[FPSPACE] PBS-NOVA "Astrospies" premieres Tuesday, February 12

[James Oberg]

"Astrospies" premieres Tuesday, February 12
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Millions remember the countdowns, launches, splashdowns, and parades as the U.S. raced the Soviet Union to the moon in the 1960s. But few know that both superpowers ran parallel covert space programs to launch military astronauts on spying missions. Highly classified for decades, these top-secret missions might easily have triggered a shooting war in orbit. NOVA travels to Russia for exclusive access to cosmonauts and their restricted space facility and obtains candid first-time interviews with American military astronauts in "Astrospies," airing Tuesday, February 12 at 8pm ET on PBS (check local listings).

Please help us spread the word about "Astrospies" by passing along the attached e-card. To watch a preview and learn more about the past, present, and future of the space race, visit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/astrospies/


The race is (still) on 
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The space race wasn't just a sprint to the moon--it's actually a marathon that the United States, Russia and latecomers like China, India and the Koreas are still running. In a new NOVA podcast, historian Asif Siddiqi explains how the space race has changed since the 1960s and why a little competition can be a good thing: "The most exciting thing for me is to see the sort of plurality of nations involved in this endeavor, because I think that it's important to have many different nations and perspectives and cltures involved in space, not just a couple of the major ones." Visit http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/rss/podcasting.html to find out how to listen to NOVA podcasts.