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[i]With a 360-ft.-high (110 m) steel flame swooping up from its roof, topped by a Jetsons-esque rocket, Moscow's Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics has opened again, after more than three years of expansion and renovation -- one small step in Russia's effort to claim a more prominent place on the world stage by highlighting its past glory in space exploration. "We wanted to build the new museum bigger and better, but the first goal was to remind young people of our glorious history, history that is being forgotten," says Alexander Laveikin, a deputy director of the museum and one of the first cosmonauts to have lived aboard the Mir space station. Besides serving as a memorial to the past, the museum, which reopened in March, is also part of a government effort to get young Russians interested in science and technology. "If five or 10 years ago, everyone wanted to be in business, now they are interested in technology -- and our museum is playing a big part in that," says Laveikin. "After the financial crisis ends, they won't be interested in fast money anymore. Now we need to forget about business and oil and focus on rejuvenating our technology sector."[/i]
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