Cleared For Landing, Comrades

By Janice Castro

"MAN IN SIDE! HELP!" Those words are stenciled -- in English -- on the side of every Soyuz landing craft, the lifeboat that RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS use when they return to earth. The instructions continue: "Take the key. Put into the hole. Turn. Open the hatch." Who knows? One of these days, a farmer in Nebraska or North Dakota might be following those directions. Should the two cosmonauts now orbiting in Russia's Mir space station need to make an emergency landing outside designated areas in the former Soviet Union, the Russians have told the U.S. State Department their destination of choice would be America's northern heartland. Washington has agreed to help. The Russians' only request: Please turn off the high-tension power lines. So if the lights go out some night in Nebraska, chances are the Russians are coming.