"In late 1965, the stage was being set for the final study of a new generation photographic satellite. It would be required to provide the resolution of earlier close-look satellites while simultaneously providing the broad area coverage capability of previous search/surveillance systems. On July 21, 1966 proposals for the Hexagon sensor were submitted to the government by both Itek and the Perkin-Elmer Corporation. At 1700 on October 10, Mr. Robert Sorensen, then Senior Vice President, Optical Group, received an important phone call from Mr. John J. Crowley, Director of Special Projects, CIA, -- Perkin-Elmer's proposal was accepted by the government. This is a story of the events that followed."--Introduction.

The United States developed the Gambit and Hexagon programs to improve the nation's means for peering over the iron curtain that separated western democracies from east European and Asian communist countries. The inability to gain insight into vast "denied areas" required exceptional systems to understand threats posed by US adversaries. Corona was the first imagery satellite system to help see into those areas. Hexagon began as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program with the first concepts proposed in 1964. The CIA's primary goal was to develop an imagery system with Corona-like ability to image wide swaths of the earth, but with resolution equivalent to Gambit. Such a system would afford the United States even greater advantages monitoring the arms race that had developed with the nation's adversaries. The system that became Hexagon faced three major challenges. The first was development of the technology, which was eventually overcome by the Itek and Perkin-Elmer Corporations. The second was bureaucratic, deciding how the CIA and Air Force would cooperate in building such a system because they each had strengths and weaknesses in the development of national reconnaissance systems. The third challenge was to secure the resources that were required to build the most complicated and largest reconnaissance satellites at the time. By 1971, the NRO overcame the challenges to successfully launch the Hexagon satellite and fulfill, or even exceed, expectations for unparalleled insight into capabilities of US adversaries.

This volume is the story of a photographic satellite called GAMBIT, which was developed to perform at even better resolutions than CORONA and work against specified targets -- an operation usually referred to as "surveillance mode." GAMBIT fulfilled this surveillance function from July 1963 to April 1984.

This history of SAFSP is dedicated to all those men and women who fought the Cold War, in silence - from above. No organization is better at gathering overhead intelligence than the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Today's NRO grew out of 3 organizations: AF, CIA, and Navy. The AF office for satellite reconnaissance was called the Secretary of Air Force's Office of Special Projects [SAFSP]. This monograph describes the birth of Air Force satellite reconnaissance. When SAFSP was created in response to Presidential recognition of a national imperative, 4 tenets captured the sense of urgency: direct access to national leadership, covert management/operations, highest national priority, and rapid procurement. In addition, 3 management principles led to SAFSP's success over 30+ years of providing reconnaissance intelligence: strong dedication to mission, empowerment at all levels, and reporting by exception.

The United States developed the Gambit and Hexagon programs to improve the nation's means for peering over the iron curtain that separated western democracies from east European and Asian communist countries. The inability to gain insight into vast "denied areas" required exceptional systems to understand threats posed by US adversaries. Corona was the first imagery satellite system to help see into those areas. Hexagon began as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program with the first concepts proposed in 1964. The CIA's primary goal was to develop an imagery system with Corona-like ability to image wide swaths of the earth, but with resolution equivalent to Gambit. Such a system would afford the United States even greater advantages monitoring the arms race that had developed with the nation's adversaries. The Hexagon mapping camera flew on 12 of the 20 Hexagon missions. It proved to be a remarkably efficient and prodigious producer of imagery for mapping purposes. The mapping camera system was successful by every standard including technical capabilities, reliability, and capacity.

In this real life spy saga, James E. David reveals the extensive and largely hidden interactions between NASA and U.S. defense and intelligence departments. The story begins with the establishment of NASA in 1958 and follows the agency through its growth, not only in scope but also in complexity. In Spies and Shuttles, David digs through newly declassified documents to ultimately reveal how NASA became a strange bedfellow to the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He tracks NASA’s early cooperation—supplying cover stories for covert missions, analyzing the Soviet space program, providing weather and other scientific data from its satellites, and monitoring missile tests—that eventually devolved into NASA’s reliance on DoD for political and financial support for the Shuttle. David also examines the restrictions imposed on such activities as photographing the Earth from space and the intrusive review mechanisms to ensure compliance. The ties between NASA and the intelligence community have historically remained unexplored, and David’s riveting book is the first to investigate the twists and turns of this labyrinthine relationship.

This book details the lives of two married geniuses, Aden and Marjorie Meinel, who helped to pioneer modern optics and solar energy in the U.S. Aden B. Meinel and Marjorie P. Meinel stood at the confluence of several overarching technological developments during their lifetimes, including postwar aerial surveillance by spy planes and satellites, solar energy, the evolution of telescope design, interdisciplinary optics, and photonics. Yet, their incredible stories and their long list of scientific contributions have never been adequately recognized in one place. In this book, James Breckinridge and Alec M. Pridgeon correct this oversight by sharing the story of this powerful duo. The book follows their lives and covers large scientific developments between World War II to the Cold War. James B. Breckinridge, a previous advisee and later colleague to the Meinels, and historian and scientist Alec M. Pridgeon collected more than 200 hours of oral interviews with those who worked closely with the Meinels and some who built their careers around the findings made possible by their work. The book shares and analyzes the work done by the Meinels, and it also includes incredible insights from an unpublished Meinel autobiography.

In September 1969, several months after the Apollo 11 lunar landing, President Richard M. Nixon established the Space Task Force to chart NASA’s path for the decades to come. This imaginative vision was shattered less than six months later when, on January 13, 1970, NASA Administrator Dr. Thomas Paine announced that, owing to funding cuts, only the reusable Space Shuttle could be afforded -- there would be no space station, no return to the Moon, and no missions to Mars. This is a story never before told about the missions and technologies that NASA had begun to plan but never fully realized. The book is a companion to the author’s previous two works on the Space Shuttle. Whereas the first two books showed how the Space Shuttle flew in space and what the program accomplished, this book explains what more the Space Shuttle could have achieved and how the space transportation system could have further matured if circumstances had been otherwise. A final chapter also discusses how some of these plans might be resurrected in future programs.

Inside the historic Cold War landmark at Vandenberg Space Force base—its technology, its people, and its military importance. Includes photos. Situated in the sand dunes of California’s Central Coast, Space Launch Complex Ten, often called SLC-10 or “Slick Ten,” is a National Historic Landmark that commemorates a powerful Cold War legacy. Home to Vandenberg’s Space and Missile Technology Center, or SAMTEC, the facility contains the rich technological heritage of the U.S. Air Force’s space and missile launch systems. As the only remaining Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile launch site in the world, SLC-10’s noteworthy achievements span the globe. The complex trained British Royal Air Force missileers for Project EMILY, assisted during nuclear atmospheric tests in the Pacific, and launched military weather satellites in support of the covert National Reconnaissance Program. Former air force space and missile officer Joseph T. Page II recounts amazing stories of dedicated men and women who led the American military effort to explore space.