Moscow. 01 June 2021. We are witnessing and participating in transformations, unprecedented until now in terms of speed and degree of influence on literally all aspects of life. But it is our children who will have to live in a new post-technological era, the possibilities of which are being formed today. On International Children’s Day, we recall that part of the history of the exhibition, which is associated with the theme of childhood. Every year it is more and more involved in the MAKS orbit, preserving the traditions laid down in the first years of the salon, and acquiring new meanings.

Today’s children are hard to surprise with anything, and yet MAKS is an exception. Because the air show in Zhukovsky is a stunning reality of aviation, where instead of pictures of airplanes / helicopters on the screens of gadgets, there is a real flight program with formidable fighters roaring deafeningly in the sky while performing the most complex aerobatics, with graceful passenger liners, then laying unusually steep turns, then quietly sailing at low speed, and also with mesmerizing acrobatics of light sports aircraft, bright balloons and balloons frozen in the sky … And even mock-ups of launch vehicles and orbital and interplanetary space stations are a real visual and tactile reality that makes it possible not virtually , and in reality touch the exciting exploration of the Universe.

Born in the difficult 1990s, the MAKS air show grew and changed along with the development of the new Russia, acquiring new meanings each time and getting involved in solving more and more ambitious and interesting problems. If we digress from the business events of the salon for specialists and representatives of the business community and think about the future, it will become obvious: by and large, children are the main audience of MAKS. Moreover, children of all ages: from toddlers, whom parents bring to the cabin by the hand, and carry them away asleep to the noise of flying airplanes, and ending with schoolchildren and students taking their first fully conscious steps in the profession. They will have to continue the work of dreamers and pioneers who paved the way into the sky and penetrated into space, and to bring to life what modern engineers and scientists only dream of. 

Realizing this, MAKS organizers have always paid great attention to the future generation of aviators, launching a number of children and youth projects that have become a kind of “trademark” of the air show. From simple children’s curiosity to curiosity, from the incredible showiness of the salon – to passion, from passion – to a possible future profession in aviation and astronautics, all these stages are passed by many of those who are brought to the salon from childhood by their parents.

Let us recall in chronological order the projects that were implemented by the organizers of MAKS for children and youth. from hobby – to a possible future profession in aviation and astronautics, all these stages are passed by many of those who are brought to the salon from childhood by their parents. Let us recall in chronological order the projects that were implemented by the organizers of MAKS for children and youth. from hobby – to a possible future profession in aviation and astronautics, all these stages are passed by many of those who are brought to the salon from childhood by their parents. Let us recall in chronological order the projects that were implemented by the organizers of MAKS for children and youth.

The “MAKSyata” club , which united children born during the days of the International Aviation and Space Salons in Zhukovsky, was created in 2001. The club grows from year to year and the range of its events becomes wider: the guys meet with outstanding aviators and cosmonauts, visit airplanes and helicopters in a static parking lot, communicate with their creators and test pilots.

Having once got to MAKS, children have the opportunity, growing up, to penetrate deeper and deeper into the world of aviation. For the first time in 2015, within the framework of the airshow, the “Student’s Day” was held , when students of higher educational institutions could visit the exhibition for free, get acquainted with the exposition and take part in career guidance events, conferences, open lectures, job fairs of the leading enterprises of the aerospace industry. Since then, “Student’s Day” has been included in the compulsory program of MAKS. Thousands of full-time students of higher and secondary specialized educational institutions have already taken advantage of the opportunity to visit the salon for free.

The scale of the program for the development of children’s and youth scientific and technical creativity at MAKS expanded significantly in 2019, when the Future Hub section was first organized at the salon , on the site of which not only the developments of young inventors were shown, but also numerous lectures and master classes for schoolchildren were held and students. Leading aerospace universities of Russia widely participate in the work of MAKS, presenting in their expositions the developments and research projects of students and talking about the possibilities of university training, the prospects for interesting and prestigious work in the future.

Another MAKS tradition is emerging before our eyes. In 2021, the Sistema charitable foundation will organize a children’s and youth program, within the framework of which it will present its flagship educational project “Elevator to the Future”, allowing schoolchildren and students to get acquainted with the world of professions and pump the skills necessary to start a career. The program for visitors with children will include vocational guidance workshops, aviation competitions and other events that will allow you to “try” with your hands modern technologies in aviation. Schoolchildren and students will attend educational events at the Future Hub: lectures, interviews with top managers of Sistema JSFC Group companies, vocational guidance testing. Participation in the program is free. By the way, as in previous years, children under the age of 14 who attend MAKS accompanied by their parents do not need to purchase an entrance ticket.

It is very difficult for fidgets – primary school students – to concentrate on one thing for a long time, therefore, in addition to educational and spectacular events, Aviasalon has prepared all the necessary conditions for parents to have something to occupy their children with all day long. All the necessary conditions for a comfortable stay of children have been created on the territory of the exhibition complex: playgrounds, toy and souvenir shops designed for different age groups, restaurants and cafes with a children’s menu.

The contemporaries of MAKS, who were born in the early 1990s, now work themselves in design bureaus and at enterprises that create aviation and space technology. Those who, in 2021, for the first time in their lives, come to the air show in Zhukovsky, will have to build the aircraft of the future, the ideas of which today seem fantastic to us. We wish them bold and ambitious plans, audacity, good luck and success. See you at MAKS-2021!