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communication with the Apollo while both ships were over the Mediterranean Sea. In the 36th orbit, at 19 hours 12 minutes Moscow Time, three minutes ahead of schedule, the Soviet and American spaceships, launched'from different continents, docked for the first time. In both Mission Command Centres, in Moscow and Houston press centres, scientists, specialists and journalists applauded this historic event.

34. Orbital Stations

Long-standing orbital stations will beyond any doubt be general-purpose spacecraft that will solve a wide range of scientific and technological problems. This does not mean, however, that no orbital stations can be specialized. Those whose mission is to study the Earth’s resources will be put into relatively low orbits to make the studies as effective as possible.

On the contrary, astronomic and radioastronomic stations would be' more, effective at orbits of tens and hundreds of thousands kilometers. Lunar orbital stations would be very useful in exploring the Moon, the space around it and performing astrophysical observations and landing special-purpose modules periodically on the Moon.

Presumably, small stations will be put into orbit. Their crew

The well-tested modules of spacecraft and stages of boosters will be the constructing blocks of such stations. This does not preclude the development of structures specifically intended for orbital stations. These may be launched already assembled, by one booster or in parts to be docked in space. The crew may be delivered by a transportation vehicle that would also bring relief crews. The. station and the vehicles should, of course, have the docking assemblies. Medical and biological experiments should be condueted in such stations to develop the requirements to the design and learn the basic characteristics or large long-standing orbital stations.

The next stage will evidently be large long-standing orbital stations with the crew of 12 to 20, of modular design and assembled in a circum-earth orbit and intended to stay in orbit up to 10 years long.

We^can contemplate super stations with the crew of 50 to 70 and later 100 to 120.

At the same time special-purpose unmanned scientific orbital stations are feasible that would be periodically visited by

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personnel that would adjust and check the state of the hardware,

Douglas on contract with NASA are examples of multipurpose

design of North American Rockwell envisages a station weighing 54 tons with useful capacity of 700 cubic meters. The station is to consist of five modules. Five airlock compartments will serve for supply vehicles to berth. The power plant will generate 25 kilowatts with solar panel of total area about 900 square meters as power sources.

The design of McDonnell Douglas envisages a station with the useful volume of over 300 cubic meters made of three basic modules and a compartment for gas and liquid storage.

Super stations for the crew of 50 to 100 men are under consideration in McDonnell Douglas and Grumman Aerospace. The former has made a preliminary design of a base for 50 men

3.5 revolutions per minute along the longitudinal axes of the central unit. The power is to be supplied from a nuclear reactor.

Grumman Aerospace has worked out a design of a base for

A major problem is to select the optimal shape and the* assembly technique. To assemble a station of several standard units is a progressive approach. The shape of a station with artificial gravity may be either toroidal, or beamed, or a hub with blades, or star-like, etc. Another major problem is to ensure the hermetization of compartments so as to ensure the reliability and security, and make the service and supply as convenient as possible.

One important thing is to create supply craft that should bring a relief of the crew, all kinds of goods, ensure transporta­ tion between stations and rescue in case of emergency. Some designs envisage special workshop compartments for the maintenance personnel to examine the surface of the station and its external equipment to detect parts for repair or replacement. Such a workshop should be highly automated and have automatic controllers and instruments, welding equipment,

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manipulators and other facilities for a cosmonaut to work in open space.

Future supply spacecraft must be reusable and ensure atmospheric landing with small overloads. A possible shape is a delta-winged vehicle. For large orbital stations it is important to have facilities for the docking of several supply ships simultaneously. Provisions must be made to rescue the crew in emergency situations. Special on-board shelters might be made for the crew to await the supply ships if the vehicles docked to the stations cannot ensure a safe return. Another possibility is to have special emergency vehicles docked to the station.

35. The Space Shuttle System

The current average cost of transporting a pound of payload into Earth orbit is approximately two thousand dollars. Goal of the Space Shuttle programme is development of a system that will drastically reduce this cost. The basic shuttle mission is to transport payloads and passengers to orbit. This overall assignment covers a multitude of tasks, including:

1. Placing civilian and military satellites in space—lessening the need for the current stable of launch vehicles and for the weight and size limitations on payloads; satellites can be bigger and heavier, up to any size and shape that will fit the orbiter’s 15 by 60 ft cargo bay and 65,000 lb capabilities.

