Roscosmos and ASTRO NIGHT invite you to the "starfall" on December 13
ASTRO NIGHT format
It is unique in every sense, and it is distinguished by an exceptional audience:
representatives of the space industry, business, the scientific
community, and the cultural sphere meet on board the aircraft.
All participants of the flight
will receive invaluable space experiences, the opportunity to communicate with
Roscosmos cosmonauts and astronomy scientists, as well as branded souvenirs
of the project.
Every year in mid
—December, the Earth crosses the trail of the asteroid Phaethon, and the night sky presents one of
the most striking cosmic phenomena - the Geminid meteor shower, named after
the constellation Gemini, against which this celestial
spectacle unfolds. The peak activity of the stream in 2025 will occur on the night from 13 to 14
december. At this time, the "stars" will fly all over the night sky — up to 150 yellow, green, red and blue
meteors per hour. Meteors are particles
about 1 mm in size that enter the upper atmosphere at a speed of about
35 km/sec and burn up at an altitude of about 100 km.
The flow can be observed
with the naked eye and in unpopulated areas from the surface of the Earth. However,
high clouds are likely in December. Flying by plane solves the main problems
of ground—based observations - urban illumination and cloud cover.
ASTRO NIGHT offers
close to ideal conditions for watching "starfall". Participants of the special
flight will see a meteor shower from a height of 10-12 thousand meters in comfortable
conditions and with special interior lighting.
Active Roscosmos cosmonauts and astronomers, scientists and popularizers of science, will take part in the expedition.
The project is being implemented with the support of the Roscosmos State Corporation and
Vnukovo International Airport.
The program includes:
- welcome buffet, registration of guests in the business lounge of Vnukovo airport,
- the astronomical program and scientific commentary on board,
- meteor shower observation with comments from astronomers and cosmonauts of Roscosmos,
- Return to Vnukovo.
ASTRO NIGHT is
the only company in Russia that organizes flights to observe
rare astronomical phenomena. The scientific director of the ASTRO NIGHT project
, astronomer Stanislav Korotky, implemented a special flight in 2015 to
observe a total solar eclipse. In September 2025, a flight to
a total lunar eclipse took place: more than 300 people, 4 airliners, including the board
of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, took off from the International Airport.
Vnukovo, flew to the Northern Urals, turned around over the Arctic Circle and
returned to Moscow. On each board, active Roscosmos cosmonauts
talked about observations of the Earth from the International Space Station, and
astronomers talked about the nature of the observed phenomenon.
Cosmonaut commander Oleg Kononenko and Roscosmos cosmonauts Konstantin Borisov took part in the flight.,
Dmitry Petelin, Andrey Babkin, and a leading Russian astronomer
Vladimir Surdin, astrophysicist Dmitry Vebe and other well-known representatives
of the scientific and educational community. The event caused a wide public
outcry, the main Russian media reported about it.
ASTRO NIGHT
popularizes science and space, turning the observation of astronomical phenomena into
a new travel format.
Oleg Kononenko, Cosmonaut squad Leader
Roscosmos and the absolute record holder for total stay in space (1,111
day), took part in the world's first ASTRO NIGHT lunar eclipse
on September 7, 2025
On board airplanes to view the lunar eclipse
A special backlight was provided. The astronomers explained exactly how
to set up a camera or smartphone camera to get interesting
pictures.
On September 7, 2025, as part of ASTRO NIGHT
, the world's first space music concert took place aboard an airplane at an altitude of 11,000
meters during a lunar eclipse.