The Nation - News from Nov. 4, 1988

Robert (Hoot) Gibson, the commander of the shuttle Atlantis, scheduled to blast off at the end of the month on a secret military flight, said that he believes the Soviet Union’s new shuttle is an outright copy of NASA’s design. “They claim that they developed it themselves,” Gibson said, “that it’s the result of a thorough aerodynamic analysis . . . (but) it sure does look like they copied ours.” Atlantis’ five-man crew met with a small group of reporters, wearing black Lone Ranger masks when they showed up in an apparent attempt to poke good-natured fun at the secrecy surrounding their flight. Judging from the reactions of reporters, they succeeded. In the two previous classified Defense Department shuttle flights, interviews with crew members were forbidden.