PARIS — Organizers of the 52nd International Astronautical Congress will hold their congress and exhibition Oct. 1-5 in Toulouse, France, as planned, despite the Sept. 21 fertilizer-plant explosion there that killed 29 people, wounded dozens of others and crippled some city services.
In a statement issued Sept. 25, Yves Trempat, chairman of the conference's organizing committee, said the conference site facilities as well as Toulouse's city center were spared much damage from the explosion.
Local and national French authorities are investigating the cause of the accident, in which several thousand kilograms of ammonium nitrate exploded.
They announced Sept. 24 that they are almost certain that the cause was an accident in handling the material, and not foul play.
"I want to inform you of our determination to welcome [conference delegates] as best we can, given the circumstances," Trempat said in a written statement. "We will be ready to greet you on Oct. 1st. It will be our way of demonstrating solidarity with our space city."
Toulouse is home to France's top aerospace-engineering school as well as to most of the employees of the French space agency, CNES, and to large manufacturing plants operated by Alcatel Space and Astrium and to other space-related companies.
