The People's Republic of China is gradually and quite successfully realizing its ambitious space plans and is rushing into space at an alarming rate.

The Chinese space program was launched in 1956. The first goal of the program was the launch of a satellite into low Earth orbit, the Chinese planned to coincide with this event to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. At the same time, for the purposes of the program, the development of ballistic missiles capable of giving a worthy rebuff to the insidious capitalist west was laid. The Chinese failed to launch the satellite by the decade, but the launch of the first Chinese ballistic missile DF-1 was successful, it took place in 1960. The DF-1 missile was an almost exact copy of the Soviet R-2 missile.

At first, all Chinese developments related to space were exclusively military, but since 1968, the PRC has come to grips with peaceful space exploration. The Research Institute of Space Medicine and Engineering was established and an active selection of the Chinese analogue of astronauts, taikonauts, began.

Already in 1970, the apparatus "Dong fan hong 1", which was the first Chinese satellite, appeared in orbit. Over the next few years, the PRC managed to launch several more satellites, but compared with the space achievements of the United States and the USSR, the success of the Celestial Empire looked pale. Already at that time, the Chinese were considering plans to carry out manned flights into space, but until the mid-90s of the last century, the implementation of such flights seemed to be a rather dubious enterprise.

In 1994, Russia sold some of its rather old, mid-20th-century space technology to the PRC, which is used to produce the world's most reliable spacecraft, the famous Soyuz. Five years later, in 1999, the Chinese launched their first spacecraft called Shengzhou-1 (Heavenly Boat), timed, of course, to coincide with the next anniversary, the 50th anniversary of the PRC. In space, the "Heavenly Boat", still without people, stayed for 21 hours. In 2001, a dog went into space aboard Shengzhou 1, followed by a monkey, a rabbit, mice, cells and tissue samples, and nearly a hundred more animals and plants, as well as microorganisms.

The next two flights were filled with life-size mannequins. And finally, in 2003, the first Chinese taikonaut Yang Liwei went into space aboard the Shengzhou-5 spacecraft. "Heavenly Boat" number five stayed in orbit for 21 hours and 22 minutes, making 14 orbits around the earth.

Although the incomplete day of the first taikonaut's stay in space cannot be compared with the records of Soviet cosmonauts and US astronauts, nevertheless, China has joined the elite club of countries capable of launching a man into space.

In 2005, the second manned flight took place, which lasted five days. In 2008, the taikonauts flew for the third time, this time for the first time in the history of Chinese astronautics, a taikonaut named Zhai Zhigang made a spacewalk. Overboard Zhigang was 25 minutes.

Manned flights are only a small part of China's grand space program, which plans to build its own orbital station, send a mission to the moon and explore Mars. At present, the Celestial Empire has already achieved quite noticeable results in all these areas.

Orbital station

The first module of the Chinese ISS went into orbit in 1998, and it is planned to complete the operation of the station in 2025. The PRC is not a participant in the International Space Station program, but the Chinese do not seem to worry much about this, since the Celestial Empire intends to acquire its own orbital "Heavenly Palace". Initially, it was planned to send the first laboratory module of the Tiangong-1 station ("Sky Palace") into space at the end of last year, but later the date of departure was postponed to the second half of 2011.

Further, according to the plan, Shengzhou-9 and Shengzhou-10 should dock with the palace, which will deliver taikonauts to the Tiangong-1 module. By 2020, the internal space of the station should be expanded with two more modules, the main one and another laboratory one. It is planned that the Chinese analogue of the ISS will work in orbit for at least ten years.

Lunar program

With the launch of the Chang'e-1 satellite in 2007, the Chinese lunar program also launched to the moon. "Chang'e-1" spent 16 months in orbit of the earth's satellite, completing its mission in early March 2009, it crashed into the surface of the moon.

The second lunar probe "Chang'e-2" was launched on October 1, 2010. Chang'e-2, orbiting a hundred kilometers above the surface of the moon, is studying the surface and looking for a place to land China's Chang'e-3 lunar probe.

The launch of Chang'e-3 is scheduled for 2013. The device will deliver a six-wheeled lunar rover to the moon. Radioactive isotopes will be used as an energy source for the lunar rover.

Following the lunar rovers in 2017, the Taikonauts, who have already started training, will go to the moon.

