Word: salyut
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...latest evidence of Soviet ambitions comes with the return to earth of Cosmonauts Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin from a record-breaking 185 days aboard the Salyut 6 space station. Their successful mission not only eclipsed the Soviets' earlier endurance mark of 175 days in orbit but was 101 days longer than the stay by U.S. astronauts aboard the Skylab space station in 1974. Says retired U.S. Air Force Lieut. General Thomas Stafford, a former astronaut who commanded the orbital linkup with the Soviets in 1975, the last manned American mission: "The Soviets are challenging the U.S. in space...
...they are. Though Salyut 6 may be smaller and more primitive than Skylab, which tumbled back to earth last year, the samovar-shaped space station has performed impressively. Launched three years ago, it weighs 20 tons, has as much room as a small dacha (the amenities: a shower, 20 view ports, sleeping facilities for four), and has been occupied for 578 days, a little more than half its time aloft. The Soviets, using their new breed of Progress spacecraft-small, automated single-shot ferry ships-have repeatedly refueled and re-equipped Salyut, with a total overhaul of its inventory...