It is hard to comprehend how many of the space-related feats of engineering were accomplished by the Soviet Union. On a trip to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, I was s

It is hard to comprehend how many of the space-related feats of engineering were accomplished by the Soviet Union. On a trip to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, I was stunned by the size of the test stand for the Energia rocket. It is massive, with numerous support buildings, lighting, pipelines and support vehicles. The amount of poured concrete is mind boggling. This stand was only used once. The actual launch stand for Energia is similar in scope and it was only used twice. Of course, during the first Energia-Polyus launch, Polyus seperated from Energia, did a 360 degress rotation and burned up in the atmosphere. It is difficult to reconcile this mixture of competence and incompetence.