Sep 9 1968

From The Space Library

September 9: Apollo 7 prime and backup crews successfully completed egress test at KSC. Astronauts performed both aided and unaided egress from spacecraft under simulated emergency conditions. At MSC three astronauts completed five-day vacuum chamber tests in spacecraft simi­lar to command and service modules to be flown on second manned Apollo mission and lunar flights. (NASA Apollo Status Summary, 9/10/69)

U.S. News & World Report said story of how U.S. had been steadily stripping away "some of the most valuable military secrets of Soviet Russia for the past five years" was being revealed in bits and pieces. At heart of story were spy satellites orbiting earth. Powerful spaceborne cameras could photograph in detail objects less than one foot in diame­ter from 150-mi altitude. "Ultramodern" radar circling in outer space now penetrated cloud covers and forest vegetation to reveal hidden mis­sile sites, tanks, and even troops. Infrared sensors could detect subma­rines and missile launching. Electronic sensors could monitor atomic ex­plosions and pick up telephone messages from deep within U.S.S.R. or Communist China. President Johnson had said spy satellites alone made U.S. space investment worthwhile. USAF had, to date, launched more than 200 classified payloads. At least one intelligence satellite was always ready for orbit. Most stayed operational for 1 to 25 days. Even more useful, Manned Orbiting Lab­oratory (MOL) was yet to come. U.S.S.R. was particularly concerned about its intelligence implications. "The Russians are starting now to understand that one of their centuries-old weapons against the rest of the world-their secrecy-is rapidly being removed." (US News, 9/9/68, 2)

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