Alleged Yugoslavian space program

[lajoswinkler]

Couple of years ago, this teaser (original has been set to private) went viral.

 

I thought it was someone's joke.

Few days ago, this trailer was uploaded.

 

Seems we're actually going to see this in cinemas.

 

What do you think, which parts could be true? I really, really, really don't think Yugoslavia was "the third player", but I wouldn't be surprised if building rockets more advanced than sounding ones was attempted. Yugoslavia, as probably the most prosperous socialist nation, was spending a decent amount of money on absurdly large security systems, most of which aren't even known by most people who live in its ex-states.

 

In any case, I'm looking forward to see this movie.

[kunok]

I really need to see this when I have time, I suspect that most of what I know from the former yugoslavia is a mix between nothing and pure propaganda.

[_Augustus_]

Fake!

[lajoswinkler]

It's not fake, it's an actual documentary for Tribeca Film Festival.

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/tribeca-film-festival-2016-slate-competition-viewpoints-1201719788/

[fredinno]

2 hours ago, lajoswinkler said:

It's not fake, it's an actual documentary for Tribeca Film Festival.

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/tribeca-film-festival-2016-slate-competition-viewpoints-1201719788/

I think he meant the data this was based off was fake. It seems pretty realistic though, I mean, Poland tried to have its own space program too.

[Nibb31]

The movie is real. The story is a hoax. They take footage from all over the place and put it into a fake context. The genre is called a "mockumentary".

"Object 505" was un underground bunker for Mig-21s. You can see it on Google Earth, and it has been well explored and documented. 

Claims such as "many parts of the Apollo program were designed and built in Yugoslavia" are purely bogus, and Tito wasn't the only leader who changed his lifestyle when he became a dictator, so that doesn't prove anything.

Edited March 11, 2016 by Nibb31

[lajoswinkler]

I agree, it's absurd, but I wouldn't call it a mockumentary. I watched the interview with Virc, he said it was a documentary exploring a hypothesis, building evidence around it. Not very scientific, but hey, it's entertainment.

However I think it's very plausible Yugoslavia made an attempt at building at least suborbital rockets. Were those successful or not is a matter of question. I doubt we did anything more advanced than space sounding rockets that could go over 100 km height.

 

I live fairly close to Objekat-505, but never went there to actually visit it. I should. LOL

[Red Fang]

Wow. I thought that the project was dead. That movie is really gonna kick off another wave of tinfoilery around here. 

lajoswinkler, I really doubt that there was a rocketry program as advanced the Redstone. The idea was probably discussed at the Central comity, maybe there was even a preliminary or feasibility study done. ...maybe.  

[Scotius]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_%28rocket%29

Best Poland could do. Hey, we even had a launching site placed on a real desert

[lajoswinkler]

4 hours ago, Red Fang said:

Wow. I thought that the project was dead. That movie is really gonna kick off another wave of tinfoilery around here. 

lajoswinkler, I really doubt that there was a rocketry program as advanced the Redstone. The idea was probably discussed at the Central comity, maybe there was even a preliminary or feasibility study done. ...maybe.  

I didn't say it was manned. Unmanned, sounding rockets capable of reaching space at a suborbital trajectory, that's it. Something similar to Poland's Meteor rockets only more powerful. It's totally plausible.

Edited March 11, 2016 by lajoswinkler

[Red Fang]

9 minutes ago, lajoswinkler said:

I didn't say it was manned. Unmanned, sounding rockets capable of reaching space at a suborbital trajectory, that's it. Something similar to Poland's Meteor rockets. It's totally plausible.

I've totally read into your previous post something you haven't said. Sorry 'bout that.  Yeah, a 100km sounding rocket or similar system might have been on the table at some point, maybe before procurement of FROG-7. Too much guesswork on my part. I'll shut up now.

[Shpaget]

The first time I heard about Yugoslavian space program was many years ago and the context of that information had nothing to do with this movie.

The info I was presented with claimed that Yugoslavia sold it's data to USA for quite a pretty penny, and that that data was important for Apollo.

[Nibb31]

1 hour ago, Shpaget said:

The first time I heard about Yugoslavian space program was many years ago and the context of that information had nothing to do with this movie.

The info I was presented with claimed that Yugoslavia sold it's data to USA for quite a pretty penny, and that that data was important for Apollo.

Which is pretty much what this mockumentary is claiming. It's rubbish.

[Mighty1]

I lived in Yugoslavia but never heard about it. Probably because it was secret ;-)

[mikegarrison]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zastava_Koral

[11of10]

@mikegarrison I think you've hit bullseye. Along with Orao I think that's closest SFRY came to Karman Line

As for airbase Željava (that's how it was called) I don't think there was enough room inside for any large rocket parts... now, if yugoslav engineers devised something useful to USA, and sold it... who knows.

Actually, now you guys have sort of tickled my interest... I was adamant about NOT seeing that thing, now I just might... (there goes that expensive adamantium again...)

[lajoswinkler]

18 hours ago, Nibb31 said:

Which is pretty much what this mockumentary is claiming. It's rubbish.

I don't think you understand what a mockumentary is.

 

15 hours ago, 11of10 said:

@mikegarrison I think you've hit bullseye. Along with Orao I think that's closest SFRY came to Karman Line

As for airbase Željava (that's how it was called) I don't think there was enough room inside for any large rocket parts... now, if yugoslav engineers devised something useful to USA, and sold it... who knows.

Actually, now you guys have sort of tickled my interest... I was adamant about NOT seeing that thing, now I just might... (there goes that expensive adamantium again...)

Why is it so hard to admit the possibility of reaching 100 km, like V2 was capable of? It's not a wild claim at all. It's possible and plausible.

Less plausible is the claim that Yugoslavia sold anything to USA, but still not impossible, although I highly doubt it was something extremely expensive.

 

Yes, Željava had deep, long tunnels (it's a truly enormous complex) but it wasn't exactly suited for anything other than supersonic jet planes.

[11of10]

I'm not disputing the ability of SFRY industry to reach that high, I just don't believe such a project was actually interesting to Broz & Co at the time. 

 

 

[lajoswinkler]

15 minutes ago, 11of10 said:

I'm not disputing the ability of SFRY industry to reach that high, I just don't believe such a project was actually interesting to Broz & Co at the time. 

 

 

Considering the fact that building a nuclear weapon was, I wouldn't be surprised such missiles were on the table for a short while.

[11of10]

@lajoswinkler Good point there, I completely forgot about that stuff!

 

 

[FreeThinker]

Tito was truly a man with big dreams, some would call him insane. He believe they could teach the world how to live. With an iron first he managed to keep the country together but when he dies, his country and dreams dies wit him. It was all an illusion. So yes, Tito truly might have this aspiration to go into space, whether he had the financial and technical mean to is entirely the question.