Professional Pilot, January 2016
Alex Kvassay 89 recently made a farewell trip to his native Budapest Hungary with side trips to the Greek Islands and Istanbul Turkey where he lived before immigrating to the US in 1948 thrown in In more than 60 years of international travel first for business and later for pleasure Kvassay has made more than 600 oceanic crossings Soviet spacecraft Voskhod used by the Russians in the early 1960s is a featured Cosmosphere display In Russias space program it was replaced by the Soyuz versions of which are still in service today Cosmosphere also has an educational program licensed all over the world to make young people aware of the career opportunities available in the space program There is also a wide screen IMAX movie theater there I am proud to be friends with current Cosmosphere Chairman and CEO Dick Hollowell as well as current president Jim Remar The same can be said of the previous President Chris Orwoll who went from his former career as a US Navy submarine captain to become the head of this space museum I said to him once that space is the farthest you can get from a submarine Not so he replied The 2 have many things in common Being locked into a capsule from which there is no way out during a mission is quite similar They also share many of the practices and instruments used both under the sea and high above the oceans In my capacity as a friend I was privileged to meet and have frequent dinners with many astronauts who came to Hutchinson for presentations and lectures at the Cosmosphere Among them were notables like Buzz Aldrin 2nd man on the Moon Walter Shirra Gene Cernan last man on the Moon and the 2 still surviving crew members of Apollo XIII James Lovell and Fred Haise For many years I tried to invite my good friend and 1st man on the Moon Neil Armstrong to come and visit the Cosmosphere but somehow it never happened even though Neil had a brother who lives very close to Hutchinson Finally let me say that anyone interested in space should not miss a visit to the Cosmosphere T H E N E W A P P R O A C H T O N O R T H D A L L A S VOTE FOR McKINNEY AIR CENTER If you appreciate outstanding customer service vote for us in the 2016 Pro Pilot PRASE Survey and FltPlans Pilots Choice Awards www FlyTKI com Vote
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