Tears for Mirs in space

SHOULD you wish to learn a wee bit of Russian (it’s bound to come in handy someday), you should watch tonight’s episode of the excellent BBC2 documentary series ONCE UPON A TIME IN SPACE (9pm).

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Admittedly, the expressions you'll pick up will be somewhat niche, the subject being the early days of Russia’s collaboration with America in space exploration, so if you don’t pop into space all that frequently yourself, you may not get to use them as often as you'd wish.

But hey, it’s a start.

Former Russian cosmonauts feature heavily in this episode, reflecting (in their native tongue, with subtitles — that’s where your learning opportunity kicks in) on that curious period.