Exploration of Mars

In November 2013, the Chinese plan to launch a research probe into the orbit of Mars. Structurally, it will be similar to lunar probes, and representatives of Chinese astronautics emphasize the fact that all scientific instruments will be manufactured in China. If Chinese engineers do not have time to complete all the work by the end of 2013, then the next favorable time for launch, when the orbits of Earth and Mars are as close as possible, will be presented in 2016.

The launch of the Inho-1 Mars probe is scheduled for November 2011. The device will be launched into space by a Russian launch vehicle - Inho-1's partner will be the Phobos-Grunt interplanetary station. To implement these grandiose plans, the PRC needs space platforms. At the moment, China already has three spaceports, and by 2013 it is planned to build another one. The construction of the new cosmodrome began in 2009, it will be located on the island of Hainan, the place is well chosen, the cosmodrome at such low latitudes will allow China to reduce costs when launching vehicles beyond the Earth.

Of course, China is not the only country that seeks to become one of the leaders in the conquest of space. Russia and the United States are recognized leaders in this matter, and regularly send ships and research vehicles. Europe is trying to keep up. India is also making progress, the country's lunar probe was one of the vehicles that discovered water on the moon. There are space ambitions in other developing countries as well. In addition, the Chinese borrow many space technologies from Russia, for example, the Taikonaut spacesuits are modified versions of our Sokolov, and their “Heavenly Boat” is largely copied from the Soyuz.

But nevertheless, with the rapid development of its space industry, China is making a serious bid for first place in the as yet officially unannounced space race.

China Central Television (hereinafter referred to as CCTV) organized a live broadcast of the launch of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft, which is part of a project led by the Chinese Communist Party. However, video filming contains many unexplained physical phenomena: bubbles in space, no signs of the earth's atmosphere, no background noise that is typical for communication in outer space.

When analyzing the video, suspicions arose that the live broadcast was falsified, and the footage was made underwater to simulate conditions in open space. The Epoch Times asked Qu Zheng, a NASA expert, to analyze the video feed of the Shenzhou VII launch.

- Mr. Cu Zheng, what do you think about the Shenzhou VII launch video broadcast?

I looked at it very carefully - like a specialist. In addition, I am Chinese, so everything that happens in China, especially in the field of my research, attracts my attention to an even greater extent.

I am aware that the Chinese communist regime has a whole archive of fake videos created in the name of achieving political goals. But when I saw the inconsistencies in the spacecraft launch broadcast, I didn't want to believe them. I really wanted to believe that the live broadcast was real. But if this video, broadcast all over the world, turns out to be a fake, it will not only cause the Chinese to lose face in front of the whole world, but it will also be difficult for me personally to look my colleagues in the eye.

When I watched the CCTV live broadcast, I was shocked. While not all of the doubts expressed by bloggers are justified, some of them are indeed very accurate.

Some Internet users raised the issue of preparing for the launch. Can you please tell us about it from a technical point of view?

The exact time - the so-called window - of a spacecraft launch can last several days, hours, or even minutes. The launch of Shenzhou VII is a test of the CCP's research efforts. There is no 100% chance of success in any operation, so it is necessary to choose the right time to start. Once the launch window is defined, it should not be arbitrarily changed except in extreme circumstances. Often, launch delays are due to technical or weather reasons. A premature launch is a very rare occurrence, as it breaks the entire plan. The probability of success of the action is reduced.

China's pro-communist media have previously reported that mid-October represents the best launch window. Even the main department of the People's Liberation Army denied rumors of a premature launch. But on September 6, the CCP unexpectedly announced that the ship would launch ahead of schedule at the end of September, as it would be "a very good launch window."

About the premature launch, Xinhua News Agency reported: “According to aerial photography experts, there are launch windows in both September and October. However, September is the best sunny angle for space flights. This is the main reason for the premature launch.”

It's just a play on words. In September, the solar angle is only slightly different from October. However, it is easy to calculate the position of the sun even a year in advance. There was no need to wait until September 6 to find out that the end of September is more suitable for space flights. Obviously, there were other reasons for pushing the launch back to an earlier date. The only possible reason is a political decision. If the premature launch was a political order, then the use of videotape to ensure complete success is also possible.

