Detente in Space

After failing at least three times in attempts to complete a Skylab-type orbital mission, the Russians were not about to take any unnecessary risks in their latest effort. As Cosmonauts Pavel Popovich and Yuri Artyukhin, both 44, whirled around the earth aboard their Salyut 3 space station, ground control sternly refused to let them listen to the semifinal match between Poland and Brazil in the World Cup championship. The excitement, the controllers feared, might stir up the cosmonauts' pulse beats and blood pressure. But after...