The Forgotten Soviet Space Plane

The Experimental Passenger Orbital Aircraft program, also known as Spiral, was a Soviet secret project created to develop an orbital spaceplane and fighter spacecraft. Work on this multipurpose spacecraft began in the early 1960s in response to the American Shuttle Program at the height of the Cold War. The objective was to build a vehicle that could fly in orbit at Mach speeds and function as a reconnaissance, bomber, and interceptor spacecraft. The Spiral MiG-105 crewed test vehicle resulted from years of research and testing, and the orbital spaceplane flew for the first time in 1976. However, achieving the desired Mach speeds would prove a more challenging feat than expected. --- Dark Space features the mysterious and little told stories of US, Soviet, and global space exploration from the dawn of the space race to today... all in the cinematic short documentary format we love to create. Subscribe today, and feel free to reach out with your own suggestions for new stories that you want us to bring to life. Thanks as always for your support.