SOVIET OUTER-SPACE PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMING, MAY - AUGUST 1960: NEW FOCUS ON MANNED SPACE FLIGHT

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005460044
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: June 23, 2015
• Document Release Date: November 18, 2009
• Case Number: F-2009-01604
• Publication Date: September 1, 1960

?
ALL FBI INFORMATION CONTAINED
HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED
DATE 05-12-2008 BY 60322 UC/LP/PLJ/JCF
w
MVIET OUTER-SPACE PROJECTS AND PROGRATIMING,`MAY * AUGUST 1960:
SPACE FLIGHT
Current Developments Series
CD-173
.1 September 1960
RE
EX-1.
C-52
NOT t VKJJt.u
4. SAP 29 iyy
APPROVED FOR
RELEASE^DATE:
09-Nov-2009
 0
Radio Propaganda Reports are based on the analy-
sis of propaganda covered by FBIS and are is-
sued without any outside coordination. Inferences
drawn solely from propaganda content should be
tested against other evidence before being accepted.
This material contains information affecting, the National Defense of
the United States within the meaning of the espionage laws, Title 18,
USC, Sees. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which
in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
 0
0. SEPTEMBER 1960
This is the sixth in a series of reports tracing Soviet
propaganda on outer-space developments since the sputnik
launchings. Prior reports in this series were:
RS.22 of 2 February 1959, "I scow Propaganda on
Soviet Astronautics: Indications of Problems
and Forecasts of New-Achievements"
CD.141 of 13 May 1959, "Soviet Outer-Space Pro-
jects: Propaganda Anticipations. of New Achieve-
ments"
CD.151 of 7 August 1959, "Soviet Outer-Space
Projects and Programming: May-July 1959"
CD.159 of 9 December 1959, "Soviet Outer-Space
Projects and Programming: August-November 1959"
CD.166.of 5 May 196Q, "Soviet Outer-Space Pro-
jects and Programming: December 1959-April 1960"
 CONFINTIAL PROPAGANDA REPORT
1 SEPTEMBER 1960
ALL FBI INFORMATION CONTAINED
HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED
DATE 05-12-2008 BY 60322 UC/LP/PLJ/JCF
SOVIET OUTER-SPACE PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMING, MAY - AUGUST 1960:
NEW FOCUS ON MANNED SPACE FLIGHT
Summary
1. Discussion-of Soviet progress toward manned space flight now dominates
Moscow's comment on astronautics, to the-virtual exclusion of any other
space project. The trend toward emphasis on manned flight began with
the launching of the first spaceship satellite in mid-May, which brought
the first public Soviet commitment to the man-in-space race. With the
June recovery of an animal-carrying rocket, the July test firings into
the Pacific of a "powerful multistage carrier rocket," and the mid-August
launching of the second spaceship and recovery of its animal payload,
science spokesmen have become progressively more confident about success-
ful, flight by a Soviet astronaut in a foreseeable future.
2. Assurances that manned flight will not be undertaken until it is abso-
lutely safe continue to be offered. But where such-assurances before
May were heavily emphasized and were calculated to caution. against
premature expectations, they now appear as. qualifiers to.optimistic
forecasts that the problems of safe flight are well on the way to solu-
tion.
3?. Launchings of satellites carrying more highly developed animals are
envisaged asthe next steps preliminary to manned space flight. The
orbiting of increasingly heavy earth satellites, a prominent subject
since January, is now discussed in relation to the manned-flight effort
more frequently that `' .ji the period before May.
4. That the-USSR leads in'the space race is both implied and?stated explicitly.
Forecasts that a Soviet man will be first in outer space have been reit-
erated, in one instance by an Academy of Sciences official--an unusually
authoritative source for such predictions. And one science commentator
has claimed a "three to five year" lead for the USSR--an unusually precise
comparison. Direct comparisons between U.S. and Soviet space programming
picture the Soviet experiments as much more comprehensive and stress
the standard theme that the USSR follows peaceful scientific pursuits
while the United States gears its experiments to militaristic and espionage
purposes.
