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Soviets recovered an Apollo capsule in 1969, returned it

astronautix.com — In a story that remained obscure and unknown for 32 years, the Soviet Union recovered an Apollo capsule in 1969 and handed it over to the Americans a year later during an extraordinary Cold War visit to Murmansk by the American Coast Guard icebreaker Southwind.

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  • wonderchemist, on 06/22/2008, -7/+158FTA: "In early 1970, UK-based naval units were training in recovery of an Apollo boilerplate capsule (BP-1227) as part of their assigned mission of rescuing Apollo spacecraft in the case of an emergency abort or return to earth. The capsule disappeared at sea..."

    Wait a minute, the capsule was lost in 1970 and was found in 1969? I'm pretty sure no Apollo capsule achieved the velocity needed for this to occur.
    • Regbooker, on 06/22/2008, -23/+13488 mph ?
      • Mikidogo, on 06/22/2008, -2/+28They had flux capacitors in the capsules?
        • kajoob, on 06/22/2008, -1/+23Yeah, they were conceptualized on November 5, 1955, so it wouldn't be hard to think they'd be in service by the late 1960's.

      • kopaka649, on 06/22/2008, -1/+39Buried to keep you at 88 diggs.
      • MasterGrief, on 06/22/2008, -2/+12See if those BASTARDS can do ninety!
      • AngryIrishMan12, on 06/22/2008, -0/+7But how did they get the necessary 1.21 gigawatts?
    • Flashman, on 06/22/2008, -2/+10It had to be Superman.
    • unreg, on 06/22/2008, -4/+14Just part and parcel of a confusing and poorly presented article. This things swerved back and forth more than Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.

      • christhechris, on 06/22/2008, -1/+6Maybe they actually found it a tropical island with polar bears and smoke monsters.
      • theloofa, on 06/22/2008, -5/+1I see what you did there
    • mriojas, on 06/22/2008, -0/+4It may have executed a slingshot maneuver around the sun, allowing it to accelerate to Warp 10.
    • tomboy501, on 06/22/2008, -0/+4Yeah...lame typo in the article. Big deal. It doesn't really change the coolness of this story, the pics, or the interesting Cold War subtext of the article. I think it's ten times more fascinating than 3/4 of the usual stale meat you normally see in digg's space section - endless dupes of Mars Phoenix finding water and submit after generic submit from sciencedaily or space.com's RSS feed.
    • ElectroBot, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1Considering they saw a few polar bears, the capsule had to be on the "Lost" island for a while.
  • BobbyMC, on 07/21/2008, -2/+17The capsule didn't need to be moving in the first place, assuming the island it landed on moved for it.
  • WaxenPith, on 06/22/2008, -23/+113"obscure and unknown for 32 years" = Red Scare information chokehold during the cold war

    They wanted everybody to believe that the commies were ANIMALS and shouldn't be trusted, look where it got us... the world of Disney/ABC, Mc Donalds/Coca Cola, War/Oil.
    • OC73, on 06/22/2008, -26/+55So communists should be trusted? I take it you actually never lived in the Soviet Union. In fact, I bet you're like many leftists in the west---still romanticizing over communism. (Cue typical leftist response about how the Soviet Union wasn't "real" communism.)

      And for the record, I'll take Disney and Coca Cola any day over gulags and food shortages.
      • Owwmykneecap, on 06/22/2008, -10/+37It wasn't communism.

        My reply is neutral due to that being a fact.
        • OC73, on 06/22/2008, -22/+19Of course not. Maybe another 100 million murdered and the soviet union could've finally achieved "real" communism.
        • jerbaker, on 06/22/2008, -16/+31"Another" 100 million? Who were the first 100 million?

          I'm sure you're aware that communism and socialism are economic systems and not political systems. You can have a democracy and communism, or you can have a dictatorship and communism. Just like you can have democracy and corporate capitalism, or a dictatorship and corporate capitalism.
        • insurgente, on 06/22/2008, -21/+14@ OC73:

          The Soviet Union could never have achieved communism, unless through another violent revolution against the party bureaucracy.

          And please, don't talk about the "millions murdered by communism", if you don't want to also list the billions dead from the "progress" of capitalism.
        • andrew1193, on 06/22/2008, -22/+20"You can have a democracy and communism"

          No, you cannot. Communism requires vast amounts of terror and murder in order to destroy private property rights in the means of production. This can only be achieved through a dictatorship.
        • andrew1193, on 06/22/2008, -14/+25"And please, don't talk about the "millions murdered by communism", if you don't want to also list the billions dead from the "progress" of capitalism."

          You're mentally ill.
        • sonnybobiche, on 06/22/2008, -0/+9It seems to me that whether communism is a system of government or merely a system of economy, it necessarily goes hand in hand with totalitarianism, as people who actually HAVE stuff are generally unwilling to let others take it from them.
          Do, by all means, give me an example of a communist economy in a practicing democracy. I will give you my left testicle.
        • blackhappy, on 06/22/2008, -0/+3Democracy and communism don't mix and if you say they do please point out a Democracy/communist country! They only communist states I know of are dictatorships.
        • sloppychris, on 06/22/2008, -0/+3I would love to see someone try communism in a democracy. Don't get me wrong, it would go terribly. Much worse than anyone could imagine. But still, kinda funny to watch.