- Please tell us more about the absence of the Earth's atmosphere on the Shenzhou VII launch video broadcast

In a video taken by NASA's Discovery Space Shuttle STS-121 in July 2006, we can see a thin blue shell around the Earth, giving it a slightly blurry appearance. This is the Earth's atmosphere.

The blue shell becomes even more visible with heavy cloud cover on Earth. It occurs for the same reason we see blue skies - scattered air molecules enhance the blue color. Since air molecules are mostly concentrated at a distance of 15 km from the Earth's surface, from a distance they look like just a thin shell.

But if we look at a photo from a Xinhua news report or from a so-called live broadcast video, we can see that the outline of the Earth near Shenzhou VII is almost completely clear and there is no blue atmosphere around it. Like the ISS, Shenzhou VII also maintained a near-circular orbit, both flying at a distance of approximately 340 km from the Earth's surface.

- You mentioned that the image of the clouds in the video suddenly changed a lot. What does it mean?

Some viewers found sudden sharp changes in the cloud image between 5 min 43 sec and 5 min 45 sec in the live video footage. In fact, if you watch the original video, you can see the changes even more clearly. Under normal conditions, the movement of clouds should look continuous - it is impossible for strong changes to become noticeable in a second.

The “CCTV-1” logo is displayed on the screen. In the place where the number "1" was located, there was a patch of blue sky without clouds, but in the next second it was already almost completely covered with clouds.

Although the video is not scaled, we can make a simple calculation: since the cloud's own speed is negligible compared to the speed of the shuttle, the observed change in the clouds can only be attributed to the movement of the shuttle, whose speed is 7 km/s.

Although the movement of the clouds seems to be slower than it actually was, its scale is larger than it appears in the image. Based on this, the speed of the clouds should be about 7 km/s. According to these calculations, the blue zone near the number “1” covers about 100 km, that is, the video shows that a distance of 100 km was covered by a thin layer of clouds that moved in one second. If the clouds were able to move so fast, their speed would exceed the space speed, and they would quickly leave the Earth's atmosphere. Therefore, this video cannot be a live broadcast.

Then why can we observe such a phenomenon? Let's assume that this is not a live broadcast and the video is a 3D graphic depicting the surface of the Earth and clouds with a location close to the time when Zhai got off the shuttle. What is shown in the video most likely arose from an editorial error when calculating the ratio of the animation speed of the clouds and the rotation of the Earth, as a result of which the cloud layer moved too quickly. However, such a mistake is not easy to detect without careful study.

If we watch the cloud layer in the video more closely, we can see a similar phenomenon in other time periods, when the clouds cover distances of tens of kilometers in one or two seconds. Perhaps the editor turned a half-hour shot of clouds into a video that was only a few seconds long.

The bubbles were one of the first things that raised bloggers' suspicions about the authenticity of the Shenzhou VII launch video broadcast. Subsequently, factors such as dust in the atmosphere were cited as an explanation. What do you think about this?

Everyone knows that there are no bubbles in space. Many people noticed small bubble-like objects flying at the top of the screen during a live broadcast. According to subsequent explanations, it was dust picked up by air currents emanating from the cabin. In reality, the orbital module is only 7.2 feet wide and 9 feet long. This is half the size of a regular bedroom. For such a small cabin, one second after opening the door, the internal pressure had to be balanced by the external pressure, which is zero in space. So when Zai Zigang went into outer space, where did the air currents come from?

We all know that in a vacuum and weightlessness, objects fly without resistance, but they need initial speed. But in the video we see small objects periodically flying at high speed. The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center explained that the bubbles were most likely "dust in the atmosphere" or small particles from the ship. I don't really understand what "dust in the atmosphere" is if it happened in space at an altitude of 340 km from the Earth's surface. Even if it really was cosmic dust, there was too much of it, given the low density of such large particles in space. Why don't we see so much space dust on Russian and American spacewalk video broadcasts?

In addition, the speed of the flying dust relative to the spacecraft can be arbitrary. Why did all the small objects in the video fly up? If they were particles from a ship or suits, they must have continued to fly at a constant speed. How could they get initial speed?

