I’m writing a book that details the American “Star Wars” program, the Russian version of it, and the secret militarization of space. I am a famous Russian author who has published over 60 books and written scenarios for many Russian documentaries....

Two questions:

1. What do you think is going to happen with these space programs if the two sides can calm down within the next few weeks?

2. You mention that you know the identity of who really crashed in Roswell. I've seen that it was likely a Russian craft. Is this the case?

I think that we will continue to stagnate if that is the case, but I'd like to elaborate on what I think will happen if tensions do continue to rise.

If you take a step back and look at what has happened before, you will see that the first push for cosmonautics/astronautics was given as a direct result of the cold war. The Soviet Union needed to have a nuclear bomb that was capable of reaching the United States, so Sergei Korolev built the P-7 rocket. This rocket later put the Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin into space. To counter and catch up to the Soviet Union, President Kennedy addressed the people of the United States and only 8 years later, Neil Armstrong was walking on the moon. That's only 10 years after the Sputnik was launched!

What have we done now when we are peacefully cooperating? Just one international space station – though even before that, we had the Skylab, Salyut, and Mir stations. And what progress has the I.S.S. given us? A huge amount of money was given to it, yet people still fly on old Soyuz craft to get there! I am sure that if our countries go into another cold war, then a lot more attention will be given towards the future of cosmonautics and astronautics, space exploration will advance much faster, and we’ll probably be on Mars 10 years earlier than we thought.

The truth about Roswell is much more interesting than the banal UFO theory that has captivated people for so long. There was an experimental acoustic platform by the name of Project Mogul near Roswell that was supposed to listen for atomic rockets of U.S.S.R. origin. This is what crashed there. This project was considered so classified that the American Military purposely thought up of Aliens as a cover, so that Russian spies wouldn’t find out about it. This story is something that Russians (and Americans) are still finding out about today and it’s a subject that is going to be detailed in my book.

No, UFOs are way more interesting!

UFOs are an interesting topic that's discussed in my new book and also within the game I'm developing.

The mogul explanation is bullshit, even rural ranchers knew what a balloon was.

The Mogul was affixed to and lifted by balloons -- it could not fly on its own. I believe in UFOs but do not believe that UFOs and aliens where the cause of the Roswell incident. This was a matter of intelligence and counterintelligence that was very common during that time.

Yes it was, but the mogul apparatus was made up of sticks and strings and early plastics, nothing at all like what the first people who went to the
Roswell site described.

Exactly, do you believe the people who described the crash site? They are the ones who wanted people to think that aliens crashed in Roswell. They didn't want the Soviet Union to find out about Mogul so they came up with the whole alien conspiracy.

Okay, something not directly related to your work, but it will get asked so I might aswell do it myself: What do you feel about the current atmosphere in Ukraine and Russia getting involved?

I think that the current situation allowed Russia to secure it's interest in the Crimea, and that's exasperated by the Russian majority that resides there. Ultimately, this situation only benefits people in political positions, and hurts the actual people who are in Ukraine.

Have you ever seen documents about UFO or anything regarding aliens, or spoke with somebody who knows anything?

I have many documents that I've gotten my hands on after the fall of the Soviet Union. Mainly from the Setka MO and Setka AN programs. The soviet union actually started investigating UFOs during Stalin's time! Most of the documents and files that are in my possession have not been translated into English yet and they will be a welcome surprise to people who play Space Pioneer (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1672987132/space-pioneer) and also to people who get their hands on the new book that I'm writing.

What do you make of stories like this?

Oh, I have many stories that are similar to what you've shown me! Within the Soviet Union, there were many reports of unexplainable UFOs that showed up on radars. In fact, there were so many reports of things like this that I personally think that at least some of them were do to technical faults that were caused by the primitive equipment that they had at the time. Though some of the reports are very compelling and cannot be explained away that easily.

Its beginning to look like there will be a race to commercially colonize the moon and mine the asteroids. Heard anything about Russia's plans? Have you heard any rumors on your end about what the USAF's new space plane is actually capable of?

Regarding the mini shuttle X-37B -- we know less than you know. Our special forces don't tell us anything... But Russian experts are speculating that they are using it to test a new generation of military weapons -- maybe even kinetic weapons.

Thanks. I haven't been to any of the space development conventions in the last few years so I haven't heard much, other than that is has successfully been launched, gone into extended orbit and then landed itself, and doesn't have any tiles that keep coming off.

You guys got anything like it? Other than Buran? By the way, whatever did happen to Buran?

