[FPSPACE] Zond 8

[DSFPortree at aol.com]

David:

OK, I see what you're getting at. Was Zond a policy failure? I'd say yes. You 
seem to agree. Was Zond a technical success? You seem to say it was - do I 
have that right? Or that it was trending toward success, anyway. I would argue 
that it was a failure, and that we can't know whether it would have been 
successful. 

I think you're right, incidentally, in stating that the Original Soyuz and 
Zond were similar enough that developments in one raised/lowered confidence in 
the other. 

Of course, Original Soyuz then evolved through generations of development. I 
can't say precisely how much the current Soyuz has in common with Original 
Soyuz. They sure look different, inside and out, except for the rough basic 
"chess pawn" shape.

Make me wonder what Apollo would look like today if we'd kept it around.

David

David S. F. Portree
Science writer & historian
dsfportree at aol.com
Flagstaff Arizona USA

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