Home Science Stealing a Soviet spaceship – The boldest mission of the Cold War

Stealing a Soviet spaceship – The boldest mission of the Cold War

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During the Cold War, the Soviet Union won the space race, the American CIA was not out of the way, when a Soviet Lunic spacecraft embarked on a global tour to successfully promote the world. , giving the CIA a unique opportunity to ‘steal’ technical and technological secrets.
“Sputnik crisis”

There is nothing wrong and exaggerated about the threat posed by the Soviet Union, both military and ideological, in the contemporary American perception of Sputnik satellite. Shortly after Sputnik was successfully launched into low-Earth orbit, the US and the West fell into what became known as the “Sputnik Crisis”. The early Soviet spatial achievements were regarded by many around the globe as a testament to the superiority and effectiveness of the Soviet model of government and the social structure of the Soviet State. In the New York Times alone, “Sputnik 1” was mentioned in articles averaging 11 times a day between October 6 and October 31, 1957 – America’s fear of Lien. Bucket in space. With each subsequent victory in technology, the Soviet Union not only demonstrated what could be done through an economic and policy approach, but also demonstrated what American capitalism could not do …, or at least, it can’t be done quickly. The fear of the communists not only winning mentally but also the embracing heart and mind led directly to the establishment of the Aerospace Research Agency (NASA), which invests in the resources for missile and orbit science, strong funding for defense programs, and prestige enhancement to offset the advantages of the Soviet Union are becoming evident in many fields. N1 boosters of the Soviet Union; Source: spacethatneverwas.tumblr.com In November 1957, the Soviet Union became the first country to put a live animal, the Laika, into orbit in Sputnik 2. The following month, the United States made its first attempt to send a Vanguard TV3 satellite (Test Vehicle 3 ) of the Naval Research Laboratory into orbit, but the rocket only flew about 4 feet off the launch pad before collapsing again and exploding. However, the following month, the United States entered space with Explorer 1, and later that year, NASA replaced the National Aviation Advisory Committee (NACA) with a mission to bring the US towards supremacy in space. . In 1959, the technically faulty Soviet Luna 1 rocket flew further than the platforms before it, escaped the orbit of the Moon and eventually entered the orbit of the Sun, but later that year, the spacecraft The Soviet Union Luna 2 pillar reached the lunar surface for the first time. Soon, Luna 3 sent an image of the surface of the Moon from orbit and by 1960, the Soviet Union was the first to send animals (the dogs Belka and Strelka) and plants into space and back. and still live. And just a year later, the Soviet Union brought a real human being, the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space. Plan your spaceship “explore” In 1959, for promotion, the Soviet Union decided to choose a number of technologies, vehicles and equipment that represented the great progress of the Soviet Union for a traveling exhibition. The opportunity to take a closer look at the exhibition’s most precious jewel – a Lunic spaceship very similar to the Luna 2, housed in a deck above the modified rocket has arrived. When they got as close as possible, a few plainclothes agents were surprised to find the spacecraft hidden behind glass cuts in real missile housings. The declassified reports said that some people gasped, raised their eyebrows, were shocked to know the incident, and believed in Langley’s ears (nicknamed the US Central Intelligence Agency – CIA). Immediately, plans and plans to “explore” the Lunic more carefully began to be mapped out. But at the display site, soldiers guarded the ship at all times, both during and after hours, when museums and galleries were closed; Access to the Lunic information gathering while it was on display was practically impossible, so the CIA turned their attention to the way the Lunic was transported from one exhibit to another. The Soviet Vostok missile; Source: djournal.com While all exhibit artifacts were transported from one city to another by train (with guards), the CIA identified several gaps in how each one was transported from the site. exhibition to train station. The artifacts are simply placed in compact crates and loaded onto a truck carrying them to the train station for loading and unloading. This transit was not closely monitored by Soviet security, with items arriving at random intervals and little coordination between transport forces; The guardians at the railway warehouses were not even given a list. It was this shortcoming of Soviet security that gave the CIA, above all, the opportunity it needed. Missile robbery from the highway When night came, in order to carry out their plans, plainclothes CIA agents followed the van carrying Lunic out of the exhibition site, not forgetting to keep an eye on Soviet security. Surprisingly, despite tight security throughout the exhibits, the vehicle carrying a container filled with Soviet national secrets made a short trip to the train station completely unaccompanied. When the truck approached, turned toward the train station, the CIA agent simply let the car pass and escorted the driver to a nearby hotel. An agent jumped into the driver’s seat and drove the truck into a nearby, chosen rescue park that has high walls obscured. This was one of the most daring agents of the Cold War, and could certainly spark a clash between the planet’s two nuclear powers … For thirty minutes, CIA agents hovered over in the dark surrounding their newly stolen truck, waiting for some indication that the Soviets noticed Lunic’s absence. When nothing seemed to be suspicious, they climbed into the 20-foot long, 11-foot-wide and 14-foot-deep crate located inside the truck. Their job is to approach the Lunic spaceship, disassemble it and take pictures of what they can, then reassemble it, stuff it back inside the tank and transfer it to the train station before morning, so that the Soviets would not know what happened. Professional work The barrel itself has been reused over and over again, making it fairly easy to open without leaving any signs of being touched. With no way to pull the rocket out of the barrel, however, the spies soon realized they had no choice but to get in and do their job inside the barrel. Agents take off their shoes and split into groups, climbing to the bottom of the box using a rope ladder they carry to access the secrets stored inside. The CIA played an important role in stealing Soviet missile technology; Source: WATM Soon, their plans went wrong – the Lunic spacecraft won’t have difficulty reaching through the missile deck it’s located in, but when attempting to penetrate, CIA agents find a small seal. in plastic with engraved Soviet logo. To reach the spacecraft, it was necessary to break the seal, but doing so would almost certainly reveal their interference to Soviet authorities. Soon, calls to CIA parts in the area, and were told that they could re-seal the seal and arrive in time for reassembling and returning rockets in the morning. Although the engine was removed, the pylons as well as the fuel and oxidant tanks remained, providing the CIA with enough information to extrapolate the engine size and the missile’s payload capacity. Once the seal is removed, the Lunic itself has been pulled out, disassembled, and photographed in great detail. The information gathered was not only valuable from a design point of view, it also provided important context with regard to the Soviet missile program. Thanks to the recorded measurements and weights for the payload, the CIA will be able to better understand the telemetry data it collects around each Soviet launch. It is an important intelligence victory for the United States and will continue to shape the plans and policies pertaining to America’s space efforts for many years to come. But getting information is only part of the job. As the moonlight faded, CIA agents working with hand tools and socks ended up reassembling the Lunic and its missile housings, adding seals, removing wire ladders, and fixing the top. of the barrel. By 5 a.m., the original driver was returned his truck and his “cargo”, and he delivered it to the train station in time to deliver the first guard to come to work at 7:00 a.m. . The information gathered from the campaign gave the US a more complete understanding of what the Soviet Union was capable of, allowing the Americans to plan their appropriate efforts. America is no longer active in the dull anxiety of the “Sputnik crisis” without the actual data it needs to substantially assess the situation. It was in that newly found knowledge that America’s future spatial dominance began to sprout. In order to defeat the enemy, it is imperative to know where they are and what they can do… and the CIA has discovered it in the back of a stolen truck. Less than ten years later, the United States came ahead in the space race when the Apollo 11 landed on the Moon just before a Soviet amphibious ship crashed on the other side. More than twenty years later, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War officially ended./.