          Because some people think it's a good idea.
        • Krodis, on 06/22/2008, -1/+0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam#Government_an ...

          Close enough?
        • blackhappy, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1Nope because your wiki article even states "Only political organizations affiliated with or endorsed by the Communist Party are permitted to contest elections"

          and

          "All organs of Vietnam's government are controlled by the Communist Party. Most government appointees are members of the party. The General Secretary of the Communist Party is perhaps one of the most important political leaders in the nation, controlling the party's national organization and state appointments, as well as setting policy"

          One person making all appointments sounds little like your true communist dictatorship to me.
      • haydesigner, on 06/22/2008, -18/+3@OC73: "So communists should be trusted? I take it you actually never lived in the Soviet Union"

        And you did?
        Let ye without sin...
        • OC73, on 06/22/2008, -6/+20Yes, I have. Thanks for asking.
        • airmann90, on 06/22/2008, -2/+10I don't believe you, you could be a communist!
        • haydesigner, on 06/22/2008, -1/+3He's from Russia, we certainly can't trust him!
      • jerbaker, on 06/22/2008, -16/+23"And for the record, I'll take Disney and Coca Cola any day over gulags and food shortages."

        Is that a typo, or did you mean you'll take Guantanamo, secret CIA prisons, and no healthcare over the gulag, secret KGB prisons, and food shortages?
        • Fizban140, on 06/22/2008, -9/+20I have healthcare, have no threat of being sent to gitmo or any prison. Weird, because I live in the country that in connected with all of those.
        • jerbaker, on 06/22/2008, -15/+11"I have healthcare, have no threat of being sent to gitmo or any prison."

          Oh ya, I forgot that in the United States nobody matters except me. Don't you think there were a lot of people in the former Soviet Union saying the same thing? "Why should I care, it's not a threat to me." Keep in mind that we have more of our population in prison than they ever did.
        • OC73, on 06/22/2008, -6/+24You do realize the difference between detaining suicidal mass murders and citizens who simply don't fall in line with the state, right?

          And as for your "no healthcare" claim, let me tell you something--when father was dying of cancer years ago, one of the things he stressed most was how fortunate he was to have the best doctors in the world.

          Had he remained in Russia, he would've died a horrible, painful death.

          Indeed, God bless this wonderful nation and all the goodness it has afforded my family and millions of others.
        • perogi21, on 06/22/2008, -2/+17It is a wonderful nation. That doesn't mean that we cannot improve it...
        • bimtott, on 06/22/2008, -2/+17If OC73 actually fled communism, then that will certainly change the tone of his argument.

          As my Russian grandmother-in-law said: "I did not flee Communist Russia to be a bleedy-hearted liberal"

          (her English not so good)
        • skinnyskittles, on 06/22/2008, -4/+5no one seems to understand that we don't have real capitalism, we have corporatism
        • sloppychris, on 06/22/2008, -0/+3Those bad things you mentioned are made possible by excessive government, not capitalism.
        • blackhappy, on 06/22/2008, -0/+4We don't detain our own citizens at GB or secret CIA prisons like the soviets did with gulags. Vast Americans do have healthcare, sorry that poor people don't. But there not denied healthcare, so come up with something better next time.
        • jerbaker, on 06/25/2008, -0/+1"Had he remained in Russia, he would've died a horrible, painful death."

          That's funny because I have a coworker returning to Moscow this summer to have her son examined by doctors there that are less concerned about turning a profit than they are about making a child able to hear again. To each his own I guess.
      • jerbaker, on 06/22/2008, -8/+17"So communists should be trusted?"

        I'm not sure of the connection between somebody's economic system and their general trustworthiness. As you can see by our current administration, liars and criminals come in all flavors.
        • insurgente, on 06/22/2008, -9/+3Communism is not an economic system. Communism is the movement that abolishes the ideologies, political parties and social classes.
        • jerbaker, on 06/22/2008, -3/+8"Communism is the movement that abolishes the ideologies, political parties and social classes."

          And how does it achieve that, through .... uh .... I'm thinking .... economics?
        • MadOgre, on 06/22/2008, -3/+4Just ask Obama.
      • insurgente, on 06/22/2008, -12/+6I'd trust the word of a communist over that of a capitalist, politican, union boss or religious leader any day.

        If you define communism as a state-capitalist bureaucracy run by a one-party dictatorship, then the Soviet Union sure as hell was communist, but that's not the definition set forth by Marx and Engels, nor the meaning of communism to millions upon millions of communists today.

        As a matter of fact, the vast, vast majority of communists today despise the Soviet Union. Many even did so back when the Soviet Union was at the height of it's power (such as Trotskyists, Luxemburgists, anarcho-communists and council communists).
        • OC73, on 06/22/2008, -4/+12"I'd trust the word of a communist over that of a capitalist, politican, union boss or religious leader any day."

          Because you've never lived in a communist country. Live in one even for a month, then get back to me.

          -----------

          "If you define communism as a state-capitalist bureaucracy run by a one-party dictatorship, then the Soviet Union sure as hell was communist, but that's not the definition set forth by Marx and Engels, nor the meaning of communism to millions upon millions of communists today."

          Yes, I'm aware that communism means two different things to those who actually lived in it and those in free societies still romanticizing over it.

          ----------

          "As a matter of fact, the vast, vast majority of communists today despise the Soviet Union. Many even did so back when the Soviet Union was at the height of it's power (such as Trotskyists, Luxemburgists, anarcho-communists and council communists)."


          I disagree. The vast majority of communists despise America and wish the Soviet Union never collapsed.
        • insurgente, on 06/22/2008, -8/+4"Because you've never lived in a communist country. Live in one even for a month, then get back to me."

          Yet again, we have different definitions of "communist". Your definition of a communist is what I would call a politician or bureaucrat, something I said I wouldn't trust. My definition of a communist is someone who seeks the upheaval of the current material state of things.

          "Yes, I'm aware that communism means two different things to those who actually lived in it and those in free societies still romanticizing over it."

          Communists are not romanticizing over state-capitalist bureaucracies. If they are, they are not communists.

          "I disagree. The vast majority of communists despise America and wish the Soviet Union never collapsed."

          The United States is definitely freer than the Soviet Union ever was, but that doesn't mean there aren't reasons to despise it. The atrocities of American-brand capitalism is far worse than those of the Soviet Union.

          I also wish the Soviet Union didn't collapse, because it would act as a counter-point to the imperial triad (USA-Europe-Japan). It would be of a huge benefit to what is now the triads peripheries (the "third world").
        • Kyan, on 06/22/2008, -2/+5insurgent: you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

          "I also wish the Soviet Union didn't collapse, because it would act as a counter-point to the imperial triad (USA-Europe-Japan). It would be of a huge benefit to what is now the triads peripheries (the "third world")."

          No, it would still be a fourth empire. But, Russia is moving back that direction, so, I guess you'll be happy in about 10 years.
        • gasoline, on 06/22/2008, -1/+6"The atrocities of American-brand capitalism is far worse than those of the Soviet Union."

          You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
          Pull your head out of your ass and visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_occupation_of_ ...
        • blackhappy, on 06/22/2008, -0/+1Please point out a non dictatorship communist country please.
      • sodade, on 06/22/2008, -11/+6The real point - ***** - is that a Russian invasion was never a credible threat. Neither was unprovoked button pushing. It was all MIC FUD and morons like you signed up to help spread the asscheeks of the taxpaying american.
        • OC73, on 06/22/2008, -4/+8I guess you never heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
        • sodade, on 06/22/2008, -4/+5We would have never needed to blockade Cuba if we would not have:
          1. threatened Cuba because we didn't like their socialist-leaning politics (what gave us the right? 3rd world countries NEED some degree of socialism)
          2. pushed our nuclear advantage against the USSR (we had 8x the arsenal in '62)

          The American military (and the MIC) created the missile crisis.
        • miles32, on 06/22/2008, -1/+2As to your second point, Dead is dead, Just because we had 8X the missiles doesnt mean they couldnt turn America into a radioactive wasteland.
        • sodade, on 06/22/2008, -1/+3And, despite the posturing on both sides, there was never a credible threat that the USSR would push the button without serious provocation.
        • overridemymind, on 06/22/2008, -0/+0... AKA Mutually Assured Destruction

          neither side pushed the button without provocation, becuase neither side wanted to get destroyed.
      • starmanjones, on 06/22/2008, -8/+3>So communists should be trusted? I take it you actually never
        >lived in the Soviet Union. In fact, I bet you're like many
        >leftists in the west---still romanticizing over communism. (Cue
        >typical leftist response about how the Soviet Union wasn't "real"
        >communism.)

        >And for the record, I'll take Disney and Coca Cola any day over
        >gulags and food shortages.

        you still remember all the buzz words... romanticizing? what the ***** are you talking about? the soviet union wasn't real communism and we aren't a real democracy... i'm personally not convinced we have an elected government right now. [cue the right wing response about terrorism and giving up freedom for security.]

        i'm going to give you a little history lesson. real short.

        what was wrong with the soviet union was in large part people like you. some lived in the soviet union and some in the united states.

        when the communist revolution occurred they weren't interested in dividing up the world into camps. thats strictly an idea dreamed up by american and european capitalists who were afraid they would loose control of the work force that they routinely abused.

        the soviet union could have gone either way... the word communist is no more relevant than the "green party" or "the pirate party" or "the republicans" or "the democrats." but ideologues like yourself found it more useful to have an enemy that they needed to control. much like today in fact.

        the western counties surrounded the soviet union and tried to starve them out. literally. it was this action that pushed the soviet union to a siege mentality... towards a command economy and dictatorship. when they looked at what was happening to the communist party in the united states and saw bands of armed thugs killing and beating their own.,. U.S. citizens... and much more... they justifiably felt threatened. they were threatened. thats where the shortages started. thats where the gulags started. when the ruthless insane dictator stalin came into power well... he needed the enemy to maintain control.

        that is what happened. its not a rebuttable opinion.

