As the crew deals with the latest equipment failure, an unfamiliar voice is heard over their air-to-ground radio link: a Soviet cosmonaut has piloted his Soyuz capsule within a mile of the space station, and is trying to contact them. To nearly everyone’s amazement, Foster knows enough Russian to respond and maintain a conversation (including a bit of long-distance chess). Paranoia begins to seize Mattocks and Ackroyd about their Russian-speaking crewmate, though the only thing more disturbing than a chatty cosmonaut sharing the sky at close range is when he falls silent.
written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie
directed by Dick Clement
Cast: Christopher Godwin (Mattocks), Carmen Du Sautoy (Foster), Barrie Rutter (Ackroyd), Bruce Boa (Beadle), Jeffrey Wickham (Rudy), and Bimbo (himself)
Notes: Suddenly, Astronauts has continuity – mention is made of “Project Sparrowhawk” from two episodes ago, and the fact that tensions are running high in the Cold War on Earth – and a bit of peaceful politics.
LogBook entry by Earl Green