Manned Orbiting Laboratory

The Air Force announces the Manned Orbiting Laboratory project, a joint venture with NASA to orbit a space station using modified Gemini capsules to launch specially selected Air Force crews for month-long stays in orbit. What isn’t revealed – but isn’t too hard to figure out – is that MOL’s mission is largely military, including orbital reconaissance: the station will essentially be a manned spy satellite. The Soviet Union responds by beginning to draw up plans for its own manned military space station, Almaz.