| Space Spies |
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| ::darkshadows:: (blood@thirsty.net) |
2008/02/12 16:14 |
Space Spies Revealed in New Documentary
Tariq Malik
Senior Editor
SPACE.com Tue Feb 12, 2:31 PM ET
The secret history of spies in space is about be revealed.
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The new documentary "Astrospies" will delve into the U.S. Air Force's
Cold War-era space reconnaissance program and its Soviet Union
counterpart during a Tuesday edition of the series NOVA on the Public
Broadcasting System.
"We used to have a joke in the program," said former astronaut Richard
Truly in a statement. "That, one day, there was going to be a little
article back on page 50 of a newspaper that said, 'an unidentified
spacecraft launched from an unidentified launch pad with unidentified
astronauts to do an unidentified mission."
Truly was one of the first U.S. military astronauts selected for the
USAF's Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) program in 1965. He later flew
NASA shuttle missions in the 1980s and ultimately served as the
agency's top administrator between 1989 and 1992. But during the MOL
program, his astronaut status and that of 16 other military
spaceflyers were classified as secret.
"That's the way it was," Truly said.
Under the MOL program, two astronauts would launch atop a Titan 3
rocket in a spacecraft similar to NASA's Gemini capsules, then conduct
reconnaissance missions from orbit using ultra high-resolution
telescopes. The USAF scrapped the top secret program in 1969, but not
before the then-Soviet Union devised its own space-based spy platform:
Almaz.
Tucked within the Soviet's multiple Salyut space station program,
Almaz arose in the 1970s and was reported to include a cannon weapons
system for use in space.
The military spaceflyers even had their own special spacesuits. NASA
discovered the blue space garments by accident in 2005 after cracking
open a long-sealed room at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in
Cape Canaveral, Fla.?
Written by investigative journalist James Bamford and directed by C.
Scott Willis, "Astrospies" debuts tonight to rather fortuitous timing
in the realm of space reconnaissance. The documentary chronicles the
rise of the manned space espionage vehicles in the U.S. and Soviet
Union, as well as their downfall from robust unmanned spy satellites.
Earlier today, space officials in Russia and China challenged the U.S.
by presenting proposal to ban future weapons in space. The proposal
comes just over one year after China tested an anti-satellite weapon
that destroyed one of the nation's older satellites.
Meanwhile, U.S. efforts at space-based reconnaissance have been in the
spotlight of late due to a defunct spy satellite expected to reenter
the Earth's atmosphere in coming weeks.
"NOVA: Astrospies" will air Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT (check
local listings).
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