From Espionage to Space: How the USSR Copied America’s Space Shuttle

As the space race reached its climax in 1969, the Soviet Union, unwilling to concede defeat, embarked on a covert campaign to steal America’s space shuttle design. Utilizing hundreds of spies and clandestine tactics, the USSR obtained classified and public intelligence related to the American space program, laying the groundwork for what historians would later deem the first recorded case of online spying. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Soviets executed their audacious plan, successfully pilfering the blueprints for the American shuttle. Dubbed the “Baron” or “Blizzard,” their carbon copy space shuttle mirrored its American counterpart, setting the stage for a new chapter in the space race filled with politics, paranoia, and technological espionage. <a href="https://medium.com/@madisonfoster_52988/from-espionage-to-space-how-the-ussr-copied-americas-space-shuttle-888bd72b115d">Learn More</a>