LETTER WRITTEN BY JULIUS EPSTEIN, A RESEARCH ASSOCIATE OF THE HOOVER INSTITUTE OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY, TO THE EDITOR OF THE PALO ALTO TIMES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67B00446R000100350019-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 15, 2004
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: August 18, 1965
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2004/02/04: CIA-RDP67B00446R000100350019-3
SECRET
18 August 1965
MEMORANDUM FOR: Office of the Legislative Counsel
ATTENTION:
SUBJECT:
Letter Written by Julius Epstein, a Research
Associate of the Hoover Institute of Stanford
University, to the Editor of the Palo Alto Times
1. This is in answer to your request for more information on
Mr. James Gehrig;'s questions.
21. Intelligence on hand indicates rather clearly that the
subject account of Soviet manned space failures is false. There has
been a succession of articles of similar tenor appearing in each
case to provide specific details of Soviet catastrophes in space but
in no case can these details be corroborated by intelligence on
Soviet space activities. That these articles feed upon one another
and enjoy immunity from open disproof is revealed in the mowing
number of deaths reported as they periodically reappear.
With one possible exception, all the persons named in the
letter appear to be actual persons which have appeared at one time
or another in the Soviet press. It appears that Mr. Epstein could
have acquired the cited names in the following places:
a. Serenty Shiborin - The name "Terentiy Shiborin"
apparently first appeared in the 26 November 1961 (No. 48)
issue of a Munich (Germany) weekly called Revue under the
title of "Eight Soviet Spacemen Burned to Death". There
is no evidence that such a person ever existed.
b. Piotr Dolgow - "Piotr Dolgov" was reported by the
USSR as a high altitude parachutist who was killed while
making a jump from a very high altitude on 1 November 1962.
This jump was described in Izvestia on 15 November 1962.
Again, a Soviet publication Kr yl~ya, Rodiny (No. 2, February
1963) described the jump and Dolgov as a holder of the
Order of Lenin for testing and perfecting the outfitting of
the Cosmonauts". Since the Soviet cosmonauts have used an
individual parachute recovery system, Dolgov's testing of
parachutes was probably related to this type of equipment.
Exclu6v~ iresn a~~irn:t~Approved For Release 2004/02/ - DP67B0044 R~ X0019-3
 Approved For Release 2004/02/04: CIA-RDP67B00446R000100350019-3
SECRET
~:;UBJECT: Letter Written by Julius Epstein, a Research
Associate of the Hoover Institute of Stanford
University, to the Editor of the Palo Alto Times
c. ;Wassilievitch Zowodowsky - A 28 may 1963 copy of
Izvestia reports that "Zavodovskiy", formerly a tester of
systems and equipment for high altitude flights is now a
Moscow chauffeur. It has been reported
that his name and picture have appeared in the Soviet press
in connection with the testing of aircraft instruments.
d. Alexei Belokonev, Ivan Kascheur, Alexis Gratzev,
and Jennady Michailov - These four names appeared in the
Soviet periodical 0gonek (No. 1,2, October 1959). Although
the article discussed special suits to be used in space and
at high altitudes, the individuals above were called tech-
nical workers and not cosmonauts.
25X1
The transliteration used by bir. Epstein indicates German
or Polish sources. The origin of these stories may very well be
euigr& groups attempting to discredit the Soviet space program.
SECRET
Approved For Release 2004/02/04: CIA-RDP67B00446R000100350019-3
25X1
 Approved For Release 2004/02/04: CIA-RDP67B00446R000100350019-3
Approved For Release 2004/02/04: CIA-RDP67B00446R000100350019-3