Documents / FOIA release
This CIA-held JPRS report (JPRS-USP-89-007) is an English translation of an interview with academician Roald Sagdeyev. The interview ran in the Soviet magazine PRIRODA in January 1989. Sagdeyev talks about space research achievements, the Interbol project, and the Phobos mission to Mars, including the loss of contact with Phobos 1 in September 1988. He also covers competing designs for Mars 94, manned flight to Mars and democratizing Soviet science. He mentions UFOs only once, recalling a Gosplan lecture where every audience question was about flying saucers.
“Cooper”5 pages
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# Concatenated JPRS Reports, 1989 ## Document 1 of 3 recommenced. sup>4 But there are a whole series of other space projects--and not just scientific ones, but also commercial ones--which we are preparing in our country, in which the West could participate, and which would also be very beneficial for them. This would be mutually advantageous. But, again, political considerations are interfering. For purely political reasons, the United States did not want to take advantage of the services of our space industry. 62. [Correspondent] You have listed the most interesting American space projects. But how do things stand in our country? 63. [Sagdeyev] We currently have ready two astronomical satellites (one may be launched in early 1989, and the other in mid-1989). Primarily, I am talking about the Gamma Observatory (a joint Soviet-French project). Its launch dates have already been postponed several times. This is very disturbing to us, and it is with great reluctance that we are agreeing to the routine postponement of the dates about which Glavkosmos is reporting. We are very hopeful that, this time, the launch date for the Gamma Observatory will not be postponed. 64. [Correspondent] Why are the dates being postponed? 65. [Sagdeyev] I think it is a result of the same basic problem from which our entire economy suffers--a lack of responsibility. 66. The second astronomical satellite is the Granat X-Ray Observatory. This project was born several years after Gamma, and, therefore, it is more modern and has instruments that are more precise and sensitive. This is also a joint Soviet-French project. I think that, if both observatories are placed into orbit without further delays, they will make their own mark in space science. But the United States may surpass us, as they have ready the GRO [Gamma Ray Observatory] satellite for gamma ray astronomy; the weight of its scientific instrument package is four times greater than what is on the Gamma Observatory. It is also waiting for a launch vehicle--the shuttle is also supposed to place it into orbit. 67. [Correspondent] More and more countries are beginning to develop their own space research. The establishment of international cooperatives in this field is no longer a rarity; you yourself have repeatedly mentioned this in our discussion. Is it not already time now to develop clear-cut international statutes on space? 68. [Sagdeyev] Regardless of what the international legal norms are, relations between the space powers will depend on the political goals which the partners pursue. But frameworks within which these goals could be accomplished, reliable and firm, are undoubtedly necessary.
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 21 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.