 The two initiated a series of meetings with Bulgarian Army generals, pilots, aviation doctors, engineers, Bulgarian Communist Party members and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences representatives.As a result, the first dedicated space research body in Bulgaria, the Astronautical Society (BAS), was established in Sofia on 8 December 1957.The rigid legal environment at the time prevented it from being formed as an independent entity, and it was initially organised as an Astronautics Section of the Defence Assistance Organisation.