Ussr

Cameras

How The USSR Cleaned Up Photos In 1987 Reminds Me That Photoshop Is Awesome

6:00PM January 17, 2012 | Roberto Baldwin

The USSR has a rather frightening history when it comes to photo manipulation. Over time they’ve decided to use their photo manipulation skills for good instead of, well disappearing people. More »

Geek Out

Even The Textiles In Soviet Russia Were Obsessed With Industry

11:40AM September 30, 2011 | Adrian Covert

These fabrics mostly speak for themselves, but skinny is that these fabrics are Soviet era textiles from the 1920-1930 period of Russia’s history. And while awesome, the industrial, work-obsessed imagery on display here is hardly subtle. More »

Science

Russian Cosmonaut: Our Shuttle Was Safer, Could Drop Nukes From Orbit

11:20AM July 8, 2011 | Sam Biddle

Russia’s Buran program was very short lived. Like, only one flight short lived. But according to cosmonaut (and ISS alum) Oleg Kotov, the craft had some serious potential – outclassing its American rival at both saving lives and destroying them. More »

Science

First Space Station Ever Launched 40 Years Ago Today

9:10AM April 20, 2011 | Sam Biddle

By 1971, people had been in space. They’d even flown around the earth! But there’d never been a real home for humans in orbit – they went up, and they came down. That changed 40 years ago today. More »

Science

The Tragic Story Of A Russian Cosmonaut Who Was Sent Into Space Knowing He Would Die

11:00AM March 21, 2011 | Casey Chan

Vladimir Komarov, a cosmonaut, knew he was going to die when he left Earth for space on the Soyuz 1. His friend Yuri Gagarin, the first human to reach outer space, knew Komarov would too. But Leonid Brezhnev, leader of the Soviet Union, wanted to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Communist Revolution with a spectacle. So Komarov boarded the Soyuz 1, and just like he predicted, ended up dying. The picture above is Komarov’s remains. More »

Science

R.I.P. Hervey Stockman, First Pilot To Fly A Spy Plane Over Soviet Territory

2:12PM February 24, 2011 | Adrian Covert

Hervey Stockman passed away today, leaving behind a legacy as the first man to pilot a dedicated spy plane in Soviet airspace. Taking the Lockheed U-2 into Communist territory in the middle of the Cold War, Stockman was able to collect data on the USSR while evading MiGs trying to intercept him. More »

Science

What The Soviet Shuttle Program Looks Like Today

12:48AM January 20, 2011 | Kyle VanHemert

In the mid-1970s, the Buran program was conceived as the Soviet answer to NASA and the US Space Shuttle program. The ambitious project only produced one unmanned flight, but many of its remnants still stand spectacularly today. More »

17 Modern-Day Gadgets Dragged Back To The USSR

6:00AM March 10, 2010 | Adam Frucci

For this week’s Photoshop Contest, I asked you to turn today’s user-friendly gadgets into cold, utilitarian Soviet-era relics. It’s probably for the best that these don’t actually exist. More »

Get Nervous: Rusty Soviet Doomsday System Still Turned On

12:00AM September 24, 2009 | Jesus Diaz

Wired Magazine has a fascinating article on the doomsday system that was built by the Soviets 25 years ago. It was designed to obliterate the US no matter what happened to the USSR—and it still works today. Shiver. More »

Science

How Not To Launch a Rocket: The Nedelin Disaster

7:00AM May 6, 2009 | Gizmodo US Edition

History’s worst rocket tragedy actually occurred on the ground, in 1960, when the Soviets were experimenting with a dangerous new fuel. Piers Bizony chronicles it in his upcoming book, How To Build Your Own Spaceship:

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