ZDAC131@oak.cc.kcl.ac.uk (03/15/89)
I recomend you read Scientific American FEBRUARY 1989 (Volume 260).
It contains a interesting article part written by Sally Ride,
titled 'Soviets in Space' (page 18-26).
This includes a few interesting pictures including a cutaway diag.
of Mir, and a large photo of a horizontal stacked Buran Shuttle on
its Energia in the hanger.
The articles main task is to sum-up the Soviet Space capability, and
establish a clear picture of the Soviet space plan. Nothing is left
to chance, with mention of nearly all Soviet rockets and Space stations
capabilities and roles etc. The picture painted is a worrying one,
especially when compared to the US.
Also in the same volume (page 10) is a light-hearted article titled
'In Memoriam', concerning the collapse of a 300ft radio telescope in West
Verginia in November'88. At risk of copyright, here is a short extract:
"Birds..liked to roost in the receiver horns, far above in the dish.
To avoid climbing up ...someone installed an electronic scare-crow,
a tone generator that produced cosmic sounding bleeps and bloops that
were audible all around the area. We would tell tourists that bleeps were
signals being received from space..and the visitors went away satisfied."
(Article by Tony Rothman)
Malcolm