Deputy Ministry Chief on Space Program

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

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[Text] [Solntsev] Today is 2 October, and in two days it will be the 35th anniversary -- not quite an even one, but an anniversary nevertheless -- of the launch of the first artificial satellite from earth, which was built in the then USSR.

[Gusev] Yes, 35 years ago, the first artificial satellite was launched from the present Baykonur Space Center, the PS, the simplest satellite [prosteyshiy sputnik], which began the space era for mankind. [Video shows an excerpt from an archive film of the first sputnik launch] Today, hardly anyone remembers it. I do not mean Russia, but the world, and specifically at the last symposium in which the International Astronautical Federation, the International Space Academy, and various other organizations participated, this fact somehow escaped the attention of the world community.

[Solntsev] When the first launches began, first the satellites and then the manned space launches, there was quite obvious competition between the United States and the USSR as to who was faster, who was quicker. Later, it seems, we fell behind, or do you not consider that we have?

[Gusev] Yes, there really was such competition, and recently, literally yesterday, a unique film was shown on how the Americans planned the first manned Mercury flights, and there one could really see that the spirit of competition existed. But then, due to various circumstances, we fell behind primarily in finer technologies, specifically, in the element base, optics, and electronics. Here, our parameters were somewhat lower, I mean from the point of view of service life, and dependability. But nevertheless, in the final analysis it turned out that the Russian space program was not that far behind the United States for example, and in some instances, it even excelled. However, in the number of problems to be resolved, and by the quality of their solution, today one most probably must say that, the realization of problem solving is approximately the same.

[Solntsev] I have one more question. There are many reports and much talk about the Plesetsk space center -- the northern space center -- will be used for manned launches. Is this so, and when could this come about?

[Gusev] The northern space center, Plesetsk, could be used for manned launches, but first, the space center needs some work. And second, to be able to carry out a manned program from the Plesetsk space center, we need to change the orbital position of the station correspondingly. That is, to change its orbit in such a way so that it would be possible to launch transport and cargo ships and ensure supplies to this station from the Plesetsk space center.

[Solntsev] I have one last question. Do you believe in the existence of UFO's?

[Gusev] I personally do not believe in the existence of UFO's in the form described as some kind of mysterious apparatus' from which humanoids appear. However, I can confirm that there are real, to date incomprehensible, and unidentifiable phenomena, inasmuch as I have seen such phenomena during a flight in an aircraft. True, not in the form of an object, but in the form of a ray of light which performed definite movements in the air, and to this day the origin of which is still a mystery to me.