        here are a couple things you don't know. the russians... soviets... understand free markets better than any of us. the black market was the real market. every soviet knew how to get along. did you know that virtually every soviet had a summer home at the lake... sea? they did. the guy at the window factory ripped off windows and traded them for doors... every part of the soviet economy was augmented by a true free market. barter market.

        another thing.... when you attack the soviet union and point out shortages and all that... you don't remember or even know that before the communist party took power they were a 3rd world nation in every sense. despite the western capitalist best efforts to squash it the government brought that part of the world from a 3rd world peasant society into the big league and was world super power with health coverage for everyone.

        you don't know what you are talking about. you have a prejudiced opinion based on ideology that is just as corrupt as the any communist dictatorship. if you please... right wing ***** will you get your branch of the U.S. government under control because you are turning our free nation into the soviet union. everything you criticized about the soviet union is now becoming U.S. policy. do it. do it now or you have no credentials to criticize what happened in russia a 100 years ago.
        • CamperBob, on 06/22/2008, -2/+3Read some Solzhenitsyn, and then we'll all be interested in hearing about the luxuries available to "every Soviet."
        • akuma, on 06/22/2008, -2/+1You know, no one is stopping you from moving to North Korea.
        • insurgente, on 06/22/2008, -1/+2@ CamperBob:

          Trusting Solzjenitsyn with Soviet historiography is like trusting a child molester with babysitting.

          @ akuma:

          North Korea is not communist, nor is it even close to what the Soviet Union was.
        • starmanjones, on 06/22/2008, -0/+1@ CamperBob:

          [>Read some Solzhenitsyn, and then we'll all be interested in
          [>hearing about the luxuries available to "every Soviet."

          did i say luxuries? no i didn't. you are a typical right wing-nut. you don't know or care to know what you are talking about. when confronted with facts that don't fit the rhetoric you put words in peoples mouths and then criticize the words you put there.

          you made an uniformed ***** remark about communists and left wing... i gave you some history that was devoid of opinions pointing out that people like you created the circumstances that shaped the soviet union.

          i did point out they had universal health. most places in the world think thats a civilized thing not a luxury thing.

          @ akuma:

          [>You know, no one is stopping you from moving to North Korea.

          was there something in what i said that implied i wanted to move to north korea? there is that tactic again. put words in my mouth then critique me for what you said.

          the only way that remark has relevance is if you mean, "if you don't agree with me then move to north korea." is that what you meant?

          what i did say was that i wished you'd do something about the right wing problem here in the u.s. right now we have approximately the same rights as north koreans. a lot of americans think we are just waiting for the other shoe to fall.

          we can disappear without any thing being said or without any crime being committed. we have a gulag down in south. our privacy is no more sacred than in north korea. i think what i said was that i didn't want to live in north korea or other such places... i said... do something constructive real in your buddies... before they turn american into north korea.
      • Infidelcastr0, on 06/22/2008, -2/+3You really are an idiot. Keep on calling "leftists" communists, maybe if you keep spewing the same crap over and over it will become true, that seems to be the prevailing attitude on the right.
        • starmanjones, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1>In fact, I bet you're like many
          >leftists in the west---still
          >romanticizing over
          >communism.

          thats what pissed me off. i live in one of the most liberal areas in the country and i've never heard anyone romanticize over the soviet union.

          the general consensus around here is that these free marketer's are just at he opposite end of the scale from communists and neither is realistic.
    • oMeSSiaHo, on 06/22/2008, -4/+5Aaaand it turns into a political discussion full of people bashing the "other side". It only took three posts too! Come on Digg, surely you can do better next time...
      • ctenn2ls, on 06/22/2008, -2/+1No, we can't. It's what the tubes want us to do.
    • solid12345, on 06/22/2008, -2/+5And yet Russians were trading their monthly stipend for a simple Beatles record or a Sony walkman on the black market.

