Power lines, sunset, van travelling along

Eric Campbell:  In this alien hostile desert the world once fought its space wars.

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Boy throwing rocks, rockets, deserted space base

In the beginning, it seemed Soviet Communism could one day conquer space.  In the end, it couldn't even last on Earth.  And when Communism collapsed, the space program it had funded was dragged down with it.

Today, rusting metal, empty hangars, and grounded spacecraft litter the Baikonur cosmodrome.  The space base that once challenged America's Cape Canaveral for supremacy.

Those space workers who've remained face a new challenge - survival.

Sunrise, rocket

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moving along rail

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Campbell:  This Soyuz rocket, designed to carry nuclear weapons, is about to carry three cosmonauts to the Mir - Russia's permanent space station that's been orbiting 300 kilometres above earth for the past 10 years.

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Only one thing keeps the launch on track - a $20 million investment from France to ensure one of the passengers is French.  Space launches are one thing Russia continues to do well.  But these days, they can only happen if someone else helps foot the bill.

Interview with Alexander Medvechikoff

Medvechikoff:  We expected it to happen because the Russian economy was changing to a market one.  So we had to learn to make money, not just spend the budget allocation.

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Campbell:  Alexander Medvechikoff is the commercial director responsible for making launches happen on an agency budget of less than a third of Cold War levels. 

Cosmonauts

But the ones who've found it hardest to cope are the cosmonauts.

The day before the Soyuz launch, Commander Valery Korzun and Port Engineer Alexander Valery took time out from a breakneck schedule to speak to us - as soon as we agreed to pay them $200 U.S. dollars.  That's a fortnight's salary.

Commander Valery Korzun speaking at mic

Valery:  Of course everything has changed, the international co-operation is developing, and we'll have to work according to the Russian, French, American and German space programs.

Valery:  I am sure that Russia is and will be a great space power despite certain difficulties in financing the space program.  I think that such a great country as Russia must be present in space and it will be.

Television Pepsi ad, Valery answering question

Campbell: The men Valery and Alexander will be relieving recently launched a soft drink live from the Mir Space Station.

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Valery:  I don't think there is anything dangerous in it, because the experience of our American colleagues shows that they successfully do commercial work in space.  If someone benefits from it, it's good.

Rocket being prepared for take off

Campbell: But soft drink promotions are small beer compared to the main prize - commercial satellites.  With expanding demand for telecommunications, the satellite launch market is potentially worth billions. 

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These Soyuz rockets can be erected and launched within hours.  A process that takes several days in the West.  The same competitive advantage is also true of satellite launches which Russia claims to be able to do for as little as half the cost.

Quinlan greeting man

Quinlan:  Boris, how are you?  Good to see you.

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Campbell:  David Quinlan is an American space propulsion expert who has come to Baikonur to do business with the Russians.  His plan is that Russia would make engines for propelling American rockets.

David Quinlan:  We are very very favourably impressed with the Russian space activity throughout the industry.  Their rocket engines compare very very favourable, in fact there's no question in my mind that they are years ahead of us in rocket engines. 

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Soldier with binoculars, rocket

Campbell:  Last March, the Baikonur Cosmodrome launched it's first American satellite - proof of how great its potential is.  But there's a catch - the space agency is discovering that capitalism can be just as cut throat as the Cold War.

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Shots of rocket

Under a 1993 agreement allowing Russia to enter the satellite market, the United States imposed a strict quota of 20 satellite launches by the year 2000.  It also prevents Russia discounting American prices by more than 7.5 per cent.

Interview with Quinlan

Dave Quinlan:  The matter that I believe most people in the Western world are concerned about, is what we call dumping.

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In other words putting what were former ballistic missile capabilities converted to commercial launch capability into the market at way below market cost.

Interview with Alexander Medvechikoff

Medvechikoff:  We will not offer dumping prices - and this agreement has been made more flexible in quotas and prices.

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Nevertheless, the mere fact that such restrictions exist, is in our opinion, undignified for Russia, and we hope that sooner or later Russia will be able to compete equally with other countries without any restrictions

Alexander Gevorkin inspecting shuttle

Campbell: There's no doubt Russia could be doing far more if not for the restrictions.

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Alexander Gevorkin came here as a technical officer 30 years ago. He's now risen to be supervisor of one of the cosmonaut's three main assembly plants.

But these days there is little to supervise. His plant was set up for the Russian space shuttle program - the Buran. But the project ran out of money in 1988 after just one flight.

Staff maintaining equipment

Now staff simply maintain equipment while they wait for the next order for a satellite.

Alexander Gevorkin: It is a pity, because we have great capabilities, and we'd like to use them fully.  We could do a lot of useful things here, and not only for Russia, but for the whole world.

Gate, people

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walking, standing

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Campbell:  Until 1991, Kazakhstan was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union - its desert and proximity to the tropics making it the Soviet Union's best prospect for launches.

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But now it's an independent State.  After bitter wrangling, it agreed to lease the cosmodrome to Russia for $140 million a year.

Cosmonauts speaking

But it's the cosmonauts who've felt the loss of the Soviet Union most.  Alexander trained as a Soviet Cosmonaut - by the time of his first mission in 1992, the Soviet Union no longer existed.

07.44

Alexander speaking at mic

Alexander:  The space station was flying then and it is flying now, and the people there still feel like they represent the whole country, because in our team there are people who were born in the Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia.  I was born in Latvia. 

Cosmonauts waving goodbye, woman cosmonaut, rocket

Campbell:  As Alexander and Valery set out to make the journey to Mir, it is the $20 million woman from the West who has attracted international attention.

08.24

Claudie Andree-Deshayes is to be France's first woman in space, courtesy of the Soyuz launch.  But having trained in Baikonur, she feels every inch a cosmonaut.

Beneath their professional cool, the cosmonauts have good reasons to be nervous.  Despite Russia's safety record, there has be a serious problem with the Soyuz rockets.

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The last two cargo launches exploded at 49 seconds when they broke the sound barrier - the result of faulty sealants in the nose.

As the countdown approaches the atmosphere at the observation deck - one and a half kilometres from the rocket, becomes palpably tense.

Men talking

An accident on a manned launch in front of international observers would be a disaster, not only for the cosmonauts but for the fledgling commercial industry.

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Shumulin, zoom in, interview with him

Base Commander General Alexei Shumulin is as nervous now as when he helped launch Yuri Gagarin's flight 35 years before.

Shumulin:  Naturally everyone is worried, especially those who have been in this business for a long time.  Some people think that you get used to it but you don't.  Every launch is different.  With different complications, one must be able to react quickly and make the right decision.

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Rocket being

Whooshing sound

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launched, people

watching

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Campbell:  At 49 seconds the rocket broke the sound barrier and continued its perfect ascent. 

It reached orbit in just nine minutes.  Judging from the ground monitor, the crew worked as coolly as on a training exercise.  By the time we were back in our hotel, the capsule was across North America.

Two days later, when we were back in Moscow, the capsule was approaching docking on the Mir, monitored by Moscow's mission control.

Close up monitor, audience clapping

Exactly on schedule Alexander Valery and the first French woman in space Claudie docked with the Mir.

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It may seem extraordinary that Russian technology can still compete with the West in the high tech and expensive world of space. 

What's even more to Russia's credit is that with the collapse of state funding, it's found a way of staying in the race to pursue the benefits of humanities final frontier.

ENDS

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