Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Puzzle pieces.
Image credit: Leonard David

New revelations have come to light regarding “Project” Moon Dust, long known by Freedom of Information investigators as a clandestine U.S. Air Force operation to retrieve leftovers associated with re-entered objects.

Over the decades, for example, hardware from Soviet Union space missions was recovered for intensive study by specialized teams, items collected by U.S. or U.S. allies under the name “Moon Dust.”

The newly-issued documents were made available by the “Government Attic” website, a site that posts electronic copies of Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Example of recovered space clutter in Indonesia, identified as part of a Russian Soyuz A-2 rocket. Not from Moon Dust documents (shown as example of types of hardware that survive re-entry).
Image credit: Thomas Djamaluddin

Delicate issue

Posted June 3 on Government Attic as “Department of State (DOS) Communications Regarding Recovery of Deorbited Space Debris (Moon Dust), 1967-1972,” the released collection offers an eyeful.

The just declassified communiqués underscore that recovered space objects from non-U.S. launching states were considered a “delicate issue” and pieces recovered were of great interest, as they can be exploited to provide valuable information on inspection.

For example, there’s chasing down Soviet Union rocket bodies associated with Cosmos 208 in Nepal, recovering spheres two feet in diameter in Mexico, and Moon Dust individuals working with New Zealand officials to gather up fallen space clutter.

Signing of Outer Space Treaty.
Image credit: United Nations

U.S. mid-west fragments

In one message, there is pro/con deliberation about negotiations on the Outer Space Liability Convention at the United Nations that were in the final phase and what actions to take due to a fall of fragments from a Soviet satellite within the United States.

On August 28, 1970, a number of fragments from the Soviet satellite Cosmos 316 peppered a wide section of the U.S. mid-west – Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas.

“The Department of State has physical custody of the Soviet space fragments, one document points out, “the largest of which is roughly a square, 4 ft by 4 ft, weighing 640 lbs.”

Additionally, “the Soviet Union was provided a full physical description of the fragments and invited to claim them if inspection confirmed Soviet origin. Soviet Embassy officers declined either to inspect or claim the fragments.”

The Soyuz 11 crew of Georgi T. Dobrovolski, left, Viktor I. Patsayev, and Vladislav N. Volkov in a Soyuz simulator. Image credit: courtesy of RKK Energia

In the once secret report, it explains that “if additional fragments are recovered which are suspected to have come from Cosmos 316, all of the fragments may be assembled and used for an appropriate time in further intelligence evaluations.”

Death of soviet cosmonauts

From an Intelligence Information Report under the Directorate of Intelligence, the declassified document discusses the 1971 death of Soyuz-11 cosmonauts “prior to reentry.”

This report explains that, “contrary to widespread popular belief,” the crew were dead before their vehicle reentered the Earth’s atmosphere. Electrocardiographic telemetry “indicated that the three cosmonaut’s hearts had stopped before the reentry procedure was begun.”

Cited in the report as the “fairly probable” cause for the accident was “some type of leakage from the spacecraft of which they were completely unaware.”

Furthermore, the deaths served to trigger the belated realization by Soviet space engineers, the report states, “that their pursuit of mission objectives has dangerously outstripped their design engineering.”

Rummaging through the government attic

As for governmentattic.org, it provides “electronic copies of thousands of interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Fascinating historical documents, reports on items in the news, oddities and fun stuff and government bloopers, they’re all here. Think of browsing this site as rummaging through the Government’s Attic — hence our name,” the group’s website explains.

To cast your eyes on the “Department of State (DOS) Communications Regarding Recovery of Deorbited Space Debris (Moon Dust), 1967-1972” go to:

https://www.governmentattic.org/54docs/ProjMoondust1967-1972.pdf