The 9th IAC’18 International Aerospace Congress, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the successful flight of the Buran orbital spaceship, was held in Moscow from August 28 to August 31, 2018 in the “Shuvalovsky” educational building of the Lomonosov Moscow State University The Organizing Committee of the Congress was chaired by the Rector of the Lomonosov Moscow State University Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.A. Sadovnichy, International Program Committee – by the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician A.M. Sergeev. More than 1000 representatives of many countries — prominent scientists and aircraft and missile designers, cosmonauts and astronauts, representatives of national aerospace agencies and government bodies, companies, young researches, and students — took part in the Congress.

The Opening Ceremony took place in the Conference Hall of the “Shuvalovsky” building of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The official announcement of the opening of the Congress and a short presentation was made by the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, the Rector of the Lomonosov Moscow State University Academician V.A. Sadovnichy. Greetings were addressed to those present: by video connection from the International Space Station, cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Prokopyev; cosmonaut, twicej Hero of the Soviet Union A.A. Leonov (the welcome speech was read by the presenter); cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.P. Savinykh; cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Russian Federation S.K. Krikalev; cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, honorary professor of the Lomonosov Moscow State University Bertalan Farkas (Hungary); Head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (Star City) Hero of Russian Federation P.N. Vlasov; Moscow Mayor S.S. Sobyanin (the welcome speech was read by the representative of the Moscow Government); Head of the NASA Delegation Chad Rowe (USA); Head of the the European Space Agency Delegation René Pischel (France); President of the Russian and International Engineering Academies, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences B.V. Gusev; President of the Tsiolkovsky Russian Academy of Cosmonautics Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences I.V. Barmin; President - General Designer of the Russian holding “Ramenskoye appliance design bureau” G.I. Jandzhgava.

The following plenary reports were included in the Congress program: “On virtual reality technologies in cosmonautics” (V.A. Sadovnichy, V.V. Aleksandrov, S.S. Lemak, K.V. Tikhonova, V.A. Chertopolokhov, E. Soto, H.L. Gordilo Dominguez); “Faculty of Aerospace Research, MSU” (V.V. Sazonov); “The goals and objectives of the aviation technology use in the process of preparing astronauts to perform space flights” (P.N. Vlasov, M.M. Kharlamov, A.A. Kuritsyn, V.E. Fokin, V.G. Sorokin, V.N. Kislitsyn); “To the 30th anniversary of the flight of the reusable orbital spacecraft“ Buran ”(A.S. Bashilov, V.A. Lopota); “The history of testing the orbital ship Buran (A.S. Boroday); “On the flight along the Arctic Circle” (V.I. Tokarev).

At the sectional sessions 425 reports were presented and discussed, which covered the main areas of the aerospace and related fields. The results and prospects of fundamental research, engineering development, and manufacturing aspects and problems were considered there.

A special issue of the Engineering newspaper, an issue of the AviaSouz magazine were devoted to the Congress. A collection of reports abstracts included in the program of the Congress was published. At present, a collection of plenary and selected reports is being prepared for publication, as well as the full texts of all submitted reports on CD.

The participants of the Congress note its high scientific level and practical significance. They also mark the special importance of the products and services of the aerospace industry for the dynamic development of our society and creating new jobs for highly skilled professionals in all sectors, strengthening international cooperation and introducing trust relationships in the use of outer space.

Chairman of the Organizing Committee:

• V.A. Sadovnichy, Rector of the Lomonosov Moscow State University

Chairman of the International Program Committee:

• A.M. Sergeev, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences