The Armenian News-NEWS.am posts ‘That is One Misstep for a Man’ article posted in the Transmission blog of the Radio Liberty with some extractions.

It looks like Charles Duke, who can walk on the moon, cannot set foot in Arstakh [Nagorno-Karabakh].

Azerbaijani MFA announced that the U.S. astronaut and a member of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972 has been barred from entering the country.

He and a Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, who is also a persona non grata in Baku, attended on Monday an international space conference in Stepanakert, Artsakh, the predominately ethnic-Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan. The conference was dedicated to Neil Armstrong, who was the first human to set foot on the moon.

Azerbaijani officials said anyone entering the breakaway region without preliminary consultations with Baku automatically becomes persona non grata in Azerbaijan.

And in response to why hold a space conference in Artsakh, the Artsakh acting Minister of education and science Vladik Khachatryan said that the fact that the Armenian Highland is one of the oldest places on Earth, studying the universe is clearly indicated by the ancient observatories that exist here [Artsakh]. Space exploration developed significantly during the 20th century, and can be qualified as the golden era of astronomy in Armenia.

“We are also very proud of the fact that Artsakh-born scientists have had significant contributions in exploring space,” he claimed.