Jim Regan -- Site Reviews
Deep Cold and Encyclopedia Astronautica
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It was recently revealed that the United States, in the period following the launch of Sputnik, had considered making some sort of point by detonating a nuclear bomb on the surface of the moon. We can only assume it seemed like a good idea at the time. (In fact, it appears that the United States wasn't the only nation considering such a demonstration.) It's no secret that the "Space Race" was more a contest of politics and military superiority than one of exploration and the pursuit of knowledge, but most of what we know about this part of history falls into the latter categories. For those interested in the wider view, Deep Cold reveals a few examples of what else the space nations were up to, while we were busy celebrating the Right Stuff.
Launched in 1998 (and including such recent updates as the February addition of three QuickTime animations), Deep Cold introduces the visitor to a half-dozen American and Soviet spacecraft that never quite made it into operational service. This makes webmaster Dan Roam something of an aerospace cryptozoologist, and like the special effects wizards who routinely bring legendary animals to life, Roam makes effective use of 3D renderings and movie clips to give these projects an existence they never had in history.
Beginning with a pair of "space planes" (the Boeing X-20 Dyna Soar and the MiG 105 Spiral), Deep Cold then presents the Gemini-era USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory (designed for long-term military surveillance), the concurrent Soyuz Zvezda station, "Blue Gemini" (military uses of the Gemini craft), and finally, the "LK" Soviet lunar lander (which, had it not been for complications, might have beaten Apollo to the moon by two years).
The look of the site is clean and professional, with a basic color scheme that seems especially suitable to the subject matter. The 3-D images are also high quality, and the QT clips – especially that of the Soviet moon landing – make it even easier to imagine a few changes in the historical record. The only real knock against this site is the lack of in-depth information – and Roam's recommended site for those seeking further details is well worth its own notice.
Encyclopedia Astronautica, while it may not be aesthetically as engaging as Deep Cold, more than makes up the difference in the depth of its data. Visitors coming straight from Deep Cold might want to begin at Your Flight Has Been Cancelled...., a catalog of "The greatest manned spaceflights that never were."
Along with listing such projects as the Dyna Soar and MOL, and such well-known cancellations as the later Apollo flights, Astronautica lists more than a hundred missions that might have been. This chronological catalog of both nations' best intentions begins in March of 1961 with a Mercury flight that would have put Alan Shepard into space three weeks earlier than Yuri Gagarin, includes the Soviet lunar landing and a Skylab rescue mission, and concludes with the first manned flight of the Russian "Space Shuttle," Buran, in 1995. Each entry includes the planned date of the mission, operational details, the intended prime and back-up crews, and links to more details on personnel and spacecraft.
Other sections include the CIA's "National Intelligence Estimate of the Soviet Space Program" from March of 1967, a 1959 US Army Proposal to Establish a Lunar Outpost, Soviet Combat Spacecraft, and intriguing similarities between a General Electric proposal for the Apollo program and Russia's Soyuz spacecraft. Like any encyclopedia, the Astronautica makes for entertaining random exploration, or specific searches through alphabetical and category indexes. There is a staggering amount of information here (with an equally impressive collection of photographs), and anyone interested in the history of space exploration and exploitation would do well to bookmark this site.
It's easy to understand why most of these projects were never given wide public exposure – and easy to understand how such secrecy could give rise to public curiosity. Deep Cold and Encyclopedia Astronautica go a long way to satisfying at least some of that curiosity.
Deep Cold can be found at http://www.deepcold.com/index.html, and the Encyclopedia Astronautica at http://www.friends-partners.org/~mwade/spaceflt.htm.
Jim Regan provides 'Today's Links' to csmonitor.com. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.