 CONFFNTIAL" PR3ANDA REPORT
1 SEPTEMBER L960
SOVIET OUTER-SPACE PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMING, MAY - AUGUST 1960:
NEW FOCUS ON MANNED SPACE FLIGHT
A new, steadily sharpening focus on manned.space flight has
characterized Moscow's propaganda on astronautics since the
mid-May spaceship-satellite success, which brought an abandon-
ment of earlier cautious reticence and , the' first public Soviet
commitment to the man-in-space race. Since the second space-
ship success in, August, Moscow propagandists have played up
the man-in-space effort to the virtual exclusion of any other
space projects.
Thus Soviet science commentators currently give only token
attention to plans for further rocket flights to the moon
and prospects for sending a rocket to Venus or Mars. Moon
probes had been mentioned prominently before May as achieve-
ments likely "in the near future"; Mars or Venus rockets
were called already feasible, though uncertain primarily be-
cause of the "navigational season" problem.- These projects
continue to be mentioned as items on the working agenda,,but
the effort to generate an air of expectancy is now concen-
trated on manned flight.
The projected orbiting of still heavier earth satellites, a
prominent subject since the January Soviet rocket test in
the Pacific, is now related to the manned-flight effort more
frequently than in the propaganda before May.
Somewhat increased comment explicitly contrasting U.S. with
Soviet progress includes the claim that the USSR leads the
United States in space technology by three to-five years (a
precise comparison of the sort heretofore avoided by Soviet
spokesmen) and an.unusually authoritative reiteration (by an
official of the Academy of Sciences) that "a Soviet man" will
be first in outer space.
Progressively Increased Confidence About Manned Flight
Prior to the May launching of the first spaceship satellite, Soviet
science spokesmen acknowledged. only indirectly that the USSR was moving
ahead with an actual program for putting a manned vehicle in space. By
October 1959 the Soviet press was carrying detailed'discussions of labo-
ratory studies of the effects of speed, altitude, and gravitational forces
CONF NTIAL
 CONF/ENTIAL PROPAGANDA REPORT
on the human` organism, publishing photographs.of test chambers and men
in protective flying gear, and lauding the achievements of Soviet test
pilots. Forecasts that the first astronaut would be a Soviet test
pilot became somewhat more frequent in late 1959, conveying.a sense of
increased optimism.
But there-was still no direct reference to a Soviet astronaut-in-
training program. All propaganda on manned flight pictured it as the
most remote of Soviet undertakings, pointing to the crucial problems of
safe flight and return that remained to be solved. The Soviet people
were assured repeatedly that no Soviet man would be sent into space
before his safety could be guaranteed. The U.S. Mercury project, men-
tioned for the first time in Soviet media in the November (No. 11)
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, was disparaged as "sheer sensationalism," and
Radio Moscow's North American listeners were told that "it is wrong to
think manned flight into space is the main or top-priority objective"
of Soviet scientists.
The 15 May Spaceship Satellite: The 15 May launching was the first
one to be described by Soviet spokesmen as part of a program for putting
a manned vehicle in space. Noting that the first spaceship had a
pressurized cabin on board which contained a dummy space man and "all
the necessary equipment for future manned flight," the official TASS
announcement said the launching "lays the beginning for the difficult
endeavors to build reliable spaceships guaranteeing safe manned flights
into outer space."
TASS on 18 May quoted an IZVESTIA article by Professor G. Rosenberg
as calling the spaceship "the first of a series of satellites designed
to solve the problem of human travel in space." Other press articles
and . radio. commentaries were equally explicit about the relationship
of the 15 May launching to a man-in-space program. And one scientist
went so far as to predict, in a TASS interview, that the flight of a
Soviet man into space might be possible "within months."
The June,Launching: The launching and safe recovery in June of a
Soviet rocket carrying animals was hailed by Soviet commentators as
"another step forward along the way of preparing for launching a manned
spaceship." The biophysical studies made in connection with the
rocket flight, which was billed as a geophysical year experiment, were
described by Academician Blagonravov (TASS, 5 July) as "a preliminary
phase toward manned space flight."