I want to draw attention to the little particles coming out of Zai's mouth. First, the image shows the bubbles very clearly: when they appear, they move very slowly, then gradually accelerate. This is typical for bubbles moving under the influence of a buoyant force. Secondly, their size increases as they move. This also indicates that the bubbles increase when the pressure decreases. Space dust or debris in the cockpit cannot exist in the form of a liquid. Thirdly, small objects were very bright in relation to the background. This is a feature of bubbles that have the ability to reflect when air comes into contact with water.

Given these three points, we can conclude that the action outside the cockpit was, in fact, filmed underwater. Human movements underwater can cause the water to flow, which is why some of the bubbles moved diagonally. The question may arise: why do we not see bubbles, like divers, which are always visible when shooting underwater. If you take a closer look at the video, you will see a cable that connects the suit to the spacecraft. A tube can be placed inside it, which will eliminate signs of air inhalation if the video was filmed underwater. Of course, some might say that we clearly see astronauts floating in zero gravity in the cabin, which means that they are in airless space.

I want to explain that you can experience the absence of gravity in places other than space. On Earth, short-term weightlessness can be created on aircraft. When an aircraft is flying in a parabola, as it descends, the force of air resistance can be offset by the speed and power of the engine after it begins to descend from its highest point. This can create weightlessness for 15-40 seconds.

The video, which was posted on Sina, a popular Chinese website, shows Chinese astronauts training in zero gravity on zero-gravity aircraft.

Communication in space was too clear. Could the noise problem be solved with modern technology?

Everyone knows that there is no sound in space because there is no air. But it's very noisy on a manned spacecraft. Noise levels on the ISS are very high, as a result astronauts Bill McArthur and cosmonaut Valery Tokarev returned in April 2006 with partial hearing loss after a six-month stay on the ISS.

However, there is no background noise between the astronauts who returned to the spacecraft and Hu Jintao.

- Is it because the Chinese experts were able to solve the noise background problem on the spacecraft?

No. The article "Expert Notes: Noise Is the Fatal Killer of Astronauts" quotes Yu Xiujun, director of the Astronaut Research Center in China. He says, "Several hundred spacecraft are in continuous operation at Shenzhou VII, so the astronauts suffer a lot from the noise." During orbital flight, the noise level in Shenzhou VII is about 70 decibels, which is equivalent to noise on a busy highway.

The launch of Shenzhou VII is a huge project that involved people from various fields, including even President Hu Jintao. If there was a mistake, would the CCP "lose face" in front of the whole world? Why did she dare to do this?

Yes, it is absolutely not normal to cheat in a case of this magnitude. Some may ask, how can you conclude that this is a falsification, based only on your own analysis? It's incredible. After all, some mistakes, like air bubbles, are too obvious. How can the people who did this be so stupid?

You can ask the CCP about it. Although it looks like a joke, the CCP still didn't give any explanation. In reality, this is a political issue. The answer lies in political realities.

Of course, I have met people who have asked similar questions. They, in fact, understand that these arguments are justified by me, but because of emotions they cannot accept them. I must emphasize that I did not say that the launch and return of the spacecraft was rigged. What I question is the live feed of the astronauts coming out of the cockpit.

Secondly, no matter how big this event was, if you believe in rational thinking and facts, you must discard emotions.

While Shenzhou VII was still on the launch pad, an article was published on the Xinhua News Agency website detailing the launch, even though it had not yet taken place. Later, they were forced to apologize for the false information given in their article.

Shi Yu. Epoch Times

The successful flight of China's first manned spacecraft sparked jubilation across the country. Astronaut Yang Liwei has become the idol of Chinese youth. In the homeland of the astronaut in the North-East region, in the Suizhong county of Liaoning province, the astronaut's fellow countrymen, blowing up firecrackers and dancing, celebrated the success of their fellow astronaut with joyful events. Correspondents visited his relatives one by one. And Yang Liwei's native school held a solemn ceremony and named the class in which the astronaut studied after Yang Liwei.

On October 16, at 6:23 pm Beijing time, China's first manned spacecraft Shenzhou-5 successfully landed in the designated area of ​​Inner Mongolia after completing a 21-hour space flight. Doctors and experts in the field of space medicine after a medical examination of the first Chinese cosmonaut stated that Yang Liwei's health is good, all physiological parameters are normal. And a few hours later, Yang Liwei returned to Beijing by transport plane.

