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Text D

FROM "VOSTOK" TO "ETHER TOWNS"

In the more than 25 years since Yuri Gagarin's flight Sovi­et space science and engineering have come a long way. Over 2,000 spacecraft of scientific and national economic signifi­cance have been put into orbit since the space era be­gan.

The Soviet Union leads in many spheres of space research. The most important achievements include work on orbital stations, notably the organization of prolonged expeditions. The longest expedition so far lasted 326 days on the Mir station. More than sixty Soviet cosmonauts have worked in orbit, many of them more than once.

Nine cosmonauts from the socialist countries taking part in the Intercosmos programme, as well as representa­tives of France, India and Syria, have worked in orbit with Soviet cosmonauts.

Second-generation orbital stations have made a major contribution to the development of space science, engineer­ing, medicine, biology, astronomy and other sciences. The Salyut-6 station was in space for five years. Nearly half of this time it was manned. In 1982 its mission was taken over by the Salyut-7.

The emergence of a third-generation station, Mir is a new major stride in the development not only of Soviet but also world cosmonautics. At the Mir station the motion control processes have been automated to the maximum, the capacity of the solar batteries has been increased, and more comfortable conditions provided for work and recre­ation, which is particularly important on long flights. With the help of the Mir station it will be possible to assemble in orbit a large complex from separate units ca­pable of functioning both as part of the station and auton­omously.

Text E