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Author
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Topic: The Kidnapping of the Lunik (CIA review)
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SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 5375
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-22-2024 09:14 PM
   
To gain insight on how the Soviet Union built moon-bound gear, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) carried out a covert spy job on a Soviet exhibit in 1959. Per a posting on the CIA's "electronic reading room" site:"A team of CIA officers gained unrestricted access to the display for 24 hours, which turned out not to be a replica but a fully-operational system comparable to the Lunik 2." The team disassembled the vehicle, the posting adds, "photographed all the parts without removing it from its crate before putting everything back in its place, gaining invaluable intelligence on its design and capabilities." Concludes the posting: "And the Soviets were none the wiser. Sound like something from a movie script? It really happened." |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 1474
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 07-23-2024 08:33 AM
In an ironic twist, the Soviets used captured American film to image the far side of the moon in 1959. Project GENETRIX, a covert plan to float balloons with cameras high in the stratosphere, was carried out in the 1950s before the U-2 spyplane or satellites were yet developed. Hundreds of these balloons with cameras were released into the jet stream to cross over Soviet territory, but only 13,000 usable pictures were obtained. One intact balloon was recovered inside the USSR, and technicians used the recovered special Kodak film, hardened against radiation, for their Lunik 3 probe to the Moon which took the photos (developed inside the spacecraft) of the far side. | |
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