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TOP SECRET: Your Briefing on the CIA's Cold-War Spy Satellite, 'Big Bird'
The Atlantic ^
| December 29, 2011
| Alexis Madrigal
Posted on 01/01/2012 12:14:42 AM PST by neverdem
click here to read article
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1
posted on
01/01/2012 12:14:51 AM PST
by
neverdem
To: neverdem
our private eyes, are watching you watching you watching you
2
posted on
01/01/2012 12:29:43 AM PST
by
HiTech RedNeck
(Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
Comment #3 Removed by Moderator
To: F15Eagle
Since these birds had to go through multiple rolls of physical film and drop them periodically in a safe way, and there wasn’t a way of restocking film to them on the fly, they lasted anywhere from 30 to 180 days, then self destructed by re-entry.
4
posted on
01/01/2012 1:14:57 AM PST
by
HiTech RedNeck
(Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
To: neverdem
your mission, should you choose to accept it... Careful...if no one accepts this mission, the entire Forum will self-destruct in 5, 4, 3,....
To: LjubivojeRadosavljevic
6
posted on
01/01/2012 1:32:46 AM PST
by
BlueDragon
(who-oah.. c'mon sing it one more time I didn't hear ya)
To: neverdem
Although some aspects of this program are being declassified, the basic details have been public knowledge for a long time. I always wondered how they could manage to time the plane flights precisely enough to catch film dropped from space.
Comment #8 Removed by Moderator
To: neverdem
Wow. Neat article. It takes me back to the days of chain driven Honneywell chart recorders... (when you could wiggle a wire or two, ‘tap’ on this or that, and get it working again...).
9
posted on
01/01/2012 2:22:26 AM PST
by
Smokin' Joe
(How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
To: neverdem
Chalkboards and slide rules did wonders.
10
posted on
01/01/2012 5:10:13 AM PST
by
R. Scott
(Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
To: neverdem
I was on the source selection team.
To: neverdem
I long for the days when secrets of national importance were actually kept secret...instead of reading about the leaking sieves in Washington putting our soldiers and country at risk.
12
posted on
01/01/2012 5:20:48 AM PST
by
SueRae
(I can see November 2012 from my HOUSE!!!!!!!!)
To: neverdem
13
posted on
01/01/2012 5:37:34 AM PST
by
Daffynition
(*Pray for whatever passes for America these days* Amen. ~ ScottinVA)
To: neverdem
...up to 1,000 Perkin-Elmer employees worked on the program during its peak in the 1970s... I've met some of these guys. Some are no longer with us and never got a chance to talk about what they did for their country.
14
posted on
01/01/2012 5:40:15 AM PST
by
McGruff
(Hold the House, retake the Senate.)
To: SueRae
Did you catch that line about the AP leak in the late 70’s? Sounded like an internal KGB memo.
15
posted on
01/01/2012 5:40:25 AM PST
by
Textide
To: R. Scott
16
posted on
01/01/2012 5:41:14 AM PST
by
Daffynition
(*Pray for whatever passes for America these days* Amen. ~ ScottinVA)
To: wideminded
Reads here like they were encapsulated into dedicated re-entry vehicles, plopped into the ocean and grabbed by ship.
17
posted on
01/01/2012 6:02:34 AM PST
by
HiTech RedNeck
(Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
To: neverdem
One of the treble hooks which the AF used to snag the parachute is on display in the lobby of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Using the parachute worked until the Navy found a Soviet sub waiting under the planned drop zone, in case the C-124 missed the snag. That’s when they realized the need to figure a way to download the images by encrypted communications.
To: wideminded
Well, by the late 70's, we had the ability to track a single bolt or nut orbiting in space, so tracking Big Bird and her "eggs" was pretty much mathematically precise:
I once watched an entire lunar eclipse from the roof of this thing, ten stories high!
To: neverdem
Thanks for the post very interesting I would still like to see them declassify Echelon.
20
posted on
01/01/2012 7:06:03 AM PST
by
Rappini
(Pro Deo et Patria)
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