Category talk:Soviet cosmonauts

March 2006
I understand why the distinction between soviet union and russia, but it seems a little artificial to make this set distinction with space flight. The launches are from the same location, the companies making the craft are the same, the technology is a straight line between them etc etc. It is like calling the UK and the British empire of the 19th century different countries, and so the navies should be separated into UK navy and British Empire navies. OK- so the British Empire disappeared gradually rather than suddenly- so what. In both cases, the center of political power is the same, the command structure is the same, etc.

What I am suggesting here is that Russian cosmonauts and Soviet union cosmonauts be made subcats of "Cosmonauts"- You can't call it Astronauts of the Russian Empire or Russian speaking Astronauts- because Ukranians, Kazakh, and Uzbecks will take exception and not wish to be reminded. So even though Cosmonaut and Astronaut are equivalent terms, to keep the nationalism from interfering, it would be best to simply leave it ambiguous/ unspecified.

Comments? -Mak Thorpe 17:06, 30 March 2006 (UTC)