1997: The Russian space program begins to recover. The ruble collapses in the late 1990s. Employees in the sector drop to 100,000. At Energomash (of the RD-180), salaries are $104 a month. The military fares no better: at Golitsyno, they earn $60 a month. Quality plummets. Two Proton rockets explode on launch, blanketing a vast area with toxic hydrazine. Kazakhstan sues for damages. The cosmodromes and nearby cities fall into semi-abandoned conditions. But MIR is salvaged after the collision. If Tsibilev, Lazutkin, and Foale had abandoned MIR, it would have been the end! The Shuttle brings up tons of spare parts. The Spektr is repaired and reconnected. To raise hard currency, space race memorabilia is sold, many of which are purchased by Ross Perot, who donates them to the Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC. On MIR, the cosmonauts film a Pepsi commercial. And seats on the Soyuz are sold. The first is Japanese publisher Toyohiro Akiyama, who pays $12 million. The price later rises to $20 million. Seats are then sold to ESA, for prices ranging from $20 to $40 million.
