Article by Aleksandr Milkus, under the rubric: Secret : Almaz - The Murderer Looked Into the Statue of Liberty's Eyes Three Times - Few People, Even Among Those Who Said Goodbye Yesterday at Baykonur, Knew That This Functional-Cargo Unit Had an Fearsome Classified Ancestor: Zarya - The International Space Station's First Module A Military Space Fortress - That's What the Central Committee Viewed as a Response to Chamberlain. The system consisted of a cannon that was capable of firing in a vacuum and space-to-space missiles.

Essentially, Zarya is a modernized equivalent of the "supply transport spacecraft" that was developed thirty years ago by Vladimir Chelomey's Design Bureau for a military orbital station. And the station existed not only in drawings. It was in space! And the well-known Salyut spacecraft (the second, third, and fifth) in fact are those same Salyut spacecraft as Maksim Maksimovich Isayev-Stirlits.

The real name of these stations is Almaz. In contrast to the genuine Salyut spacecraft that were manufactured at Energiya NPO [Scientific Production Association] (Korolev's former Design Bureau), the Almaz spacecraft were developed at Reutov, "Chelomey's firm" (currently NPO Mashinostroyeniya [Machine Building Scientific Production Association]) in the Moscow suburbs. It is at Reutov that the Navy's cruise missiles and ground-based ballistic monsters were born. So it's no accident that already in 1964 it was Academician Chelomey who thought up the military station when Korolev's very simple "marbles" were being carried into orbit.

The concept is grandiose even by today's standards. A 20-tonne spacecraft was to have operated not for a month or two (that's how long spacecraft lasted at the time) but for 2-3 years and take reconnaissance photographs during that entire time! Those same TKS [supply transport spacecraft] (from which Zarya was born) would arrive at the spacecraft with cargo and other spacecraft would arrive with cosmonauts. The reusable crew capsules - could be launched and returned no less than 10 times.

Chelomey could permit himself such projects. While Khrushchev was in power, Chelomey could easily gain access to the offices of the Kremlin and Staraya Ploshchad (Sergey Nikitovich, the Secretary General's son, worked at the firm.) The chief designer was not an experienced politician and didn't miss an opportunity to put those who did not respect him in their place. That's how it was with then Council of Ministers Deputy Chairman Dmitriy Ustinov, whom Chelomey did not consider to be an authority.

They removed Khrushchev from office. Brezhnev stood up at the helm, behind whom loomed the shadow of CPSU Central Committee Secretary for Defense Ustinov. The opportunity appeared for the Marshal to take revenge on the person who had offended him. Ustinov totally weighed down upon Chelomey who could not sympathize with the "Korolev designers". He followed "another path".

They approved the Almaz Program in 1967. They proposed that Chelomey conduct the first launch in 1970 on Lenin's 100th Birthday. The Chief Designer rejected this circumspect matter, there wasn't enough time! In general, he did not like rushing to complete a project by a specific date, especially after the death in the first Soyuz of Vladimir Komarov, who died because they decided to launch an unfinished spacecraft by May 1st.

And then they transferred the Almaz drawings to Korolev's Design Bureau based upon a directive of the highest leadership. Eight already manufactured station bodies were transported right after them. It was understood that Korolev's designers would also not manage to complete them by the prescribed time period. But that already did not bother them - the main thing was to put Chelomey in his place. The first Salyut, assembled in an Almaz body, was launched into orbit in 1971. Meanwhile, the arms race was escalating. A military space fortress - that's what the Central Committee viewed as a "response to Chamberlain". They gave Chelomey the opportunity to continue designing. An improbable situation developed. Two similar manned station programs were being conducted in the country at the same time. One can imagine what kind of money was thrown out "into space" if one recalls that $250 million was required today just to design and launch Zarya! And Zarya - that is not even the main unit but a supplementary module.

Salyut-2 (it was Almaz) was launched into orbit in April 1973. A crew was preparing to launch to it but the station went into a communications "dead" zone, without atmosphere, on the 13th day. What occurred is a riddle. There is an assumption that a fragment of the exploded Proton's third stage penetrated the skin.

Salyut-3 (also an Almaz) was launched into space a year later, in June 1974. A colossal telescope, approximately one meter in diameter, was mounted in the station's "floor". They could photograph airfields and missile complexes using the telescope. An optical sight permitted them to "come to a standstill" over a facility and the cosmonaut could see the numbers on the decks of ships and the types of aircraft on aircraft carriers. Furthermore, there was an apparatus for taking pictures in the infrared range and a topographical camera. But, the most interesting thing was the active defense system that was mounted in the event of an attack by Apollo. The system consisted of a cannon that was capable of firing in a vacuum and space-to-space missiles.

