On 22 October 1965, a letter was sent to Leonid Brezhnev about the challenges facing the Soviet Union’s once all-powerful space program. The letter that hit Brezhnev’s desk was probably worth his attention for two reasons: first, it carried the classified “Top Secret,” and second, it was signed by seven cosmonauts, well-known across the globeContinueContinue reading “Cosmonauts to Brezhnev in Top Secret 1965 Letter: Soviet Woes and US Gains in Space”
Tag Archives: NASA
Top Secret: Months Before Apollo-Soyuz Launch, Leak Detected in Soviet Docking System
On July 15, 1975, within a few hours of each other, manned spacecraft – the Soviet Soyuz-19 and the American Apollo – took off into the sky to conduct an experiment in docking and creating the first-ever unified international orbital complex. Two days later, Soviet cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov met American astronauts ThomasContinueContinue reading “Top Secret: Months Before Apollo-Soyuz Launch, Leak Detected in Soviet Docking System”
Genesis of COSMOS 110: Exposing 4-Legged Cosmonauts in Space to Radiation Belts for 22 Days
Today’s document is actually a packet of documents, written 60 years ago on the cusp of a Soviet space experiment to study the effects of long-term radiation exposure of one-cell organisms and “biochemically and biologically important matter.” The experiment would take place as part of the Cosmos 110 flight program, to be launched approximately oneContinueContinue reading “Genesis of COSMOS 110: Exposing 4-Legged Cosmonauts in Space to Radiation Belts for 22 Days”
ROSCOSMOS Publishes Declassified Documents Related to the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
The website for the Russian State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS published a treasure trove of unclassified documents, 36 in all, covering hundreds of pages to celebrate the 17 July 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission. In the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the second celebrated Soviet-American handshake over the Elbe River, we’ll be publishing as many interesting reportsContinueContinue reading “ROSCOSMOS Publishes Declassified Documents Related to the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project”
Translating History 