At the airport in the western suburbs of Beijing, where a solemn ceremony was held in honor of the astronaut's return to Earth, Yang Liwei cheerfully reported in a resounding voice to the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Council, Minister of Defense of the People's Republic of China Cao Gangchuang:

“Allow me to report, Comrade Vice Chairman, the task of piloting the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft of the PRC has been completed. I went into space, made 14 orbits around the Earth and successfully returned to Earth!

The successful flight of China's first manned spacecraft sparked jubilation across the country. Astronaut Yang Liwei has become the idol of Chinese youth. In the homeland of the astronaut in the North-East region, in the Suizhong county of Liaoning province, the astronaut's fellow countrymen, blowing up firecrackers and dancing, celebrated the success of their fellow astronaut with joyful events. Correspondents visited his relatives one by one. And Yang Liwei's native school held a solemn ceremony and named the class in which the astronaut studied after Yang Liwei.

Astronaut's former teacher Luo Zhiguang told the reporter that Yang Liwei was a diligent student. During the lesson, he listened very carefully to the teachers, writing down the main content of the lessons.

Yang Liwei is 38 years old. As a military pilot, he flew 1350 hours on attack aircraft and fighters. Yang Liwei's comrades give him an excellent description: "He has good health, he is distinguished by a love of science, a willingness to help at any moment and cooperate with others"

In 1998, Yang Liwei was selected for the first corps of Chinese astronauts. Since then, he, along with the other 13 first Chinese astronaut candidates, began to study hard, explore space, and conduct exceptionally serious training. According to Yang Liwei, that they had to endure such loads, from which they often suffered even to tears, but he did not feel bitterness in his soul at all. He said this about it:

"The training and training of astronauts was much more serious and difficult than at the university and in the Air Force. But we, as the first Chinese astronauts, passionately strived to fulfill the Chinese people's long-held dream of successful space flight as soon as possible. Therefore, I always believed that the cause, which I do, it's not hard for me at all.

After five years of comprehensive serious training, all of the first 14 Chinese cosmonaut candidates perfectly mastered the technical knowledge and professional skills necessary for astronauts, acquired excellent physical condition and underwent good psychological preparation. So why was Yang Liwei the first Chinese astronaut to make China's first spaceflight? Yang Liwei is a sober-minded person, according to Su Shuangning, the chief manager of the astronaut selection and training program within the framework of the national manned space flight program, who is responsible for the systematic training of astronauts in China. He described it like this:

All our astronaut candidates are great. They showed complete readiness for the conditions of work and life in space. However, Yang Liwei was one of the best.

Yang Liwei has a happy family. Zhang Yumei's wife is a beautiful and virtuous woman. After the wedding, for more than 10 years, she accompanied her husband everywhere, lived with her family in different places in China. She never complained about her unstable life. Speaking of her husband's affairs, she said:

We all family members support him. He is full of confidence in his work. And we have no right to refuse him support.

Yang Liwei's father was an economist-accountant. Mother is a teacher. The elder sister and younger brother live and work in his homeland in Suizhong County. According to tradition, Yang Liwei comes to his native places to visit relatives every four years. After 2001, his sister and brother have not yet met him.

In addition to studying and working, our cosmonaut's favorite entertainment is playing basketball, ping-pong, etc. Yang Liwei is still showing particularly good success in the 100 meters: - he runs the 100 meters in just over 11 seconds. He is also interested in lyrical music and computer.

Yang Liwei considers himself an unimportant father, since he never accompanied his son to kindergarten or took him away from there. In past years, he, like all his colleagues, returned home only at the end of the week, so he had very little time for his son. But obviously, his son is still very proud of his father. On October 15 at 7:58 pm Beijing time, Yang Liwei, who was in space aboard the Shenzhou-5 manned spacecraft, had a conversation with his family members. Yang Liwei's 8-year-old son, being in a joyfully excited state, asks with great interest:

“Daddy, have you eaten anything? What did you see in space? In turn, Yang Liwei replied, “I ate and saw our beautiful homeland. I wrote down everything I saw in space."

China is stepping on the heels of the leaders of astronautics, successfully promoting its space program.

