SUBJECT: REGARDING KECKSBURG CRASH CONTROVERSIAL FILE: UFO2483 Regarding Kecksburg: The descriptions of the object that I have read remind me of one thing: A Soviet SOYUZ-type reentry module. These were designed for a ground landing, the shape is similar, and the Russians flew several varients of the SOYUZ as moonships (called ZOND), biological research satellites (COSMOS, but that's a generic name for almost anything they launch), and more significantly, as spy satellites. The Soviet Union figured out that economy of scale paid off where their space program was concerned and utilized the same basic designs for years. They still launch SOYUZ-class vehicles to rendevous with MIR. What I think happened, and this is just a conjecture, a SWAG if you will, is that either the DIA or the NSA figured out the command sequences for a Soviet spy satellite. They commanded the thing to land, it came down in Kecksburg, and the rest is history. You have to remember that the best pictures from spy satellites are the ones where you have access to the negatives. This implies a recovery vehicle that can withstand re-entry. We had at least two series of spysats that employed re-entry vehicles: Big Bird (launched by Titan from Vandenberg) and the old Discoverers (launched by Atlas boosters). It makes sense to me that the Soviets would want to do the same thing, and that given their habit of recycling spacecraft designs they may have done it with the SOYUZ-type craft. Why land the thing in Kecksburg instead of the desert? Either someone screwed up or we didn't have reliable orbital data for the thing while it was in orbit (these things happen; remember SkyLab?). Maybe it was a rush job. The coverup was needed to prevent the Soviets from realizing what we had done. Of course, once they couldn't find their satellite I think they would've realized it anyway, but by the it's too late. Anyways, this is just a pet theory of mine. - Steve -!- User on another BBS ********************************************** * THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo * **********************************************