rabahy%castor.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (10/27/84)
From: rabahy%castor.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (David Rabahy)
Associated Press Thu 25-OCT-1984 14:06 Soviet-Cosmonauts
Three Say They Feel Well, Discuss Work In Outer Space
By NANCY TRAVER
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Three Soviet cosmonauts who returned to Earth this
month after a 237-day mission in outer space said Thursday they
think of themselves as pioneers and have readjusted normally to
what was called the ``crushing effects'' the Earth's gravity.
Flight commander Leonid Kizim, engineer Vladimir Solovyev and
medical researcher Oleg Atkov, at their first press conference
since returning from space Oct. 2, discussed the effects of
weightlessness and their reaction to Earth's atmosphere after their
lengthy sojourn in space.
The previous endurance record, also held by a Soviet crew, was
211 days in outer space.
``We think of ourselves as pioneers. The stress of our long
flight was very hard on us, but we did our best to make the flight
a success,'' said Kizim.
The space flight began Feb. 8, and docking with the Salyut 7
spae station took place a day later.
The crew's soft landing in Soviet Central Asia in the Soyuz T-11
space capsule was shown on Soviet television. After the landing,
Atkov appeared jubilant and strong, while Kizim and Solovyev looked
tired, weak and nearly overcome by the return to conditions of
gravity.
``It is not easy to perform such long flights and then go back
to Earth, with its crushing gravity. But you can see for yourself
we feel well,'' said Atkov on Thursday.
Soviet space officials said one of the main goals of the mission
was to test the long-term effects of weightlessness. Atkov said
tha the only effects the cosmonauts felt were tiredness and
difficulty in standing.
Atkov called weightlessness the mission's ``priority problem''
and said it limited man's willingness to make longer flights.
Oleg Gazenko, member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, said
that afte testing the effects of weightlessness on the three
cosmonauts, scientists concluded ``in theory'' there need be no
limit to long-term work in outer space.
``This does not mean that all the problems are solved, but we
can say we find no physiological factors that prevent man from
staying in space for long periods,'' Gazenko said.
Anatoly Alexandrov, president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences,
said the establishment of a permanent platform in outer space with
rotating crews was the primary goal of the Soviet Union's space
program.
Alexandrov declined to say when such a platform would be
launched. He also dismissed the idea, suggested in a question by an
East European correspondent, that the Soviet Union could send
manned missions to Mars.
It may indeed take about 237 days to get to Mars, Alexandrov
said, but there was need for a return flight and time for research,
making the mission three or even four times longer and hence not
feasible at the moment, he said.
Konstantin Feoktistov, another member of the Academy of
Sciences, said extensive exploratory work must be done before
cosmonauts can begin working in open space to build large orbiting
stations.
He said the cosmonauts discovered the problems of working in
open space during their recently completed mission, during which
they repaired the Salyut 7's fuel line.Cosmonauts must anchor
themselves to the space station and require special tools, he said.
Under the conditions of weightlessness, they also have difficulty
performing strenuous tasks, he added.
The space station is now unmanned but remains in orbit.