[FPSPACE] Soviet underwater EVA training preceding StarCityHydrolab?

[Charles, John B. (JSC-SA2)]

Jakob,

<<Or ask at Starcity. I can take the question with me and ask around
when I am there in April.
Jakob>>

Thanks for offering, and I look forward to hearing what they tell you.
My interest is in the earliest use of water immersion to evaluate
astronaut mobility, but until David reminded me about Abramov's book, I
had no insight into pre-Hydrolab facilities in the FSU.  

Tell us if they repeat the story that Star City managers put their
Hydrolab in a round building because the Americans had done so first.
The rest of the story, as told to me by a Star City physician working at
the Hydrolab over a decade ago, was that the Russians didn't know why a
round building was important, but if the Americans did it, then they
must do it too.

I took it as true, but on reflection it may have been just a
self-deprecating joke.  After all, if they built their Hydrolab in 1980,
it was not long after NASA finished its Water Immersion Facility (WIF)
in Buidling 29--the round building at JSC.  But if they knew about that,
then they must also have known that Building 29 formerly housed the
large training centrifuge (hence, its shape) but was now empty, making
it an ideal location for the new WIF.  In which case, they should have
known why the Americans thought the round building was important.

John Charles
Houston, Texas