<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Russians...their technological skills marvel but attitude towards women sucks hard vacuum.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Read about Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. The more I learn about her, her indomitable spirit, and fervent patriotism, the more I think Russia gave her the shaft. I mean, this woman is incredible. She put up with every indignity thrust upon her by technicians and scientists who doubted her feminine capabilities, never complaining, because she would do what the Soviet Union told her to do, and be glad to do it. (I believe she is still a member of the Communist Party. I don't agree with communism, but I've gotta respect that kind of patriotism, and strength of convictions. She's the sort of person who would gladly give her life if her country needed it.) They scaled back her activites on orbit, refused to let her do anything much, and criticized her heavily upon her return. Publicly, of course, she was praised, and the Soviet Union delighted in showing how much better they were than the US, which was too sexist to put a woman into space. The irony of that wasn't clear to the West for years. After her return, the Soviet Union arranged for her to get married to a cosmonaut, and the couple were encouraged to start a family. They did have one child together, a son, and the Soviets squeezed a lot of publicity out of their "space family". But it didn't last; they had married out of duty, not love, and eventually they separated.<br /><br />To this day, however, Tereshkova does not speak ill of the Communist Party or the scientists who treated her so poorly. She is a much better person than they were. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em> -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>