![]() ![]() As a result, documentation and even plans for the shuttle were all considered unclassified–and readily available to the public. While this separation may have been more about aesthetics than function (nearly every space effort had military implications), NASA did not treat its shuttle program like it was the development of a weapon system at all. A space shuttle, however, would certainly be a lot tougher to steal… but as it turned out, they wouldn’t have to.Īmerica’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, was a civilian agency that was clearly delineated from America’s military. The Soviets were able to glean a great deal of information about missile technology from the single missile they acquired and rapidly put Soviet variants of the missile into production. For instance, in the late 1950s, the Soviets got their hands on one of America’s highly capable air-to-air missiles, the AIM-9 Sidewinder, through a deal brokered with China (and one pilot’s incredibly good luck). Without help, the answer seemed to be a resounding no, but the Soviets were no strangers to reverse engineering American technology. Related: The US military just sent its first biological experiment to space “Brezhnev understood, yes, of course, an alternative weapon is necessary.” “They began to use the shuttle to frighten Leonid Illyich Brezhnev and they explained to him that damned shuttle could zoom down on Moscow at any minute, bomb it to smithereens and fly away,” a Russian journalist wrote in 1991, just before the Soviet Union fell. ![]() Just as defense officials in the United States may have over-estimated (or intentionally inflated) the threat posed by the Soviet Union’s various military and technological programs, Smirnov and his supporters knew that it was in their best interest to really sell the idea that the American shuttle posed a serious threat to Soviet interests. It is capable, through a side maneuver, of changing its orbit in such a way that it would find itself at the right moment right over Moscow, possibly with dangerous cargo,” Smirnov explained in the meeting. NASA’s Space Shuttle Enterprise under construction in 1976. Two years later, as NASA’s efforts were beginning to take shape, a secret meeting was held in the Kremlin between the head of the Soviet Union’s Military-Industrial Commission, Vladimir Smirnov, and the Soviet leader at the time, Leonid Brezhnev. The American space shuttle program had roots that reached all the way back to the Apollo era, but the concept itself wasn’t presented to the public until 1972. Related: Project Horizon: Nukes and shotguns on the moon Using the Cold War as rocket fuel Richard Nixon meets Leonid Brezhnev June 19, 1973, during the Soviet Leader’s visit to the U.S. In fact, by Columbia’s first launch, the Soviets had already begun development on their own space shuttle–one that bore a striking resemblance to NASA’s new crown jewel. The Soviets had been watching America’s space shuttle program mature, thanks to America’s more media-friendly approach to space travel. Astronaut Scholarship Foundation logo top disc illustration.The success of Columbia’s first mission was an exciting time for the United States, but on the other side of the globe, it left Moscow in a sour mood.Pen Material: Stainless steel with printed graphics.Standard Tornado Rollerball Pen Size, Pen Length: 5.11 in.Limited Edition number engraved on the top ring of each pen.Limited Edition of 1958 pieces (Significant to the year NASA was founded).Retro 1951 Tornado Limited Edition "Columbia" Rollerball Pen Specifications Retro 51 donates proceeds of each sale to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation - a 501(c)3 non-profit created in 1984 by the Mercury 7 astronauts to encourage university students to pursue scientific excellence. The "Columbia" design is limited to 1,958 pieces worldwide and is packaged in a commemorative graphic tube. This 2023 Tornado limited edition pen is individually engraved on the top ring with the edition number. The seven brave crew members have been memorialized through the Patricia Huffman Smith Museum, Columbia Memorial Space Center plus countless naming dedications and media tributes. Despite its many successful missions, the Columbia’s 28th and final flight ended tragically on Februafter 16 days in space. This shuttle was an incredibly innovative step forward for space travel flying twenty-seven successful missions that helped expand our understanding of the universe. Over the course of its lifetime, it spent 300 days in space and orbited Earth 4000 times. Launched from the Kennedy Space Center in April 1981, the Columbia was the very first NASA orbiter to reach space. ![]()
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