Intercosmos

Intercosmos was a program started by the Soviet Union, a big country in the past, to work with other countries and help them explore space. Imagine you have a big toy that you love to play with, but you want to share it with your friends so they can have fun too. That's pretty much what the Soviet Union wanted to do with space exploration. They wanted to share their knowledge and resources with other countries so they too could learn more about space and the planets.

To do this, the Soviet Union invited other countries to send their own astronauts to space, using Soviet rockets and equipment. Think of rockets like big, powerful cars that can take people up into the sky and into space. These astronauts would then spend time in space, learning about how their bodies and equipment react to being in space. Then they would come back to Earth and share what they learned with their countries.

This program was called Intercosmos, which means "between the cosmos" or "between the universe". It started in 1967 and ran until 1991, with 14 other countries participating. Through Intercosmos, many countries were able to send their own people into space, something that was once only possible for a few countries. It helped countries learn more about space and the universe, and encouraged cooperation and friendship between countries.