The story of a young engineer wins a unique photograph from the ISS in the contest by the National Centre RUSSIA

The National Centre RUSSIA has announced the results of the contest for the best comment under the podcast with cosmonaut Nikolai Chub, which was released on the National Centre RUSSIA website on Cosmonautics Day. On April 12, viewers were given an exclusive opportunity to learn about the profession from a Hero of Russia and Roscosmos cosmonaut.

The winner was Mila Ivanova, who shared a touching and inspiring story about her son who dreams of becoming an engineer. The prize was a unique photograph taken aboard the ISS by Nikolai Chub.

The contest winner said that the cosmonaut's life story has been and remains an example for her son:

"When my son was 5 years old, he wrote on the pavement during a walk: 'I will be an engineer.' He will soon turn 12, and he has never abandoned his dream: he studies languages and physics every day, maintains discipline, reads a lot and develops in many directions. I support him in everything. We watch interviews and programmes with cosmonauts together, and my son takes many of their thoughts to heart," shared Mila Ivanova.

Listeners of the "Russia Speaks" podcast learned about the professional and personal journey of the cosmonaut, his development and experience, as well as the breakthrough technologies being pioneered by Russia in the space sector. Together with other astronauts, Nikolai Chub spent 374 days in Earth orbit — an absolute record for continuous presence on the ISS. The podcast’s guest shared that he also chose this challenging profession as a child.

"Since childhood, for as long as I can remember, I dreamt of flying. I remember the starry sky very well — I loved watching it in the evenings, either with the naked eye or through a telescope. It was an indescribable and thrilling experience," said Nikolai Chub.

The episode with Nikolai Chub became the fourth in the original project — the "Russia Speaks" podcast by the National Centre RUSSIA.

The podcast featuring the Hero of Russia is available on the website of the National Centre RUSSIA or on the VKontakte page.

The "Russia Speaks" podcast is a new educational format of the National Centre RUSSIA, presented on February 8. In the format of a talk show, leading experts, scientists and science communicators discuss the future of medicine, science and technology.