Guest: James Bamford. James Bamford was the guest for this special Saturday morning Space Show program in order to discuss the upcoming NOVA PBS Television Special, "Astrospies." Mr. Bamford is the co-producer of the program and is an investigative journalist known for his expertise on the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) and the National Security Agency (NSA). During this hour long program, Jim talks with us about the information he learned from both the Americans and the former Soviets about their secret military espionage astronaut programs which occurred at the same time we were implementing our Moon program. Jim answered many listener questions about how the project could have been kept secret, about why the MOL participants were now willing to talk, and what he had to do to get them to open up and talk freely about this still mostly classified project. The same questions were asked about his research into the equivalent Soviet Almaz Space Station program and his visits to Russia to talk to those involved with their Almaz program. Other listener based questions dealt with what would have happened if President Nixon had not cancelled the MOL program, spy satellites and their entry into the field, the modern day usage of high altitude unpiloted craft versus spy satellites, and much more. I am quite sure you will find this program, and the upcoming Nova show, to be very interesting. "Astrospies" is scheduled to air on PBS on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008 at 8PM ET/PT. You can find out more about it and confirm your viewing schedule by visiting www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/schedule-local.html. Please forward any questions or comments you might have for Jim Bamford to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.
Guest
The Space Show
