theme №375 11.13.1999 (1999)

The program's theme is the future of the Mir station.

The pride of Russian cosmonautics, a station weighing over 120 tons, is to be flooded in the Pacific Ocean.

Many experts consider this pointless, because the design duration of the station is at least 15 years, this time has not yet been worked out, plus the technical condition of the station, despite the accident, is estimated as satisfactory and even better than in 1997.

Does Russia need space in the 21st century?

Are we ready, with no money for salaries and pensions, to sacrifice something in order to continue participating in the space race?

Can a country that opened a space age in the history of mankind get so ingloriously out of the game by quietly sacrificing a unique space object, the Mir orbital complex?

On a visit to the program Yury Grigoriev, Deputy General Designer of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, a member of the Board of the People's Charitable the preservation of the space station "Mir" Vladimir Nikitsky and the legendary designer who worked side by side with Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, Academician Vasily Mishin.

Also in the conversation are cosmonauts Yury Baturin, Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Valery Polyakov, Alexander Lazutkin, Anatoly Artsebarsky, Viktor Afanasyev, editor of the journal "News of Cosmonautics" Sergei Shamsutdinov.

Foreign guests: the director of manned NASA programs in Russia, Michael Baker, the permanent representative of the Department of Manned Flight and Microgravity of the European Space Agency in Russia, Christian Feichtinger.

In the preparation of the issue, an extract from the ballet "Ikar" by SM Slonimsky, an interview with Academician Eduard Alekseev and a documentary chronicle of different years was used.