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From: ix241@sdccs6.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: re: Russian Space Program
Message-ID: <1494@sdccs6.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 18-May-84 12:40:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdccs6.1494
Posted: Fri May 18 12:40:51 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 19-May-84 01:05:10 EDT
Organization: U.C. San Diego, Computer Center
Lines: 38

line-eater


If this is a repeat posting, my apologies.
 


   >The Russians have *NEVER* returned soil samples from the moon.
   >Yes, I did read the note that said they did, but whoever wrote it
   >was either misinformed or simply ignorant.

   Sorry, that is misinformation.  The soviets returned at least two
   small (kilogram size range) samples from the moon.  This is a very
   small fraction of what the Apollo program returned but valuable
   because they are from other places on the moon.  What was cute and
   normally political for the soviet government was how our lunar
   scientists got a sample so we could work with it.  NASA and the NSF(I
   think) offered several grams of lunar soil from a couple of Apollo
   missions in exchange for roughly 200-300 milligrams of Lunokod
   sample.  The US side thought this was fair because we knew and the
   relevant soviet scientists knew that it would take larger samples for
   the soviets to get a comparable amount of information to what the US
   would get from 100 milligrams or less.  The soviet government would
   have none of that. "The Americans are not better!!! We give the same
   as we get."  So we got a couple of grams of theirs and they got a
   couple of grams of ours.

   I refer you all to James Oberg's Red Star in Orbit.  If you think
   Kennedy was grandstanding with Apollo, you don't know what
   grandstanding really is.



					John Testa
					UCSD Chemistry
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