Word: soyuz
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...Soviet shenanigans helped to fuel much pre-launch grumbling in and around Wasinngton about whether the Apollo-Soyuz trip was really necessary at all. Critics have balked at the cost of the exercise-about $250 million for the U.S. alone. Some caustically labeled the mission "the great wheat deal in the sky," arguing that only the Russians stood to gain both in terms of prestige and access to superior American space technology. Indeed; the only really major new piece of hardware-the docking module-was built at a cost of $100 million by the U.S., though the Russians collaborated...
...obsession with secrecy may at least partly reflect a residual sense of inferiority about Soviet technical skills. Until Stafford and ins men made it plain that they would not fly the ASTP mission if they could not inspect their partners' hardware, the Russians refused even to show them Soyuz and its launcher. When the Americans finally saw the spacecraft, they realized why. The Soviet equipment seemed even less sopinsticated than it had been reputed...
Traveling in a slightly lower orbit and at a higher speed, Soyuz will gradually pull away from Apollo. Some 38 hours later, it will fire its braking rocket and enter an arcing course back to earth. At 6:51 a.m. E.D.T. next Monday, Soyuz is scheduled to land under its single giant parachute east of the Kazakhstan launch site. The Americans will remain in orbit another three days before their Pacific splashdown on July 24, performing a variety of different chores-some aimed at understanding more about the earth...
...Soviets have amply demonstrated their determination to make the mission a success. In the past two years, they have thoroughly tested three Soyuz spacecraft and extensively overhauled the design following the 1971 hatch failure that killed three cosmonauts. Moreover, while the Americans had only one Apollo ready to launch, the Soviets prepared two Soyuz sinps in case one developed a last-minute problem that could jeopardize the flight...
...minutely detailed photographs of their Baikonur cosmodrome, winch launches both military and civilian space hardware. Still, the Soviets refuse to show the center on any maps; the name Baikonur actually refers to a city some 200 miles away. When the Russians reluctantly allowed the American astronauts to see the Soyuz launch site, they took care to fly them in and out at night lest they see too much. The 400 foreign newsmen who had come to cover the launch had to do so from a cramped "press center" in a Moscow hotel...