United States Air Force
US Air Force

PREFACE

This “Virtual Museum” portion of the website will take the reader on an educational journey on the role of an Air Force unit (SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE SPECIAL PROJECTS) instrumental in providing the National Command Authority with space-based image information – aka IMINT – about our adversaries. Depending on the reader’s desire to learn at a high-level or drill down into the technology involved, you can dive as deep as you want. Imagine yourself walking through a museum and picking the route you want to take. We suggest you first read the content below to provide you the basis for continuing. We will provide an increasingly technical presentation of the components of CORONA, GAMBIT AND HEXAGON. This will include NRO released YouTubes. It will take time to get approval to release this information; check back to the Virtual Museum page as we add content.

OVERVIEW

Welcome to the Virtual Museum. In text and videos, we tell the incredible story of US ingenuity in secretly developing the world’s finest satellites to confront the Soviet Union in the Cold War.

The end of World War II marked the beginning of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. An Iron Curtain was lowered between the two countries. As the military strength of both countries grew, it became increasingly difficult to know the extent to which the Soviet Union could deploy forces against the United States and our allies. In particular, President Eisenhower needed to know more about the state of Soviet weapons development, how they would deploy weapons that could be used against us, their industrial strength for supporting their military, creation of tactical maps, and other strategic indicators such as agricultural resources. Years later, the intelligence gathered allowed President Richard Nixon to negotiate the SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty) from a position of strength. We knew the number of bombers and ICBM’s they had. There was no “bomber or missile gap.” Later, during the missile reduction talks, President Ronald Reagon could claim we would “trust but verify.”

In the early 1960’s, the Department of Defense created two new organizations – both in secret – to respond to the Soviet threat. In 1960, within the Department of the Air Force, the Secretary of the Air Force created the clandestine Office of Special Projects, referred to as SAFSP or SP. A year later, the Department of Defense (DoD) formed another clandestine office, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an umbrella organization of men and women from the Air Force, the CIA and the Navy to coordinate strategic intelligence across the DoD. These organizations spied on the Russians and other adversaries through the Cold War (1960-1990).

We will present the stories behind this brief overview. We will not cover programs that have not been declassified. All of the content in the Virtual Museum has been reviewed and is unclassified. Later in the website, you can go study the various technologies used to accomplish the successful space missions to answer Ike’s goals. Several programs were tried before Weapon System 117L was undertaken. This was the development of space-based reconnaissance systems. The CIA was tasked with delivering results. Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) satellites were launched by the Naval Research Laboratory. Some related intelligence-gathering efforts of early the early programs were: GENETRIX – high-altitude balloons with cameras sent over the Soviet Union; SAMOS – An attempt at satellite-based film capture and digital readout; GRAB; POPPY; and the U-2, A-12 and SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft. Our main focus is on the three film-based satellites: CORONA, GAMBIT AND HEXAGON.

This Virtual Museum recognizes the accomplishments of the Air Force organization, SAFSP. Industry and SP teams developed satellites, tracking stations, communication systems and utilized enhanced cargo planes to catch recovery vehicles carrying exposed film of denied areas. SP worked closely with the Intelligence Community. While some of these programs are still classified, three of the imagery satellites, CORONA, GAMBIT and HEXAGON and a few of the electronic signals collection satellites have been revealed since 2011.

SP’s many accomplishments can best be appreciated by understanding the national threat faced by the United States back in those days, and the incredible technology employed to meet it. The satellites on display at the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, stand in grateful recognition of the men and women who selflessly fought the Cold War, in silence – from above. As you tour this Virtual Museum, you will see some of the now-unclassified YouTube highlights of SP’s challenges and accomplishments.

HISTORY OF THE NRO

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) was the executive agency directing all satellite reconnaissance projects. The Secretary of the Air Force Special Projects Office (SP) was heavily involved in the implementation of the design, manufacture, test, launch, operation and product delivery to the appropriate intelligence analysis facilities.

These satellites were commanded and controlled via a satellite control network of ground stations distributed around the world. The Satellite Control Facility (SCF) was the central organization that generated the instructions that controlled the function of all satellites. It was comprised of the Satellite Test Center, Mission Control Complexes & Command Generation at Sunnyvale Air Force Station,(later called Onizuka AFS) CA, the six Remote Tracking Stations around the world and the recovery vehicle aircraft based at Hickam AFB, HI. Sunnyvale was home to the iconic “Blue Cube” – a 100-ft tall windowless secure building that housed many classified programs. The iconic structure in Silicon Valley only had four floors – with space for cooling systems and cabling feeding many CDC 3800 mainframe computers.

Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) satellite systems illustrate both the mission objective and the covert nature of technology. The country could now detect Soviet radar better than our land-based systems. The first of these eavesdropping satellites was a Navy program called Galactic Radiation and Background (GRAB). It was the predecessor of more sophisticated satellites put into orbit by the NRO/SP team. Many are still classified.

The CORONA vehicle is on display at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. The National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, OH displays actual development vehicles of the HEXAGON & GAMBIT. This affords a unique opportunity to witness history kept secret from the public for over 50 years. Click . (wait for YouTube to load).

To begin your education – choose the topic of choice below. Then return to this page to read the rest of the information.  The YouTube videos were produced and approved by the NRO.

