posted 01-31-2008 02:37 AM               

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Millions remember the countdowns, launches, splashdowns, and parades as the U.S. raced the Soviet Union to the moon in the 1960s. Few know that both superpowers ran parallel covert space programs to launch military astronauts on spying missions, and even fewer know what became of the military astronauts they trained. Highly classified for decades, these top-secret missions might easily have triggered a shooting war in orbit. NOVA travels to Russia for exclusive access to cosmonauts and their restricted space facility and obtains candid first-time interviews with astronauts in the American military space program in Astrospies, airing Tuesday, February 12 at 8pm ET/PT on PBS (check local listings).

Coproduced by investigative journalist James Bamford, acclaimed best-selling author of The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets, and Emmy Award-winning producer Scott Willis, Astrospies uncovers new clues about the tensest period of the Cold War, when the U.S. and USSR were on the verge of war and desperate for intelligence on each other's nuclear capabilities.

In the U.S., the Air Force-run program was officially known as the Manned Orbiting Laboratory. The public was informed only that the project involved placing military astronauts in space to conduct scientific research. But in reality, as the MOL pilots themselves tell NOVA for the first time, their actual mission was far different.

In fact, MOL was designed to be an orbiting spy station, with two astronauts operating an array of intelligence-gathering instruments, including a telescope capable of resolving objects on the ground as small as three inches. In never-before-seen footage, NOVA shows a mock-up of MOL's interior as well as astronauts training for different phases of the mission.

NOVA also interviews several of the unsung MOL astronauts, who speak openly for the first time about their years of training for the classified program. Although virtually unknown at the time, many in the MOL program went on to distinguished careers. A number flew aboard the space shuttle, including Henry "Hank" Hartsfield, who served as a shuttle pilot and spacecraft commander. Richard Truly, another MOL veteran and shuttle astronaut, went on to become Administrator of NASA. Robert Herres served as the first Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And James Abrahamson headed President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as the "Star Wars" antimissile system.

So secret was MOL that much of the information surrounding it is still classified, and astronauts are even reluctant to talk about it today. "We did have a joke in the program," reminisces Richard Truly, "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.' That's the way it was."

Not to be outwitted, the Soviets guessed the hidden purpose of MOL and designed a similar manned spy station called Almaz, three of which were launched in the 1970s. NOVA was given unprecedented access to a restricted Russian space facility, where a cosmonaut demonstrates the reconnaissance systems on a fully intact, never-launched Almaz ship.

With a cannon designed to destroy hostile satellites--or attack American astrospies--Almaz may have been the only manned spacecraft ever equipped for space war. And when the cannon was test-fired, it marked the first shot on a potential battlefield of the future.

Now in its 35th year of broadcasting, NOVA is produced for PBS by the WGBH Science Unit at WGBH Boston. The director of the WGBH Science Unit and senior executive producer of NOVA is Paula S. Apsell. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

NOVA is closed captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and described for people who are blind or visually impaired by the Media Access Group at WGBH. The descriptive narration is available on the SAP channel or stereo TV and VCRs. Astrospies will be available on DVD wherever videos are sold. To order direct from WGBH Boston Video, visit shop.wgbh.org or call 800.949.8670.

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posted 01-31-2008 06:52 AM               

Thanks for the heads-up!

posted 02-02-2008 08:46 PM               

I'm setting my VCR for this (and ordering a DVD).

posted 02-02-2008 09:11 PM               

I've been working on building a MythTV media computer and have most of it working now. I've been testing it and tweaking things on it and got it running pretty well now.
Great for taping space stuff and watching without commercials!

posted 02-03-2008 03:04 PM            

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Originally posted by spacecraft films:
That whole reel of the zero g training is on our "Man In Space" DVD.

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posted 02-12-2008 10:19 AM               

After doing some checking it seems to me that the most remarkable thing about the MOL program is that they were able to keep it a secret for a while. IMHO

posted 02-12-2008 11:42 AM               

I hope this isn't the Almaz station they are talking about. It's nowhere near "fully intact" and hardly super-secret or exclusive. Pretty much anyone with a visa and $300 can tour this station.

posted 02-12-2008 02:35 PM               

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Originally posted by biker123:
After doing some checking it seems to me that the most remarkable thing about the MOL program is that they were able to keep it a secret for a while.

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posted 02-12-2008 08:45 PM               

All in all it was a good and mostly accurate program. It was nice to finally see the face of Asif Siddiqi. For those interested in more Almaz I highly recommend Tainy "Almaza", Secretnyj_konstruktor, and Vojna kosmicheskikh ambicij.

