There was a real "secret space program" with its own military astronauts etc. The Manned Orbiting Laboratory. Only fully declassified in 2015 https://t.co/0RvjaeVzrR [Quoted] While NASA captured the world's attention with Apollo, the U.S. Air Force was quietly running its own secret human flight space program—the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL)—a military space station for reconnaissance, complete with astronauts and modified Gemini capsules.

While NASA captured the world's attention with Apollo, the U.S. Air Force was quietly running its own secret human flight space program—the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL)—a military space station for reconnaissance, complete with astronauts and modified Gemini capsules.