Word: space
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...does Mir compare with earlier Soviet space stations? "There is much more space," said Romanenko. "There is even room that can be used for living room. Atmospheric conditions are better, and all the instruments provide for good fresh air. It's much better than Salyut." Before another question could be asked, the light left the Moscow circle; the window had closed. Though all too brief, it was an extraordinary, exclusive exchange between an American journalist and an orbiting Soviet cosmonaut...
Just a few years ago that encounter in the Soviet Flight Control Center at Kaliningrad, a suburb 15 miles northeast of Moscow, would have been unthinkable. In the closed world of the Soviet space program, the most impressive launches were rarely announced in advance for fear of failure. Even then, the barest details were released afterward -- and only if the mission went just as planned. These days that characteristic secrecy seems to have evaporated, replaced with a confidence bolstered by the dawning international recognition that Soviet achievements in space are fast outstripping those...
...dynamism is drawn from a spirit of glasnost, or openness, that preceded the revolution Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev is striving to bring to Soviet society. Moscow's venerable Institute of Space Research (known as IKI, its Russian acronym) now bustles with the comings and goings of an increasingly youthful, independent-minded cadre of Soviet space specialists. And along with them are growing numbers of foreign colleagues, many of whom have been invited to add their experiments to Soviet space missions. Visiting scientists need only a pass to wander the halls freely...
Such self-assurance on the part of the Soviet space establishment will be in ample evidence this week as IKI and its charismatic director, Roald Sagdeyev, sponsor a three-day extravaganza of seminars and speeches celebrating the 30th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957. Called Space Future Forum, it will focus on the topic of international cooperation in space. Some 500 scientific luminaries from around the world plan to attend...
...Soviet conference is evidence that in their space program, openness is not just political fashion. Says Genevieve Debouzy, of the French space agency: "The seminars that ten years ago would have been given at the Goddard Space Flight Center are now given in Moscow." To the surprise of Americans, the Soviets' well-deserved reputation for a plodding, low-tech, assembly-line approach to space exploration has paid off. Says James Beggs, former NASA administrator: "There's been a habit in this country of thinking of the Soviets as stupid and that they steal all their technology. That's just...