RUSSIAN EXHIBITS

• Some artifacts remain from the "Red Star in Orbit" exhibit, which made its American debut at the Space Center from December 1990 through October 1991 and attracted thousands of visitors.
• Lunokhod is a remote-controlled, unmanned mobile laboratory that was operated by a five-man team on Earth. It conducted soil, cosmic ray and atmospheric tests on the Moon. Museum display is a full-scale model.
• Mir is considered the first permanently manned space station. It was launched in 1986 and can accommodate up to six cosmonauts, although the usual Mir crew is two to three. Mir is capable of docking five separate spacecraft. Museum display is one-third scale.
• The Energiya-Buran Space Shuttle is displayed at 1/20th scale in the Spacedome Theater lobby. Energiya is the name of the launcher and is the first Russian vehicle to use liquid hydrogen propulsion technology. Buran, which means "Siberian Snowstorm," is the orbiter. The only flight of the Russian space shuttle was an unmanned mission in 1988.
• Cosmonaut space suit from the Soyuz era.
• The Vega Space Probe (1/lOth scale), launched in 1984 to study the planet Venus and record data from Halley's Comet in 1986.
• The Granat Astrophysical Observatory (1/lOth scale), launched in 1989 for the deep space study of stars.

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