Best Regards,

David L. Rickman

posted 02-12-2008 10:04 PM            

Of course, no such program can escape the historical nitpickers (like me). I wish they hadn't used a cut-away of a S-IVB workshop when describing the military space station. I cringed when the script said Jim Bamford had to use Richard Lawyer to learn who the other MOL pilots were -- after showing him referring to the list of MOL pilots. The program also did Jim no favors by suggesting that he (and other of us space-wise history buffs) wouldn't have immediately recognized both the nametag reading "Lawyer" and the suit it was attached to as MOL-related.

But I especially enjoyed the underwater EVA/IVA scenes. I have been searching for info on MOL underwater training, and "Astrospies" gave me pictures and leads for searching.

The Russian underwater scenes looked like they were actually from the Hydrolab at Star City, which was opened in Jan. 1980. Besides "Astrospies," is there evidence that the Soviets did underwater training before 1980 (i.e., 4 years after the last Almaz spy flight)?

All in all, an enjoyable and illuminating program.

posted 02-12-2008 10:30 PM               

I generally enjoyed it, primarily for the interviews. I could have done without some of the introductory material about Bamford, which made him come across more as uniformed than as astute researcher they tried to paint him as, but I suppose that's a minor quibble.

posted 02-13-2008 06:30 AM               

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Originally posted by John Charles:
The Russian underwater scenes looked like they were actually from the Hydrolab at Star City, which was opened in Jan. 1980. Besides "Astrospies," is there evidence that the Soviets did underwater training before 1980 (i.e., 4 years after the last Almaz spy flight)?

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posted 02-13-2008 01:53 PM               

Mr. Bamford begins his "revelation" of the mysterious Manned Orbiting Laboratory with the discovery of a pair of blue spacesuits and their connection to a list of mysterious Air Force astronauts. He goes on to find and interview the still living astronauts on this list. He then attempts balances this program by revealing a portion of the Soviet Almaz program and interviewing pilots of the Almaz stations flown as Salyut stations.

In fairness, Mr. Bamford should have balanced this list of American Military Astronauts with the Almaz Cosmonauts of Chelomei's OKB-52 Design Bureau. This secret group of cosmonauts, chosen in 1966, were trained to fly the "real" Almaz station, which just like MOL, would have been launched topped with a manned capsule. But unlike MOL, there would have been additional manned TKS modules launched to join with, and enlarge the station. While he did touch lightly on this, his focus was more on the Almaz program scaled back AFTER the MOL program was canceled.

OPS-4 was also misrepresented as a fully intact un-launched Almaz station. Chelomei's original intent was to launch OPS-4 as the first true Almaz station, equipped with it's own manned capsule and a TKS docking port. This station would also have a Mech-K Synthetic Aperture Radar replacing the AGAT camera, the advantage being that this system, while lower in resolution, could see through clouds and ocean waters. It would also have a new Shchit-2 space to space missile system (for defense, of course), Orlan Suits, and a new broadcast antenna similar to Mir's Altair system. It was later scaled "back" (or "forward" depending on your point of view) to an unmanned version equipped with two TKS docking ports. AT some point communication, SAR, and rendezvous systems were removed from the OPS-4, possibly for use with other stations. It's unclear whether the Shchit-2 system was ever constructed and attached to the station.

Only by seeing the full potential of the Almaz program can we appreciate the scale at which it was cut back. And by failing to show this, James Bamford failed in his attempt to show the real story of the "Astrospies".

posted 02-13-2008 03:02 PM               

I was one that had NOT heard of Almaz... did that "cannon" violate peaceful uses of outer space treaties?

Of course, most of what they aired about MOL was not news to me, having lived through that time... and I think that Mike Collins can be seen in the back row of one of the group training classes?

And I assumed that the "space website" that discussed the suits found at the Cape was indeed, our beloved collectSPACE!

posted 02-13-2008 09:32 PM               

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Originally posted by spaceman1953:
I was one that had NOT heard of Almaz... did that "cannon" violate peaceful uses of outer space treaties?

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And I too recognized Mike Collins in the back of the classroom!

David L. Rickman

posted 02-13-2008 11:14 PM            

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Originally posted by spaceman1953:
...and I think that Mike Collins can be seen in the back row of one of the group training classes?

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[edited by JBC on Feb. 15 to correct mis-identification of Engle and Freeman.]

posted 02-15-2008 07:17 PM               

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Originally posted by John Charles:
The Russian underwater scenes looked like they were actually from the Hydrolab at Star City, which was opened in Jan. 1980. Besides "Astrospies," is there evidence that the Soviets did underwater training before 1980 (i.e., 4 years after the last Almaz spy flight)?

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Regards,