Been there, done that – at eleven

06 January, 2009, 11:07

Most young boys dream of a life of adventure, but one 11-year-old from St Petersburg, is actually living it.

Sergey Davitaya is the first child to make a zero-gravity simulated flight into space. He spent more than seven minutes flying in the air.

Such an extraordinary experience is not the first one for the young boy. He has already met Afghan tribal leaders and come face to face with snakes in Cambodia.

His adventures started when father first took the seven-year-old Sergey to Cambodia.

In Cambodia little Sergey socialised with many kinds of snakes, in Bhutan he visited monks and in Afghanistan he was introduced to the local leader.

His father says that despite such an extraordinary life, his son remains an ordinary boy, who goes to school, gets bad marks, has friends and continues to dream. But his dreams still differ from the ones of his friends.

“I want to become geneticist when I grow up and my target will be to invent a special method of staying young forever, like a tablet for everlasting life,” the boy says.

However, the family travels are not just for fun. In every single expedition little Sergey tests how his own body reacts to different conditions and then carefully studies his conclusions.

He also gathers material for ethnographical museums in St. Petersburg as well as not forgetting to make new friends in his trips.

“We met during the space training. Then we made our first flight together. The only thing that I can say is that Sergey was never afraid of trying anything new. And I admire that,” says one of his friends.

Life like this might sound for many like a piece from a Hollywood movie, but the family doesn't even consider changing their habits. Next year both he plans to visit Antarctica and test the water in recently formed lakes and as they say this is only the beginning.