There was a much deeper split in the space movement concerning Star Wars in the early 1980s, right after the Reagan speech. Apparently, some people thought that implementation of SDI would require really cheap launch vehicles, and so they advocated full support of SDI. The other side said the opposite. On the pro-SDI side were some of the science fiction writers who used to frequent the space movement, and the resulting ideological split effectively divorced some of them thereafter from the space movement, except for activities involving SDI, such as DC-X.
I'll be interested in any document dealing with the SDIO - NASA relations in the 80's.
I've discovered those missions recently- notably the Delta 183 or Delta Star. Looks as if original plans involved the soviets and Mir: kind of SDIO Apollo - Soyuz.
Quote from: Archibald on 05/26/2011 11:00 amI've discovered those missions recently- notably the Delta 183 or Delta Star. Looks as if original plans involved the soviets and Mir: kind of SDIO Apollo - Soyuz. Where do you get that?
The Delta 183 program in 1989 was to be another collaborative effort between the U.S.S.R. and the United States, this time space experiments involving Mir. Specifically, an unmanned spacecraft would be deployed and maneuvered into the vicinity of Mir. An American astronaut and a Soviet cosmonaut aboard Mir would engage in extravehicular experiments using National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space-maneuvering backpacks to inspect the spacecraft, examine material samples, and perform other tasks. Unfortunately, before negotiations were completed, a premature report of the discussions appeared in The Washington Post, and the Soviet Union withdrew.
Quote from: Blackstar on 05/26/2011 01:41 pmQuote from: Archibald on 05/26/2011 11:00 amI've discovered those missions recently- notably the Delta 183 or Delta Star. Looks as if original plans involved the soviets and Mir: kind of SDIO Apollo - Soyuz. Where do you get that?There http://www.aero.org/publications/crosslink/summer2001/03.htmlQuoteThe Delta 183 program in 1989 was to be another collaborative effort between the U.S.S.R. and the United States, this time space experiments involving Mir. Specifically, an unmanned spacecraft would be deployed and maneuvered into the vicinity of Mir. An American astronaut and a Soviet cosmonaut aboard Mir would engage in extravehicular experiments using National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space-maneuvering backpacks to inspect the spacecraft, examine material samples, and perform other tasks. Unfortunately, before negotiations were completed, a premature report of the discussions appeared in The Washington Post, and the Soviet Union withdrew. . PS: I have to take a look at L2 some day. I do know is it is worth the money they ask.
The Reagan Administration in May 1988 killed a US Air Force plan for a joint flight with US astronauts and USSR cosmonauts in Russian spacecraft to recover a part of an American Star Wars satellite. The US Air Force Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) proposed the trip to show the US will share SDI technology. In the plan, an American SDI satellite with a lunchbox-sized container of materials on its hull would be launched on a US rocket from Cape Canaveral. The box then would be recovered in a joint manned flight from the Soviet Union. USSR cosmonauts would ferry an American astronaut and a US manned maneuvering unit (MMU) in a Soyuz craft to the Mir space station. An MMU is a backpack with jets of compressed gas which propel untethered astronauts around space. The Soyuz, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on the central Asian steppe, would dock at Mir. An astronaut or a cosmonaut would use the MMU for a spacewalk from Mir to the SDI satellite to recover the package. NASA and the Pentagon did not confirm the plan existed, but NASA officials and some astronauts at Johnson Space Flight Center reportedly opposed the plan as engineers at a Martin Marietta manufacturing plant and at Johnson Space Flight Center looked into modifying an MMU to go through a Mir hatch.
a premature report of the discussions appeared in The Washington Post,
More on Delta 183 Quotea premature report of the discussions appeared in The Washington Post,http://www.deseretnews.com/article/4554/LET-SOVIETS-FETCH-SDI-TEST-SATELLITE-IDEA-IS-SHOT-DOWN-GIGGLES-GALORE-AT-THE-WHITE-HOUSE.html
The scheme was certainly wacky. But what about Reagan idea of sharing SDI technology with the Soviets, one way or another ? Was it wacky by itself ?