      Face it, the USSR was a failure. Not even 80 years of brainwashing could convince it's citizens they do not want luxury goods. It is in human nature to want to succeed and prosper, you cannot erase that, this is why capitalism is the truest and most human of all economic models.
    • MasterGrief, on 06/22/2008, -2/+3You're beginning to sound red, and by that I mean you prefer a hammer and
      sickle over a hamburger
    • Infidelcastr0, on 06/22/2008, -3/+4Red scare, Terrorist scare, wonder what the next one will be.
    • judicar, on 06/22/2008, -0/+5Well, Kruschev screaming "We will bury you!" during a speech likely didn't help much either.
  • abszint, on 06/22/2008, -33/+10***** the soviet union
  • HallEffected, on 06/22/2008, -17/+5yeah after a year of reverse engineering it.
    • Ortheos, on 06/22/2008, -6/+16At least they worked on their own space program. The nazis were working for yours. Plus they beat you to space. America got beat even with the help of germans and their rocket factories, which were all located in west germany.
      • Pixelante, on 06/22/2008, -15/+5Pissed off much? Are you a euroweenie? Do you salute the EU flag screaming "Sieg Heil"? Must be terrible for you to have to rely on an American-designed communication network to post bullcrap on Digg. Or are you one of those euroidiots who foam at the mouth, declare how much they "hate America" while listening to Eminem on an iPod and wearing jeans?
        The Atlas was not designed by Von Braun's team, you fail. The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules were not designed by Von Braun's team. The Saturn was built with their expertise, but it was not their design.
        While the Sputnik and Vostok rocket, which then evolved into the Soyuz rocket, WAS designed by Korolev's team which employed captured nazis. The other Soviet rockets (like the N1) which were uniquely Soviet-designed failed miserably.
        You fail it. All your base are belong to us.
      • Gunsotsu, on 06/22/2008, -0/+9 You better check your history there, hoss. The Soviets had their own Germans and they helped catapult to Soviet space program. Their Germans weren't better than ours, it's just that their Germans didn't have to jump through the bureaucratic and political nonsense to get anything done that ours did. Werner von Braun and company constantly expressed annoyance and displeasure at the measures that it took to get anything done in the US. Those few that are still alive today still express that same annoyance and displeasure towards NASA and everything they (don't) do.
    • Pixelante, on 06/22/2008, -0/+6There was nothing to reverse-engineer. The boilerplate capsules were meant to test the shape and heatshield, they didn't have the guidance systems including the strategically relevant AGC (Apollo Guidance Computer). The only instruments were sensors and telemetry equipment which was unimportant technology, the USSR would have had equivalent instrumentation.
    • unreg, on 06/22/2008, -0/+5The Soviets need to reverse engineer an empty container used for recovery practice?
    • jerbaker, on 06/22/2008, -1/+2You mean like the reverse engineered MiG-25 we call the F-15? You can say the Soviets were behind in a lot of things, but one thing they did kick our ass in was aerospace.

      I love the story about the US developing a pen that could write in space. With a lot of research and development they were able to do so. The Soviets used pencils. The US laughed about mechanical computers on board Soviet aircraft carriers until it occurred to them that mechanical computers are unaffected by nuclear weapons, where electronic computers will be dead after the first airburst. Woops. Sometimes what looks like low-tech ... isn't.
      • Pixelante, on 06/22/2008, -0/+1No they didn't. You don't use pencils in space, they break and the last thing you want in freefall is tiny fragments of graphite waiting to be inhaled or to end up into delicate circuitry. That story is, and has always been, a joke for technically ignorante and gullible people. Like Diggers.
      • DiogenesJr, on 06/22/2008, -1/+1They were far ahead of us in aerospace and submarine technology but I think this is because they were far more reckless with the lives of their test pilots and crews. They had a tendency to field advanced technology before it was fully tested. No one really knows how many cosmonauts and submariners lost their lives because of rushed 'hi-tech'.

        But you got to hand it to the average Russian. Though they were driven by an ultimately faulty collectivist ideology, these guys had guts and the ability to make things happen at the expense of comfort or safety. Pure pragmatists...
      • Pixelante, on 06/22/2008, -1/+0I didn't read the rest of your post because the pencils in space story already had me laughing at your ignorance, but the F-15 a copy of the MiG-25? You don't know anything about aeronautics: the MiG-25 was meant to be a fast interceptor that should have provided protection against American bombers, while the F-15 is an interceptor-dogfighter which evolved into a strike aircraft with the -E version.
        You fail. Your ignorace betrays your true nature as an internet kid, devoid of intelligence, bereft of knowledge. Your existence is an embarassment and the continuation of it is a waste of precious resources. Please recycle yourself by self-drowning into a waste pit.
        • Ortheos, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1You take personal offense at a mere oversight on his part. Perhaps he struck closer to home than you realize.

          Russia today with it's far smaller budget still supersedes the US in torpedo, submarine and rocket technology. It is also well ahead in space payload delivery, automated and manned. It can lift more kg into space for less $$ and more reliably to boot.

        • Ortheos, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1And all this is with a space budget 1/18th the size of NASA's. Throwing money at your scientists isn't going to make them smarter. If they have just enough to work with, they will make something sweet that works.
        • Pixelante, on 06/23/2008, -0/+0I'm not American, so I only take offense at ignorance. There is absolutely no excuses, with knowledge only a few keystrokes away, to spout uninformed bullcrap. Ignorance offends me deeply and that's why internet kids should bury themselves into animal feces and begone.
  • willdelaney, on 06/22/2008, -13/+227In Soviet Russia Apollo returns you.

