“Novobakinski” oil refinery, Soviet Azerbaijan, early 70s. (photo: © 1975 Novosti news agency, Moscow – personal collection)
Shevchenko (Aqtau) nuclear desalination plant, 1975
Desalination plant in Aqtau, formerly know as Ševčenko (1964 — 1992), in Kazakhstan: it produced 120,000 m³/day of drinkable water from the Caspian Sea. Built in 1973, it was powered by a 150 MWe nuclear “Fast Breeder Reactor” (FBR) class BN producing, wich also supplied power for the city and produced plutonium for other purpouses. It was the only nuclear-powered desalination plant. The car in the foreground …
Mechanical tea harvesting in Soviet Georgia, early 70s
Combine machines for mechanical tea harvesting in Soviet Georgia, early 70s: same as those for grain crops, combine harvesters are machines that combine separate operations (depending on the type of crop) into a single harvesting process. According to Novosti news agency’s 1975 yearbook, the combine harvester for tea would be an invention of «Soviet engineers». (photo: © 1975 Novosti news agency, Moscow – personal collection)
Mietitrebbiatrici in Kazakistan, primi anni ’70
Combine harvesters in Kazakhstan, in the early 70s. The combine harvester is a machine that combines harvesting operations —reaping, threshing and winnowing— into a single process. According to Novosti news agency’s 1975 yearbook, «since 1954 in Kazakhstan have been cultivated 24 million hectares of wild lands uncultivated lands». (photo: © 1975 Novosti news agency, Moscow – personal collection)
Cosmodromo di Bajkonur, primi anni ’70
“Soyuz” carrier rocket at Baikonur cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, in the early 70s. From this base was launched, in 1961, the spaceship Vostok 1 vthe vehicle that carried the first man in space: Major Yuri Gagarin. Bajkonur is the world’s first and largest operational space launch facility. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the base remained under the Russian administration, yet in Kazakh territory. (photo: © 1975 …
Harvesting of apples in Almaty (Kazakistan), early 70s
Harvesting of apples of the variety “aport” near Almaty, former capital of Kazakhstan, in the early 70s. The name “Almaty” derives probably from the Kazakh word alma (алма) that means “apple” and thus is often translated as “place of apples”: we can find alma or likes also in other Ural-Altaic languages, as Ungarian and Mongolian (in Turkish: elma.) Native of this area is the species Malus …
