This language is killing me.
It is simple: in russian word "направление" is "vector in space-time".
In physics there is strong difference between "path" and "distance". The same thing is here.
In fact you can use "направить" as something similar to "command", like "Они направили исследования на изучение черных дыр", but it still about "They move researches along direct line to the black holes".