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Various selected news articles concerning the Russian space program; these are mostly in-depth articles and opinion pieces rather than news items. Other articles about specific topics (e.g. Mir) are listed on the relevant pages. The few articles stored on this site open in a separate popup window. Articles also get added retrospectively, so look before the current link, also!

I am annoyed and disillusioned with aspects of the current Russian space program, so there are a few cranky remarks.

1986

October

“Soviets in space: are they ahead?” , National Geographic. What now seems like the “good old days” of the Soviet space program… The current one is a sad contrast!

1987

5 October

“Surging Ahead: The Soviets overtake the U.S. as the No. 1 spacefaring nation”, TIME.com. A similar article to the previous National Geographic one.

2001

17 March

“Russia, Australia Work Together in Space Research”, Space.com. This was a promising project that apparently never got off the ground, as I have heard nothing since (I did read somewhere that there were funding problems). The Asia Pacific Space Centre site is still online (as of 2006), but not updated since 2001.

9 April

“Touring the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Museum”, Robert Pearlman, Space.com.

November

“In the footsteps of Gagarin”, Focus magazine. A positive portrayal of Zvyozdniy Gorodok, Звёздный Городок, and the Russian space program, for a change!

2002

Spring

“Inside Russia’s Unique Space Science Institute”, 21st Century magazine. Interview with TsNIIMash director Dr. Nikolai A. Anfimov about the Russian space program.

July

A sour-grapes editorial by someone called Al Neuharth, published in USA Today, 2002 (I don’t have the URL):

Russia rules space and we don’t care

Kennedy Space Center, Fla. – Thirty-three years ago this month we won the space race when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. July 20, 1969.

The free world rejoiced with the USA. We beat the USSR, modern Russia’s mother country and then the leader of the Communist world.

That was then. This is now. The difference:

  • Then, this was the gateway to the universe. We followed our lunar landings with a space shuttle program that led to huge technological breakthroughs. In communications, health, national security.
  • Now, all our space shuttles are grounded. They are old and have cracks in them. Nobody knows when they’ll fly again.

As a result, one astronaut and two cosmonauts on the International Space Station have only Russian spaceships to rely on for supplies or a possible emergency trip back to Earth. In short, Russia now rules in space.

What happened? Space exploration lost its “sex appeal” for our politicians. There no longer is a bad guy to beat up there. So Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein make better emotional targets.

The Bush administration’s lack of care about the space program was emphasized this week. Vice President Dick Cheney landed here amid secrecy aboard Air Force Two. Thousands of space workers were high with hope he would spotlight the importance of getting back into the space business. Instead, Cheney spent all day nearby at sea aboard the USS Wyoming, a nuclear submarine named after his home state. Not a nod nor a word about our crippled space program.

What a difference from the days of John F. Kennedy. He understood that the nation which is No. 1 in space ultimately will be No. 1 on Earth.

Copyright © 2002 USA Today, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

31 October

“Space loses its appeal for Russian teens”, Ireland Online (stored at Archive.org). (Author is unnamed.)

2003

October

“Saving the Station”, by James Oberg, Anatoly Zak & Stephen Cass, IEEE Spectrum (no longer online; stored at Archive.org).

Book extract: Two Sides of the Moon

Epilogue: 1975-2003 by cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov from the book by him and Apollo astronaut Dave Scott. I thought he had some interesting things to say about the space program.

2004

January

“Russian space medicine still aims for Mars”, by Dominic Phelan, Spaceflight magazine. Article about the Institute for Bio-Medical Problems.

July

“The First 1000 Days” by astronaut Tom Jones; published in Air & Space Smithsonian, July 2004. His view of the first 3 years on the ISS; some interesting insights; though, like many of the astronauts, he is a bit patronizing and parochial.

18 October

“Space lessons from the Russians”, MSNBC.com. After Columbia, NASA will be dependent upon Soyuz flights to get its Expedition Crew astronauts to the ISS.

2005

28 January

“The Russians are coming” by Robert Zimmerman, Space Daily.

At the annual Goddard Symposium, held by the American Astronautical Society in late March 2004 in Beltsville, Md., one NASA engineer outlined the need to design closed environmental recycling systems for any spaceship traveling to Mars.

To illustrate what was already known, he described the systems used on NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo capsules, as well as on the shuttle, Skylab, and the U.S. half of the ISS.

