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Sunday, March 20, 2022

Were Russian Cosmonauts Showing Support For Ukraine?

             Having interacted with Russian people and Russian companies for 33 years, I have picked up some words in Russian. One of these words is Maskirovka. The formal Russian translation is the doctrine of using deception in military operations. In informal Russian slang, it has a funny meaning like fooling or defrauding someone.

    A fresh crew of Russian cosmonauts showed up at the International Space Station. Their spacesuits seem to have the colors of Ukraine. This went viral all over the world. The cosmonauts first claimed that the decision to wear spacesuits of that color had been made months before. It was the colors of the Russian university that is the equivalent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A second denial was something like: "We had a surplus of material of that color in the warehouse. We had to use it."

     Roskosmos is the Russian equivalent of NASA. They have over 170,000 employees. Please rest assured that every detail of this spaceflight was examined with great care. The color of the spacesuits would have caught the attention of many managers. An order should have been issued to change the color of the spacesuits. It was not. This leads me to the conclusion that the Russians in that agency were sending a subtle message of support for Ukraine.

    Elena made a comment in passing:

       "At least in space, the cosmonauts cannot be arrested for violating President Putin's new law about anti-war activities."

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