Word: salyut
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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...
Some of this gear seems to be military. Circling at an altitude of about 320 km (200 miles), Salyut provides an ideally situated outpost for keeping an eye on military-related activities on the earth. Indeed, U.S. intelligence sources note that the Soviets have sent four unmanned satellites into orbit during the past three weeks, including one electronic eavesdropping vehicle. The frenzy is presumably part of their effort to keep tab on the war in the Persian Gulf...
After circling the earth for a record 175 days in their Salyut 6 spacelab, Cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov, 38, and Valeri Ryumin, 40, last week landed safely on the Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan. Unaccustomed to earthly gravity, they quickly settled into reclining chairs, posed cheerfully with a bouquet of gladioli and gamely fielded questions of Soviet journalists. Admitted Ryumin: "It's hard to get the tongue around words." But after a night on down-filled mattresses, the new Heroes of the Soviet Union seemed chipper enough to risk a dip in a hotel pool (outfitted with safety netting...
Barring medical complications, the men seemed to have reaffirmed the ability to live and work in space. Aboard Salyut, they performed such experiments as growing crystals in zero g, jettisoned the tangled antenna of the first radio telescope in orbit during an 83-min. space walk, and docked three times with unmanned Progress spacecraft bringing mail and supplies. For the Soviets, it all meant a major step toward a long-held dream: establishment of permanent manned spacelabs...