New Friendships - новые дружеские отношения

Where it all started on the ISS - Bill Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev back in November 2000

Yesterday we celebrated the arrival of Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken at the International Space Station, joining Anatoly Ivanishin, Ivan Vagner and Chris Cassidy who were already on their 52nd day in space.

It was a great moment as a brand-new out-of-the-showroom US space capsule docked on one end of ISS whilst a trusty old Russian Soyuz, first used in 1967, stood docked at the other.

For the past 9 years, since the demise of the Space Shuttle programme, the US and Russia have been working closely together to get teams out and back from the ISS, maintaining the continuous presence of astronauts at the station since it opened its doors in November 2000 to Bill Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev.

Chris Anatoly and Ivan in November 2019

So this cooperation with launches of US astronauts from Baikonur in Khazakhstan in what is often described as a “very uncomfortable but very safe” Soyuz spacecraft is coming to an end and it could be seen as the end of a great chapter in US-Russian friendship which has weathered 9 years’ worth of some of the most difficult political times.

Whilst thanking the astronauts for “a great show”, Johnson Space Center representative Dr Brian Babin made a point of thanking “our Russian partners.” Clearly a lot of background technical work has gone on between Russian and US teams to realise this historic event, the equivalent of docking a Tesla X to a port designed for a 1967 Lada 1200.

This relationship showed that, on the ground, people can work together towards a common goal despite ongoing political issues on either side. It’s a great testament to the way we work in our new globalised world – no doors are ever totally shut between our 200 or so countries on this small marble of a planet – when there’s a job to be done people tend to pull together despite and sometimes against all odds.

So let’s celebrate the opening of this new era where the ISS and it’s many astronauts from past and future, from many different countries, continue to reach across a gravity-less space to shake hands with another human, irrespective of their origins.

That leads me to our annual music-themed IXcellerate Rockin' Russia events held every June in Moscow until this year of course. Our events celebrate the global cooperation that happens to keep the Internet running seamlessly every day in every country. Our 2019 event was titled Global Village in recognition of the many nationalities of our customers here in Russia.

Rockin'Russia 2019

Weather was tricky for Rockin'Russia 2019 aswell

And the music theme takes me to the Scorpions, one of the first Western rock bands to play in Moscow back at a legendary festival in 1989.

We have a special connection with the Scorpions as Cliff Gauntlett, original founder of IXcellerate, was a good friend of Rudolf Schenker which created a real Rock’N’Roll atmosphere around our crazy start-up back in 2010-12. Cliff sadly passed away in 2013 and we were left to continue his legacy buoyed by many memories of very intense and exciting times from those early days. Today IXcellerate is a much bigger company and has grown from 12th to 2nd in the market in Russia earning the respect of many Russian and international Internet companies reliant on our amazingly dedicated teams who truly go the extra mile day after day.

We still have our band and a full set of drums, amps and guitars onsite ready for our regular networking events downtown where we have successfully combined music and networking for the past 8 years. Long may it last!

The author tuning up

What better way to meditate on this than to listen to the Scorpions in Moscow in 1989.

The Moscow Music Peace Festival took place on the 12th & 13th August 1989 in Moscow. It was organised to promote world peace and to establish a cooperation in fighting the war on drugs in Russia. The event was held at a time of immense change in the Soviet Union and is said to have inspired the song “Winds Of Change”.

Moscow 1989

Get an earful of this:

https://www.facebook.com/originalrocknrollmusic/videos/1821331497902646/