That same Almaz still stands in one of the Machine Building NPO's shops. The NPO leadership authorized journalists to climb on board it for the first time. Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondents became those journalists. The inside of Almaz reminds you of a submarine conning tower - a hard cot, a desk, and a stool. The commander's work space is like a combat post - sights, an indicator panel, and a globe. A plain and simple toilet - a mundane, raised wooden seat to which an absorbent bag had been extended. Alongside the toilet - a special hatch to send a capsule to Earth, where canisters with exposed film were placed. Popovich and Artyukhin even launched one such capsule - the landing accuracy was staggering. Just like one could drop an atomic bomb from Almaz.

Thirty military personnel were especially trained to work on Almaz spacecraft. And although all of them wore pilots' shoulder boards at the Training Center, there were also seamen, missileers, and communicators among the students. Each planned to conduct intelligence surveillance in his own specific area.

Boris Volynov and Vitaliy Zholobov and, later, Viktor Gorbatko and Yuriy Glaskov were the first to be launched to Salyut-5 - Almaz. The third crew, Vyacheslav Zudov and Valeriy Rozhdestvenskiy, were not able to link up with the station. Professional Submariner Valeriy Rozhdestvenskiy was supposed to develop a method for conducting surveillance of an enemy navy.

At the same time, they began testing a new reusable spacecraft - a spacecraft for cosmonauts. One could have launched the capsule into space once again after landing. One of the models was in orbit three times! That system was developed long before the American Shuttle.

The last Soviet manned reconnaissance station burned up in the Earth's atmosphere on August 8, 1977. Missions were accomplished both on the next Salyut spacecraft and also on Mir. They initially intended to augment Spektr, that was rammed last year, with a reconnaissance apparatus.

Chelomey thought that it was cheaper to launch automated reconnaissance spacecraft. Surveillance should be conducted 24 hours per day, regardless of whether or not the Earth was covered with clouds or if the spacecraft was located on the dark side. Cosmonauts are helpless here.

But the radars that were developed for Almaz were able to do that. The first such "all-seeing" eyes should have been launched in 1981. However, an order arrived from Moscow 10 days prior to the launch - terminate the Almaz Program as a result of work on Buran. Ustinov had decided to deal the finishing blow to Chelomey.

Only after the deaths of Chelomey and Ustinov (they died the same year two weeks apart) did new Chief Designer Gerbert Yefremov manage to convince Minister of Defense Sokolov that the program needed to be continued. They authorized him to prepare for launch the station that had collected dust for six years at a test range. To the designers' surprise, Almaz was in decent condition in contrast to the fairing that was being used as a toilet. The following transparency saved it from being looted: "Don't open, explosive charges-destruction mechanisms on board".

The much-suffering Almaz was launched on November 29, 1986. But the second stage did not separate for the first time in many years and Proton was lost and those same explosive charges-destruction mechanisms detonated Almaz. That was amazing: Proton is a super-reliable rocket. A version still circulates at the NPO that the firm didn't get by without its enemies.

The next Almaz was erected on the launch pad on June 25, 1987. The missile cannot be kept in that position for more than four days. An order once again arrived here - delay the launch and remove the rocket from the launch pad. But they did not remove it from the launch pad! That did not happen! Dozens of people maintained the station's required temperature regime for a month with temperatures of 42 degrees Celsius. The chief designer avoided the leadership's office. Having learned that Minister of General Machine Building Baklanov was at Baykonur, he tasked his Deputy Vladimir Viter to explain to him there, Baklanov listened to the telephone report and condescendingly ordered: "Well, what are you waiting for, launch it!"

This time Almaz received the name Komos-1870. The spacecraft, equipped with a unique radar "camera" was in orbit for two years. Almaz was launched under its own name only in 1991 but with the suffix "1". As if there weren't any predecessor stations! It was involved more with scientific and commercial photography. American firms were also among the customers. It was thanks to Almaz-1 that they managed to rescue the Polar expedition that was lost on the ice of Antarctica on the ship Mikhail Somov. No one else could see what was occurring during the deep Polar night.

In 1992, the Machine Building NPO began to develop the new Almaz-1B, already with three radars and an optical telescope. But they didn't manage to collect the money for its development and launch...

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