Aug 13 1998
From The Space Library
A Soyuz TM-28 spacecraft blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying the penultimate crew of the Russian space station Mir. The three-member crew was composed of former presidential defense adviser Yuri M. Baturin, Flight Commander Sergei V. Avdeyev, and Engineer Gennady I. Padalka.564 Baturin was the first Russian bureaucrat to travel into space, and his inclusion in the mission attracted "unusually heavy Russian media coverage." The former Kremlin adviser had trained alongside professional cosmonauts, passing all examinations. Earlier in the year, President Boris N. Yeltsin had fired space physicist Baturin without an explanation, and Baturin had focused since then on training for the mission to Mir.
As part of an overall restructuring, the Boeing Company announced plans to reduce its workforce by 12 percent over the next 18 months, through the layoffs of as many as 28,000 workers. Much of the restructuring plan focused on the company's commercial airplane business, affecting those workers who were once part of McDonnell Douglas Corporation, which Boeing had purchased in 1997. In contrast, the company reported it was making strides in its defense and space work.
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