fisher@dvinci.DEC (Burns Fisher, MRO3-1/E13, DTN 231-4108.) (11/06/85)
> Back in the late '70's, the US appeared to trail the space race; it is clear > now that we were in fact preparing a dramatic leap forward. By contrast it > is incredible to observe how little technical advancement appears to have > been made in Soviet space technology since Gagarin's day. > > Richard Irving, AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill NJ mhuxm!rhib I think that "little technical advancement" depends on how you look at it. For example, I could contend that there has been little technical advancement in airliner technology since c. 1957 since the B707 right up through the 767 are all quite similar in terms of basic design principles. The point is that commercial airplanes have been passing through EVOLUTIONARY change rather than REVOLUTIONARY change. The Soviet space program, as I have read about it, is quite analogous. The boosters they use are similar in many ways to that which sent Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961, and Sputnik I in 1957. But look at what they have gotten in return! A stable program under which they have gained invaluable experience through an increasingly-closer-to-continuous presence in space. We, on the other hand, have gone in fits and starts, producing the shuttle only at a cost of $tens-of-billions and of about 9 years with only four manned flights (or 6 years with none, if that sounds more impressive :-)). I doubt that we have caught up to the Soviets person-hours-in-space even with launching 7 and 8 people at a time on the shuttle. This is not to say that either approach is WRONG. They are just DIFFERENT. Both approaches have succeeded in their own way. My point is that we must be careful when we start thinking that only the newest technology can be effective. After all, the Soviet's "old technology" has sent some pretty jazzy machines to places like Venus and Halley's Comet! Burns UUCP: ... {decvax|allegra|ucbvax}!decwrl!rhea!dvinci!fisher ARPA: fisher%dvinci.dec@decwrl.ARPA
eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (11/07/85)
> > Back in the late '70's, the US appeared to trail the space race; it is clear > > now that we were in fact preparing a dramatic leap forward. By contrast it > > is incredible to observe how little technical advancement appears to have > > been made in Soviet space technology since Gagarin's day. > > > > Richard Irving, AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill NJ mhuxm!rhib > I think that "little technical advancement" depends on how you look at it. > For example, I could contend that there has been little technical advancement > in airliner technology since c. 1957 since the B707 right up through the > 767 are all quite similar in terms of basic design principles. The point > is that commercial airplanes have been passing through EVOLUTIONARY change > rather than REVOLUTIONARY change. Don't forget the concept of EVOLUTION is changing, too. > This is not to say that either approach is WRONG. They are just DIFFERENT. > > Burns I would like only to add a couple things since I posted Marcia Smith's analysis of Soviet Space to the Usenet a couple of years ago. The Soviet Union has a very sophisticated space station technology and boost technology. Their space station's solar panels are GaAs, not Si. The Soviet Union does more launches per year than the US which also reflects their philosophy of short-lived satellites rather than the US longer-life satellites, so they have a wider-range of booster experience. They have done inflight zero-G refueling which we have yet to do. You just don't hear about it in the US media, but it is public information. We learned of the Soviet space shuttle effort because a Californian listening to Radio Moscow called up a talk show and asked the chief of the Soviet Space Program about their shuttle projects in 1978. He gave precise dimensions over the radio and prior to that the West knew nothing about it. I still have Marcia's viewgraphs, but I don't have time to mail copies to requesters. Marcia was one of the people interviewed in the reent 3-part series Spaceflight. She works for Congress at the Library of Congress. From the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers: --eugene miya NASA Ames Research Center {hplabs,ihnp4,dual,hao,decwrl,allegra}!ames!aurora!eugene emiya@ames-vmsb