the ones who had
the engineers at McDonnell design the hatch to be misaligned, and
they knew the hatch would blow once the capsule landed in the
water. They had installed, without the knowledge of McDonnell or
NASA, advanced technology that even Grissom knew nothing about.
Area 51 was testing an advanced radar system, or what the alien had
called sensors. Engineers had also installed a small, experimental
computer hooked to the sensors, so all the data from the sensors
could be recorded, saved on the computers’ hard drive, and studied.
The sub crew waited until the Navy left the area and moved in to
retrieve the orbiter. The capsule had just settled on the ocean
floor when the sub sent out a retrieval team, they used the cable
lines from the sub, hooked them onto Liberty Bell 7 , and pulled it up. The
submarine then quietly left the area, headed for the west coast of
the United States, but they went east, the long way to California,
instead of using the Panama Canal. A few weeks later, docked at
Long Beach, the capsule was loaded on to a truck, and headed for
Area 51 so the data could be analyzed for future space
missions.
Before the Soviet Space
Agency could figure out how much it would cost the Soviet Union to
beat the Americans to the moon, something happened to nearly cause
a nuclear war. The Americans found out about nuclear missile silos
that the Soviet Union were building on Cuba, because the Cubans had
feared an American invasion was imminent, even though the last one,
the Bay of Pigs fiasco, had failed miserably. Khrushchev had
boasted that with the fifty megaton nuclear bomb they had just
built, that any American city could be easily targeted and wiped
off of the face of the earth. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
decided that Cuba needed to be blockaded, while President Kennedy
was thinking of conducting air strikes on Cuba. The Soviets
threatened all out war if anything were to happen, so with the
knowledge of Area 51 and the Soviets’ own version, McNamara
convinced Attorney General Robert Kennedy to conduct secret
negotiations with the Soviets to get them to back off. The official
line later was that the Americans would remove their nuclear
missiles from the bases in Turkey, if the Soviets got rid of the
missiles in Cuba, which both sides agreed to. McNamara decided to
add one other caveat to the discussion, the Space Race between the
two nations.
The Secretary of Defense met with
Kerim Kerimov, because he knew Kerimov was told by Khrushchev,
through defectors and spies, to investigate the means for the
Soviets to conduct moon missions before the Americans were able to.
They met in secret at the United Nations while their leaders were
yelling at each other in the General Assembly Hall. McNamara was
sitting in a small conference room, waiting for the Russian, when
Kerimov finally walked in. McNamara said, “Greetings, Mr. Kerimov.
Do you know why I asked for you to meet me?”
“No. Why do you need to talk to
me?”
“I need to talk to you about a
matter that will eventually put our countries in another face-off
that I’d like to avoid. You know about President Kennedy’s
declaration that the United States will be going to the moon by the
end of this decade, do you not?”
“Yes, of course. Everyone on Earth
knows by now. What does that have to do with me?”
“Well, you’re one of the founders
of the Soviet Space Program, so I would assume that your leaders
want their country to be committed to beating the United States to
the moon. Am I wrong?”
“ No, you aren’t wrong.
Khrushchev was quite upset when he watched your President declare
your countries’ intentions on television. He ordered me to find out
what it would take to get our cosmonauts to the moon. He wants it
by any means necessary,” Kerimov said, with a heavy
sigh.
“You must know that we have more
resources than you, and our space program is being helped
considerably by that crash landing back in 1947. Would that
surprise
the engineers at McDonnell design the hatch to be misaligned, and
they knew the hatch would blow once the capsule landed in the
water. They had installed, without the knowledge of McDonnell or
NASA, advanced technology that even Grissom knew nothing about.
Area 51 was testing an advanced radar system, or what the alien had
called sensors. Engineers had also installed a small, experimental
computer hooked to the sensors, so all the data from the sensors
could be recorded, saved on the computers’ hard drive, and studied.
The sub crew waited until the Navy left the area and moved in to
retrieve the orbiter. The capsule had just settled on the ocean
floor when the sub sent out a retrieval team, they used the cable
lines from the sub, hooked them onto Liberty Bell 7 , and pulled it up. The
submarine then quietly left the area, headed for the west coast of
the United States, but they went east, the long way to California,
instead of using the Panama Canal. A few weeks later, docked at
Long Beach, the capsule was loaded on to a truck, and headed for
Area 51 so the data could be analyzed for future space
missions.
Before the Soviet Space
Agency could figure out how much it would cost the Soviet Union to
beat the Americans to the moon, something happened to nearly cause
a nuclear war. The Americans found out about nuclear missile silos
that the Soviet Union were building on Cuba, because the Cubans had
feared an American invasion was imminent, even though the last one,
the Bay of Pigs fiasco, had failed miserably. Khrushchev had
boasted that with the fifty megaton nuclear bomb they had just
built, that any American city could be easily targeted and wiped
off of the face of the earth. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
decided that Cuba needed to be blockaded, while President Kennedy
was thinking of conducting air strikes on Cuba. The Soviets
threatened all out war if anything were to happen, so with the
knowledge of Area 51 and the Soviets’ own version, McNamara
convinced Attorney General Robert Kennedy to conduct secret
negotiations with the Soviets to get them to back off. The official
line later was that the Americans would remove their nuclear
missiles from the bases in Turkey, if the Soviets got rid of the
missiles in Cuba, which both sides agreed to. McNamara decided to
add one other caveat to the discussion, the Space Race between the
two nations.
The Secretary of Defense met with
Kerim Kerimov, because he knew Kerimov was told by Khrushchev,
through defectors and spies, to investigate the means for the
Soviets to conduct moon missions before the Americans were able to.
They met in secret at the United Nations while their leaders were
yelling at each other in the General Assembly Hall. McNamara was
sitting in a small conference room, waiting for the Russian, when
Kerimov finally walked in. McNamara said, “Greetings, Mr. Kerimov.
Do you know why I asked for you to meet me?”
“No. Why do you need to talk to
me?”
“I need to talk to you about a
matter that will eventually put our countries in another face-off
that I’d like to avoid. You know about President Kennedy’s
declaration that the United States will be going to the moon by the
end of this decade, do you not?”
“Yes, of course. Everyone on Earth
knows by now. What does that have to do with me?”
“Well, you’re one of the founders
of the Soviet Space Program, so I would assume that your leaders
want their country to be committed to beating the United States to
the moon. Am I wrong?”
“ No, you aren’t wrong.
Khrushchev was quite upset when he watched your President declare
your countries’ intentions on television. He ordered me to find out
what it would take to get our cosmonauts to the moon. He wants it
by any means necessary,” Kerimov said, with a heavy
sigh.
“You must know that we have more
resources than you, and our space program is being helped
considerably by that crash landing back in 1947. Would that
surprise
Similar Books