Launch of the manned spacecraft "Shenzhou-11". Photo: REUTERS

On October 17, China launched the Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft into orbit with two astronauts on board, who are expected to spend about a month in orbit. This flight is an important milestone in China's ambitious space exploration program.

On board the Shenzhou 11 are 50-year-old Jing Haipeng and 37-year-old Chen Dong. For Haipeng, this is the third flight into space. For the first time, he went into space on September 25, 2008 as part of the Shenzhou-7 crew, and the second time on June 16, 2012 as part of the Shenzhou-9 crew. For Chen Dong, this is the first flight into space.

Within two days of launch, Shenzhou-11 is scheduled to dock at an altitude of 393 kilometers with the Tiangong-2 (Heavenly Palace-2) space laboratory launched on September 15. In total, the crew will stay in orbit for 33 days, 30 of which will be on board Tiangong-2. The work schedule of taikonauts includes medical, scientific and other experiments. After completing their mission on the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft, they will undock from the laboratory and return to Earth within 24 hours.

According to various sources, a total of 14 different types of scientific equipment have been installed in the Tiangong-2 space laboratory, including the world's largest highly sensitive gamma-ray detector, developed jointly by engineers from China and the European Space Agency. The program of experiments is very diverse: it is planned, for example, even to observe the development of plants in microgravity. The crew itself will also become an object of study - with the support of French experts, the Chinese will study the effect of weightlessness on the cardiovascular system.

It is expected that after the return of the taikonauts to Earth, the orbital module will continue to collect scientific data in automatic mode. Estimated term of its work - two years.

Recall that five years ago, China launched its first orbital station and made its first docking. In 2012, the first manned flight to the national orbital station took place. Along with the US, Russia and Europe, China has a national global satellite navigation system ("BeiDou").

China has announced an extensive forward-looking space program, including in the near future the creation of its own multi-module permanently manned orbital station and in the distant future - reusable space transport systems and manned flights to the moon. The media write that in 2021 China plans to land a probe on Mars, and a landing on the moon is planned for 2024. The plans also include the construction of a lunar base by 2050. For this, the super-heavy launch vehicle "Changzheng-9" will be created.

Here is just one story. In 2013, Shenzhou-10, China's fifth manned spacecraft of the Shenzhou series, went into space. This flight became the longest manned mission in the history of China's astronautics. The crew consisted of three people, and for the second time in the Chinese astronautics, a woman took part in the flight (the first flew into orbit a year earlier).

On Earth, taikonauts Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and China's second woman astronaut Wang Yaping were greeted with applause and flowers. "In orbit, I carried out a series of experiments and taught a lesson. I don't know if I liked it," Wang Yaping reported. I would like to say a special word about this courageous woman. After a strict selection, she entered one of the first batches of Chinese taikonauts. By the way, the obligatory conditions for the ladies were this: married and have children. Moreover, Wang Yaping was not just a pilot of military transport aviation, but was even a deputy commander of an aviation squadron.

The main task of that Chinese stellar expedition was to develop the docking technology with the Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace-1) module, which by that time had been flying in orbit for more than 630 days. He essentially became the prototype of the future Chinese orbital station. However, on March 21 of this year, a note appeared in the Chinese media that communication with the Tiangong-1 station was terminated. According to some unofficial data leaked on the Internet, Tiangong-1 will enter the dense layers of the earth's atmosphere at the end of the second half of 2017.

According to the experts with whom the correspondent of "RG" spoke, in terms of the pace of development, the Chinese cosmonautics today, of course, is in the lead. By the third decade of the 21st century, China will be completely on the already beaten path, with the possible exception of landing on the moon. And then the fun begins. Most likely, China will not wait for new goals set by the United States and Russia. He may well be one of the very first.

How many people are in the Chinese taikonaut squad today? According to open sources, the number of those who have been trained by the China National Space Administration and participated in space flights is at least ten people. But it is clear that the detachment is much larger in number.

Help "RG"

On October 15, 2003, the first manned flight into space was carried out from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome in China. China's first "taikonaut" was 38-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei of China's People's Liberation Army Pilot-Astronaut Squadron. Having made 14 orbits around the Earth on the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft in 21 hours 23 minutes, Yang Liwei successfully landed. China became the third country in the world to independently carry out a manned flight (however, more than 40 years after the USSR and the USA).