Last night the international scientists attending the launch had dinner with Vladimir Popovkin, Deputy Defense Minister and the Director General of the Russian Space Agency. He is the top official in charge of all Russian space programs, manned and unmanned, civilian and military. He's attending to his work here at Baikonur, and very kindly took the opportunity of our presence to invite us to dinner. Also attending were the Director of the Lavochkin Association, and Academician Nikolai Kardashev, the Director of the Astro Space Institute of the Lebedeev Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
I found Director General Popovkin to be unusually thoughtful and engaged. He started the dinner by observing that he had many chances to talk with Russian scientists about future directions for their space program, and he was very curious to hear our opinions, as visitors from overseas, as to the best directions for future Russian scientific missions, and the properties of Russia that made those the best. Our answers took the form of toasts, as is traditional at Russian dinners. He listened to our responses, and his toasts, in turn, indicated that he'd thought carefully about them.
My own toast included the observation that Russia has a long tradition of strength in theoretical physics. I ascribe this, in part, to their excellent educational system. I suggested that the papers of Kardashev, for example, have remained classics because they take theory as their compass. Thus, I proposed a toast to the theorists.
Deputy Minister Popovkin very kindly agreed to be photographed with me, and the image is below. Because I brought only one set of clothes to Baikonur, I am not particularly well dressed; but as one of our Russian hosts told me, not much is expected of an American.
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