    sorry i had to.
  • eeeeeeeeen, on 06/22/2008, -5/+18Not your common digg, but utterly fascinating, with great period photography.
    • bradd12, on 06/22/2008, -8/+2...oh, that kind of period photography... nevermind...
  • conblex, on 06/22/2008, -7/+8great story :) very interesting to me
  • Lunarbunny, on 06/22/2008, -18/+9Let's see...link visited color because...this was on Digg about a month ago. Buried as dupe.
    • g33b33, on 06/22/2008, -4/+9This pisses me off.....*I* didnt see it on the front page a month ago, so I found it interesting this time round. Thanks poster.
  • scot333, on 06/22/2008, -2/+4550°48'49.25"N 2°28'28.98"W
  • pantone286, on 06/22/2008, -8/+1Southwind? LOL.
  • mal1964, on 06/22/2008, -0/+4Sounds like a Tom Clancy novel.
  • sniper241, on 06/22/2008, -5/+1Now the pod takes its place in the famous Apollo theater
  • haterrade, on 06/22/2008, -1/+8Interesting that the US and the USSR would play nice somewhat frequently throughout the cold war era, i've read a few things stating how the Cold War for all intents and purposes was beneficial for both sides...of course, when the alternative is nuclear war, I can see why
    • dopplerdog, on 06/22/2008, -0/+10Of course it was beneficial for both sides... at least SOME on both sides. The Soviet power cliques used it for propaganda purposes, to fuel their arms industry and remain in power.... and the US power cliques used it for propaganda purposes, to fuel their arms industry and remain in power.

      The Cold War was a war waged by power cliques on both sides, not against each other, but against their own people.
      • hansolo, on 06/22/2008, -2/+2Agreed.

        And now take out Soviet and put in Iran, Iraq, etc and the status quo remains the same.
      • jerbaker, on 06/22/2008, -4/+7Somebody should mention that it was the United States that started the Cold War in the first place. The Soviets were our allies in World War II until we screwed them over when Hitler invaded. When the US refused to help Stalin repel Hitler's invasion, and 20 million innocent Soviet civilians died, we got ourselves on a lot of people's ***** list over there. Especially with Churchill making public statements about how he preferred England be taken over by Hitler rather than become Communist. NOTE TO SELF: It's probably not good to say that you prefer your opponent to your ally during a war in which your opponent has just killed 20 million of your ally's civilian population.

        While carving up Europe for our own purposes (Marshall Plan), we were publicly chastising the Soviets for their "Iron Curtain." Nobody took a moment to consider that after having 10% of their population killed by an invading German army, they might want a little buffer between themselves and Germany. Of course not, Communists only do things for evil purposes.

        It was the United States who decided to use nuclear weapons on civilians (twice) in a demonstration of our willingness to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people just to make a point. We didn't demonstrate nuclear weapons to the Japanese in the ocean, or an a primarily military target. Instead we chose targets that demonstrated our strategic capability to deliver nuclear weapons to the Soviet Union. Sure the aim was to end the war in Japan, but that wasn't the only reason.

        The arms race was an economic race that came very close to bankrupting us as well. Nobody can deny the debt Ronald Reagan ran up for us to pay off even to this day. The Soviet system collapsed for a lot of reasons, but one of them was that if you have to divert resources into an arms race to defend yourself against an opponent that has already twice dropped nuclear weapons on civilians, you don't have a lot of resources to use on providing a socialist society. That was the point of the arms race.
        • nickvdk, on 06/22/2008, -2/+0you are right. there are no REAL bad guys or good guys in this world. War is just sick and pointless. Just a few minority elite people pushing their agendas and propaganda into the population's mind.

          People keep saying that life for man kind is getting better and better. But really, war is a given. People will continue to die for stupid causes (e.g. Bush's Iraq war).

          Anyway forget about world peace and back to reality.....
        • starmanjones, on 06/22/2008, -0/+1>NOTE TO SELF: It's probably not good to say
          .

          :D ya... isn't that the test. you feel like maybe better judgement would be to not exercise free speech even when you are talking facts and history.
        • DuffyDirect, on 06/22/2008, -1/+5You're an idiot. The alliance between the Allies and Soviet Union fell apart when Stalin halted his advancing armies right outside of Warsaw in order to let the Nazis put down the Polish resistance in order to make his OWN occupation of the country easier. He refused to let American and British planes air lift supplies to the besieged city, and proceed to seize and occupy Romania. When the Poles were all dead, he turned around again and occupied Poland. Executing and gulaging Polish nationals. The Polish government in exile that helped in the liberation of France and the battle of Britain was not allowed to return to Poland to govern.

          Stalin insulted Roosevelt, and refused to meet with the allies in Europe or the Americas, forcing a half-dead old man to travel all the way to Yalta to discuss Poland's future. He lied to Churchill and Roosevelt about his plans there too, by the way. And then Eisenhower shared his battle plan with his Soviet counterparts (calling for both allies to charge into southern Germany where the Nazi forces remained intact), and Stalin agreed. He flat-out lied though, and instead moved northwest so that he would be able to take over Berlin -- the same city he starved and froze by blocking our truck and railroad supplies into it during the airlift crisis.

          Go ***** yourself, ignorant fool.
        • solid12345, on 06/22/2008, -0/+5How about we talk about the history of Stalin and Hitler making a pact to carve up Poland together?
    • sjmulder, on 06/22/2008, -2/+1"…how the Cold War for all intents and purposes was beneficial for both sides."

      Reminds me of Eurasia ;)
    • trendygamer, on 06/22/2008, -1/+4Yes, the Cold War was very beneficial to both sides. I mean, despite a few economic hiccups and whatnot the United States is overall doing very well for itself now. Likewise, look how well the Cold War benefited the Soviet Union....wait a minute......nevermind.
  • OC73, on 06/22/2008, -18/+5Pro-soviet propaganda by a submitter whose icon is the commie red star.

