COOL COSMONAUT TITOV LETS NO SPACE SECRETS SLIP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700530010-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 27, 2004
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: May 8, 1962
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Refuse 200J/D A5 : CIA~ 1RDP75-001~ 19R000700530010-9
V
HE SAW 'FIREFLIE '
S T00
,
Cool Cosmonaut Tit~v Lets No Space Secrets Slip
By WILLIAM HINES
Star science Writer
'owers" rn?$tellthe Russians
more about the spy busi-
T telhgencicy as nothing
the Soviet Embassy yesterday._,
H
'
e easily even offhddl
,-aney, lived up to Ambassador Anatoly
Dobrynin's prediction that "he
will be able to withstand your
Post loaded questions."
The consensus was that if
,the short, wiry, 27-year-old pi-
lot is the archetype of the New
Soviet Man, then the N.S.M. is
a very cool cookie, indeed. Only
Once did Maj. Titov lose his
Composure, and that was. when
,he spotted a photographer lying
j)rone on the floor, intent on
jcertain angle.
He broke up.
,,able, fielding all questions with
aplomb, answering (and not-
answering) just as much as his
conscience and the party-line
prescribed, and getting in a few
healthy propaganda licks for
iL. such Soviet pet projects as dis-
armament.
More than 150 news repre-
N
sentatives jammed a second-
floor parlor to trade question-
and-answer thrusts with the
Soviet spaceman.
Comparisons between space-
men of the Soviet and Ameri-
can varities were inevitable.
Political orientation aside, it
was obvious that a cosmic pilot
of whatever nationality was
likely to be a quick thinker,
Like Lt. Col. John H. Glenn,.
Maj. Titov proved to be a man of ready wit.
A reporter asked whether the
next Russian in orbit would
be a small man like the 5-foot-
4 cosmonaut. He responded
with a grin that obviously a
five-ton spaceship can carry a
big man, and that small ones
are chosen because people like
to have their pictures taken
with cosmonauts.
If a cosmonaut were the size
of Ambassador Anatoly Dobry-
nin (a six-footer), Maj. Titov
explained, people behind him
wouldn't be able to be seen in
the picture.
Another reporter quizzed him
about the "cosmic fireflies"
which Col. Glenn reported see-
ing February 20 and which
Maj. Tito, said yesterday he,
too, had seen. The reporter
recalled' that a space agency
study had laid the firefly phe-
nomenon to bits of paint flak-
ing off the Friendship-7 cap-
GHERMAN TITOV
-AP Photo
sule, a theory Col. Glenn dis-
putes.
Maj. Titov replied thought-
fully that he believed the snow-
like flecks were created , by
rocket fuel. Then, with a
.twinkle in his blue eyes, he
added:
"From my ship Vostok-2,
I'm quite sure the paint was
not peeling."
He was asked if he thought
the day would come when So-
viet and American spacemen
would share the same capsule
on a trip to the moon. He
found in this question a propa-
ganda opening big enough to
drive a Stalin tank through.
"I don't know whether they
will fly to the moon or further,
but I'm sure they'll fly," he
replied. "And as far as the
time . is concerned, I'll tell you
it will be sooner if our coun-
tries come to an agreement
to prohibit war - to disarm.
"Then our countries will have
the opportunity to send men
into space. . . . The pilot may
be the representative of one
country-"
"The Soviet Union," Ambas-
sador Dobrynin, seated at Maj.
Titov's side, interjected.
Maj. Titov's non-answers to
technical questions were con-
ceded to be masterpieces. A
few were brushed aside with
the phrase, "It is of no im-
portance." But most were ac-
corded thoughtful, courteous,
detailed non-answers. The fact
that communication was fil-
tered through an interpreter
with a less-than-perfect com-
mand of English apparently
helped, too.
He sidestepped question s
about the seasickness reported
one-third of the way through
his 25-hour flight last August
6-7. "The person who told you
about it apparently flew with
me," he said sarcastically. "It
was in bad taste. My condition
was not bad."
He avoided discussions of
cosmonaut training and the
numbers of men involved. "Be-
fore the flight of Gagarin we
had more than a million appli-
cations for flight," he said.
"But now the number of appli-
cations has been decreased be-
cause people have seen that
the training is very hard. Any-
way, I think it is of no im-
portance. For the next flight
the cosmonaut is ready."
Other substantive questions
received similar treatment. And
always Maj. Titov returned to
the main theme: disarm first,
do-operate in space later.
,Would he go to Cape Canav-
eral or had he asked to go?
"i think we have not yet
reached the level of conditions
that will allow us to see mili-
tary rockets. We must have
disarmament."
An hour and two minutes
after the conference began,
Ambassador Dobrynin ended it
with the promise that Maj.
Titov will meet the press again
(the next time this evening at
the National Academy of Sci-
ences). The TV lights went
out, the crowd of newsmen
milled around, and Maj. Titov
left the conference room with
neither a hair nor a space-
secret out of place.
Approved For Release 2005/01/05 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000700530010-9