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Mir cosmonauts lash out at critics, including Yeltsin
August 16, 1997
Web posted at: 12:44 p.m. EDT (1644 GMT)MOSCOW (CNN) -- The two cosmonauts who just returned from the Mir space station lashed out Saturday at critics of their mission -- including Russian President Boris Yeltsin -- and blamed Mir's troubles largely on the poor Russian economy.
In an unusually candid news conference, Vasily Tsibliyev and Alexander Lazutkin accused the media of lying and placing improper blame on them for Mir's woes.
They pointed out that the battered station remains in orbit only because they risked their lives to save it. In fact, the two cosmonauts said they remained on board during the spacecraft's crises, including a fire and a near-fatal crash, even though flight manuals told them to abandon ship.
"We didn't even think about abandoning the station and running away," said Tsibliyev, the mission's commander.
The men said many of Mir's troubles have earthly sources.
"Many things we need on the station just aren't there. It's not because it's a bad station," said Tsibliyev, Mir's mission commander.
"The cause lies in the problems back on Earth. It's connected with the economy, with the state of things in general. It's impossible to procure many things which are vital for the station, due to the fact that they are either not manufactured any longer, short in supply or overpriced."
He added, "And we're not talking about coffee, tea and milk."
Collision leaves unanswered questions
Tsibliyev was especially bitter when asked about Yeltsin's comment that Mir's collision with a cargo ship in June was apparently the result of human error -- presumably Tsibliyev's.
"It has been a longtime tradition here in Russia to look for scapegoats," Tsibliyev replied. "Of course, it is easier to put all the blame on the crew. But in this case, there was no concrete person to blame."
Tsibliyev was manually docking a cargo ship on June 25 when it slammed into the space station, the worst accident in Mir's history. The current three-member Mir crew briefly left the station Friday and partly circled it to videotape the damaged exterior that was punctured during the collision.
The two cosmonauts commented little on the crash, saying a commission would determine who or what was to blame for the accident, which put their lives in jeopardy.
"I have even more questions than you about that collision. So let us wait for the commission to finish its work," Tsibliyev said.
Lazutkin sat silently through much of the news conference, but did praise the two U.S. astronauts aboard Mir during his and Tsibliyev's tenure, Jerry Linenger and Michael Foale.
"They were nice guys. We were happy to get them on board," he said.
Reports made families suffer
The two cosmonauts opened their news conference at Mission Control by criticizing news coverage of their flight, which focused heavily on its failures. Some Russian coverage was especially critical of Tsibliyev, blaming him for the collision with the cargo ship.
"It hurts to read an unobjective report and open lies about yourself," Tsibliyev said. "Why should the media be lying? It has made our families and friends suffer."
"Perhaps many (in the media) wanted us to return as corpses, that would have been great," he said sarcastically.
Tsibliyev added that it was premature to write the 11-year-old space station off. But he did confirm reports that the crew's voyage was rocky to the very end.
"Even during the landing, the soft-landing engines didn't work, and we hit the ground very hard," Tsibliyev said.
Russian space officials say the soft-landing engines are designed more for the crew's comfort than for safety. Still, Tsibliyev said, without further explanation, that he and Lazutkin were lucky that neither was sitting on the right side of the Soyuz capsule, which took the brunt of the impact.
Despite it all, Tsibliyev said the mission should be most remembered for its ultimate success: "We came back alive," he said.
· MIR MAIN PAGE · RELATED SITES · HISTORY ·
· TIMELINE · GALLERY · SOYUZ · CREW · REPAIR MISSION ·
Related stories:
- Mir-go-round mission completed - August 15, 1997
- Mir cosmonauts prepare to return home - August 13, 1997
- Tough spacewalks, repairs await new Mir crew - August 8, 1997
Related sites:
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- American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology
- Russian Space Science Internet
- Russian Space Research Insstitute (IKI)
- NASA Shuttle-Mir Web
- Keith's MIR Page
- ISS Phase I - Space Station Mir
- Russian Space Agency
- MIR Space Station - Maximov Online
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