| (#)-true- INTRIGUING REPORTS - FROM THE EARLY SPACE AGE - page 2 of 2 (+) THE POP CULTURE OF THE EARLY SPACE RACE - SORTING OUT FACT FROM FICTION by: AARON GEORGE BAILEY - WA5HRC I was a youngster with a shortwave radio during the early Space Age, at a time when some spacecraft transmitted to earth on frequencies which my receiver could tune.(&) The hunt was on for the frequencies being used for space communication. All of my sources of information were news articles from the period. Below are some of the intriguing articles which really fueled my interest. American spacecraft, Mercury and Gemini, used some shortwave communications but quickly moved to the more dependable UHF band. Whenever a manned mission was up I would listen out with my radio and try to intercept voice transmissions directly from the capsule, especially the Soviet flights because they continued to use shortwave frequencies, around 20 megacycles, for a number of years.-(NOTE- see my Soyuz-14/Salyut-3 and Soyuz-25 signals) Back in the early 1960s, the Cold War and Space Race was heating up and the secretive nature of the Soviet space program really fascinated me. Soviet satellites were invading American air space everyday. "What are those Russians up to in Space", was a common question from that era? Note- more of my scrapbook articles from the mid 1960s. These articles appeared in The Arkansas Democrat OR The Arkansas Gazette newspapers? |
| NOTE - Undoubtedly the Judica-Cordiglia brothers did hear satellite signals from that period but the validity of their sensational claims has been challenged by a number of sources. Please go to Sven's Space Place- www.svengrahn.pp.se -by Sven Grahn and click on SPACE TRACKING NOTES. Then scroll down and click on "Notes on the Space Tracking Activities and Sensational Claims made by the Judica-Cordiglia Brothers". Please read Sven's WEB PAGE for a more balanced assessment of the above article. Personally, I invite visitors to listen to real "Radio Signals from Space" within my web page, and then give a listen to the signals at "The Lost Cosmonauts" web page - www.lostcosmonauts.com You be the judge. I wish the Judica-Cordiglia brothers would share some of their regular satellite signals as Mr Sven Grahn has done on his GREAT "Space Sounds" web page. For more info see "Phantoms in Space" by: James Oberg and also "Lost Cosmonaut Rumors"- http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/conspiracy/q0235.shtml |
| WOW,,,, SOS DISTRESS SIGNALS FROM SPACE !! ?? ITALIAN BROTHERS MAKE SENSATIONAL CLAIMS. WERE THESE RADIO INTERCEPTS FROM SOVIET SPACE FAILURES ? Cosmonauts marooned in space, spooky stuff indeed. TRUE or FALSE ??? |
| I remember several radio and TV news reports from the early 60s which indicated that amateur radio listeners in Europe were intercepting radio transmissions from failed Soviet space flights. "Laboured breathing and failing heartbeats" were reportedly heard from doomed Cosmonauts. In a 1960s frame of mind, this was intriguing stuff but as we know now, it was most likely untrue. Back then, the reports got me listening around 20 megacycles, a shortwave band used for Russian satellite transmissions. In retrospect, the marooned Cosmonaut reports, and even the heartbeat sound from Sputnik-2, seem to trace back to the Judica-Cordiglia Brothers. In fact, the heartbeat sound from Sputnik-2 kind of sounds like the heartbeat from the doomed Cosmonaut? However, biomedical data from Vostok flights was encoded within PDM telemetry and WAS NOT broadcast as a raw heartbeat or breathing sound. Undoubtedly, CIA and informed NASA officials knew the truth, and they must have smiled at the doomed Cosmonaut reports because, in the public domain, these tales gave the Soviet space effort a black eye at a time when Russia was ahead of America in space research. Privately, I have heard "Cosmonaut in trouble" radio stories from another source which I cannot reveal. However, now, I believe these radio intercepts to be embellished accounts of the failed Soyuz-1 flight. I should point out, history proves that the Soviets covered up their space disasters, when they could. What do you think? Comments are welcome on any of these articles. |
| A comic spin on the marooned cosmonaut tale source - unknown - pending ========================================= |
| (#) SEE ABOVE - The Wilhelm Foerster Observatory was located deep inside Communist East Germany, within the West Berlin zone. During the 1960s this tracking station monitored Soviet satellite activity for the Western World. The Station Director, Harro Zimmer, is seen tuning in a Soviet satellite on shortwave. |
| ============================================================================================ (+) SEE BELOW - LOOKING BACK ON THE POP CULTURE OF THE COLD WAR AND SPACE RACE + SORTING OUT FACT FROM FICTION + THE INTRIGUING STUFF PROVED WRONG BY TIME AND HISTORY |
| The secretive nature of the Soviet Space Program led one serious investigator to conclude that the Russian manned flights were faked. He claimed, there never were cosmonauts in orbit and the voice transmissions from space might be coming from tape recorders that were carried on unmanned satellites. At the time, the logic for this thinking seemed to hinge around the general nature of the comments that were, in fact, radioed back to earth by real cosmonauts. Many of the intercepted voice transmissions were useless generalities, like, "Greetings to the peoples,,," of this or that country. Also, the Russian cosmonauts did not appear so busy in space as their American counterparts. Early US astronauts, in true test pilot fashion, frequently reported back on the status of spacecraft systems. ($) |
($) Years later we would learn that the Russian Vostok was a fully automated spacecraft, capable of flying
independently in a manned or unmanned mode, and requiring very little pilot input when manned.(4)
Vostok cosmonauts were little more than passengers whereas America's Mercury astronauts had more
pilot duties. This could account for the lack of technical radio chatter from the early Russian cosmonauts.
With tracking stations around the world, the Mercury astronauts enjoyed almost uninterrupted radio
coverage. Mercury used both HF(shortwave) and the more dependable UHF. By contrast, for
communications support outside the USSR, the Vostok cosmonauts had only a few ships at sea resulting in
limited VHF radio coverage and making them rely more on long range HF. Often the HF was prone to
signal disruptions due to bad atmospheric conditions which made AM voice signals unreadable, then
forcing the cosmonaut to rely on Morse Code . RETURN TO HOME PAGE AND INDEX
independently in a manned or unmanned mode, and requiring very little pilot input when manned.(4)
Vostok cosmonauts were little more than passengers whereas America's Mercury astronauts had more
pilot duties. This could account for the lack of technical radio chatter from the early Russian cosmonauts.
With tracking stations around the world, the Mercury astronauts enjoyed almost uninterrupted radio
coverage. Mercury used both HF(shortwave) and the more dependable UHF. By contrast, for
communications support outside the USSR, the Vostok cosmonauts had only a few ships at sea resulting in
limited VHF radio coverage and making them rely more on long range HF. Often the HF was prone to
signal disruptions due to bad atmospheric conditions which made AM voice signals unreadable, then
forcing the cosmonaut to rely on Morse Code . RETURN TO HOME PAGE AND INDEX