Aug 15 1983
From The Space Library
MSFC said that it had installed the reusable orbital-research Spacelab in the cargo bay of the Shuttle Columbia at KSC. Designed, developed, and funded by ESA, Spacelab had undergone tests for three months in a cargo-integration test equipment (CITE) stand at KSC. Columbia would carry Spacelab and a four-member crew into orbit October 28 to per-form more than 70 individual investigations in five research areas during a nine-day mission. (MSFC Release 83-59; ESA Info 36)
In "a frank portrayal of the difficulties of life in orbit. ..extremely rare in the Soviet media," the daily newspaper Pravda printed extracts from the diary of a cosmonaut who spent a record 211 days in space between May and December 1982, the Washington Post reported.
Flight engineer Valentin Lebedev, flying on Salyut 7 with Lt. Col. Anatoly Berezovoy, found the seven-month mission an intense strain relieved only by the fascination of Earth spinning by below the station. Halfway through the mission, fatigue had made the two so nervous and sensitive that effort was needed to avoid losing their tempers. Arrival of two visiting space crews was viewed with apprehension because the original crew feared they might disrupt the working relationship they had established; one entry said "They won't get any of our food. We think they will have to bring their own" Once on board, the visitors apparently offered welcome company. The Soviet Union had presented the cosmonauts as heroic, almost superhuman figures, Reuters news agency said, and television had invariably shown them smiling. (W Post, Aug 16/83, A-18)
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