In the 1970s, Robert Perry of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) wrote five volumes on the history of satellite reconnaissance. Below are the declassified volumes made available through the FOIA. The remaining volumes are under review for declassification and release. The History of Satellite Reconnaissance, Volume 1 [241 Pages, 9.3mb] The History of Satellite Reconnaissance, Volume 2A [326 Pages, 9.7mb] The History of Satellite Reconnaissance, Volume 2B [182 Pages, 5.59mb] The History of Satellite Reconnaissance, Volume 3A [338 Pages, 5.15mb] The History of Satellite Reconnaissance, Volume 3B [153 Pages, 3.4mb] The History of Satellite Reconnaissance, Volume 4 – NRO History [134 Pages, 5.25mb]…
Author: John Greenewald
Introduction The Trieste II (DSV-1), the Navy’s most advanced deep sea submersible at the time, surfaced about 350 miles north of the Hawaiian Islands in the pre-dawn hours of 26 April 1972 after recovering a mysterious item. Publicly called a “data package,” the object was actually part of a U.S. spy satellite, codenamed HEXAGON. Before today’s digital technology, photoreconnaissance satellites used film, which returned to Earth in capsules ejected from the satellite. The capsules, called “buckets,” reentered Earth’s atmosphere and deployed a parachute to slow their descent. During the first HEXAGON mission in 1971, the parachute broke off causing the…
The following documents are not categorized in their proper sub-category. Until then, they will remain indexed here. The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance [390 Pages] A History of the Military Polar Orbiting Meteorological Satellite Program, September 2001 [56 Pages, 4.41MB] – In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, a director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) authorized the construction and launch of a small meteorological satellite to support CORONA and other film-limited imaging satellite systems. Though undertaken as an “interim” measure while awaiting completion and launch of a national weather satellite, in the months that followed the NRO spacecraft would incorporate so many…
The Defense Support Program (DSP) is a program of the U.S. Air Force that operates the reconnaissance satellites which form the principal component of the Satellite Early Warning System currently used by the United States. Below are reports and documents relating to the DSP program. DSP/ALERT Ground Consolidation: Space Based InfraRed System Increment 1. 1998 Operational Assessment [22 Pages, 9.68MB] – The Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) will be a consolidated, flexible system meeting United States infrared space surveillance needs through the next several decades. An integrated “system of systems,” SBIRS consists of multiple satellite constellations and an evolving ground element SBIRS will consolidate, enhance, and replace Defense Support…
The Samos E or SAMOS (Satellite and Missile Observation System) program was a relatively short-lived series of reconnaissance satellites for the United States in the early 1960s, also used as a cover for the initial development of the KH-7 Gambit system. Reconnaissance was performed with film cameras and television surveillance from polar low Earth orbits with film canister returns and transmittals over the United States. Samos was first launched in 1960, but not operational until 1963 and all were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base. SAMOS was also known by the unclassified terms Program 101 and Program 201. SAMOS To…