    Fitting.
    • Elephant789, on 06/22/2008, -2/+8And where is your star from?
      • OC73, on 06/22/2008, -8/+4Umm...let's see.... Blue background, white star... What could it represent....This is a tough one.
        • unreg, on 06/22/2008, -3/+3The Land That Love Bush?

          PS: The Soviet Union no longer exists
        • OC73, on 06/22/2008, -6/+4"PS: The Soviet Union no longer exists"

          Tell that to Putin or his puppet, Medvedev. Apparently, they haven't gotten the memo.
        • KurtangleTN, on 06/22/2008, -0/+5You'd die mysteriously in Russia for saying that
        • overridemymind, on 06/22/2008, -0/+0" Tell that to Putin or his puppet, Medvedev. Apparently, they haven't gotten the memo."

          Well, these people may have missed the memo, and may still be trying to conduct business as if the USSR were still intact, but the fact is, the USSR is dissolved. Russia's satellite countries are independent... albeit third world... nations.
  • ButterBuddha, on 06/22/2008, -6/+1The dude in the sixth is thinks he's funny...
  • snurfle, on 06/22/2008, -8/+6FTA: "The next day our choppers flew over their ship and drop some bags of garbage on their bridge … pay back time.. "
    That made me LOL!
    • verkon, on 06/23/2008, -1/+1Americans are such assholes, and they wonder why the soviets disliked them.
  • trendygamer, on 06/22/2008, -0/+17What makes this story slightly less remarkable is that the Apollo capsule the Soviets returned was basically a mockup used for recovery training - barely any intelligence could be gathered from its study, although you're crazy if you think the Soviets didn't examine every last bolt regardless...we'd have (and SHOULD have) done the same.
    • miken32, on 06/22/2008, -0/+7Also, the fact that the capsule is sitting in a museum in Michigan with a plaque telling the story makes it even less remarkable. I think when the author wrote it was an "obscure and unknown" story, he was probably overstating it with the second adjective.
  • jesusface, on 06/22/2008, -6/+1Quick question. It says "This photograph shows the capsule in 2002, when it was serving as a time capsule not to be opened until 2076, at Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA" Anyone else notice that 2076 is a bit far off?
    • eyebits, on 06/22/2008, -7/+3100 years from 1976 (Nation's Centennial) is 2076.
      • Kyan, on 06/22/2008, -0/+71876 - Centennial
        1976 - bicentennial
        2076 - tricentennial
        • fuzzybeard, on 06/23/2008, -0/+11876 - Centennial
          1976 - bicentennial
          2076 - tricentennial

          Gah...I'll be past my "best by" date before then!

          2076 = 111 year old Fuzzybeard
    • crapmatic, on 06/22/2008, -0/+1If it goes on tour, I hope it comes to my concentration camp in 2076.
  • EEdesigner, on 06/22/2008, -8/+5Aha, saw that "...due to global warming..." comment inserted into the text. Why do idiot journalists have to demonstrate their lack of scientific education by placing silliness in the middle of an interesting story? What loons.
    • mindragon, on 06/22/2008, -3/+2Aha, saw that "...demonstrate their lack of scientific education by placing silliness in the middle of..." interesting comments. What a loon.
  • buddypriefert, on 06/22/2008, -1/+2Does anyone know if the capsule from Astronaut Gordon's (the early Mercury astronauts) "accidental" blown hatch event (circa 1963 or so) has ever been recovered? It sank when the hatch opened during pickup in the ocean and supposedly is deeper than the Titanic.
    • Bolko, on 06/22/2008, -0/+3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Bell_7
    • BugBBQ, on 06/22/2008, -0/+4Yes and it was Gus Grissom's capsule... he later died in the fire aboard Apollo 1. Back in I think the late 90's the Mercury capsule was found and is on display somewhere in the US.
      • fuzzybeard, on 06/23/2008, -0/+2Did they ever reprimand the genius that didn't put an emergency release on the inside of Apollo 1?

        /I like the idea of a Viking funeral; but I want to be dead before they light it!
        • BugBBQ, on 06/23/2008, -0/+2No, NASA never fires anybody... last I heard he had been promoted to O-ring inspector in the mid-80's.

          (dark... hell, "black" humor I know but I couldn't resist)

