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Soviets Planned 'Invulnerable' Moon Base
NewsMax ^ | 9/20/04 | Carl Limbacher

Posted on 09/20/2004 5:39:43 PM PDT by wagglebee

In the days of the Cold War, Soviet commanders and their best scientists were working on a project to build military headquarters on the moon, the Novaya Gazeta weekly reports.

The paper writes that the lunar base project was developed 30 years ago and was abolished only because of its enormous cost.

The newspaper cited Aleksandr Yegorov, deputy general designer of the General Machine Building Design Bureau (the name of the bureau suggests that it deals with top secret military projects) as saying that he personally took part in the development of the lunar base project.

Soviet scientists considered the moon to be a very good place for a strategic headquarters as nuclear strikes on its surface would lose most of their destructive force. As the moon has no atmosphere, no shockwave could spread there and the radioactive dust would immediately fall out back on the surface without an atmosphere to carry it.

The designer also said that the USA had also developed a lunar base project and the Soviet scientists had been aware of these plans.

Yegorov said that the Soviet Union had planned to put two spaceships into orbit and assemble them into a single station that would fly to the moon. At first the lunar settlers were to live in moving shelters and later a stationary base was to be built.

Crews of four cosmonauts were to spend up to one year on the moon. To make the base habitable it would have been furnished with water and air purification systems and even a special space greenhouse.

The project was abolished only due to its enormous cost, Yegorov said. According to him, the Soviet project was "tens of times” more expensive than the Apollo project of the United States, which cost $34 billion.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: coldwar; moon; sovietunion; spacetravel; toutatis
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Please correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the Soviets unsuccessful in getting a man to the moon and then back alive?
1 posted on 09/20/2004 5:39:44 PM PDT by wagglebee
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To: wagglebee
They never attempted a manned moon landing. They did put a robot on the moon, I think in 1972.
2 posted on 09/20/2004 5:44:48 PM PDT by demlosers (The FreeRepublic Pajama Press!)
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To: wagglebee
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the Soviets unsuccessful in getting a man to the moon and then back alive?

That would be true. Besides, a military base on the moon with Earth as the target makes not the least bit of sense, zero sense tactically, zero sense strategically. It says right here that any military person that would plan otherwise more than about sizteen seconds should be busted down to E-1 and today.

3 posted on 09/20/2004 5:46:10 PM PDT by stevem
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To: wagglebee

> ... weren't the Soviets unsuccessful in getting a
> man to the moon and then back alive?

As far as I know, they never actually tried. Their Saturn-
class booster was a disaster. Here's Oberg's summary on
dead cosmonauts. I haven't read it, although I did read
Oberg's "Red Star in Orbit" many years ago.

http://www.igs.net/~hwt/oberg/deadcosm.htm


4 posted on 09/20/2004 5:46:59 PM PDT by Boundless
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To: wagglebee

They also planned to bury the West. That worked out real well too.


5 posted on 09/20/2004 5:47:07 PM PDT by horse_doc
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To: demlosers

Yeah it crash landed.


6 posted on 09/20/2004 5:47:30 PM PDT by Teflonic
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: wagglebee

See also:

http://www.jamesoberg.com/usd10.html


8 posted on 09/20/2004 5:48:41 PM PDT by Boundless
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To: wagglebee

MOONBASE ALPHA!

< |:)~

9 posted on 09/20/2004 5:49:08 PM PDT by martin_fierro (Fred Mertz is THE MAN.)
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To: wagglebee

There main error in judgement was forgetting the simple fact that all their base are belong to us.


10 posted on 09/20/2004 5:49:22 PM PDT by Brett66 (http://www.scifiartposters.com)
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To: wagglebee

We basically planted our flag on the moon, and own it.

The Russians knew this, and were going to try and undo the damage.

Whoever really gets a base on the moon runs the planet.


11 posted on 09/20/2004 5:49:39 PM PDT by Kornev
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To: Rome2000
Send all the ragheads to the moon!

Nah, we might want to colonize the moon someday. Send them all into space in a rocket with no destination, 3 months of fuel and a bomb set to go off when the fuel runs out. Oh and only put pork on for them to eat.

12 posted on 09/20/2004 5:50:04 PM PDT by wagglebee (Benedict Arnold was for American independence before he was against it.)
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To: wagglebee
The project was abolished only due to its enormous cost

This is an extremely lame statement. The writer is trying to imply that the moon base came close to being realized when obviously enormous cost is the primary reason we don't have to worry about things like this.

13 posted on 09/20/2004 5:50:27 PM PDT by wideminded
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To: wagglebee
The soviets did have a moon rocket, the N1. And did indeed have a lander designed for a single astronaut. The N1 had several failures however. Pics here...

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/lk.html

14 posted on 09/20/2004 5:50:49 PM PDT by Names Ash Housewares
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To: wagglebee
I believe it is a misconception that the Soviets were trying to do this for military purposes. More likely is was for the endless supply of cheese.
15 posted on 09/20/2004 5:50:58 PM PDT by spodefly (A bunny-slippered operative in the Vast Right-Wing Pajama Party.)
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To: wagglebee
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the Soviets unsuccessful in getting a man to the moon and then back alive?

That is true. That's why they came up with the idea for a moon base. That way, they didn't have to worry about bringing them back.

16 posted on 09/20/2004 5:52:30 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (Bush 53%)
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To: wagglebee

The US Army had planned a moon base before 1960. The plan, not the base.


17 posted on 09/20/2004 5:54:37 PM PDT by RightWhale (Withdraw from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and establish property rights)
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To: martin_fierro

Or prior to Space:1999, Gerry Anderson's other mixed puppet/people 1969 cult hit series "U.F.O". It had a great Moonbase, manned by beautiful but smart women in tight silver catsuits and purple wigs. I think the Soviets would have been envious.


18 posted on 09/20/2004 5:54:52 PM PDT by plushaye (President Bush - Four more years! Thanks Swifties.)
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To: stevem
a military base on the moon with Earth as the target makes not the least bit of sense

You never read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", did you?

Stable launch platform, and you dont even need nukes, just throw rocks at 'em

19 posted on 09/20/2004 5:55:08 PM PDT by Ford Fairlane
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To: martin_fierro
"MOONBASE ALPHA" You gotta love science fiction. Aliens can travel all the way to the moon, but don't seem to make it to earth.
20 posted on 09/20/2004 5:55:21 PM PDT by z3n
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