"My years working on black programs" GE Black Programs Engineer Speaks

thespacereview.com...

GE engineer writes about his experiences.
probly nothing earth-shaking but interesting insight on cold-war era satellite work

"He told me I was going to be briefed on a highly classified program called CORONA. He told me that what I was about to learn, I could not discuss with anyone who was not also cleared for this information. I could not talk about this with family, friends, or other GE employees forever. He asked if I accepted those conditions and after I did, he gave me a brief overview of the real purpose of Discoverer, which was to carry a camera into space to photograph the Soviet Union and then return the film inside the GE-built reentry vehicles."

Corona, Gambit, MOL, etc. some of us remember bits and pieces.
they needed recon over USSR after the U2s failed. eventually they developed sats with real-time camera feeds.

a reply to: ElGoobero

Corona and its follow on programs were fascinating to follow. We had the C-130s and HH-53s that caught the film canisters at Hickam until the late 80s when they disbanded the unit.

a reply to: ElGoobero

Corona...


How ominous that word has become.