Word: space
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Indeed, space experts in the U.S. and Europe are now conceding publicly what they would have found laughable a decade ago: although the Soviets lag far behind in electronic gadgetry, they have surged past the U.S. in almost all areas of space exploration. If unchallenged, Moscow is likely to become the world's dominant power in space by the 21st century. Says Heinz Hermann Koelle, a West German space-technology professor and former director of future projects at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center: "American pre-eminence in space simply no longer exists." Warns James Oberg, an expert...
...sheer numbers of launches per year, the Soviets inched past the U.S. in 1967, 66 to 58, and have stayed in front since. In 1982 they sent up 101 space shots, in contrast to 18 by the U.S. More impressive, Soviet cosmonauts have logged some 14 man-years in space, against less than five for U.S. astronauts. The knowledge of Soviet doctors and researchers about the medical and psychological consequences of long-term space habitation far outstrips that of their American counterparts. And with the twin Vega space probes, which photographed Halley's comet in 1986, Soviet scientists consolidated their...
...developed for the Apollo program and then scrapped in favor of the shuttle. With Energia, the Soviets can loft 100-ton payloads, vs. a maximum for the U.S. shuttle of 30 tons. That is enough to carry their shuttle, which is under development, or to orbit parts for a space station far larger than Mir, which could be a platform for a manned mission to Mars. Says Dale Myers, deputy administrator at NASA: "Energia is a pretty impressive machine. I would sure like to have...
...based on their scientific value rather than the political standing of scientists. He fought for access to computers. Most important, and politically the riskiest, he introduced a potent measure of democracy into the Soviet program. "Before Sagdeyev," says Louis Friedman, executive director of the U.S. Planetary Society, "the Soviet space program was closed. Now they talk about their plans. They even argue in public. He has materially changed the way they do major projects." Declares Thomas Donahue, chairman of the National Academy of Sciences' space-science board: "He introduced glasnost into the space-science program years before Gorbachev...
...probes transmitted the first photographs of Venus' hellish surface. Imagers on the next two probes failed, but Nos. 13 and 14 sent back color photos plus a wealth of information on atmospheric, surface and subsurface chemistry. Then in 1983 came a pair of missions that stunned Western space scientists. Venera 15 and 16, in Venus' orbit, transmitted high-resolution radar maps of the planet's surface. The maps, says former NASA Administrator Beggs, "indicated a level of radar technology that we had not given the Soviets credit for." Says Masursky: "They did first-class work...