The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his125/shuttle.lzh/SHUTTLE.TXT

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PER:Was the Space Program Sabotaged?

   This article come from The Gospel Truth, a publication of Southwest
Radio Church. Nov. 1986

   Space Program Sabotage?

   During the last two and one-half decades, the United States has
experienced one space triumph after another with very few failures.
However, within the last year, there has been one catastrophe after
another, with only one success. On January 28, 1986, millions around
the world watched in horror as NASA's newest space vehicle,
'Challenger', was engulfed in a fire ball, carrying seven American
astronauts to their death. This tragedy resulted in the loss of United
States' prestige and leadership in the international community, and it
set our space program back at least two years. Whether by accident or
design, it was a great victory for Russia.

   Subsequent investigations and deliberations have concluded that the
explosion of the rocket boosters carrying the 'Challenger' was due to a
mechanical failure, a leak around one of the O-rings. Practically no
government officially has even hinted at sabotage. However, dark doubts
concerning the real cause of the disaster have persisted. We quote from
the June 1986 edition of the 'Christian Inquirer' of Niagara Falls,
Ontario, and article entitled "Was 'Challenger' Sabotaged?":

   While the official explanation of the Challenger catastrophe is a
faulty seal, there are persistent rumors that it was not an accident.
Fact: the normal nearby Soviet ships were not in evidence. From a
military perspective, the disaster raised serious questions as to
whether President Reagan will be able to meet the timetable for
research and testing of his Strategic Defense Initiative, the
space-based antimissile-defense plan popularly known as 'Star Wars'....
Air Force officials reported April 18th that a Titan rocket carrying a
secret military payload exploded seconds after liftoff from Vandenberg
Air Force Base in California.... The rocket was thought to be carrying
a KH-11 photographic reconnaissance satellite, which is used to observe
the Soviet military, monitor compliance with arms control agreements,
and observe "hot spots" around the globe. America now has only one
KH-11 operating in space since another satellite was lost last August
when another Titan rocket exploded after liftoff a Vandenberg. In
trying to explain the recent malfunction of a Delta rocket, the type
scheduled to launch SDI experiments into space later this year, one
NASA official said the engine shutdown "almost seemed like something
flipped the switch." While investigators have suggested that an
electrical circuit on the engine may have failed, there is also the
distinct possibility of sabotage. Lt. General Daniel O. Graham
(retired), former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, says
that sabotage could have been accomplished through "transmission
Frequencies" by sending the wrong information to the space vehicle.
Graham, who now directs High Frontier, a pro-SDI research organization
says, "The Soviets have been pulling out all the stops in their
propaganda machine to prevent us from using Space for SDI. I wouldn't
be surprised if they were also pulling out all the stops in their dirty
tricks machine, too. You can't ignore the possibility." Graham sent a
letter to William Rogers, head of the presidential commission
investigating the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger, urging
him to look at the possibility of sabotage in that disaster.

   A related, subsequent article entitled "Sabotaged Missile Launches?"
by Tad Szulc, a Washington journalist experienced in covering
intelligence matters, appeared in the July 6,1986 edition of the Los
Angeles Times. We quote:

   In a departure from its public position, the French government has
concluded that the explosion of its ariane rocket at the Kourou launch
site in French Guinea on May 30 may have been due to sabotage.
According to French intelligence officials, the investigation into the
Ariane accident has been secretly reopened because, "Initially we had
no reason to raise the question of sabotage, but now we have reason to
ask that question."

   France has shared its concerns and suspicions about Ariane with the
highest levels of U.S. intelligence... because of the series of
catastrophes involving American space launches this year. The French
and American accidents are adding up to a bizarre pattern, surrounded
by strange coincidences and unexplained events, deeply preoccupying
Western intelligence. These include the apparent defection to the
Soviet Union in 1983 of the U.S. Air Force's leading expert on rocket
self-destruct procedures.