Nowhere in his presentation, however, was there any mention of a Russian system, even though since 1971 the Russians have built seven successful space stations prior to the ISS with a remarkable track record of efficient and practical atmospheric and water recycling systems.

When asked by this reporter why he had left the Russians out of his presentation, he explained that he did not take their systems very seriously. “We don’t have faith in them,” he said.

To put it mildly, when it comes to space exploration, U.S. space officials have developed the annoying habit of underestimating the Russians.

So it might be prudent to consider the possibility that the first humans to reach Mars might be speaking Russian – not English – when they get there.

I really, really hope so. :-) Serve the “Paranoid Patriots” right.

10 February

“Men will be first to go to Mars”, RIA Novosti (found via NASA Watch). Some silly remarks from Anatolii Grigoriyev (Director of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems) regarding women’s supposed unsuitability for long-term spaceflight:

“After all, women are fragile and delicate creatures; that is why men should lead the way to distant planets and carry women there in their strong hands,” the head of IMBP said with a smile.

Perhaps he should visit the Soviet Women Pilots in the Great Patriotic War website and read up on what his supposedly “fragile and delicate” countrywomen accomplished during World War 2!

11 February

“Does Mars need women? Russians say no”: James Oberg’s commentary on Anatolii Grigoryev’s dumb remarks. Perhaps ladies could send Prof. Grigoryev some irate e-mails! As James Oberg notes, there has been chauvinism in the Russian space program since its inception, and though there have been plenty of qualified and determined Russian women, only three made it into space, and there are now none in the current cosmonaut corps :-(. One thing I would love to see on the ISS is an all-woman crew (one from Russia, NASA and ESA)…something that is likely to remain a dream, sadly.

8 April

“Press Conference With Federal Space Agency Director Anatoly Perminov”, ESA News from Moscow. At this press conference, Roskosmos director Anatolii Perminov speaks about the future directions of the Russian space program. A fascinating read! Of course, as usual this went entirely ignored by the Western media.

6 May

“Roscosmos vision of the ISS Program after 2005 and beyond”, ESA News from Moscow newsletter, Special Issue No. 6 (in PDF form at their website).

9 May

“Space station stars in a tale of endurance” and “Astronaut explains secret of space station’s success”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. Two articles “on the International Space Station’s endurance amid adversity.” But “Space Station Endurance” doesn’t sound quite right – I still like the name Aurora myself.

11 May

“Russians shake up their space industry”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. Some bickering between Energiya and the Russian Government over control of the company, which could see the current head of Energiya, Yurii Semyonov, being replaced. (He was, after the 28 May elections, by Nikolai Nikolayevich Sevastianov.)

10 June

“Russia ready to take lead on space station”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. “Russia is prepared to take over if the United States decides to scale back its support of the International Space Station, a Russian space official said this week.” Russia has some interesting (and viable) proposals for new space vehicles, including the Kliper spaceship (to replace the Soyuz), an automated cargo ship replacement for the Progress called the Parom, and a method of returning cargo to Earth via an inflatable heat shield. Aleksandr Medvedchikov, deputy head of the Russian Space Agency, “even suggested that at some future point, if required, the Russians could restart their Buran shuttle program.” I don’t know how realistic this last is as it would require billions of dollars (the Buran orbiters’ avionics, for example, would have to be updated to modern digital technology). Russia and ESA have agreed to partner on the Kliper program.

July

“Spacemen become inventive by necessity”, James Oberg, Ad Astra magazine (PDF file, 382 kb). Mir and ISS crews have proven inventive when it comes to inflight repairs, but these are still dependent upon getting supplies and parts from Earth. There is still a lot of equipment development to do for beyond-Earth missions, though – equipment that will need to be maintained and repaired for months- or years-long interplanetary missions.

14 July

“Russia launches 10-year space program”, MSNBC.com. “Russia’s government approved a 10-year space program on Thursday and space agency chief Anatoly Perminov said it sought growth and innovation as the industry shakes off post-Soviet stagnation. A space agency source said the 2006-15 Federal Space Program budget was around $10.50 billion — ‘substantially higher’ than previously, but still modest compared to the resources of fellow space giant the United States.”

18 July

“The real lessons of international cooperation in space”, James Oberg, The Space Review. For the Soyuz-Apollo 30th anniversary, a somewhat overly-cynical look at Russian-American space co-operation.

