Ciccarelli@PARC-MAXC@sri-unix (06/29/82)
James Oberg, a follower of Soviet space efforts, spoke on National Public Radio's
Morning Edition program today. His assessment of the recent "mysterious"
launch and Indian Ocean splashdown of a Soviet vehicle was that it was
probably *not* a shuttle.
He cited several reasons for his opinion; the main one was that the Soviets, by
launching more hardware ("a million pounds a year") into space, had achieved a
cheaper cost-per-pound than the USA. Economics simply doesn't presently
require a shuttle to achieve their objectives, which he said centered around a
space station presence. He further said the space station is important to them
because the reliability of their satellites is far lower than that of the U.S.; they
need the repair capability.
/John