The new daily, Santo Domingo. – On the last occasion the Dominican flag went into space, it was at the decision of Dominican Alec Subero, who flew five Dominican flags aboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity plane, on Saturday May 22 last year, and Now Subero intends to donate some of these national tokens for educational institutions in the Dominican Republic.

The first evidence was recorded in the Hall of the Universe of the National Museum of Natural History Professor Eugenio de Jesus Marcano, a Dominican flag, with a description that says: “The flag of your nation, the Dominican Republic, was carried to the moon and returned by the Apollo 11 mission, in 1969, and part of the surface of Moon displayed to Earth by crew of first human lunar landing.

There is also another flag beside another larger part. “This piece is part of a boulder from the Taurus-Littrow Valley of the Moon,” this description reads “The flag of your nation, the Dominican Republic, was flown to the Moon aboard a US spacecraft during the Apollo 17 mission, in 1972.”

Another recorded occasion, although the exact date and details of the spacecraft are unknown, is in 2007, US Congressman Jose Serrano placed the Dominican and Puerto Rican flag at Houston Community College in the Bronx, after both national symbols had been returned from space to where they were taken from Before the US Space Agency (NASA, for its English acronym).

Although some scientists say that the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space is about 118 kilometers, the Virgin Galactic plane that carried the capsule with five Dominican flags on board reached an altitude of 89 kilometers, and at the moment we do not know the details of the flight and the plane which was aboard the Dominican flag and located at Houston Community College in the Bronx.

The work of 4 engineers graduated from the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC), who in 2017 raised the Dominican flag to a height of 30 kilometers in a stratospheric balloon, was also recorded.

Sobero works as engineering director for Virgin Galactic, and in a recent interview he explained that on that occasion, the agency was conducting a test flight and suggested team members send personal items into space. The items they chose to ship had to weigh and measure dimensions limited by weight and size restrictions in the cabin.

Several employees sent in pictures, watches, rings, and more, but Alec wanted to do something different. “I decided to send something that represented who I am and where I come from. The Dominican flag is the ultimate expression of my country, my family, my friends and my culture that makes up my identity.” said Dominican flight engineer Alec Sobero.

Not having time to get the flags, he found a seller of Dominican flags on the Internet and ordered them. Five embroidered flags, each measuring 3 by 4 inches, were placed in a capsule aboard the VSS Unity, registered N202VG.

The VSS Unity aircraft, piloted by pilots Dave Mackay and CJ Sturckow, took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico, United States. The spacecraft was carried by a large cargo plane, launched into the atmosphere, its engines turned on, headed to the upper limit of the atmosphere, where space begins, and then returned to the surface.

The Dominican engineer was born in the city of Santo Domingo, his parents are from the province of San Jose de Acoa. Alec studied in the Dominican Republic through high school, then immigrated to the United States to study aeronautical engineering at EMBRY-RIDDLE University of Aeronautics, where he graduated and today works as engineering director for the US space agency Virgin Galactic.

By: Olga Perez

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