Posts: 128 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Oct 2004
posted 02-10-2021 10:14 PM
At exactly the one hour point in this video segment of ABC News coverage of Apollo 13 in April 1970, Jules Bergman makes a claim that "just a few weeks ago the Russians returned to us part of the Apollo 9 lunar module."
Has anyone ever heard more about this? Presumably parts of the Apollo 9 LM descent stage survived through reentry and landed near a Russian sea vessel?
Space Cadet Carl Member
Posts: 260 From: Lake Orion, Michigan Registered: Feb 2006
posted 02-11-2021 10:02 AM
This is fascinating. Most of us have heard about Apollo boilerplate capsule BP-1227 being returned to the U.S. by the Soviets in September of 1970, but I haven't heard about the Apollo 9 LM.
Headshot Member
Posts: 976 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 02-11-2021 10:54 AM
I agree, this is very interesting. If anyone other than Jules Bergman had said it, I would have my doubts, but he was usually precise about the info he broadcast.
That being said, I believe it would have had to be something from the Apollo 9 LM decent stage as the ascent stage did not re-enter until 1981 while the decent stage re-entered in 1969 (according to Wiki).
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 45604 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-11-2021 11:06 AM
I searched the New York Times' archives for the first half of 1970 and it returned no results. I would imagine such an event would have been reported either by the Times or Associated Press (and then printed by the Times).
There was an article about the Soviet Union dispatching ships to assist if needed in the recovery of the Apollo 13 astronauts, as the ABC News coverage mentions, but it includes no mention of the Apollo 9 recovery.
MOL Member
Posts: 128 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Oct 2004
posted 02-11-2021 02:16 PM
I would suggest if someone is a current subscriber and can search their archive (which I cannot) it would be good to search Aviation Week magazine for the period of March- April 1970.
Headshot Member
Posts: 976 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 02-11-2021 02:41 PM
I searched AW&ST for all of March and three issues into April,1970 and found no mention of this topic.
MOL Member
Posts: 128 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Oct 2004
posted 02-11-2021 03:01 PM
Ok thank you. Then my final suggestion would be for someone who has experience in the past of doing these, is to submit a FOIA request to both NASA and/or the US State Department for any info on this subject.
It is entirely possible that Jules Bergman obtained this information at the time privately from someone in the US government without realizing it was not for public consumption.
Headshot Member
Posts: 976 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 02-11-2021 04:40 PM
It is also possible that any material the Soviets turned over to us ultimately was determined not to have come from the Apollo 9 LM and was just junk. Then the matter forgotten due to the Apollo 13 mishap.
If I were to pursue this further, I would check Northrop Grumman archives, as whatever material was turned over to the United States would probably have been submitted to Grumman for analysis.
moorouge Member
Posts: 2483 From: U.K. Registered: Jul 2009
posted 02-15-2021 11:26 AM
The missing boilerplate was returned in September 1970. However, a possible date for its loss and recovery by the Soviets is April of that year. Might he have mistaken what he heard for this?
posted 02-10-2021 10:14 PM
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