Other than Buran, there was the BOR which was tested multiple times. The Australian navy hunted for a crashed prototype in the Indian ocean, but soviet ships recovered the craft in time. The Buran program was cancelled because of economical hardship after the collapse of the soviet Union. Add to that the tidbit that the Buran only had military purposes and the cold war ended at that time.

What did you do with the prototype? Ours is in the Smithsonian. BOR?

I don't have a lot of information about it in English, but there is a lot of info about BOR here: http://www.buran.ru/htm/bors.htm

You're going to have to brave google translate though.

And here is a wiki that talks about Buran: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29#Destruction

Unfortunately, the Buran that flew was lost to the collapse of the roof of a hanger that housed it. The other Burans never flew.

I knew someone that worked on the X 37. This individual told me that it could be used as an anti-satellite weapon and could be used to carry a system like / similar to the Multiple Kill Vehicle

I don't disagree with this viewpoint and think that this was what the X-37B's purpose was.

How come Russia never landed on the moon? What did the Americans actually find? Are they still going there in secret?

We didn't land on the moon because we couldn't build a rocket that was analogous to the Saturn 5 rocket. The only thing that came close was the N1 rocket, but all 4 of its launches ended in catastrophe and failure. There was a program for a rocket by the name of Energia, but it was abandoned because of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Regarding what you Americans actually found on the moon -- well, you found the moon...

I don't think that they are going there in secret. Too many countries monitor what goes on in space for that to be the case.

So, What's going to go down in Ukraine? Is it going to be like Georgia where Russia baited Georgia and then kicked their ass?

No, I think that everything will be different from Georgia. Russia did not have a large interest in Georgia so the military operation didn't last for a long time there. Russia has a military base in Crimea so I think that their military operation/conflict in Ukraine could extend farther then a couple of months.

Do you think without the Cold War the space race would have still happened?

To be completely frank, I believe that the space race as we knew it wouldn't have happened if not for the cold war.

Was anything placed on the table that was deemed just, too expensive/crazy to actually come to fruition? Like, giant robots, missle launching satellites, death rays, that sort of thing?

Sorry for copy pasting, but here is an answer to another question that I think fits your question too.

"Today, a huge interest is culminating in the development of military weapons, whose purpose would be to destroy targets on earth without the usage of atomic weapons. These types of projects where most common during the 70's and 80's -- I think that we may be in an era wherein we will go back to developing military projects in space. "

we will go back to developing military projects in space.

Do you really think it ever stopped?

Or by "We" do you mean Russians?

No, I'm talking about new and large projects, something like stations with Kinetic weapons and space planes that are capable of going beyond LEO. Every one of these new projects are just well forgotten old projects. But they were forgotten during a certain time period.

Do you play video games? If you do, then what games are your favorites?

I’ve always played lots of video games, especially ones that pertain to space. There was a game called Elite – do any of you remember it? I rose to exalted heights in that game… I always loved XCOM: UFO Defense and beat it many times. As far as modern games go, my favorites are Starcraft 2 and Spore. I also love to battle against the Americans in the Command and Conquer: Red Alert series. Right now, all of my time (in regard to video games) is being spent on the development of Space Pioneer.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1672987132/space-pioneer

HELL YEA!! RED MARCH COMRADE!! Still love the classics.

I particularly enjoyed the Apocalypse tanks in RA2

This is my son's (Aleksey) reply to you: Kirov airships destroy Apocalypse tanks in 3 seconds. But I still like those tanks anyways.

Have you played kerbal space program?

I got a chance to play for a short while actually, but can't say that I was a huge fan of it. It's a good game, but I think that Space Pioneer will turn out much better.

What are the three most important things a nation can do to try and project their dominance in space? Who is winning now, and who will be winning in 10 years?

1. Send one of its pilots to space.
2. Build a space station within earth's orbit.
3. Land on another planet.

Russia is currently leading in terms of practical astronautics, while the United States is leading in terms of conceptual astronautics. Within 10 years, the U.S. will be the clear leader if Obama doesn't constrain NASA's budget right now.

I was always interested in this topic. What could you recommend for me to learn to know more about the American "Star Wars"? Thanks.

Today, a huge interest is culminating in the development of military weapons, whose purpose would be to destroy targets on earth without the usage of atomic weapons. These types of projects where most common during the 70's and 80's -- I think that we may be in an era wherein we will go back to developing military projects in space.

I would read this book on the subject: Bill Rose Secret Projects and Military Space Technology.

Thanks man for the suggestions.

Sure, and good luck with your career as a historian and author!

Reading your comments, it looks as though you're actually looking FORWARD to another cold war (though you make a compelling argument). But I see China somehow getting involved this time around if we do enter another covert conflict.

How do you see, if at all, China being involved in the next Cold War?

China has not yet developed anything that can be considered as significantly more advanced then what Russia and the United States have. If they do catch up to us, then I am sure that Russia and the U.S. will do everything that they can to equal China. So in this hypothetical 2nd cold war space race; I think that China would be the third contender in the race for space superiority.

Doesn't China have a weapon that makes everyone's space tech a disposable target?

Pretty sure they blew up a sattelite from ground targeting a while back and everyone was pissed about the space debris.

They do, but this technology was quickly developed by the U.S.S.R. and the U.S too.. If need be, they can quickly restart these projects. So the Chinese do not have an inherent superiority or advantage over the other two. I would take a look at the American ASM-135 ASAT and the Soviet IS (Polyot) programs.

Was the Cold War a hoax so the US/USSR could implement a secret and very large intergalactic space program?

Everything that was once classified will eventually be disclosed to the public. There were many secret and large programs during the cold war era, but something as large as an intergalactic space program most likely didn't exist... All plans for space were limited to our solar system.

Do you make a full time living from your writing? Just books?

What are your thoughts on the ePub revolution?

Yes, I make a full time living from writing. I'm focusing most of my time on writing Space Pioneer, so help me continue eating by contributing to our Kickstarter(https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1672987132/space-pioneer)! I think that e-pub as you call it has helped many authors get noticed in a way that wasn't possible before. I have personally published books online, though all of them are in Russian. I also actively blog on live-journal: http://apervushin.livejournal.com/ -- you can see that my last post is actually about this AMA.

You mention that you are writing a new book, so what is it called?

All of my books have "aggressive" names: the Battle for the Stars, the Battle on the Moon, the Invasion of Mars and Sergei Korolev VS. Wernher von Braun. I do this not because I like to write aggressively, but because readers like it and publishers listen to what readers like. The working title for the book that I'm writing is called, The Real Star Wars.

Did the Soviet Union have an aircraft similar to the SR-71 Blackbird? Also, how much have you heard about the speculated Aurora program?

Projects that developed aircraft that were hypersonic and had stealth in mind were not uncommon in the Soviet Union, but all of these projects were highly classified. Rumors and discussions about Aurora have been talked about for many years, but still no substantial evidence has surfaced around it. For this reason, as of right now, I think that it can be considered as a myth.

Have you heard of a film called gravity and what do you think

It’s a great film -- the special effects are amazing and I even went to see it twice in theaters. But damn were there a lot of errors and inaccuracies! I will not let our game, Space Pioneer, have this many errors.

I have always wondered this but for some reason no one has asked this yet. Can you have kids in space? Sorry if its a stupid question.

We are not sure if it's possible to conceive in space. In theory, nothing says that this can't happen, and people have adapted to living in space.

What do you think will be some major space-related achievements that we might see from the US and Russia in the case of another Cold War-fueled space race?

Another cold war and subsequent space race would instigate a "battle" for control of asteroids and our moon. These things are tactically, very significant. This will be the cornerstone of how we expand further into our cosmos.

What if I told you that if you wrote a scenario for it then it is not a real documentary.

Any film that is made needs a scenario. Even if you are shooting a documentary with no words, then you still need off screen text that describes the shot. If you don't write a scenario for a documentary, then you get this as the entirety of your film: http://www.picturesnew.com/media/images/aliens-meme-image.jpeg

How do you seen private enterprise's eventual relationship w/ national space programs?

The current relationship that national space agencies have with the private industries allow for the expansion of privatized space industry. I think that private businesses have great interest to go into space; the only thing that's stopping them is the perceived lack of profit from doing so. I propose that we give them for example, Mars or Venus, so that companies can proceed to mine valuable resources and governmental agencies can collect taxes from them...

Hello i have play the somewhat "famous" videogame "World in Conflict" where a Soviet Invasion of the U.S Takes place, on there the "Star Wars" program is depicted as a fake thing just something to stop the USSR to atack the US (wich in the game the soviets pursued the complex on wich the program was working)

My question is was it real the program? How realiable was it back then?

In the early 1980's, the program that we all refer to as Star Wars was considered as fantastical and out there. But we can't say that Reagan didn't believe that it would come to fruition - many times, dreams and ambitions can become a reality. These programs allowed for the development of something that we now know as the GPS.

