State Commission Chairman Kiyenko on Economic Impact of Satellite Programs

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

Document 5 of 16

Page 6

26. [Kiyenko] The satellites which are being placed into orbit under the supervision of our state commission are intended solely for solving national economy problems. It is peaceful technology. And by the way, thatspace armada, as you call it, is more like a small flotilla in comparison with the one which is working for all the other sectors. We cannot even satisfy the demands of our consumers. Throughout the country, more than 1,100 organizations use space survey materials to solve approximately 300 national economy problems. At customers' requests, we are passing on as much as a million pieces of space information. We are supplying it to more than 60 countries around the world for hard currency. And it's only because of the shortage of space equipment that we can't saturate the domestic and foreign markets with its products.

27. If we want to have enough sausage and enough butter, then we should talk about increasing that armada. Indeed, the demand is there! Just one space photograph costs anywhere from $1,000 and $4,500. And as for the majors and colonels, I will say this: their training, skills, and reactions and the way they think are perfectly suited for ensuring that the expensive space missions are completed successfully.

28. [Shcherban] It sometimes happens that satellite fragments which have not completely burned up fall to Earth. They are quite often taken for UFOs. Such falls, so our readers assert, have recently become more frequent. Incidentally, one such burned fragment, a spherical object, recently fell on a cornfield in Voronezh Oblast. Fortunately, no one was hit. Can you guarantee that some unburned chunk of space metal won't ever crash through the roof of someone's house somewhere?

29. [Kiyenko] I'd call that a loaded question. Yes, I do know of instances when remnants of spacecraft have returned to the ground against our wishes. They are, beyond all doubt, anomalies. Such instances have been written up both in our country and abroad. But in any specific instance, it must be determined what country the fragment belongs to. Our equipment has been designed so that nothing is supposed fall back to Earth and, if something does fall, that it does so in completely unpopulated areas.

30. [Shcherban] Incidentally, regarding unpopulated areas, from where are your satellites launched?

31. [Kiyenko] We prefer to operate from the Northern Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Oblast. During powered flight, the rocket flies over unpopulated areas: taiga, tundra, marshes, and the Arctic Ocean. Frequently, the launches take place at dawn.