Zenith On the International Space Station, "zenith" and "nadir" are used instead of "up" and "down", referring to directions within and around the station, relative to the earth. Zenith The zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction opposite to the apparent gravitational force at that location. The opposite direction, i.e. the direction in which gravity pulls, is toward the nadir. The zenith is the "highest" point on the celestial sphere. The word "zenith" derives from an inaccurate reading of the Arabic expression (), meaning "direction of the
A Word to the People A Word to the People "A Word to the People" (Russian: «Слово к народу») was an open letter signed by twelve Soviet public figures. The declaration was published in "Sovetskaya Rossiya" (a newspaper that expressed anti-perestroika views) on 23 July 1991. The signers included writers Yuri Bondarev, Valentin Rasputin and Alexander Prokhanov, singer Lyudmila Zykina, war generals Valentin Varennikov and Boris Gromov, sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov, scientist and politicians Gennady Zyuganov, Vasily Starodubtsev, and . The authors of the writing appealed to the citizens of the country, severely criticizing the policies of Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, and they pleaded to