Training forspace The main crew for the first Soviet-French space euvers to be used:in space. | flight (1 to r) Alexander ivanchenkov, Jean-Loup - Chretien and Viadimir Dzhanibekov. (Below) — Cosmonaut training at Soviet space centre’s water —— tank lab learns to deal with weightiessnese in man- — a French-Soviet in training By JAMES LEECH The two Soviet cosmonauts who entered the brand new Salyut 7 space station, May 14, after docking their Soyuz T-5 craft, opened an intensive new phase of space experiments. These_are designed to solve the problems of the human race on earth, and problems of further space travel. The two cosmonauts are Anatoly Be- rezovoy and Valentin Lebedev. On May 17 they launched from the Salyut a 28 kilogram communications satellite, a feat scheduled for the U.S. shuttle Columbia for next October. On June 24 this crew will be followed by a three-person team — two Soviet, one French. Both at Baikonur in Kazakhstan, launch centre for Soviet spaceships, and at Star City near Moscow, where cosmonauts train, interest centres on the new space lab, the new international crews. Another prospect is the imminent arrival of cos- monaut trainees from India, who will visit Salyut in a future flight. Training takes one to one-and-a-half years. Through such cooperation cosmonauts carry out experiments of specific interest to their own countries, while adding to the accumulation of information. The scientists of each participating country prepare from 20 to 30 experiments to be worked on by their own cosmonauts. The current crews recently visited France to finalize individual scientific experiments. Nine previous international crews worked according to similar guidelines. These were made up of Soviet, Bulgarian, Czechoslovak, German (Democratic Repub- lic), Polish, Hungarian, and Romanian cosmonauts. In addition, a Cuban cosmonaut, Amaldo Tamayo, was the first Black spaceman. Vietnamese and Mongolian cosmonauts, who took part in the Soviet space program were the first and only cosmonauts from Asia, leaving aside Soviet Asia. ~ Women Cosmonauts The French cosmonauts, with the Soviet teammates had already left for Baikonur when this reporter visited the Star City training centre, May 7. Like all space crews, they are prepared with a main team and a back-up team. They are trained to work in Salyut 7 for several months, visited by a crew remaining in space for eight days — five aboard Salyut 7. The group of foreign journalists at the space centre observed actual training procedures, as they were hosted by Cosmonaut Peter Klimuk. This personable veteran of three space flights spent 64 days aloft in 1975. The question was asked: Why has there been only one woman cosmonaut? It is evident that scientific con- troversy has taken place over the relative adaptability of the male and female organism in conditions of space. The loads to which the human organism is subjected are substantial and of long duration. : Investigation has shown, a space spokesman said, that both men and women can bear these loads sufficiently. ‘We are now able to prepare women for space,”’ he said. Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Nikolayeva-Tereshkova was the first, and so far only woman cosmonaut, with her TRIBUNE PHOTO — JAMES LEECH a 7-hour solo flight aboard Vostok 6 in 1963. She is still closely associated with the space centre and is a member of parliament, as well as heading the Soviet Women’s Committee. Study Earth Among major subjects for experimentation and inves- tigation by cosmonauts, are conditions on earth. The Soviet space centre deals with some 150 organizations, from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, to agricultural bodies. There are 52 candidates of science at the centre, 17 of them cosmonauts. They study our planet’s geolo- gy, its forests, water and food-growing areas. ‘‘But one state can’t settle these problems,’’ he said. ‘‘It must be done in common.”’ A team trains together in a simulator in which they can make the same manoeuvres as in space — without ever leaving the ground. To the layman it’s a confined environment indeed, until they get into the relatively spacious Salyut. Instructors measure the team’s progress at a bank of computers, and can throw them ‘‘emergency’’ situations by pressing any one of an array of ‘‘red’’ buttons. Finally, an examining board of about 15 assesses a crew’s readiness for space. __ Weightlessness The simulator is far from being the only training. One of the procedures is designed to help spacemen, oF spacewomen, learn to cope with weightlessness — 4 major human adjustment in space travel. We watched actual training in an enclosed water tank, 23 meters in diameter and 12 metres deep. The cos- monaut trainee, wearing all his space equipment, plus some lead plates, and supplied with oxygen, goes through the procedures normal to space travel and work in space. A submerged spaceship serves as his base. ' The ‘‘weightlessness’ produced by the water is not — the same as that encountered in space. Away from earth’s gravity cosmonauts are not only weightless, they do not feel their weight, which they do in water. What is the same about the two environments is the amount of energy expended to perform any task. Frog- | | | men in the cylindrical tank aid the bulky cosmonaut, thus | conserving his energy for essential tasks. What is the potential for extending space travel? The technology is almost ready, say Soviet experts, for inter-galactic flights — that is, flights to other galaxies. But, he added, human beings are not ready. Meanwhile, with a vast experience being accumulated ~ for the benefit of humankind, costly duplication is regret- table. The Apollo-Soyuz link-up of July 1975 (U.S. and USSR) pointed the way to co-operation. Those who want to use space for military purposes are taking the opposite direction. Beautiful Kiev celebrates 15