Now that you speak of the GPS, the market for car navigation and other tracking devices is kinda depedant of the GPS do you think that in the future the GLONASS and the Gallileu will win space in the market?

I don't think so. These systems will compliment each other, but I think that GPS will emerge as the clear leader within 10 years.

What is your opinion of the STS 48 space shuttle missions that shows several separate events of what looks like space weapons being fired at UFOS?

At 48 seconds into this clilp something fires and hits the UFO and breaks off 2 pieces of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbcwYGoKEKM

The clip is grainy but I have it on SVHS and can upload a better version of this event. I got my copies from NASA a long time ago.

It is an interesting video that I'll definitely add to my personal collection. But we can't say anything concrete about the UFO because we don't know anything about its characteristics. We don't know how far away it is, what it is, or if it is in fact a test of military weapons in space. Thank you for showing me this though!

Off the field of cosmonautics, but still on Russian/URSS history:

What do you think about Viktor Suvorov thesis on "Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War?" ?

I have negative opinions towards that book. It presents a very pseudo-historical and subjective view on events.

regarding Ukraine, is the Russian media presenting a balanced view of the conflict to the Russian people? As a member of the extended media, are you beholden in any way to Russian authorities?

I am an independent author and receive royalties from my readers, so I can freely express my own opinions on the matter. I can happily say that I am not beholden in any way. The Russian media is presenting a view of what is going on in Ukraine that I do not consider as objective and balanced.

Do you think that Russia will invade Ukraine? its looking more and more likely to me.

I don't think that there will be a real war. It certainly won't escalate to what happened in Afghanistan. If I understand Putin's thoughts correctly, then I think that he is using military force to scare the people in office in Kiev. It's of political significance and I don't think that he will actually go so far as to invade Ukraine.

What's your opinion on the current state of Russia's space program?

Russia's space program is facing a very difficult road ahead. The main reason for that is we haven't made up our minds on what our long term plans are for space exploration. And people on earth aren't that interested in finding out what our cosmos has in store for us. I am one of the few people who are actually trying to spark interest in cosmonautics, and I am using Space Pioneer as a platform to do so.

Are you going to play Star Citizen?

Yes I am. It seems like it's going to be a very innovative and fun title. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it.

Well thanks for the reply. I'm actually Canadian. That is too bad. I kinda wish you guys were successful too. Do you cosmonauts/astronauts wish all the boarders would disappear? I'd think looking down at earth it would seem completely stupid to segregate race and cultures. We are so small in the grand scheme of things after all...

I agree that if you look down from above, then you understand that all of our problems become completely trivial and nonsensical. But up until the point that we (Humanity) change our ways, we have to prepare and account for how we act in our earthly disputes. History has shown us that things like the cold war accelerate technological progress. I don't want for that to be the case, but I don't make those kinds of decisions. It's Human nature to act this way.

The game seems interesting. I'm imagining Kerbal Space Program, but more realistic, and with inter-stellar travel and alien races.

Upvoted the thread so it hopefully gets some more attention and donations.

Thank you very much for the kind words! A lot of people are mentioning that game to us, but I would add Spore and Star Citizen to the list of games that we are inspired by.

Do you think there are Nazis on the moon?

I too have seen the film Iron Sky... I liked it and it's good old fashioned sci-fi, so sure, why not? Moon nazis will be the new zombies soon.

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I think that these programs saved the Russian space program from bankruptcy and gave new capabilities to the U.S. So I think it had a positive and relatively significant effect on relations at the time.

Do you know if there are any plans to explore Jupiter's moon Europa?

Yes, there have been many plans for us to go to Europa, but when scientists understood that none of our existing equipment can operate for a long period of time because of Jupiter's radiation field, that's when these plans were rejected.

With that said, right now in Russia, people are discussing plans to send a satellite to Ganymede.

Do you think that aliens have visited us before?

UFOs exist. But you need to understand what exactly they are. Most of the time, they can be accounted for as planets, planes, satellites, rocket launches and so on. The things that are most synonymous with UFOs are spy planes and spy balloons. A small percentage of UFOs cannot be accounted for however, and I have my own interpretation of where they may be coming from, but I want to leave that as a secret for Space Pioneer’s script (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1672987132/space-pioneer). If you want to find out what that is then support our game!

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I think you are confusing me with Lazutkin! We are both making Space Pioneer (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1672987132/space-pioneer), but he is the creative director and I am the lead writer. He did an AMA recently and told me to do it too for my book.