   With the loss of the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, a Titan
34-D rocket on April 18, a Delta Rocket on May 3, and the French
Ariane, all of which carried American reconnaissance satellites, the
United States no longer has the capability of putting satellites into
orbit to monitor Soviet nuclear deployments and serve as early-warning
systems against a ballistic-missile attack...

   Although specific causes of all these accidents varied in each case,
according to technical inquiry reports, the common denominator was that
most of the rockets - including the Challenger's solid-fuel boosters -
had to be destroyed by radio command from the ground to prevent debris
from falling into inhabited areas.

   In the case of Ariane, the technical report on the causes of the May
30 accident concluded that it was the failure of the rocket's
third-stage engine to ignite properly.... But French intelligence
officials say that while the report is technically correct (the 1985
Ariane accident had the same cause), "it is very easy to perform
sabotage in this context by one very well-placed person." French
intelligence officials declined to provide details concerning their new
suspicions, but experts in this realm are fascinated and intrigued by a
series of extraneous events that may have a bearing on the destruction
of the West's satellite launch capability.

   By far the most interesting is the mysterious disappearance three
years ago of a U.S. Air Force officer who specialized in space-launch
command, control, and communications for satellite surveillance
systems. Captain William Howard Hughes, Jr., then 34 years old, was the
lead analyst of the Command Control and Communication Surveillance
Systems at the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center at
Kirkland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which test new
space-related weapons systems. Among his responsibilities was the
training of range officers in charge of destroying rockets
malfunctioning after launch.

   Hughes, who was single, was dispatched to the Netherlands on July
18, 1983, to work with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization... he was
never seen again. On December 9, 1983, the Air Force formally declared
him a deserter.

   Intelligence officers believe that Hughes was either captured by
Soviet agents or voluntarily defected to the Soviet Union...
Intelligence officers point out the Hughes' knowledge of all the
top-secret rocket launch procedures was invaluable to the Soviets,
perhaps more so than the secrets delivered by recently captured spies.
"He is worth his weight in gold to the Russians in terms of future
'Star Wars'... "one said. They see a clear link between Hughes and
possible sabotage of the American and French launches.

   Another bizarre occurrence, neither explainable nor evidence of
anything, was the sudden disappearance of Soviet trawlers from the Cape
Canaveral area four hours before the scheduled launch of the Challenger
on January 28. The trawlers, which are electronic spy vessels, had been
on station of the cape from the start of the U.S. space program. On the
January morning, however, three of four trawler steamed at flank speed
in a northeastern direction away from the coast. Normally, these
trawler seek to monitor telemetric signals from the rockets before,
during, and after launch because they provide crucial data on the space
vehicles' performance.... It is an absolute mystery why the trawlers,
as observed by the U.S. Navy, went of station in this manner.

   From the information submitted in the preceding article, reported in
reliable sources, it appears the French Government has reason to
believe that Russia is sabotaging the space program of both France and
the United States. It appears that William Howard Hughes, Jr., a former
U.S. expert in blowing up space vehicles after launch, is now in
Russia. French space vehicles carrying U.S. military satellites are
being blown up, and NASA has experienced an unprecedented number of
failures in recent important defense efforts. Also, For years Russia
has stationed ships just outside the territorial waters near Cape
Canaveral to spy on U.S. missile launches. The perplexing question is
why on January 28, just four hours before the scheduled launch of
'Challenger', did these ships pull up anchor and sail out to sea. From
a military position, this was the most important U.S. space effort to
that date. Reason dictates that those Russian ships would have been
gathering all the electronic data they could obtain. Did the Russian
high command remove the ships so they would not be endangered when
'Challenger' blew up after blast off. Or, would the United States
suspect sabotage after the disaster and send the navy to capture the
Russian trawlers? Evidence would support the conclusion that the
Russians had knowledge that on January 28 when Challenger was launched
that an unusual catastrophe would occur.