Posts: 551
From: Silver Spring, Maryland USA
Registered: Aug 2003

Posts: 133
From: Huntsville, Alabama
Registered: Feb 2014

Posts: 127
From: Halesowen, West Mids, UK
Registered: Dec 2009

posted 03-03-2015 04:24 AM               

---

The mission of Soyuz 17 remains a fond memory for me. As the mission was the first extended mission for the Soviets since Soyuz 11 four years earlier, I eagerly awaited each issue of Soviet Weekly or Soviet News as well as the bulletins from Novosti. Even the smallest snippet of information was welcomed and added to the magic and mystery of following the Soviet programme during the 1970s.

When creating my news magazine on the Soviet programme I searched for a suitable Russian sounding name and recalled Gubarev's call sign 'ZENIT'. The meaning of that name - 'Zenith - a point in the heavens'I immediately associated with the Salyut space station which seemed very suitable - so Zenit was chosen as the magazine's name thanks to Alexei Gubarev's call sign.

It was therefore so sad to hear of his passing, but he continues to have a special place in my heart for inadvertently supplying the name for one of Astro's most popular publications.

Posts: 946
From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006