Spaceflight Has Many Well-Kept Secrets

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30879, 12 October 1965, Page 12

Spaceflight Has Many Well-Kept Secrets

Last week was the eighth anniversary of the launching of the first earth satellite, Sputnik I, which was placed in orbit by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957.

On this day the doorway to space was flung open and the age of space exploration began. But what of the rocket which performed this momentous feat? It is sad to report that even after eight years of tremendous progress in rocket technology not even a photograph of the Sputnik I launch rocket has been made public. Unlike historic aeroplanes or railway locomotives, the first satellite cannot be found in replica in any science museum for the world to study and admire. It is difficult to imagine what the Russians would lose by making pictures and other data on this rocket freely available. Adapted Missile Most likely Sputnik I was orbited by an adapted version of a military ballistic missile which by now must surely be obsolete. Perhaps the Russians want the world to believe that their initial success in spaceflight was gained by some secret technique as yet unguessed by the West. If so, it has not done them much good because the Americans have long since drawn level in rocket performance. The deep secrecy surrounding the Russian space programme may have slight advantages. Russia's rivals are kept guessing and every Russian spaceflight can be hailed as a new triumph, even if its success is only marginal. Someties, as happened with sometimes, as happened with the flight of Luna VII last week, it is impossible to conceal a failure. This has happened often enough to indicate that Russian spacecraft

are no more reliable than their American counterparts The world penalty of secrecy is the suppression of evidence which later may be necessary to clear a nation’s honour. Some months ago there was a good example of this: a group of Italians claimed to have evidence of Soviet cosmonauts dying in space. This was, naturally enough, widely publicised. Then came the inevitable Soviet denial. In the newspaper "Red Star,” the Russian Air Force General Nikolai Kamanin declared that the reports were “shameless concoctions.” Cannot Be Proved Who are we to believe? We don’t know who is right and may never know. The Italians have the problem of proving that their evidence is genuine. On the other hand, in spite of their denials, the Russians cannot prove that their cosmonauts have all returned safely. As long as they choose not to announce their manned spaceflights until after they are safely in orbit the Russians suppress the very evidence they need. By contrast, if the Americans ever lose an astronaut — and they are bound to some day—the whole world will know about it immediately. When such a fatality occurs it will be a most unhappy day for the Americans. But until that day, or until they start secretly shooting men into space, the Americans can honestly claim not to have lost an astronaut, and the world will believe them. Technical Items From time to time Russia releases one or two items of technical data which seem to be aimed at keeping critcis at bay. General Kamanin in his article mentioned that the carrier rockets for the Voshkod space capsules have seven engines with a total thrust of 650 tons. This would be about right for launching the large Russian manned space vehicles like the Voshkods.

However, the general spoils his article by going on to state that the United States does not as yet possess rockets like this. Such a statement ignores the American Saturn L which produces 750 tons of thrust. But we must be grateful to General Kamanin for letting us know the thrust rating of a key rocket in the Soviet space programme and permitting us to make our own comparisons. All we could wish for now is just one good clear photograph of it. And we would like it to be more detailed than the official Tass photograph of the Vostok I launch rocket. The flight of Vostok I was as historic as that of Sputnik I, because Vostok I carried the first human spaceman, Yuri Gagarin, into orbit around the earth. But the official photograph shown on this page of Vostok I lifting off, could just as easily be a photograph of a cucumber standing upright in a heap of cottonwool. It is a great shame that Tass could not obtain a more convincing photograph to give to the world. Space Espionage Any discussion of secrecy in space activities would be incomplete without mention of the satellite espionage currencly undertaken by both the United States and the Soviet Union. Both nations have orbited “spy-in-the-sky” vehicles. Mr Khrushchev, before his downfall, boasted that he had satellite photographs of United States missile sites every bit as clear as those the Americans have of his installations.

A large number of the 90 or more Cosmos satellites have no designated objective in space. And the Americans almost every week launch a satellite with an undisclosed task to perform. The national security of Russia and America may demand these secret missions in space: but space holds quite enough secrets of its own without the space-faring nations adding to them.