The photographer Eric Lusito takes us on a scientific journey through space and time in a book on Soviet scientific institutes

A stairwell in the damaged building of the Institute of Radio Astronomy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kharkiv. Photograph: Eric Lusito

Control panel and mural at the Byurakan astrophysical observatory, Armenia

The Soviets presented science as a utopian ideal. Thousands of researchers worked in imperfect secrecy on ‘big science’ initiatives, mostly for cold war military objectives. In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, many institutions were left destitute and their advanced technology was doomed to extinction. But some scientists persevered, adapting to the landscape.…