&gt; <i>According to Yuri Kornilov, Chief Designer of the Salyut Design Bureau, shortly before Polyus&#x27; launch, Mikhail Gorbachev visited the Baikonur Cosmodrome and expressly forbade the in-orbit testing of its capabilities. Kornilov claims that Gorbachev was worried that it would be possible for Western governments to view this activity as an attempt to create a weapon in space and that such an attempt would contradict the country&#x27;s previous statements on the USSR’s peaceful intent.</i><p>That sounds so weird to me. If you&#x27;re not going to test a laser in orbit, then why bother putting a laser in orbit? Is this story non-factual? Did Gorbachev say it publicly, for the record, with a big ol&#x27; wink? Or was it just poorly thought out, with the military really wanting to put a big weapon in orbit, the engineers really wanting to put <i>anything</i> big in orbit, and the politicians not wanting to put a new battlefield in orbit?