Alien technology in the service of the Pentagon
Back in 1959, NASA engineers began developing a new type of spacecraft. They were supposed to be in the form of a flattened disk, their own engines to change the orbit, as well as launch systems that ensure the delivery of several missiles with nuclear warheads to targets.
Some military experts believe that the Roswell incident of 1947, when an alien spacecraft with a crew on board crashed in the state of New Mexico, was the impetus for the construction of such an aircraft.
Be that as it may, but after 12 years, a group of NASA designers proposed to the Pentagon an unparalleled concept of building a disc-shaped Lenticular Re-entry Vehicle spacecraft, which was supposed to become a manned orbital bomber.
It was a time of fierce confrontation between the USSR and the United States in Vietnam, a time when American President Dwight D. Eisenhower was going to drop an atomic bomb on the heads of North Vietnamese and Chinese communists several times. It was only the combat power of the Soviet Army and the problematic nature of delivering a nuclear strike against Moscow that held him back from such a decision.
Realizing the Dream of World Domination
The Pentagon supported the top-secret LRV space bomber project almost immediately. The construction of the new spacecraft was entrusted to North American Aviation, to which the most reliably protected Wright-Patterson airbase was transferred.
President Eisenhower was informed that within a few years the United States would be able to become the most powerful country in the world, capable of dictating its will even to the USSR, which this "war hawk" liked very much.
For four years, scientific research was carried out in underground hangars, which made it possible, already in 1963, to present the first copy of a new autonomous spacecraft.
According to the design documentation, the American flying saucer had a diameter of 12.2 meters, and its height in the central part did not exceed 2.29 meters.
The spacecraft had a dead weight of 7,730 kg, but could carry 12,681 kg of payload on board, including three crew members and four launchers delivering nuclear warheads to the target.
The designers proposed to deliver the LRV into orbit using the Saturn C-3 space launch vehicle, where the flying saucer could patrol for at least 50 days. Thanks to its own power plant and several rocket engines, it could not only change its orbit, but also dive from airless space to a ground target.
At that time, no means of air defense of the USSR could have withstood the unexpected and merciless attack of the Lenticular Re-entry Vehicle. In case the "Soviets" have such a weapon, the Americans envisaged the use of the Dyna Soar disk-shaped space interceptors, which could easily destroy Soviet communications and surveillance satellites.
Convenient layout and maximum crew protection
The designers installed a wedge-shaped escape capsule in the center of the ship, in which the crew members were supposed to be during takeoff and landing (another indirect proof of the unearthly origin of the idea of this spacecraft).
In addition, the vehicle contained a living compartment with three berths located one above the other and a working compartment in which the pilots received and executed commands received from the main command post.
Internal layout of the LVR ship
Special oxygen and helium tanks provided the astronauts with an acceptable pressure of 0.7 atmospheres and allowed them to be aboard the LVR without spacesuits. In case of planned or unscheduled landing, there was a retractable four-post ski chassis. The fact is that the landing was supposed exclusively on the water surface, and ski structures were best suited for this, not taking up much space in the apparatus itself.
In case of unforeseen circumstances, the rescue capsule with astronauts fired back from the ship and landed on its own by parachutes, and specially built-in engines made it maneuverable and allowed the crew to choose the most suitable landing site.
Energy autonomy and the ability to reprogram other people's satellites
To ensure the autonomy of the orbital flight, the LVR was supplied with a miniature source of atomic energy. But the development of the first solar energy concentrator of the Sunflower type ("Sunflower"), which was supposed to weigh 362 kg, was developed at an accelerated pace, opening in orbit in the form of a flower with a diameter of 8, 2 m.
Interestingly, it was not planned to return the source of atomic energy to Earth. He was supposed to stay in space and be picked up by the crew of the next LVR sent on orbital patrols.
An absolutely unique solution was the creation of a two-seater shuttle, with the help of which astronauts could visit any unmanned satellite, repair or reconfigure it, and also pick up an energy block or other necessary item in space.
Submarine strike against an orbital bomber
The news of the presence of such a shuttle apparatus was a serious blow to the leadership of the USSR. It realized that it could at any moment lose its companions, who would simply begin to carry out the commands of the American military.
We must pay tribute to the employees of the Soviet special services, who, already at the initial stage of the development of the Lenticular Re-entry Vehicle, managed to obtain information about the principles of its operation, as well as about the design of some units.
This is what allowed the Soviet designers to take retaliatory measures. Paradoxical as it sounds, our response to the Pentagon was not space, but underwater! Our designers managed to quickly create, and the industry launched the construction of 32 Project 659 submarines.
By the beginning of the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, the west coast of North America was already patrolled by 5 submarines of this type, each of which was armed with 6 P-5 missiles with nuclear warheads with a capacity of 220 kilotons.
If necessary, these submarines could grind into powder not only densely populated California, but also other major cities of the Pacific coast of the United States.
Not a very fair trade
When they talk about the end of the Cuban missile crisis, they mainly mention the withdrawal of American strategic missiles from Turkey and Soviet ones from Cuba. The general public still knows little about the fact that Khrushchev and Kennedy made other serious concessions to each other.
The Soviet Union stopped the production of Project 659 SSGNs, replacing rocket launchers with torpedo tubes on the 6 already built submarines, and the Americans announced the curtailment of their program to create Dyna Soar space interceptors and Lenticular Re-entry Vehicle orbital bombers.
But if the USSR unambiguously fulfilled its obligations, then there are a number of very serious doubts about the United States. And even though there has never been official information about the launch of LVR, but often appearing in recent years over the United States "alien" spaceships raise more questions than answers … And the deathly silence of the Pentagon only fuels interest in these facts.
