The University’s flag appears on the International Space Station to mark the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University

The flag, dedicated to the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University, was signed by Hero of the Russian Federation Oleg Kononenko, commander of the Roscosmos crew member, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin. By the end of the year, the flag will be handed over to the University. 

As the cosmonauts noted in their congratulatory video, this flag had travelled a long way from Roscosmos headquarters to low Earth orbit, ending up on board the International Space Station at an altitude of over 400 kilometres. 

'In the same way, the University has followed an interesting and eventful path and throughout its 300-year history has continued to develop and make an invaluable contribution to the development of the higher education system and the training of high-calibre experts for the benefit of Russia,' said Nikolai Chub in his address to the University’s students and staff. 

It is symbolic that the flag of St Petersburg University was carried on board the ISS by the first crew that include Russian and Belarusian cosmonauts. Today, the University actively cooperates with the Republic of Belarus in the sphere of science and education. This year, it is planned to open a representative office of St Petersburg University there.

As part of international cooperation, the University is implementing a programme of representative offices of St Petersburg University. Currently, the University has representative offices in Spain, Italy, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Iran, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Greece. This year, it is planned to open new representative offices in the Republic of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova and a number of other countries.

For reference: to mark the anniversary of St Petersburg University, the International Astronomical Union named a small planet in the asteroid belt of the Solar System in honour of the University.