July Pacific Tests: The 19 August orbiting of the second spaceship
satellite was preceded, like the May launching, by test firings into
the Pacific. The firing.on.5 and 7 July of "a new version of a powerful
CONIF ENTIAL
 0 CONF~ENTIAL. PRc ANDA REPORT
1 rrr.i nr r nn/n
- 4 -
multistage carrier rocket" was said to have yielded all data necessary
to complete the development of a carrier rocket "designed for the con-
quest of outer space."
The August Spaceship: Although comment following the May spaceship
launching had indicated that the reentry problem would be tackled.with
the highest priority, the fact that an attempt was to be made to re-
cover"the second spaceship in August was not preannounced. The TASS
announcement of the launching on 19 August hinted at a recovery at-
tempt, but was carefully phrased to avoid too explicit a commitment in
the event that the attempt failed: TASS said the main purpose of the
launching was "to develop further a system for manned space flight,
safety of manned flight, and return to. earth." (This wording contrasted
with the explicit statement at the time of the May launching that no
attempt at recovery would be made; TASS predicted in May that the first
spaceship would "descend upon command" and "burn up in the denser
layers of the atmosphere.")
The successful recovery of the animal payload, announced on 20 August,
was welcomed as another great stride toward the goal of putting a
,manned satellite in orbit around the earth. The priority of the man-
in-space project was made clear. Thus Academician Topchiev commented
at a Moscow press conference on 24 August that
the steady increase in weight and size of Soviet artificial
satellites and space rockets is the fundamental scientific
and technical line of the experimental work directed toward
a single aim--the design and production of a spaceship that
would provide all necessary conditions for manned space
flight.
Other comment has similarly superseded the disclaimers made as recently
as January that manned space flight was "not the top-priority objective"
of Soviet scientists. And where in.January a prominent Soviet scientist
questioned whether a man in space would really be able to solve any
problems that could not be solved by automatic devices (Academician
Sedov in NEW TIMES No. 3, January 1960), science commentators now
observe that even the most perfect automatic devices will not preclude
the need for sending a man into space.
Continued Insistence on Caution) But in Optimistic Context
Soviet commentators have by no means stopped tempering their optimistic
forecasts with assurances that manned space flight will be very care-
fully prepared before it is undertaken. One scientist wrote in PRAVDA,
according to a 25 August TASS dispatch, that manned flight "cannot be
prompted by considerations of publicity"--the considerations imputed by
Soviet propagandists to the United States.
C0NF,YDENTIAL
 CONF)ENTIAL PROPAGANDA REPORT
That manned space flights will be preceded by the launching,of a satel-
lite with more highly developed animals than dogs has been indicated
by a number of spokesmen. Thus Professor Leonid Grigoriyevich, in a
home service talk on 21 August, said that although dogs have proved
to be good subjects for rocket experiments, "before a manned flight
can be made it will be necessary to conduct experiments with more
highly developed animals." Scientist Voronin.was quoted in the same
broadcast as saying that further experiments would be made with
monkeys, and that this would 'e followed by "observation of man in
conditions near to those to be met in ispace.'r
(Scientist V.V. Parin, on the other hand, told representatives of the
press .on 24 August that it was-"not absolutely necessary" to send an
ape into outer space prior to man'?s flight, though such an experiment
"would not be useless." In an article in PRAVDA on 28 August, Parin
In similar vein, Kukarkin, the deputy chairman of the Astronomic
Council of the USSR Academy of Sciences, told Soviet radio, listeners
on 20 August that "man will be launched into space only when his
health, his life, and his possibility of returning to earth are fully
guaranteed." Academician Danil Markov emphasized (TASS, 22.August)
that "cosmic medicine is still confronted with.many problems to
secure safe flights of explorers of the universe and their safe return
to earth." And physiologist K. Anukhin told the Soviet home audience
on 20 August that "a man cannot be sent into the cosmos before a most
detailed study has been made of the state of the organisms.of an
animal in cosmic space."
Nevertheless, such statements appear now in the context of a greatly
increased confidence in successful resolution of these problems in
a foreseeable future.
