Bread before cosmos from the well

Press, 1 August 1989, Page 25

Bread before cosmos from the well

IN MOSCOW

Patricia_L.gg ras

When Yuri Gagarin first flew in space, Soviet television showed pictures of his old mother, in headscarf and shawl, in her wooden cottage which did not even have running water. Her pride and amazement at the idea that her son should be flying in the heavens above was shared by most of the inhabitants of the country. The attitude to space projects has changed 30 years later. A large part of the population still has to draw water from the well and is beginning to think that money should be spent on Earth rather than in the cosmos. The theme was recurrent during the recent Congress of People’s Deputies: why should large funds be allotted to space research when the country is in a financial crisis, with so many citizens on the poverty level. Many speakers considered that money for space should be reduced along with cuts in the defence budget In his opening speech, Mikhail Gorbachev noted that outlays have already been scaled down, but he pointed out that the new technologies developed could bring in "substantial returns.” For example, application of special materials developed for “Buran,” or “Snowstorm” (the Soviet shuttle) could be big earners. He also noted that costs involved were not as large as people thought. "Buran” will be used to service satellites in orbit, thus lengthening their working life, and to put up new satellites for telephone and television links and weather forecasting. At the moment, only 20 per cent of the population has a telephone, according to the newspaper “Soviet Youth,” especially in remote parts of the country. “Socialist Industry” talked to Yuri Semyenov, chief designer of Soviet spacecraft and orbital stations. He defend the "Mir”

. space station in orbit for three years. The experiments being carried out there, including growth of pure crystals and space photos, will help cover money spent on the programme, he said. Photos taken from “Mir” had revealed extensive pasture lands in Tadzhikistan that were previously unknown. Cosmonauts had isused many warnings about the ecological damage to the Aral Sea, although the warnings had not been heeded. In answer to letters from readers, the weekly “Arguments and Facts” (published by the Communist Party), pointed out that space costs in the civilian sector are many times less than the budget of the Ministry of Land Improvement or that of Agricultural Development. Perhaps the most persuasive argument comes .from Gavril Popov, one of the most forwardlooking of Soviet economists. Space investments should be increased, not decreased, he says. It is one of the few spheres in which the Soviet Union is advanced enough to make vital foreign currency on the world market