Russia's Secret: Did Space Station Nearly Die The Day It Was Born?

Pat Flannery writes:

JimO wrote:

Russia's Secret: Did Space Station Nearly Die The Day It Was Born?

"The module was the FGB, Russian for "Functional Cargo Block," code-named
"Zarya." Based on a design flown before (including one spectacular Russian
space station failure in May 1987 that the Russians had not told NASA about),
the hardware was part of the military side of the Russian program and had
special high-security radio links with Earth."
Does this refer to Polyus?

Yes, Polyus was launched on the first Energia on May 15, 1987.