"Astrospies" premieres February 12 on NOVA

On Tuesday, February 12, NOVA will present the premiere of "Astrospies," an inside look at the covert space programs that hid in the shadows of the 1960s space race.

Millions remember the countdowns, launches, splashdowns, and parades as the U.S. raced the Soviet Union to the moon in the 1960s. But few know that both superpowers ran parallel covert space programs to launch military astronauts on spying missions, and even fewer know what became of the military astronauts they trained. Highly classified for decades, these top-secret missions might easily have triggered a literal war in orbit. NOVA travels to Russia for exclusive access to cosmonauts and their restricted space facility, and obtains candid first-time interviews with astronauts in the American military space program.

You can get a sneak peak inside a fully intact, never-launched version of the Russian spy station in this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aLguUjlbGU

"Astrospies" will premiere Tuesday, February 12 at 8pm ET/PT on most PBS stations. You can also learn more at the Astrospies Web site: http://www.pbs.org/nova/astrospies