Almaz

The Almaz (Russian: Алмаз, "Diamond") program was a highly secretive Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s.

Three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5. To cover the military nature of the program the three launched Almaz stations were designated as civilian Salyut space stations. Salyut 2 failed shortly after achieving orbit, but Salyut 3 and Salyut 5 both conducted successful manned testing. Following Salyut 5, the Soviet Ministry of Defence judged in 1978 that the time consumed by station maintenance outweighed the benefits relative to automatic reconnaissance satellites.

The space stations cores were known internally as OPS (Russian: ОПС, GRAU index 11F71 and 11F71B), from "Orbital Piloted Station" (Russian: Орбитальная Пилотируемая Станция). As part of the Almaz program several spacecraft for supportive roles were developed: The VA spacecraft, the Functional Cargo Block and the TKS spacecraft, which were to be used in several combinations. The heritage of the Almaz program continues to this day with the ISS module Zarya being one example.

Almaz (song)

"Almaz" is a single by American female soul singer Randy Crawford. A heartfelt piano ballad, it signalled a comeback for the artist, who reached the top five in the UK singles chart with the song. "Almaz" is one of the few songs Randy Crawford has written by herself, and the first of her own compositions that was released as a single.

Composition

"Almaz" was written about a couple of Ethiopian refugees who were neighbours of Crawford's. The man asked Crawford to write a song about his wife, who was named Almaz (which means "diamond" in Amharic, Arabic and a number of other languages). In the song, the singer reflects on their rare form of love. In Crawford's own words, "I witnessed this perfect love affair between them, although she was considerably younger than him. This beautiful couple with their baby. As refugees they were looking for 'a world where love survives'."

Release and reception

"Almaz" was released as the third single off the Abstract Emotions album, in November 1986. The first two singles had failed to have any major impact. "Almaz" entered the UK charts on 22 November 1986 at number 91, and slowly climbed the charts until peaking at number 4 in February 1987, spending 18 weeks on the chart. It is Crawford's longest run on the UK charts, and was her first top 40 hit in the UK since 1981's "Rainy Night in Georgia". The song was also a top 10 hit in the Irish charts, peaking at number 2. "Almaz" was released in continental Europe but it failed to chart. It was never released as a single in the USA.

Almaz (disambiguation)

Almaz may refer to:

  • Almaz, a series of Soviet space stations launched in the 1970s
  • NPO Almaz, a former Soviet military enterprise
  • Almaz-Antey, a Russian military enterprise
  • Almaz shipbuilding company
  • Russian cruiser Almaz launched in 1903
  • Almaz, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province
  • "Almaz", a song by US singer Randy Crawford from her 1986 album Abstract Emotions
  • Almaz, a character in the video game Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
  • Almaz (camera), a Russian-made 135 mm camera with K-mount
  • Ahmet Almaz, Turkish journalist, translator, and non-fiction writer
  • Excalibur Almaz, spacecraft company in the Isle of Man
  • Podcasts:

    PLAYLIST TIME:

    Almaz

    by: Dina Carroll

    She only smiles
    He only tells her
    That she's the flowers, the wind and spring
    In all her splendour
    Sweetly surrendering
    The love that innocence brings
    Almaz
    Pure and simple
    Born in a world where love survives
    Now men will want her
    'Cos life don't haunt her
    Almaz
    You lucky, lucky thing
    Now I watch closely
    And I watch wholly
    I can't imagine love so rare
    She's young and tender
    But will life bend her
    I look around, is she everywhere
    Almaz
    Pure and simple
    Born in a world where love survives
    Now men will want her
    'Cos life don't haunt her
    Almaz
    You lucky, lucky thing
    He throws her kisses
    She shares his wishes
    I'm sure he's keen without a doubt
    With love so captive
    So solely captive
    I ask if I could play the part
    Almaz
    Pure and simple
    Born in a world where love survives
    Now men will want her
    'Cos life don't haunt her
    Almaz
    You lucky, lucky thing
    Almaz
    You lucky, lucky thing
    Almaz




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