science

Interkosmos

Interkosmos is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Interkosmos rather than just read about it. In short: Interkosmos (Russian: Интеркосмос) was an international Soviet space program designed to promote cooperation among socialist countries in space exploration and research. Formed in April 1967 in Moscow, it was led by the Soviet Union and primarily involved allied or friendly countries from the Eastern Bloc and Non-Aligned Movement, which were provided training and technical support with crewed and uncrewed space miss…

Key takeaways

Interkosmos belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Interkosmos to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Interkosmos from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Interkosmos (Russian: Интеркосмос) was an international Soviet space program designed to promote cooperation among socialist countries in space exploration and research. Formed in April 1967 in Moscow, it was led by the Soviet Union and primarily involved allied or friendly countries from the Eastern Bloc and Non-Aligned Movement, which were provided training and technical support with crewed and uncrewed space missions. Interkosmos was established at the height of the Cold War "Space Race" between the Soviet Union and the United States, which competed to achieve superior spaceflight capability. The respective successes were exploited by both sides for propaganda purposes, with Interkosmos aimed at demonstrating solidarity and unity between the Soviets and aligned or sympathetic countries. All members of Interkosmos from the USSR were awarded Hero of the Soviet Union or the Order of Lenin. The program included members of the Warsaw Pact and CoMEcon, as well as other socialist states like Afghanistan, Cuba, Mongolia, and Vietnam. Non-aligned nations such as India and Syria participated, as did capitalist states such as the United Kingdom, France and Austria. Most crewed missions consisted of non-Soviet cosmonauts being placed on routine flights with experienced Soviet cosmonauts. Interkosmos was responsible for many inaugural achievements in the history of spaceflight, including the first citizen of a country other than the U.S. or USSR (Vladimír Remek of Czechoslovakia), the first black and Hispanic person (Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez of Cuba), and the first Asian person (Phạm Tuân of Vietnam).

History Beginning in April 1967 with unpiloted research satellite missions, the first crewed Interkosmos mission occurred in February 1978. Joint crewed spaceflights enabled 14 non-Soviet cosmonauts to participate in Soyuz space flights between 1978 and 1988. The program was responsible for sending into space the first citizen of a country other than the US or USSR: Vladimír Remek of Czechoslovakia. Interkosmos also resulted in the first black and Hispanic person in space, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez of Cuba, and the first Asian person in space, Phạm Tuân of Vietnam. Of the countries involved, only Bulgaria sent two cosmonauts to space, although the second one did not fly under the Interkosmos program, and the French spationaut Jean-Loup Chrétien flew on two flights. The Soviet Union also offered commercial joint human spaceflight missions to the United Kingdom and Japan, resulting in the first British and Japanese cosmonauts. In the early 1980s, an offer was made to Finland, with test pilot Jyrki Laukkanen mentioned a potential candidate. The pilots of the Test Flight (Koelentue) refused on the grounds that participation would not benefit the flight or test pilot activity in any way; no further offers were made to Finland.

Crewed missions

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Interkosmos

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Interkosmos claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Interkosmos before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Interkosmos ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Interkosmos

In research: Interkosmos appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Interkosmos in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Interkosmos is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1970s in spaceflight, 1980s in spaceflight, Afghanistan–Soviet Union relations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Interkosmos outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Interkosmos in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Interkosmos means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Interkosmos out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Interkosmos in simple terms?

Why does Interkosmos matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Interkosmos?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Interkosmos.