During many of the earliest American and Russian space missions, experiments were performed using cables to connect people and objects to spacecraft in orbit. These attempts generated considerable information about the formation of tethered systems and basic problems with tether orientation and gravity-gradient stabilization. During the 1970s, inte

A.P. Alpatov is with the NAS and NSA of Ukraine. V.V. Beletsky is with Moscow State University, Russia. V.I. Dranovsky is with the NSA of Ukraine and the Youzhnoye State Design Office.