Some of the revisionist history touted at these celebrations wasn’t nearly as benign. At the NASM, Vance Brand delicately described the cautious first meetings when “we’d all heard a lot of bad things about the other country”. Brand wasn’t so rude as to elaborate that the “bad things” Americans had heard about the USSR were mostly true and the “bad things” the Soviet public had been fed about the West were mostly propagandistic lies…If Earthside history teaches anything, it is that Moscow was indeed the capital of an “evil empire” and the world is far better off that the Soviet regime wound up on the “ash heap of history”, in the then-controversial words of President Reagan.

Oh, so a chaotic world with fanatical Islamic extremist suicide bombers blowing up cities at random is preferable? And is Russia really any better off since the collapse of Communism? And the real “evil empire” are the multinational corporations that dominate the world and treat workers as slaves, and the consumer societies that depend upon the consumption of mostly worthless products from these corporations to keep functioning (the economy must grow at all costs). Societies whose only ideology is a never-ending barrage of advertising to exhort people to buy stuff. A bleak and ultimately meaningless consumer “culture”. THAT is the real “evil”. If this is the world of the present and future, I don’t want to be a part of it.

27 July

“Russia keeps going by keeping it simple”, Mike Thomas, Chicago Tribune. “It’s time to thank the Russians. Thank them for keeping the International Space Station afloat while the shuttle has been in Mr. Goodwrench’s shop…And to think NASA officials once wanted to jettison the Russians from the space station.”

The article was also commented on at the Russian Federal Space Agency site: 01/08/2005 «Пришло время сказать русским спасибо…»; they have obviously been aware of all the criticism and snide remarks from certain commentators over the years of the ISS program.

5 August

“Europe to Join Russia in Building Next Space Shuttle”, Anatoly Zak, Spectrum.org. Maybe.

9 August

“The new frontier”, FlightInternational.com. “The Russian space industry is finally having its budget boosted. Its heritage, increasing opportunism and low costs could usher in a new period of growth.”

22 August

“Russia, space tourism, and exploration”, Taylor Dinerman, The Space Review. “The Russian government’s space program may not be doing much, aside from its central role in the ISS, but Russia’s space companies seem to be healthy and profitable.” But what happened to the original Soviet-era vision of conquering the cosmos? The obsession with making money has in some ways cheapened the Russian space program, and it has been sidetracked from the focus on exploring and colonizing space.

29 September

“Russia thriving again on the final frontier”, MSNBC.com. Russia’s plans for future space exploration.

Like NASA, the Russians plan to develop a new breed of spaceship: a winged craft called the Kliper, capable of carrying a crew of six and built in partnership with the European Space Agency. Like NASA, the Russians plan to work toward lunar landings in the latter half of the next decade, leading to the establishment of permanent moon bases as stepping-stones to Mars and beyond.

Unlike NASA, the Russians plan to keep selling tickets to space, seeing it as a way to boost both budgets and public perception of the space program. Their goals are ambitious here as well, with plans to sell a trip around the moon for $100 million a seat.

2 November

“The International Space Station So Far: Five Years of Service, But Incomplete”, Space.com.

24 November

“The mission to Mars is to be international”, Energiya: President Nikolai Sevostianov interview. A bit too much blathering about shares and stocks, but he at least mentions missions to the Moon and Mars near the end.

2 December

“Russian Technologies Can Put Cosmonauts On Moon”, SpaceDaily.com/Andrei Kislyakov, RIA Novosti.

Meanwhile, Russian technologies, despite falling well behind in financing terms, promise to put cosmonauts on the Moon’s surface in seven to nine years’ time, with the whole exercise to cost no more than $2 billion.

“We could bring about a landing,” said Nikolai Sevastyanov, president of the Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation, “as early as 2012-2014 by using the technology of Soyuz-type spacecraft. If we had a $2 billion program, we could land on the Moon after mounting only three expeditions.”

27 December

“Press conference with Federal Space Agency head Anatolii Perminov (ITAR TASS)”, TMCnet.com.

2006

6 January

“Russian space city builds new route to heavens”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com.

Baikonur needs that like a hole in the head. 4.5 million rubles (about U.S.$150 000) spent on a new Orthodox Church at the Baikonur launch site. Seems that even the “highly educated populace” aren’t immune to superstition. *Sigh*.

February

“Manned Spaceflight to be Cost-efficient”, Energiya. An article from Russian Space magazine, №2/2006.