Two prominent Academicians, Berg and Ambartsumyan, have stressed that
the "faultless.operation" of the telemetric system.and all the auto-
matic mechanisms in the second spaceship satellite make it possible
to say with confidence that "the day is not far distant when the first
astronaut will make an interplanetary voyage."
Several science commentators have used the phrase "the hour is near"
to indicate the imminence of a manned space flight attempt. And the
vice chairman of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences,
T. Gorbachev, was quoted by TASS on 20 August as expressing confid-
ence that "a Soviet man will be the first to venture into space."
Prior statements to this effect have not come from such authoritative
spokesmen.
Further Experiments with Animals Anticipated
 CONF)NTIAL PR(*ANDA REPORT
l .SEPTEMBER 1960
said that Soviet biologists and doctors look forward to a repeti-
tion:of the August spaceship experiment, "which is immediately
connected with the health.of future cosmonauts.")
The authoritative spokesman.Academician Topchiev stated at the 24 Au-
gust Moscow press conference that "notwithstanding many investiga-
tions already made, the problem of manned space flight is so comprehensive
that another series of-experimental launchings is still ahead in-order
to solve the great number of tasks connected with mants safety in
.outer space and his return to earth." And Academician Kukarkin said
over Radio Moscow on 20 August that televised observation of the
behavior'of animals in space during forthcoming experiments "will un-
doubtedly bring us closer to solution" of the problem.of safe manned
flight.
Continued Disparagement of U.S. Space Program
Moscow has, in the customary manner, brushed off the recent U.S.
space achievements as insignificant. Soviet newscasts briefly re-
ported the recovery of -tjie Discoverer XIII capsule;, but barely mentioned
the launching of Discoverer XIV and ignored the mid-air recovery of its
payload on 19 August, the same day the second Soviet spaceship was
launched.
Somewhat more explicitly commentators contrast U.S. with Soviet progress
in space experimentation and play on the standard theme that the Soviet
,program pursues peaceful ends while the American..one serves militaristic
and espionage purposes.
One of the more charitable Soviet discussions of the U.S. space program,
in a BULLETIN OF THE USSR ACADEMX OF SCIENCES article reviewed by TASS
on 6 August, saw the U.S. and Soviet programs as.following the same
lines.except in two respects:
? The U.S.. experiments, the BULLETIN said, have emphasized individual
problems, while the Soviet.ones combined broad. meteorological ob-
servation of the stratosphere with complex experiments to determine
interrelationships between individual phenomena. Because the Soviet
experiments were so comprehensive,- the article said, it was not
necessary for the Soviet Union to send up as many satellites as the
United States Shad launched. The BULLETIN said that with the exception
,of Explorer VII (launched 13 October 1959), all the U.S.. satellites,
"owing to their small size," were designed to solve isolated physical
problems.
? All the Soviet rockets and'sputniks were launched in accordance with
a peaceful scientific program, while the American. experiments served
military ends: "These [U.S.]-experiments and the use of,outer space
 CONE ENTTAL 46 PROPAGANDA REPORT
1 SEPTEMBER 1960
for gross and open espionage, as borne out by the launching.of the
American Midas satellite, constitute a big danger to international
cooperation?and.represent provocation from the political viewpoint."
Other commentators have contrasted specific Soviet and U.S. experiments:
Thus the Discoverer project has been described as designed for "space
espionage" while-the Soviet spaceship "is a ship of peace and friendship"
(PRAVDA editorial, 24 August). Academician Federov wrote in the 21 Au-
gust PRAVDA that the Western press had )'grossly exaggerated the re-
covery, after the 12th unsuccessful attempt, of a.small box of film
from a satellite [Discoverer XIIIJ." The latest Soviet feat, on the
other hand, brought the "hour" nearer when man will for the first time
fly into outerkspace.
As for overall rate of progress, Soviet leadership of the space race
is implied most frequently by the forecasts that the first astronaut
will be a Soviet citizen and by the characterizations of the Soviet
experiments as more comprehensive and more productive. One unusually
precise comparison.of rate of progress was made in a home service talk
by science propagandist Pokrovskiy, who claimed on 21 August that the
USSR leads the United States in space technology "by three to five
years."