February 1981
From The Space Library
Nature magazine reported that the Franco-Soviet mission to Halley’s Comet in 1986 entailed "a substantial cutback" for a planned joint mission to Venus in 1984. Assignment of two of the original four Venus probes to Halley was a reminder that Soviet space-program resources, though vast, "are not infinite." Pravda had published several articles aimed at putting the Soviet effort in a favorable light; the Communist party congress would be asked next week to approve another 5-year plan including space exploration. However, the Soviet Union had never revealed the costs of the program. Nature said hints of increasing financial constraints had appeared recently: no further Intercosmos flights were in view after those with Mongolia and Romania, and Bulgaria had been offered two unmanned probes instead of a manned flight to replace the failed trip of its cosmonaut to the orbiting Salyut 6. (Nature, Feb 26181, 741)
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