You must know what happened in the front end to have any idea what continues. If you can think back to American space launches of the past, some may have noticed something very unusual about the launch of the *Columbia.* In the past, manned space launches from Cape Canaveral were always made toward the southeast, toward the equator, but not so with the *Columbia.* It was launched to the northeast, away from the equator. The reason for this was the secret space reconnaissance mission of the *Columbia.*

In its public news releases, NASA told everyone that *Columbia* was launching into a 44-degree orbit - that is, it would never go farther north or south than 44 degrees above and below the equator. But the actual orbit chosen for the *Columbia* was a 69-degree orbit. A 69-degree orbit was chosen because it would take the *Columbia, and the Spy Satellite inside it, all the way north to the Arctic Circle and beyond. That is the kind of orbit that is necessary if a spy satellite is to fly reconnaissance over Russia.

The northeast launch of the *Columbia* was done in order to enable the Spy Satellite to start gathering data over Russia only minutes after the *Columbia* reached orbit. Time was of the essence in any attempt to spy on Russia. Every American spy satellite launched at Russia during the prior three years had been blinded or shot down before gathering much data.

The secret flight plan for the *Columbia* was completely different from what NASA claimed in public. The plan called for *Columbia* to be launched on an initial northeast course in the general direction of Bermuda, then roughly 2-1/2 minutes after launch, *Columbia* was to begin an unorthodox course change - a wide sweeping turn into the north. This unprecedented curving launch was intended as an evasive sneak past any Russian Cosmospheres that might be waiting overhead. Still accelerating on its curving course, the *Columbia* was supposed to pass about 100 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Roughly 200 miles  Washington, D.C., the Shuttle's main engines were to cut off. After coasting in silence for a few seconds, the fuel tank was scheduled to cut loose as the *Columbia passed 100 miles east of New Jersey.

For the next two minutes the Shuttle and its fuel tank were to be coasting onward past the east tip of Long Island, over Boston, and onward toward Maine. During that time the Shuttle was supposed to maneuver away from the fuel tank, using small maneuvering jets.

Finally, just as the *Columbia* passed over New Brunswick, Canada, the flight plan called for the orbital maneuvering engines to be fired. Somewhere over the Labrador Sea, flying upside-down, the *Columbia* was scheduled to reach Earth orbit. As soon as it did so, the flight plan called for astronauts Young and Crippen to go to work fast.



COLUMBIA'S SPY MISSION

In less than ten minutes time they were supposed to open up the cargo bay doors and turn on the sensors of the Spy Satellite resting inside. As they did these things, the *Columbia* was to be racing over the south tip of Greenland, out over the middle of the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland, above the Arctic Circle, and then dipping back southward toward northern Norway, Finland, and Russia. According to the flight plan, the *Columbia* was scheduled to cross the Russian border just south of the strategic Kola Peninsula. This would be only some less than 23 minutes after lift-off. At that instant initial reconnaissance over Russia was to be under way. The Spy Satellite inside the cargo bay, even though not yet deployed, would have had a perfect view downward through the open doors of the upside-down