        • fuzzybeard, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1*clapping & laughing* Bravo, sir; Bravo! Well played! It's nice to know that there's more than one person in the world that appreciates black humour.
  • bimtott, on 06/22/2008, -12/+11I don't get it - what was an Apollo capsule doing outside the New Mexico soundstage?
  • potamkin, on 06/22/2008, -5/+0yes they gave it back, but they probably reverse engineered the hell out of it!
  • potamkin, on 06/22/2008, -7/+0yes they gave it back, but they probably reverse engineered the hell out of it!
  • HappyScrappy, on 06/22/2008, -0/+19How can this guy say he "broke the news that the Soviets recovered an Apollo capsule" when this info was etched into a plaque on the side of the capsule sitting in Grand Rapids, Michigan since 1976? That makes it not much of a secret.
    • miken32, on 06/22/2008, -0/+3Plus the fact that he said it was in the newspapers of the time...
  • pir800, on 06/22/2008, -3/+1maybe they figured we had a tracing device, and thought we would attack if we didn't get it back.
    • kroni, on 06/22/2008, -1/+2maybe they were more honest than any american
  • supermanred, on 06/22/2008, -2/+1The Soviets hung on to the capsule for a year, probably studying every inch of it before they handed it back to the Americans, so they weren't exactly being good neighbors at the time.
    • timsline, on 06/22/2008, -1/+1How would we have handled it any differently if the roles were reversed?
      • yosserhughes, on 06/22/2008, -0/+2In 1966, Assyrian Iraqi Captain Munir Redfa flew his MiG-21F-13 to Israel. Two years later, Israel gave his MiG-21F-13 and two MiG-17F to the United States for evaluation under the code-name "Have Donut" (for the MiG-21), and "Have Drill" (for the MiG-17).
  • digitallysick, on 06/22/2008, -2/+1The Soviets could of kept it forever, i bet we traded something to get it back
  • scarwars, on 06/22/2008, -1/+4Rodney!
  • MrESaulved, on 06/22/2008, -5/+2I'd like to build a rover, much like the ones on Mars, equip it with cameras and land it on the Moon and take pictures.

    Funny how that hasn't been done yet, considering how much easier it would be than sending people there, or sending rovers to Mars, and considering how valuable that documentary footage would be. Besides, I want to see all 6 landers. In place, as they have been for 40 years.

    Don't you?
    • aMammoth, on 06/22/2008, -1/+2Actually the Japanese have a rover up there...
      It just doesn't really make news, because its just, kinda boring.
      And going back to those sites have no scientific value. So they really wouldn't do it.
      • MrESaulved, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1Boring? Oh no..not all all....watch the images from the Moon of the left over old gear and landers and Moon buggies....we could even try and find the golf balls.

        Also, you could do detailed analysis on the landers to see how they survived the lunar surface all these years. Invaluable scientific data...hardly boring. Not to mention detailed surface samples, with equipment not even dreamed of in the 1960's.

        Not to mention, think about how wonderful it would be to prove that the Apollo programs delivered men to the surface of the Moon and back.
  • copypastry, on 06/22/2008, -0/+10We CANNOT afford a KINDNESS GAP!
    • fuzzybeard, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1We CANNOT afford a BASSELOPE GAP!

      /or very much else, either.
  • macaholic, on 06/22/2008, -1/+3Buried as false, Indiana Jones taught me that communists are no less than the pinnacle of evil, the only true spawns of Satan.
  • iamondigghaha, on 06/22/2008, -2/+13Dugg for ***** cute polar bear.
  • kroni, on 06/22/2008, -5/+3being from a neutral country, I can say I prefer the old CCPC to the new glamour Russia. At least we had some power to put balance to USA evilness
    • DuffyDirect, on 06/22/2008, -1/+2what neutral country would that be? san marino?
      • kroni, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1we was neutral to the nazis in ww2, and in secret, we still support them. ***** usa
    • theloofa, on 06/22/2008, -0/+3It's CCCP
      • fuzzybeard, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1Союз Советских Социалистических Республик...no wonder it got abbreviated!
    • solid12345, on 06/22/2008, -1/+3Reading your comments I find things like

      "down with zionism, ***** the USA"

      Yet you love your Harley, why do you people want all our crap and then bitch about Mcdonalds and Coca-Cola taking over your culture?
      • DanMcGuinness, on 06/22/2008, -1/+2Big corporations like McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and Coca-Cola are evil and their CEOs want to take over the world and enslave the human race because... well... while they're making billions and running the most successful companies on the planet, I'm too busy sitting idly by my computer, eating nachos, not bathing, and complaining about things in an uninformed manner.
      • kroni, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1well, actually I got the harley like 3 months ago and is a piece of *****, is leaking oil already, so i'm probably trading her for a jap bike
        again, ***** the usa once again, the usa ***** me real good with this POS bike. and mc donalds is a piece of *****, has been years since the time i went there to see what they served: crap, expensive crap, can go to a decent restaurant for half the price
    • fuzzybeard, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1The old anthem was definitely better.
  • AllYourBase3, on 06/22/2008, -0/+2I'm sure they took a few pictures of it first :)
  • kingofinternet, on 06/22/2008, -1/+4dugg for rodney
  • liuite, on 06/22/2008, -0/+4sure, just like how the Chinese returned our spy plane after going over it with a fine tooth comb.
  • jasonqueen, on 06/22/2008, -1/+4Dugg for Rodney the polar bear.
  • geekofweek, on 06/22/2008, -0/+6An Apollo boilerplate capsule is not the same as a space worthy Apollo Capsule filled with the computers and instrumentation. It would have been of little use to the Soviets, unless the really wanted to know the dimensions of an Apollo capsule.
  • themulf, on 06/22/2008, -4/+2Anyone else look at the picture of the polar bear and say to them self "I bet that bear is long dead'?
  • stephenhacking, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1I wonder why they gave it back.
    • jerbaker, on 06/25/2008, -0/+1'Cause they weren't the United States?
  •  

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