Word: krikalev
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...Sergei Krikalev got more than he bargained for when he rocketed into space last May from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in what was then still known as the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. Krikalev was scheduled for a five-month stint as flight engineer aboard the Mir space station; his replacement was slated to arrive in October. Who could have foreseen that Krikalev's country would disintegrate before his mission was over? By the time October rolled around, the Baikonur facility was on the verge of belonging to Kazakhstan , rather than the Soviet Union. As a public relations measure, space-program...
...Krikalev's troubles are symbolic of what has happened to the Soviet space program. As recently as last year, 34 years after Sputnik, the U.S.S.R. was basking in its reputation as the premier spacefaring nation in the world. Now political fragmentation and economic upheaval are raising questions about whether the successor states will be able to support a viable space program at all. In the U.S., even as officials debate the larger question of whether the West should provide economic aid to these states, a more specific debate is under way over the wisdom of striking commercial deals involving their...