THE USSR'S SOYUZ 1 - TRAGEDY AND SETBACK

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06757650
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: November 22, 2019
• Case Number: F-2018-00347
• Publication Date: April 28, 1967

Approved for Release: 2019/11/06 C06757650
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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
WEEKLY REVIEW
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28 April 1967
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The Weekly Weekly Review, issued every Friday by the Office of Current
Intelligence, reports and analyzes significant developments of the
week through noon on Thursday. It frequently includes material
coordinated with or prepared by the Office of Research and Reports
and the Directorate of Science and Technology. Topics requiring
mote comprehensive treatment and therefore published separately as
Special Reports arc listed in the Contents pages of this publication.
WARNING
This document contains classified information affecting the national
security of the United States within the meaning of the espionage
laws, US Code Title 18, Sections 793, 794, and 798.
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l'EGM.T
CONTENTS
(Information as of noon EST, 27 April 1967)
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MEGRET__
THE USSR'S SOYUZ 1--TRAGEDY AND SETBACK
The ill-fated flight of Soyuz 1 is a severe blow to
Soviet prestige and almost certainly a serious set-
back to the Soviet manned space program. (TOP SECRET
TRINE)
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---TO-P-SEGRET_
THE USSR'S. SOYQZ 1--TRAGEDY AND SETBACK
The ill-fated flight of
Soyuz 1 is a severe blow to So-
viet prestige and almost.cer-
tainly a-serious setback to
the Soviet manned space program.
Soyuz 1 had seats for at
least three cosmonauts but
carried only one--Vladiiir Kom
arov,AAlot of'the USSR's first
multimanned spacecraft in Octo-
ber 1964. Technical problems in-
volving several spacecraft sys-
tems plagued Soyuz 1 from the
start and forced a decision to
cut the mission short. The mis-
sion originally planned probably
called for complex space maneuvers
perhaps involving a-second space-
craft and a transfer of crew'
members.
According to Moscow announce-
ments, the rigging of the main
parachute became twisted at
an altitude of.four miles and
the spacecraft plummeted to
earth, 'killing the Cosmonaut.
His death delivered a sharp blow
to the USSR's prestige in the
space field--the only major area
in which the Soviets have made
a credible claim to world primacy.
More serious, however, was
the succession of technical fail-
ures aboard the spacecraft during
the entire mission. Diffibulties-
with the automatic stabilization
system
Other problems arose
with power supply, propulsion,
and communications.
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TGir"Sreft-E-T-
Ishortly be-
fore Soyuz 1 entered the atmos-
phere, Komarov reported, "The
engine burned for 146 seconds.
Separation occurred. Everything
is okay." The Soviet statements
that Komarov died during the land-
ing itself, therefore, probably
are correct.
It is too soon to judge the
full effect of this flight on the
Soviet space prograni
the destruction of the
capsule, and the death of the
cosmonaut almost certainly will
delay the manned space effort.
Corrective measures probably will
have to await the findings of the
high-level investigating commis-
sion that the Soviets have set
up.
There have been several in-
dications that the Soyuz space-
craft is part of a program aimed
at a manned circumlunar mission.
a Russian regional radiobroadcast
from Ulan Ude on 24 April, prior
to the re-entry of Soyuz 1, in-
formed listeners that "the new
spacecraft is designed for much
longer flights than the one to
five days of the Vostok and
Voskhod series and for missions
not only in near-earth space but
in near-lunar space."
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To perform a circumlunar mis-
sion,the12,000t015,000 pound
Soyuz spacecraft would require a
powerful propulsion stage to push
it out of earth orbit onto a
lunar trajectory. Cosmos 146
and 154, orbited on 10 March and
8 April by uprated versions of
the USSR's largest space booster,bp)
the SL-9, are believed to have k
tested such a propulsion stage
for use with Soyuz-type space-
craft. Neither of these tests
was fully successful
--MP"-&E�GREI
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