events 2009

The astronaut Andrew Feustel’s only public appearance with his wife Indira in Prague drew a record number of visitors to the American Center. More than 250 people, many of them academics, popular space experts, students and people who remember first space flights, came to listen the story of a man who was the part of the crew on the last space shuttle mission to the Hubble Telescope in May this year.

Dr. Feustel brought with him the Czech flag and copies of poems from one of the most respected Czech writers, Jan Neruda. This was chosen before the mission by the members of the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Science. It was this organization who invited to the Czech Republic not only Andrew Feustel, but also his wife, Indira, and his two sons.

The Czech public had the chance to learn about the Czech origin of the family; Indira Feustel has Czech origin from her mother, and is proud of it. It was not a coincidence, that the whole evening had the subtitle: “Cherchez la femme”. The audience, led by singer Radek Tomášek and guitarist Tomáš Karmazín, participated in the most emotional moment of the evening, singing for Mrs. Feustel a song: “No other”. The American Center gave Feustels a small present, Mariz handmade ceramics with star motives.

Other Czech experts spoke at the event, including the director of the Astronomical Institute Petr Heinzel, Tomáš Přibyl, Antoním Vítek and Jiří Grygar.