2. Retrieving malfunctioning satellites and repairing them in orbit or returning them to Earth — eliminating the requirement to

special-purpose launch vehicles for such purposes.

4.It also will be able to carry fuel to orbit for spacecraft and satellites, and can be used for space rescue missions.

5.In addition, the orbiter can be modified for missions of up to 30 days to serve as a short-duration space station.

It will be able tp take into space whole laboratories or sensor

systems for performing such tasks as crop and resources surveys, or special weather studies. Because of its flight characteristics, shuttle passengers do not have to be astronaut-trained. This means, for example, that the world’s leading geologist or minerologist, could go into space, perform his experiment and then return to Earth to put the data to immediate use.

36. Space Future

The creation of orbiting space stations is an important stage in the development of cosmonautics, Salyut-type stations can

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operate automatically or manned; they make possible prolonged observations in many scientific disciplines. Instead of having separate research tasks the stations can perform a wide range of integrated studies, with human participation, of near-Earth space, solar processes, distant objects'in the Universe, the Earth and its atmosphere and natural resources.

An extensive research programme can be carried out on space Stations, manned fry 2 to 3 people at time. The high ^degree of automatic operation of the station, combined with its excellent interaction with the Flight Control Centre, allows this to be achieved by a small crew.

In the meantime, scientists and specialists from a number of countries are working on problems connected with the develop­ ment of even larger orbiting stations. In principle there are three methods:

1. Space stations can be injected into orbit in a fully

3.. Smaller units, assemblies, equipment and instrument modules are put into an “assembly” orbit by separate carrier rockets of different performance capability, and assembly is done with the help of cosmonauts and a special craft equipped for this purpose.

One may assume that in future, as experience accumulates, large orbiting stations, assembled in one of the forementioned ways, will be considered useful, with a life of up to 10 years and crew exchanges of 12-20 people. In principle this can be envisaged in the foreseeable future. However, will it be neces­ sary? The development and creation of such expensive objects will be useful only when the possibilities of stations with small crews have been exhausted, and when bigger units, are justified by economic, scientific and technological considerations. In the far distant future one could envisage extra-large multi-purpose orbital bases for crews of 50-70 people or even 100 or more.

Of further interest is the creation of specialized .unmanned scientific orbiting stations which are periodically visited by cosmonauts for purposes of checking and adjusting the scientific equipment, changing tapes and films and repairing or replacing items of equipment.

How often should crews be replaced? That must still be determined. We know now that man can stand weightlessness and other conditions of the space environment for weeks and months on end without harm to his health. To what extent this period can be prolonged by training, special equipment and exercises in space remains to be seen. The human organism

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СПИСОК НЕКОТОРЫХ НАИБОЛЕЕ УПОТРЕБИТЕЛЬНЫХ СУФФИКСОВ И ПРЕФИКСОВ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

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КРАТКИЙ ГРАММАТИЧЕСКИЙ СПРАВОЧНИК

У Р О К 1

§ Г Времена группы Continuous

Времена этой группы обозначают действие, которое п р о д о л ж а е т с я в определенный момент или отрезок времени в настоящем, прошедшем или

ся сочетания вспомогательного глагола to be в форме Continuous и причастия

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Необходимо запомнить значения глаголов to act on (upon) «действовать на»; to deal (dealt; dealt) with «иметь дело с», «рассматривать»; to refer to «ссылаться на», «говорить о»; to speak (spoke; spoken) about (of) «гово­ рить о».

При переводе глаголов в форме страдательного залога, которым в рус­ ском язь/ке соответствуют глаголы, требующие предложного дополнения, предлог ставится перед словом, которое в английском предложении является подлежащим, а все предложение переводится на русский язык действитель­ ным залогом:'

Необходимо запомнить значения глаголов to affect «влиять на», «дейст­ вовать на»; to influence «влиять на»; to follow «следовать за».

У Р О К 2

§ 4. Способы выражения модальности

с частицей to. В простых предложениях глагол should с последующим инфи­ нитивом в тех же залоговых формах без частицы to также выражает д о л ­ ж е н с т в о в а н и е :

страдательного залога без частицы to, а также глагольным сочетанием to be able в соответствующем лице и времени с последующим инфинитивом в тех же залоговых формах с частицей to:

но