Transcript: February Week 2

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies on Radio Boise. This is the second week of February. We’re your hosts, Paul..

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
Thirty-five years ago on the 14th, the Soviet Union launched Luna 20 to the moon.

RACHEL
The unmanned Soviet spacecraft successfully returned over an ounce of lunar material.
KRIS
At the time, the Apollo missions were returning around 100 pounds of moon rocks and dust on each mission.

PAUL
At the time, the Soviet Union was claiming that they weren’t racing the United States to the moon.

RACHEL
They also claimed that their unmanned missions were safer than Apollo missions, so they were the preferred way to explore the moon.

KRIS
But that was all propaganda. The Soviet Union really was hoping to beat the United States to the moon.

RACHEL
To do so, they developed two manned moon programs. They were called the L1 and L3 projects.

PAUL
L1 was an attempt to send a Soviet cosmonaut around the moon before Apollo 8.

KRIS
And L3 was an attempt to land a cosmonaut on the moon before Apollo 11.

RACHEL
The L1 project would either launch two small spacecraft to the moon or launch a single spacecraft to the moon with the more powerful Proton booster.

KRIS
But the L1 project was put on hold after the death of cosmonaut Komarov in Soyuz 1.

RACHEL
As a result of the accident, the Soviets spent the next year redesigning the Soyuz into a safer spacecraft.

KRIS
Initially the Proton proved to be a very reliable booster. But after the Soyuz 1 accident, it showed a less dependable side when 75% of the Proton launches failed.

PAUL
We know the Soviets were still trying to beat the United States because our spy satellites show two rockets being prepared for a moon launch in December 1968.

RACHEL
The first was a Soyuz rocket, designed to carry three cosmonauts into orbit.

KRIS
And the second was a Proton rocket. This much more powerful rocket was to carry their moon ship.

RACHEL
The launch of Apollo 8 later that month put an end to the Soviet dream of beating the United States around the moon.

KRIS
The Soviet’s attempt to beat America to the moon’s surface ended in 1969 when two of their unmanned N-1 rockets failed.

RACHEL
Their failures were spectacular to say the least.

KRIS
The Soviet moon lander and orbiter were heavy, so the N-1 was a super booster that carried a lot of fuel.

RACHEL
When the N-1 control system failed and the N-1 engines shut down, the N-1 crashed with an explosion as powerful as a small atomic bomb.

KRIS
In fact, the second N-1 attempt completely destroyed the entire launch pad.

RACHEL
There were two more attempts to launch the N-1 before the Soviets finally gave up.

KRIS
After that, the Soviet Union claimed they never were in a race for the moon.

PAUL
And that’s the real moon hoax.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the second week of February. Next week our show will talk about John Glenn and the first time neutrinos were used to make an astronomical observation of a supernova.

For Idaho Skies this is Rachel.

KRIS
..Kris..

PAUL
.. and Paul.