Tolstoy In Space.

[Rezia]

Tolstoy in space. (from The Moscow News, October 2010)
     Tolstoy's work never veered into science fiction, but his words are about to travel to the stars to entertain cosmonauts on the International Space Station.
     It might sound like something from the modern-day comic book "Android Karenina", but the mission to mark the 100th anniversary of the writer's death is entirely serious.
     Alas, his weightier tomes won't make the cut – space is at a premium in stellar travel, costing up to $8 a gram, which means "War and Peace" simply won't fit.
     The chosen work is the early "Sevastopol Sketches", which crucially weighs just 70 grams. And the Crimean city was the venue for the official announcement by Roskosmos last week, ahead of the Oct.29 flight.
     Alexander Ostrovsky, an agency representative, went to collect a copy of the work from the city's Tolstoy library – and promised to return it after its epic voyage.
     "If we send 'Sevastopol Sketches', then the book has to come from Sevastopol," he said.