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By Jamie Russell
Staff Writer
Many Americans stereotype
Russia as a cold and dreary world
in which to live, but in actuality it
is quite the opposite, George
i Feifer said Thursday evening in
the third part of a five-part lec
ture series for the 33rd Student
Conference on National Affairs.
Feifer is the author of “Justice
for Moscow,” “Message of Mos
cow” and “Moscow Farewell,” and
he has lived in Russia “for a long
time.”
I “We (Americans) have some
pretty twisted ideas of Russia and
its people,” Feifer said. “Ameri
cans have this notion that Rus
sians are these captive people
yearning to be free.”
This American ideal is igno
rant and unfortunate, Feifer said.
Russians basically have two dif
ferent lives— public (official) and
private, he said.
“Russian life under the surface
is vastly different,” Feifer said.
"On the surface it is drab and
dreary, but underneath it is hot
| stuff bubbling.”
Feifer spoke in light-hearted
terms on life in Russia, telling
Russian jokes to ease the serious
ness Of it all.
“Life for Russians is hard be
cause it’s always been hard,” he
said.
Feifer said there are many rea
sons why the people’s life is essen
tially tragic.
[ First, Russian winters last
| about seven and a half months
out of the year with only about 15
minutes of light per day offered
during five of those months (Oct.
through Feb.), he said.
Deprivation of light leads to
depression, he said.
Another reason for the peo
ple’s tragic lives is that the fear of
Russia’s history weighs heavily
upon them.
“About 20 million Russians
died in World War II,” Feifer
said. “That’s about 15 percent of
their population.”
The Russians have taken some
serious blows in the past, he said,
and in addition, the socialist sys
tem has proven unsuccessful.
The Russians do not want to
have a capitalist society as Ameri
cans know it, Feifer said, but they
do want to move on “to a higher
level of civilization.”
“The Russians no longer be
lieve socialism will lead them to
the promised land,” Feifer said.
Disregarding their gloomy
existance, Feifer stressed the
warmth of the Russian people.
“In their private lives, Russians
are full of warmth, friendship,
hospitality and sentimentality,”
Feifer said. It is their official lives
that one sees and then so quickly
judges, he said.
Regarding work — their offi
cial lives — the average person is
“amazingly unenthusiastic and
unwilling,” Feifer said.
It is impossible for people in
Russia to move up and make it in
the job world, so they work on
feathering their nests, he said.
“It is because of the hardships
(at work) that their private lives
are warm, loving, easy and less in
hibited,” he said.
Children in Russia, despite the
confined stereotype, are che
rished, Feifer said,
“The children are precious,
loved, protected — like in a co
coon,” he said. “They grow up
with an enormous emotional and
physical strength.”
Feifer said that Americans
need to learn the facts about Rus
sia to end the ignorant stereo
types.
Photo by Sean Smith
Author George Feifer explains differences between the Soviet
Union and the United States at SCONA’s “Life in the U.S.S.R.”
NASA astronaut tells
A&M members of AIAA
about shuttle missions
By Dean R. Sueltenfuss
Reporter
Space flight is a grand human ex
perience, Dr. F. Story Musgrave, a
scientist-astronaut from NASA, told
members of the A&M chapter of the
American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics Thursday night.
“Space is so unique — you step out
of yourself and watch yourself,” he
said.
Being in space is completely dif
ferent from any experience on
earth, he said.
A person moves so quickly in
space that he is over a given part of
the Earth for only a short time, he
added.
“In terms of the human percep
tion, your velocity vector totally
overwhelms that of the Earth,” he
said.
Musgrave said that he would like
to have an opportunity to go back
into space when the space shuttle
program gets underway again.
“I lost some dear colleagues and I
lost some really close friends in the
Challenger accident,” he said. “But
after those tears fell I thought I’d
also lost my chance to go into space
again.”
Musgrave told the students how
he felt about the space shuttle and
how much it meant to him when he
entered the spacecraft in prepara
tion for lift-off.
“Machines are not just hunks of
metal,” he said. “You have an affec
tion for these machines. They be
come a part of you.
“To be totally alone with that kind
of airplane, that full of gas, and that
much noise — and to know you’re
going to climb in that thing all by
yourself and light ’em up — It’s a
fantastic experience.
“You don’t just go in there and
shut the door. You hesitate, you
know — for about 10 seconds you
just hang on — but you get in there
“I lost some dear col
leagues and I lost some
really close friends in the
Challenger accident. But
after those tears fell I
thought I’d also lost my
chance to go into space
again. ”
— Dr. F. Story Musgrave,
NASA astronaut-scientist
and close the door and you’ve got
two hours. Unfortunately, you’ve
got two hours to lie on your back,
and you’xe looking straight up at
nothing—just blue sky.
“You are lying on a question
mark. The question is, ‘Am I going
to light ’em off today?’ You would
like to know that when it gets to zero
you’re going to light ’em off and go
somewhere.”
Musgrave also displayed slides of
himself working in space and going
through training on Earth.
Some of the training on Earth is
intended to simulate the conditions
of space, he said. Training is done in
an underwater chamber that gives
the trainees a feeling of weight
lessness similar to that of space, he
added.
Some training is also done in the
cargo area of a special airplane, he
said. By going through a series of
climbs and dives it is possible to
achieve a condition of zero gravity
for up to 30 seconds at a time, he
said.
The earthbound training helps to
prepare astronauts for space, but
nothing is exactly like actually being
in space, Musgrave said.
But Musgrave said he enjoys the
Earth, too.
“I like this Earth,” he said. “I
really love this Earth.”
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