Over the 70 years of the existence of space programs, the world has seen many different projects. But some of them remained in the shadow of design bureaus and became known only recently - after all, space was also considered as a convenient environment for the deployment of weapons.
Nuclear engine Nera
One of the most unusual engines ever developed by NASA is gathering dust on the gray concrete of the small site of the Marshall Space Flight Center.
The program provided for the joint use of this engine and a shuttle designed for a flight to Mars. Naturally, everything was kept in the strictest confidence: the flight to the Red Planet was supposed to be another victory of capitalism over the communist Soviet Union. Many modern engineers still believe that the project has future prospects. About 20 nuclear engines of this type have been successfully tested, but in 1973 the government, for some unknown reason, decided to curtail the work on the development of Mars.
Space cannon
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One of the most terrifying spacecraft came from the depths of the secret engineering bureau at the USSR Aerospace Forces. The project aims to develop a manned spacecraft equipped with a powerful nuclear cannon.
He had to shoot down enemy satellites and completely control a significant territory. In order for the astronauts to conduct aimed fire, the gun was installed on an independent platform with a low friction coefficient. One prototype of this futuristic weapon has survived: it was tested at the Severodvinsk test site. With the advent of more advanced spy satellites, the government of the Soviet Union decided that the use of manned modules was inappropriate - this is where the story of the space gun ends.
Big G
The Gemini program, actively developed in the mid-60s, is considered one of the most ambitious attempts by the United States to gain complete control of our planet's orbit.
The Big G module was designed to transport astronauts between independently orbiting stations, each of which was a cell in the network surrounding space. Douglas McDonell's idea of manned capsules is currently being used in NASA's SpaceX and Boeing projects.
Space Station Freedom
The space station, under the patronage of President Reagan, was very different from the International Space Station. The Freedom project was conceived as an orbital laboratory with an integrated hangar for repairing spacecraft.
In addition, it provided for the creation of a full-fledged infirmary in case of military collisions with the ships of the Soviet Union. The station was more like the futuristic dreams of science fiction writers and was prohibitively expensive. With the end of the Cold War, the need for such a monster in orbit disappeared altogether.
Soviet space plane
During the 1960s, the two superpowers worked on very different and promising spacecraft designed to solve the same problem - space dominance.
Developed in the mid-1960s, the idea of the MiG-105 was the USSR's first attempt to build a real spaceplane. The small shuttle was supposed to enter orbit using a conventional rocket, and then independently return to Earth. Successful tests in the stratosphere have shown that the spaceplane is quite ready to go into space. Unfortunately, this project, like many others, has sunk into oblivion at the end of the confrontation between West and East.