6 February

17 February

“Records offer rare look at space medical secrets”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. Space tourist Greg Olsen makes his medical records public (a rarity – there is little public documentation on spaceflight medical issues) and his mysterious ailment is revealed: a CT scan found a spot on his lung that was initially thought to be lung cancer, but it cleared up spontaneously. (No link to the documents yet, if they are online.)

27 March

“ ‘Every launch is like the first one’ ”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. Description of a Soyuz rocket launch at Baikonur.

April

“Stellar Engineer”, James Oberg, Spectrum. Profile of space engineer Vladimir Syromyatnikov (who later died on 19 September 2006).

7 April

“A quiet man gets the spotlight in space”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. A portrait of the cosmonaut Valerii Tokarev.

10 April

“Behind the beautiful Soyuz launch: overcoming a communications emergency”, James Oberg, The Space Review. During the launch of Soyuz TMA-8, a Molniya comm satellite failed for a short time (but was restored). “This is the story of a ‘space dog that didn’t bark’, of what might have been an international incident casting doubt on the efficacy of the international partnership. Had that happened, no doubt it would have been big news. So on balance, it’s only fair to pay some attention to how well it did work, while reminding ourselves of some outstanding issues that need further work.”

12 April

13 April

“Putin Shows His Star Cards to America”, Kommersant.com.

19 April

“What does Russia plan to do in outer space?”, RIA Novosti | “Russia Has Plans For Outer Space In The 21st Century”, Space Daily.com.

21 April

“China and Russia Challenging the Space Leadership of the United States”, Global Security. It’s the “leadership” obsession again. “One day we may wake up to a Russian and or Chinese geopolitical technological surprise and realize that with little warning that Russia or China has launched a precursor un-crewed earth orbital rendezvous (EOR) lunar circumnavigation mission to be followed by a human lunar circumnavigation mission soon afterwards.” Oh, the horror! The horror!

8 May

“The real significance of the ISS thruster test failure”, James Oberg, The Space Review. “In this case, a significant station operation appears to have been planned without adequate understanding of how changes to the station’s external configuration might impact the process.”

24 May

RSC Energiya: Concept of Russian Manned Space Navigation Development, Energiya site. “The meeting-interview between S.Kh. Shamsutdinov, editor-correspondent of the News of Cosmonautics journal and N.N. SEVASTIYANOV, Korolev RSC Energia President, General Designer.” The interview was originally published in NK №.7 (282), July 2006.

June

“The Future of the Russian Space Program”, JamesOberg.com. Russia’s space program is in better shape than in the 1990s, but there are still problems, one of the most serious being an ageing workforce with a low replacement rate. Funding is still largely dependent on Russia selling its program’s products to other countries and co-operating with them for various projects. Projects like the Kliper spaceship and Angara rocket are still in doubt.

4 June

“Russia’s Lunar Return”, Spaceref.com. “Russia, which pioneered and then abandoned robotic exploration of the Moon after loss of the Space Race and collapse of the Soviet Union, is starting the development of its first lunar mission in 30 years.” Russia hasn’t sent any unmanned missions beyond Earth orbit since the failed Mars 96 probe in 1996, so hopefully this one will come to pass. (Just go somewhere! Anywhere!)

7 June

“Griffin Welcomes Russian Help In Future Space Missions”, SpaceDaily.com. “He said it is a ‘rare NASA science mission that doesn’t have a substantial international component to it,’ but added that it has been a long time ‘since the Russians have expressed any interest in planetary explorations, so with the energy dollars that are flowing into Russia, if they are interested in revitalizing their very proud history of planetary exploration, I’d say I’m all for it and we would absolutely look forward to working with them.’ ”

26 June

6 July

Another rant from “Paranoid Patriot” Al Neuharth at USA Today:

Cape Canaveral — Thoughts while trying to think during the shuttle Discovery’s on-again, off-again, then spectacularly successful July Fourth launch…

Independence Day always should make us proud that we still live in freedom in the leading nation on Earth. But here at the Gateway to the Universe, there are sobering reminders that we sadly have frittered away the leadership we once had in space.

Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and many other astronauts risked their lives lifting off from launch pads here. Seventeen died on duty.

We won the race to the moon because President John F. Kennedy convinced Congress and the public that we can’t be comfortable as No. 1 on Earth unless we also are No. 1 in space. No president since has understood that.

