AstroSpies (22 of 22)

AstroSpies

NARRATOR: On February 25, 1977, at 9:21 a.m.
Moscow time, Colonel Gorbatko undocked from ALMAZ and descended towards central Kazakhstan.
He and his partner would be the last astrospies.
After 13 years of extraordinary effort by scientists from both sides, with billions of rubles and billions of dollars spent, only five missions had been launched, all by the Russians.
And just two of those were deemed a success.
For all the effort, astrospies had managed just 81 days in orbit.
BAMFORD: In the end, it came down to a competition of man against machine, and machine won.

GORBATKO: I absolutely think it was a premature decision to close down the program.
They insist the space station without the pilots are more efficient.
I would insist that is wrong.
MacLEAY: I thought it was a good program.
I think we could have done something really worthwhile.
It was aborted prematurely, as far as we were concerned.
I think it was positive.
I think-- I'd like to think, and I believe I'm correct-- that we had a positive influence on the way things would be going in the future.
NARRATOR: Two months before the last Russian cosmonaut left the ALMAZ, America's National Reconnaissance Office successfully launched its first KH-11 unmanned spy satellite.
Said to be caple of capturing images with three-inch resolution, but using video sensors instead of film, this was the digital age of espionage.
This was what had rendered America's astrospies obsolete before they ever flew.
Thirty years later, dozens of unmanned satellites silently monitor the world below.
They are also the astrospies' legacy.
HARTSFIELD: When I look back at what we did on MOL, we didn't-- as far as I know-- develop something that has led to another manned system.
I think that the work we did helped provide data for future systems.
Just yesterday, I went to the Google search engine, and I could actually see my own house.
30 years ago, who would have thought I would be able to see something like that?
On NOVA's "Astrospies" Web site, hear from the astronauts of the MOL program.
See spy photos that made history, and more.
They even beat us at our own games.
WOMAN: We find something quite surprising.
The chimps are outsmarting the kids.
But how intelligent are they?
How big is the gap between them and us?
What's the little difference that makes the big difference?
A new portrait of ape genius.
A NOVA/National Geographic special.