‘Orbit-for-Profit’ Cosmonauts Dock With Mir
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MOSCOW — The first Soviet cosmonauts hoping to turn a profit in space docked with the Mir orbital station Tuesday for a six-month mission Moscow hopes will save both money and face for its struggling space program.
The Soyuz TM-9 spaceship carrying mission commander Anatoly Solovyov and flight engineer Alexander Balandin reported no difficulties, the Tass news agency said. .
The mission will cost an estimated $133 million, but it is expected to earn $175 million mainly from making industrial crystals that would have qualities “unachievable on Earth,” Tass said.
Officials hope the plan will deflect criticism that the space program is too costly at a time of economic problems.
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