The US-Soviet Space Bridge was a series of experimental, international telecasts between

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

and

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

viewers, performed by group of communication enthusiasts during the late Cold War era. Translated from the Russian word ''telemost'' (literally, "TV bridge"), a space bridge was a public interactive television link between two or more geographically separate and culturally distinct locations, a form of public

videoconference Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...

. The first space bridge was an arrangement between the Unuson Corporation and Gosteleradio of the USSR for the

US Festival The US Festival (''US'' pronounced like the pronoun, not as initials) was the name of two early 1980s music and culture festivals in southern California, held east of Los Angeles, near San Bernardino. Background Steve Wozniak, cofound ...

, sponsored by computer pioneer Steve Wozniak. On September 5, 1982, a TV-link was established for the first time between the Soviet Union and the United States. On the Soviet side, Joseph Goldin and Yuli Gusman were in charge. On the United States side was the Documentary Guild and producer Mark Warner and associate producer Lester Gray of King Broadcasting. The participants in that space bridge could see each other, ask questions and receive answers, and also hold a musical dialogue. The programs of the subsequent space bridges consisted not only of music-hall turns and greetings but also discussions on different subjects, in which prominent scientists, public figures, cosmonauts and journalists took part.

Phil Donahue Phillip John Donahue (born December 21, 1935) is an American media personality, writer, film producer and the creator and host of ''The Phil Donahue Show''. The television program, later known simply as ''Donahue'', was the first talk show forma ...

and Vladimir Pozner hosted the meeting between the US and the USSR, respectively. According to Pozner's book, '' Parting With Illusions'', many U.S. TV companies did not want to purchase those space bridges. Thus only eight million people in the U.S. watched the programs, versus 180 million in the USSR.

There is no sex in the USSR

When an American asked a question about TV advertisements exploiting

sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...

in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, a Soviet lady (russian: Людмила Иванова, Liudmila Ivanova) answered "Well, sex... (laugh) we don't have it, and we are absolutely against it!", which was then corrected by another Soviet lady present in the show: "We do have sex, but we do not have advertisements!".Archived a
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catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

"There is no sex in the USSR!". Luidmila Ivanova has told a different story to the '' Komsomolskaya Pravda'' newspaper:

Well, the TV show started, and one American lady have said: you must stop having sex with your men because of the Afghan War – then they won't go to the war. And kept pointing at me. Then I answered her: there is no sex in the USSR, but there is love. And you also didn't stop having sex with your men during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. But everyone remembered only the beginning of the phrase. Am I not right? We have always considered the word "sex" almost dirty. We were always making love, not sex. That is what I meant.

References

External links

Russian website on the first 1982 satellite TV link

The 20th anniversary of the first space bridge between Moscow and Los Angeles
{{DEFAULTSORT:U.S.-Soviet Space Bridge Society of the Soviet Union Soviet Union–United States relations Television in the Soviet Union Science and technology in the Soviet Union Telecommunications in the United States 1982 in international relations 1982 in the Soviet Union Videotelephony Social events 1982 in science 1982 in the United States 1980s in Soviet television 1982 in technology