Reassessment
The launch of Soyuz 2 had not been reported by the Soviet Union, although other nations were aware through their own monitors. It was not until Soyuz 3 was safely aloft that an official announcement was made. Contemporary Western news reports described the orbital mission of Soyuz 3 in the same manner as the Soviets, referring to a successful "rendezvous" with Soyuz 2, but characterizing it as a test with no actual ship-to-ship docking planned. This interpretation was largely accepted for years afterward. With information released after the breakup of the Soviet Union, historians began to reassess the presumed "success" of the mission: the early Soyuz missions had indeed been intended to perform a physical linkage between two spacecraft, and in this they had undeniably failed. Moreover, the fault could be largely ascribed to piloting error by Beregovoy: after a misaligned approach, Beregovoy's ineffective countermeasures burned up so much fuel that the mission simply could not be completed.
Read more about this topic: Soyuz 3
Famous quotes containing the word reassessment:
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