Monthly Archives: February 1986

86MOSCOW2889, OBSERVATIONS ON SOVIET “MIR” SPACE STATION

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
86MOSCOW2889 1986-02-21 14:10 2011-08-30 01:44 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Moscow

O 211410Z FEB 86
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1025
INFO DIA WASHDC IMMEDIATE
EASTERN EUROPEAN POSTS
AMCONSUL LENINGRAD 
USIA WASHDC 3599
NASA WASHDC IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS MOSCOW 02889 
 
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY 
 
NASA FOR LIB 
 
E.O. 12356:  N/A 
TAGS: KSCA TSPA UR
SUBJECT:  OBSERVATIONS ON SOVIET "MIR" SPACE STATION 
 
1.  DEPARTMENT HAS NO DOUBT SEEN MASSIVE PRESS 
COVERAGE OF LAUNCH FEBRUARY 20 OF SOVIET "MIR" 
(PEACE) SPACE STATION.  PROUD OF THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENT, 
THE SOVIETS HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE OPEN IN THEIR 
COVERAGE OF THE EVENT IN LINE WITH A TREND WE HAVE 
OBSERVED IN RECENT MONTHS.  FEBRUARY 20 VREMYA 
NEWSCAST SHOWED, BESIDES FOOTAGE OF THE LAUNCH ITSELF, 
DETAILS OF THE SPACE FLIGHT CONTROL CENTER OUTSIDE 
MOSCOW, INCLUDING A LARGE DETAILED DIAGRAM OF THE 
OUTSIDE OF THE STATION.  VIDEOTAPE OF THE LAUNCH 
SHOWS THAT THE STATION WAS LAUNCHED ON THE SOVIETS' 
NEW LARGE "PROTON" BOOSTER. 
 
2.  INTERVIEWED DURING THE NEWSCAST, PROFESSOR AND 
PILOT-COSMONAUT K. FEOKTISTOV CALLED THE "MIR" 
SPACE STATION A "NEW GENERATION" STATION.  HE 
ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THE SOVIETS INTEND TO MAN THE 
STATION PERMANENTLY, BUT "NOT RIGHT AWAY."  AFTER 
SHAKE-DOWN AND TESTING, A FIRST CREW WILL BE SENT 
UP FOR A "NOT LENGTHY" STAY TO CHECK THE STATION'S 
SYSTEM, TO BE FOLLOWED BY A BREAK FOR FURTHER 
"ADJUSTMENTS."  AFTER THIS THE STATION WILL BE 
PERMANENTLY MANNED, WITH ROTATING SHIFTS. 
 
3.  ACCORDING TO A. IVAKHNOV, WRITING IN FEBRUARY 20 
IZVESTIYA, THE METHOD OF CARRYING OUT EXPERIMENTS 
AND TRANSPORTING EQUIPMENT TO THE NEW STATION 
REPRESENTS A CHANGE OVER THE SALYUT STATIONS.  RATHER 
THAN TRANSPORTING EQUIPMENT TO THE STATION AND 
PERFORMING EXPERIMENTS INSIDE THE STATION ITSELF 
(WHICH MADE SALYUT RESEMBLE AN "INSTRUMENT WAREHOUSE," 
IZVESTIYA SAYS), THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT FOR 
EXPERIMENTS WILL BE TRANSPORTED IN SPECIALLY OUTFITTED 
MODULES TO BE DOCKED WITH THE CRAFT, AND THE 
EXPERIMENTS CARRIED OUT IN THE MODULES THEMSELVES. 
"MIR" CAN DOCK SIX MODULES AT A TIME, AND THUS, 
ACCORDING TO FEOKTISTOV, WILL PERMIT "A MUCH 
WIDER PROGRAM OF RESEARCH WORK." 
 
4.  EMBASSY DAO WILL FORWARD BY SEPTEL TECHNICAL 
OBSERVATIONS OF THE "MIR" STATION AND IS FORWARDING 
TO DIA VIDEO TAPE OF "VREMYA" COVERAGE OF THE 
LAUNCH. 
 
HARTMAN

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