91��ý

 As part of the "Sustainable Development Goals" program, the Department of Language and General Education Training for Foreigners at the Faculty of Pre-University Education of the 91��ý Kazakh National University holds events aimed at educating and fostering an interest in new knowledge among the department's students. Our Chinese students, who are very young and have recently graduated from Chinese schools, have no idea about the history of space exploration and research. Some of the Chinese students cannot even name the first cosmonaut in the world, Yuri Gagarin. This year, on April 12, Cosmonautics Day, we are celebrating the 65th anniversary of the first human spaceflight in 1961. Of course, this is already history, so the department's faculty members held a mentoring hour for our Chinese students as part of SDG4 "Quality Education"—an educational excursion into the early years of space exploration. We told the Chinese students how space exploration and preparations for human spaceflight began. They were very interested to learn that the first cosmonauts were the famous dogs Belka and Strelka, who safely returned to Earth after their first flight. Their flight helped scientists take the next step—organizing human spaceflight. The foreign students were especially interested to learn that it was from Kazakhstan, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, that spacecraft carrying cosmonauts were launched. Kazakhstanis are proud of this and consider Cosmonautics Day their holiday.

Turebekova R.S. and Mamytbekova L.K., lecturers from the Department of Language and General Education for Foreigners, Faculty of Pre-University Education.