The 2016 Plenary Meeting of the FAI Astronautic Records Commission (ICARE) was held on 15 April 2016 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The meeting took place in the Maison du Sport Internationale (MSI), where the FAI Head Office is located.

Please find below the main decisions and discussions during the meeting:

Discussions

• A discussion was dedicated on the question if ICARE is focused on human spaceflight only. Unmanned activities increase (such as FPV Racing, Drones) and the scope of ICARE will be widened:
  • Promote aeronautical activities 
  • Define the best in sports 
  • Define best performances
    As a result the FAI Sporting Code will be changed, as it mentions “human” activities only. Additionally, ICARE will develop a position paper and also consider connecting with FAI Aeromodelling Commission (CIAM- Spacemodelling) on that matter.
• Mr. Jean-Francois CLERVOY, French ICARE Delegate and three times Space Shuttle astronaut reported about the upcoming mission of Mr. Thomas PESQUET (FRA), which will be France’s first mission since several years.
• A discussion on “near-space-activities” emerged. ICARE sees amateurs getting involved into near-space-activities in the next 20-30 years, mainly in high altitude stratospheric flights in balloons, jet- or rock-driven planes, gliders as visible in the “Perlan Project” and more. Moreover, private persons willing to pay for a flight, will look for public recognition. This discussion started in 2014 already. For this, the Commission will be ready by providing a structure and capture all these activities under ICARE’s remit.
• Overall 2015 has been a difficult year for Aestronautics. Several complete losses of unmanned spacecraft had to be reported. On the other hand, the number of players in the field is growing and their return-to-earth projects (landing of parts of the rocket for re-use) are most impressive.

Awards

• The Yuri A. Gagarin Gold Medal
  Mr. Gennadi Ivanovich PADALKA (RUS), he spent 878 days in space. In a future mission he will be the first person ever to exceed 1000 days in space.
   
  Mr. Alexey LEONOV (RUS), the 50th anniversary of the first space-walk that the Russian cosmonaut achieved in 1965 is seen to be a very valid reason. On 18 March 1965, he stayed out in space for 12 min 9 sec. In 2015, mankind celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first space-walk.
   
• The V. M. Komarov Diploma
  Scott KELLY (USA) and Mikhail KORNIENKO (RUS)
   
• The Odyssey Diploma
  Dr. Jonathan CLARK (USA)

The ICARE Commission President thanked the Russian alternate Delegate, Mr. Nicolay BODIN, for his contribution to the spaceflight activities in Russia and globally. Since 1991, for 25 years, he had worked with each Russian cosmonaut.

Bureau Elections

President: Mr. Anu OJHA, OBE (GBR) 
Vice President: Mr. Henrik AKERSTEDT (SWE)

Next Meeting

The next Plenary Meeting of the ICARE Commission will be held on 07 April 2017 in Lausanne, Switzerland.