Reporting On the Moon Race "from Moscow": Revelations from the Henry Shapiro Files
<At the height of the Moon
race between the two superpowers, "Ground Zero" for official and unofficial Soviet
information was Moscow, USSR. The Russian capital was the place to be for Western
correspondents who were attempting to report "as it happened" about the
burgeoning space events of America's arch rival. And the "dean" of these journalists
was Henry Shapiro, who was the bureau chief for United Press International.
Shapiro's background as a reporter in Moscow spanned from 1934 up through his retirement in 1973. His longevity as a correspondent there allowed him to cover a very wide spectrum of Soviet historical events and figures, as well as make contacts within the Soviet government that aided him in providing a number of scoops. Such stories included the ouster of Krushchev (for which he won the Sigma Delta Chi award for foreign correspondence in 1965) as well as the first news about the staged elements of the entire mission of Voskhod 1 from launch to touchdown.[1]
His space program reportage
can also be found in the Henry Shapiro papers archive at the US Library of
Congress, in Washington, DC. These files are constituted overall in nearly 150 boxes
of documents. The section with documents of greatest interest to space
historians are those files from the Moscow Bureau of UPI, which make up the
heart of the collection. These files contain not only the stories Shapiro himself
generated, but also those of co-workers, which usually numbered between two and
perhaps nearly a dozen additional reporters outside of Shapiro himself (the
number of foreign journalists allowed per news organization was strictly
controlled by the Soviet government [2]). In 1968 and 1969 it appears that his
colleagues included Edward J. Shields, Richard C. Longworth, J. E. Mantle, Dusko
Doder, Michael Johnson, Joseph L. Myler, and James O. Jackson.
Going through the archives is an exhilarating yet arduous task, as a researcher will find not only the complete original stories as they were first transmitted over UPI's press wire (prior to a newspaper editor cutting them down to fit the available column space), but also a large number of permutations of the stories-where additional sentences and paragraphs are added in tagged "add-ons"-as the correspondents attempted to provide more details about or make more clear the events that they were reporting on. Indeed, there even appear news stories about Soviet space activities that perhaps did not see publication, or were not widely picked up by UPI member media outlets.
But for the space historian, the Henry Shapiro papers archive provides a unique window into how Soviet government representatives disseminated information to the West, and what the trends indicated over the years-although at times in regards to lunar aspirations, these were quite contradictory. (It's almost as if the reader can view these materials as the recording of a "thinking out loud" discourse released by the Russians.) Additionally, a number of unique reportage items show the political decision-making processes (as they evolved) that the Kremlin made as in regards to crewed lunar aspirations. Nevertheless, the original wire stories show in numerous instances that the USSR was keen on sending cosmonauts to selenocentric space, and to have them walk upon the lunar surface. For the purposes of this side-bar article, Soviet information dissemination on their manned lunar projects from the closing months of 1968 will be highlighted.
Foreshadowings
There were a number of news stories reported by UPI in both October and November 1968 that provided hints of Russian selenocentric ambitions in the near term.
In a news story addition to a report that was posted during Georgiy Beregavoy's Soyuz 3 mission, the reporters wrote about cosmonauts and water landings, including the possibility of Soviets landing in the ocean before the end of 1968.
"A fleet of Soviet ships was reported standing by somewhere in the Pacific, presumably to pick up Beregavoy if it is decided to splash
him down in the same areas where Zond 5 landed.. All Soviet cosmonauts have made 'hard' landings on Soviet territory, with the
unmanned Zond 5 the first to splash down.. Soviet cosmonaut sources have indicated that in the [remaining] course of the year, the next Soviet spaceman might try a water landing."[3]
One month later, in late November, information was becoming more detailed and specific about the next manned Soviet mission. In one story on November 30, TASS released an article in which cosmonaut Valeriy Bykovskiy was interviewed. His comments reflected the entire L-1 circumlunar cadre's feelings.
"Soviet cosmonaut Valeriy Bykovskiy said today man may soon make a journey around the Moon but 'much time will yet pass' before he 'makes the first step on its surface.'.. 'Many are eager to go to the Moon,' said Bykovskiy who made a 119-hour flight in 1963. 'but the route Earth-Moon-Earth is already open.'"[4]
However, the context of Bykovskiy's interview was following a lot of activity at the UPI Moscow bureau just 24 hours before. Merely one day earlier, sources in Moscow told many of the UPI journalists stationed there that a Soviet manned lunar mission was imminent.
In a by-lined Henry Shapiro report labeled "Moon shot 11/26 Urgent," the chief correspondent laid out a multi-threaded news story about a decision to send men on a circumlunar mission, with comments by Mstislav Keldysh on the Moon race competition, as well as the notion as to why dogs hadn't been sent to the vicinity of the Moon.