That shocking reality really scared us nearly 50 years ago when the Russians (actually then the USSR, the parent country) launched Sputnik, Oct. 4, 1957. We realized that if the Soviets, then unfriendly, used space militarily we might be dead ducks.

So, we geared up the All-American way and beat the Russians to the moon. Unfortunately, that mission accomplished, we soon lost interest. Historic space travel comparisons:

  • The Russians have had more than 2000 manned and unmanned space missions. We’ve had fewer than 1000.
  • Russian men and women have spent the equivalent of three times as many hours in space as have ours.

Not only have we played second fiddle to Russia in recent years, we’re in danger of becoming third-raters in space. China has launched humans and announced that it plans a permanent base on the moon.

We need another Sputnik-like scare to wake us up. China may provide it.

*Yawn*. Found via NASA Watch (not surprisingly).

2 August

“Kliper: too many unknowns”, RIA Novosti. The Russian Space Agency has decided not to support the Kliper manned spaceship; Enerigya will continue to develop it more slowly with its own funds and foreign investment. “Late in June, speaking at the Farnborough aerospace show, the Roskosmos leadership suddenly announced that they were suspending the tender and would instead adopt a multi-stage program of creating a space transport vehicle. Now the main emphasis is on the time-tested orbital workhorse, the Soyuz spacecraft.”

4 August

“Shut-Ins Wanted: Russia Seeks Volunteers for Simulated Mars Mission”, Space.com. Volunteers are being recruited for the “Mars-500” mission. IMBP site section: About the Project “Mars-500”.

5 September

“Is The Golden Age Of Russian Space Science Still Ahead?”, RIA Novosti (also at Space Daily). Russian plans for scientific unmanned missions, which have been dismally absent since the fall of the USSR.

8 September

“Inside Russia’s space camp”, BBC News. Brief look at Star City.

24 September

“The Ultimate Vacation: Chronicles Of A Citizen In Space”, Orato.com. Greg Olsen’s recollection of his space trip.

30 October

“Russian Dreams Of Reaching Mars First”, Space Daily.

2 November

“A Mission To Mars (Part Two)”, Space Daily.

25 November

“Cosmonaut careers are losing their luster”, MSNBC.com. Article also at Space.com: “Cosmonaut Careers: Russian Interest in Homegrown Spaceflyers Flags”.

Undated

“Russia’s Plans For The Next 26 Years In Space”, Interspace News.

2007

11 January

“Russia kicks off big year for space history”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. Tribute to Sergei Korolyov, who would have been 100 this year.

26 January

“What suit do you wear to a spacewalk?”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. Which spacesuit (Russian or American) to wear on the spacewalk to free a jammed antenna on a Progress ship; the advantages and disadvantages of each suit.

5 March

Death throes and grand delusions, The Space Review. Dwayne Day summarizes the current problems in Russia’s space industry and program.

13 March

“The Kourou-cosmonaut connection”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. Future prospects for the new French-Russian Kourou spaceport. (The tropical climate, though, is unpleasant: “High humidity, rain seasons, aggressive insects” – ugh!.)

27 March

“Space station trip will push the envelope”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. The Soyuz TMA-9 spaceship will have stayed in space longer than any previous Soyuz (214 days – previous record is 210 days).

6 April

“Russian rookie takes spaceship’s helm”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. Profile of cosmonaut Oleg Kotov.

9 April

“Russians fear becoming space cabbies”, MSNBC.com. “Space experts worry new role will take away from needed development.” States exactly what I have been grumbling about throughout this site. The Russian space program has been reduced to a taxi service for bored rich space tourists and if that is all it is to be, they might as well end it. Sergei Korolyov would not be impressed with the way things are now.

14 May

“A tale of two rockets…with a happy ending”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com. 15 May is the 50th anniversary of the R7 rocket, and the 20th anniversary of the first launch of the Energiya booster rocket. Both were originally intended for military purposes, but the R7 became a successful launch rocket for civilian missions, and the Energiya was intended to covertly launch weapons but was cancelled after the USSR collapsed.

July

“Russia’s Space Program at Fifty – An Assessment” (PDF, 118 KB), James Oberg. A look at the program as it is in 2007: in better shape since the near-catastrophic 1990s, but a lot of work still needs to be done. A lot of it seems to be precariously dependent upon foreign funding and sales.

Some articles sources

2008

January/winter

“Star City Limits”, Russia! magazine. Short article on Star City, Звёздный Городок.

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