniversary, a special exhibition was organized, which included posters dedicated to Interkosmos legacy and prospects of international collaboration nowadays.
P.S. Shubin, V. S. Doronin, and O. V. Zakutnyaya worked on the edition. Our special thanks to Russian State Archive of Scientific and Engineering Documentation (RGANTD) https://www.rgantd.ru/en/ for the photos and detailed descriptions. Unless stated otherwise in the description, photos and images are provided by RGANTD.