"The Soviet Union is preparing to launch its most spectacular manned space flight yet by dispatching shortly at least two, and probably three, men on a circumlunar flight, informed sources said today.. The flight could come any time within the next few weeks and may be undertaken before the launching of the American Apollo 8 set for Dec. 21.. Officially the Russians are denying that they are racing anybody to the Moon, [but] in his most recent press conference the country's top most science administrator, Academy of Sciences President Mstislav Keldysh, answering this correspondent's question [about the topic], had this to say: 'When two scientists work independently in a related field are they competing? Probably and to a certain degree they are. But this must not be a determining factor because if something is done for the sake of competition science could be forgotten'.. It also appears that they have given up what they earlier considered an indispensable preliminary of experimenting with animals before venturing a man near the Moon.The Zond ships carried turtles and flies but not dogs with which they tried their early space ventures. Questioned on this matter by UPI, Keldysh said: 'It all depends on how the situation around the Moon is explored with aid of automatic instruments. If it is well studied and it is possible to create similar conditions on Earth, then it becomes possible to send man towards the Moon without experiments with animals.'"[5]
However, further wire stories about the anticipated mission with a more defined timetable were subsequently sent to wire service subscribers. Dusko Doder--in an "Urgent" add-on lead to Shapiro's article on November 29--wrote "Informed sources said this week the Russians are preparing to send 'soon' at least two and probably three men on a flight around the Moon.these sources said the flight could come any time within the next two weeks."[6]
More short notes and bulletins continued to be sent between the Moscow bureau and UPI's headquarters that evening in what were termed "night leads," as well as other messages. Indeed, there is even a series of teletyped questions from UPI headquarters where Edward Shields responded with the note that "Moscow [bureau] will keep Jaybee needs in mind but Russians avow they not [sic] in Moon race, much less giving daily progress reports. Will certainly supply whatever becomes available on space."[7] His colleague J. Mantle also fielded some inquiries the following morning on November 30: "See last night's Shapiro story on upcoming manned round-the-Moon shot. FYI eye [sic] have later new rocket launch type picture unpublished before, so think you would [be] justified mentioning it on your sked [schedule] as 'illustrative pix [pictures] expected' if you want."[8]
Although Mantle's aforementioned picture was not located in the photographs file of the Shapiro archives, the manned-circumlunar news story continued to have legs. In an add-on lead paragraph dated December 3 to an overview article written just the day before by Shields entitled "Space Year-ender (hold for nx [next] rls [release])," the journalist wrote that "Informed sources here said today a new Soviet manned space shot was imminent, probably within a week."[9]
Aftermath
But the expected time frame for the launching came and went, and there were no further stories found about a Soviet circumlunar mission attempt in the Shapiro papers archive until December 17. In a news item about why the Russians may not have launched, "It was considered possible the Soviets put a little extra steam into their own Moon-shot program and made basic preparations for an early-December launch, but postponed it because complete success was not certain."[10] Dusko Doder posted a news item ten days afterward, in which he reported on December 28 that "One cosmonaut, who repeatedly emphasized risks entailed in man's journeys around the Moon, is reported to have said Russian space experts could have undertaken such a journey this month had they been allowed to do so."[11] This mentioned yet un-named cosmonaut might have been Konstantin Feoktistov, who had provided much commentary to Western journalists on space missions for many correspondent wire services, such as materials about the mission of Soyuz 3.[3]
But there was another story posted the same day by Doder that provided allusions for a preview of Soviet impetus for the Moon in 1969. The emphasized themes are of political pressure and prestige.
"Soviet scientists are under heavy pressure to beat America to a manned Moon-landing, according to Communist diplomats here.. The spectacular flight of Apollo 8, for the first time since the age of space began 11 years ago, clearly placed the Russian space program behind America's.. The fact goes far beyond pure science.. At stake is both the national prestige of two superpowers and the attraction of two worlds-Communist and Non-communist-for man's loyalty, respect and imagination.. East European diplomats say the American feat will certainly prompt top Soviet space officials to move their Moon project into high gear. These diplomats believe
the Russians now will concentrate on the final, stupendous, step in the race to the Moon-the actual lunar landing by men.. East European sources say the Soviets could skip manned circumlunar trips and concentrate on landing Russian cosmonauts on the Moon instead, before the Americans if at all possible."[12]
As was known to the journalists in Moscow, Soviet government officials, including those of the Politburo, were known to frequently visit Embassy Row functions and chat with Western reporters. It was even known that if a story was wanted by the Soviet government to be transmitted to the West, Henry Shapiro would be the correspondent that the information was provided to directly.[2] So it is a reasonable conclusion that the mentioned "diplomatic sources" by Doder were also "official" sources (as Doder described them to me, they were officials from the Embassies of Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Romania[13]), and that this news story was an indication that the Soviets-far from consigning themselves to defeat-were going to press onward in the Moon race to the final round.
END
1. Reprinted United Press International advertisements taken from Editor & Publisher, from April 24, 1965 and October 17, 1964 respectively. (One page each). "Photographs 1954-1981." Box 3, Folder 3. Henry Shapiro papers archive. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
l2. Currie K. "Aline Mosby, Interview #4. (pages 125-144)" Washington Press Foundation, June 15, 1991. Accessible on-line at http://npc.press.org/wpforal/mosby4.htm.
3. "Mo30. Soyuz 10/26. 9th add. Soyuz Moscow." "October 1968." Box 111, Folder 3. Henry Shapiro papers archive. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
4. "Mo12. Bykovsky 11/30." "November 1968." Box 112, Folder 5. Henry Shapiro papers archive. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. (Dusko Doder report.)
5. "Mo18. Moonshot 11/26. Urgent. By Henry Shapiro." Ibid. (This document verifies the inference made by Pesavento in the main article that reference 26 was written by Shapiro, despite the New York Times removing authorship labeling from the article.)
6. ".913. Space 11/29. Urgent." Ibid.
7. "Mo26. svc nxi. 29145." (November 29. Signed "Shields.") Ibid.
8. "Mo4. svc ln pix. 27104." (November 30. Signed "Mantle") Ibid.
9. "Mo18. Space 12/3. 1st add. Space Moscow." (This comes after "Mo11. Space yearender. 12/2 (hold for nx rls). By Edward J. Shields") "December 1968." Box 112, Folder 3. Henry Shapiro papers archive. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
10. "Mo7. Space 12/17. 1st add. Space Moscow." Ibid.
11. "Mo8. Race 12/28. 1st add. Race Moscow." Ibid. (Dusko Doder report.)
12. "Mo7. Race 12/28 with Apollo. (Sunday ams). By Dusko Doder." Ibid.
13. Doder D. Personal communication with P. Pesavento, 26 June 2006.
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