DATE=1/20/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / SPACE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258257
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian space officials have announced
that the aging space station MIR will continue
operating through August and several flights are
already planned. The 14-year old station has
been empty and partially shut down for months.
The head of Russia's space agency says private
funding has been found to keep MIR in orbit and
says two cosmonauts are due to fly on MIR's next
mission tentatively set for March 30th. V-O-A
Moscow correspondent Eve Conant spoke with space
officials and with a Russian movie actor who is
in training to become the third member of MIR's
next crew.
TEXT: A few months ago it seemed MIR's fate had
been decided - the pride and joy of Russia's
destitute space agency would be abandoned and
programmed to crash into the Pacific Ocean.
But space officials say private funding has given
their beloved station a second chance. /// OPT
/// One source of funding is Walt Anderson, a U-S
venture capitalist who has donated millions to
the station, hoping to transform it into a
business park and vacation resort. He has already
donated seven million dollars and promises there
is more to come. /// END OPT ///
Space officials say the new mission will use
hardware originally destined for the Alpha
international space station - the project the
United States wants Russia to focus its energy
and finances on instead of MIR.
Space agency spokesman Sergey Gorbunov hands out
little calendars to guests with a picture of the
MIR titled, "Will we still fly?" He says the tens
of thousands of specialists who have worked on
MIR find it difficult to part with their
creation.
/// ACT GORBUNOV IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE
UNDER ///
"Everyone wants this station to fly," he says.
"It is like a badge of honor for Russia.
Unfortunately it's a very expensive one."
The MIR has yet another function. It is a much
desired set for movies about space. A Russian
movie director is hoping to film an epic story on
MIR with the working title "Final Voyage." The
movie's star actor, Vladimir Steklov, says the
story line - which more and more seems to be
mirroring the MIR's real life, is about a Russian
cosmonaut who is sent up to space, but then
refuses to come back down.
/// ACT STEKLOV IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE UNDER
///
"I don't want to spoil the plot," he says. "But I
play a cosmonaut who refuses to leave the MIR and
instead makes an address to humanity from space."
He says, "My lines are: `We need to stop and
realize who we are, where we come from, why we
exist and what we are doing to our common home-
the earth.'"
/// OPT /// The actor, a short , muscular man in
his forties with chestnut hair, explains this as
he puts on makeup backstage at Moscow's Estrada
Theatre. This night he is not dressed as a
cosmonaut. Instead, he will play a Frenchman
whose costume consists of a yellow pastel
sweater, loafers and brand new jeans - a
Westerner whose feet are firmly planted on the
stage. ///END OPT///
Mr. Steklov has not yet received the final
approval to fly but has been undergoing cosmonaut
training outside Moscow at Star City. He says he
is in good shape and flexes his muscles, several
times, to prove it. Mr. Steklov, who usually
stars in Russian action-dramas, says acting in
zero-gravity will be just another actor's
challenge.
/// SECOND ACT STEKLOV IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND
FADE UNDER ///
He says, "I've done it all - I've drowned, I've
been on fire."
But he admits some of the cosmonaut training he
has undergone has been tough.
///THIRD ACT STEKLOV IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE
UNDER///
He says, "In one experiment they sit you in a
chair and then it starts spinning around. After
about ten minutes of spinning it feels like your
brain is falling out of your head."
The plan is for the two actual cosmonauts -
Sergey Zaletin and Alexander Kareli - to film the
scenes with the director calling the shots from
Mission Control. Officials from Russia's space
agency say they are awaiting word on financing,
but that Mr. Steklov has started intensified
training for the 45-day mission. Space agency
spokesman Gorbunov says despite the actor's
confidence, he is skeptical Mr. Steklov can get
prepared in time.
///SECOND ACT GORBUNOV IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND
FADE UNDER///
"He needs to be training morning to night," he
says. "You need to know what to touch and what is
prohibited. Life is different in space - you
wash yourself differently, you shave differently.
You just try drinking a glass of water upside
down with a giant water bubble coming out of the
glass."
For now, MIR is orbiting in space unmanned, its
movements controlled by a ground crew. Spokesman
Gorbunov and others who have spent their careers
with the MIR say they are glad the space station
is getting another chance - if only for a few
more months. (Signed)
NEB/EC/GE/KL
20-Jan-2000 12:20 PM EDT (20-Jan-2000 1720 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
