On May 30th, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin conferred honorary awards and titles, as well as badges of merit to more than 30 distinguished citizens of Russia. The Hero of Russia Medal and the Honorary Title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation were awarded to five people, including to the alumnus of South Ural State University, cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin.
Dmitry was born in Kostanay, Republic of Kazakhstan. He finished a lyceum and enrolled in the Aerospace Engineering Faculty of South Ural State University. In 2006 he was awarded a diploma of an Engineer majoring in Aircraft and Helicopter Engineering.
“Hero of Russia Dmitry Petelin is a true patriot of SUSU and supporter of our Aerospace Engineering programme of training. He is a most highly reputed figure, and all our students and teachers love him. We feel very happy and proud that our alumnus has reached such heights,” noted SUSU Rector Alexander Wagner. “I know that Dmitry has been fascinated by space for a very long time, and has been steadfastly moving towards his goal: at the very least one time his flight had been postponed, and later his return to Earth was delayed. That is why it feels especially good that during his mission all the goals were reached and tasks were completed, and the cosmonaut has been awarded a well-deserved honorary medal. Our congratulations to our Hero! And we hope that he keeps visiting our university in the future!”
The 128th cosmonaut of Russia and the USSR had spent 371 days on orbit, which is considered to be the longest ISS program mission. Dmitry learned about his award on the Cosmonautics Day, right at his alma mater, while holding a traditional meeting with the Aerospace Engineering students of the SUSU Institute of Engineering and Technology.