November 16, 2009
For Immediate Release

For more information: Rusty Butler (801) 863-8994
University Marketing & Communications: Erin Spurgeon, (801) 863-6807
Written by: Alex Strickland (801) 863-6351

Everything that has ever flown in space or high in the sky from the former Soviet Union and Russia came out of the ultra-secret TsAGI, the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute. And at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 20 in the new UVU Library lecture hall (LI120), the organization’s director general, Dr. Sergey Chernyshev, will offer a glimpse into the formerly clandestine agency when he presents “UFOs, Space Craft and Flying Giants: Untold Tales of Soviet/Russian Aerospace Work.”

Located near Moscow in the city of Zhukovsky, which was long shrouded in secrecy as the headquarters of Soviet and Russian aviation technology, TsAGI has no peer in advanced aerospace work. It has 65 wind tunnels, including one large enough to house a full-sized 757 and another capable of creating speeds of well over Mach 20, more than 20 times the speed of sound.

“No aerospace facility or combination of facilities in the world compares to TsAGI,” said UVU Associate Vice President Rusty Butler. “I have toured this formerly secret facility and was shocked to learn of its capabilities and achievements. Having the director general lecture at UVU is a major coup for our school.”

The lecture is sponsored by the UVU Office of International Affairs & Diplomacy, Institutional Advancement, and the College of Science & Health. It is free and open to the public.

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