Satellite Control Facility

 At a February 2025 team meeting of the SAFSP Heritage committee, the members were recalling the history of the Air Force Satellite Control Facility (AFSCF). The following are memories of that organization. The word “facility” is usually meant to mean a physical structure-but in Air Force jargon it meant an organization to confuse the abecedarians.


The AFSCF was established as an organization in 1965, we had a facility called the Satellite Test Center (STC ) in Sunnyvale from which early Corona and Gambit operations were conducted. The organization that supported the STC was initially in the Space Systems Division (SSD) in Los Angeles, and was titled SSO – probably a contraction of Space Systems Operations, but I’m not sure. (Bob Wickwire and I worked in SSOCD In the early sixties in the Equipment Development Branch,  which was responsible for providing all the necessary equipment and supplies for the STC and RTSs). The SSO organization morphed into the AFSCF in 1965, about the same time the “Blue Cube”, a facility, was being built adjacent to the STC for the MOL/Dorian program. Later, the SSO/AFSCF organization relocated up to the STC in Sunnyvale, I think when Jake was the SAFSP Director. So we had a confusing situation in the eighties wherein the Air Force Satellite Control Facility was actually an organization which moved into a facility called the Satellite Test Center… and there was another Air Force STC, the Space Technology Center, at Kirtland. (Some thought all of this confusion was actually deliberate.) I think many of us old-timers still called the facility in Sunnyvale the STC in 1985, when I (Don Hard) was the Commander. In 1987, the AFSCF was renamed the Consolidated Space Test Center (both an organization and a facility), as a parallel to the Consolidated Space Operations Center at Falcon/Schriever Air Base within Air Force Space Command.

The 6594th Test Wing was the predecessor to the AFSCF, headquartered at the STC from 1959 to 1965. I think the wing was probably formed to accommodate the 6593rd Test Squadron’s aircraft within a more traditional Air Force organizational structure. Having a Group with only one flying squadron was still a bit of a stretch for the Air Force. I think that was a factor that was touted by MAC in their continuing unsuccessful campaigns to move the Test Squadron and Group into their MAJCOM. Of course, the USECAF/DNRO’s answer for each of those campaigns (which continued into the eighties) was “No!”.

When I was stationed in LA in 1973 with the SDS Program Office (SAMSO/YR), the Air Force Satellite Control Facility Program Office was located at SAMSO and later in the 70’s was relocated to Sunnyvale.

AFSCF HQ moved to Sunnyvale in 1976; and Jake Jacobsen became the AFSCF Commander that same summer. I think John Browning was still the STC Commander at Sunnyvale when Jake tJacobsen took over his (rather large) office and split it into a smaller office and a conference room… it was still in that configuration when I took command in 1985 and afterward. Joe Sanders, who led the Hexagon operations division for years, replaced Jake in 1979.

 
Click <HERE> to read the detailed History of the SCF from 1954 through  June 1983. It was written by MSgt Roger Jernigan, AFSCF History Office.

Col. Larry Cress

By Scott Eckert/SP-6 (1986-1992)

In 1980, I was a “mustang” 2nd Lt stationed at Space Division, Los Angeles fresh out of Officer Training School (OTS). My last enlisted assignment had been in Strategic Air Command (SAC) at Griffiss AFB, NY.

In 1984, I was selected to attend the USAF Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) MSEE program for 18 months. When I left Los Angeles for Ohio my (future) wife and step-daughter stayed behind and I had hoped to return to LA when I graduated. As graduation neared, the assignment process began.

Unfortunately, upon graduation my assignment was to SAC HQ, Offutt AFB, NE. My fellow students, who had a lot more experience than I in the assignment process, told me I was NEVER getting out of that assignment. I informed my “fiancé” that I wouldn’t be returning to LA for my next assignment.

Fortunately, she was friends with Col. Larry Cress, who I believe was a SPO Director at the time. She told him of my situation and Larry took it from there.

I was soon contacted by SAFSP to set up an interview, but afterwards I was still unsure what I was getting myself into. All they said was to keep taking communication and signal processing classes. A few weeks later, I received a new set of orders to SAFSP in Los Angeles.

When I told my fellow classmates about the new orders, they couldn’t believe that I had somehow managed to get my assignment changed. They told me this SAFSP group must really have some pull, since NOBODY got out of a SAC assignment! Well, Larry Cress came through for me and I was on my way to SAFSP in Dec 1985.

One of the first SAFSP “projects” I was offered was TDY to VAFB picking up debris on the beach.

I married Kathi (from the Aerospace Federal Credit Union) in 1987. Thanks Larry!

 

SP Security

    Working on an SAFSP program required a high level of individual security discipline beyond simply top-secret protection of facts within a project. We had to disavow the very existence of those programs we supported daily. Even after gaining access to a program like HEXAGON we were only exposed to facts needed to do the job and that determination was made by others through a formal “introduction”. The name of the program and associated facts could only be discussed in designated SCIF areas with all those present being appropriately briefed, and the facts being discussed could not be revealed outside of those strict secure conditions. The program name became the trigger phrase concerning the facts that followed.
     Sometimes that became a problem in normal life. Once while deeply engaged in operational activities I was having dinner with the family and, since I couldn’t discuss my work, I asked my daughter what she learned in school that day. She responded, “The teacher told us all about HEXAGON!” (She was only talking about geometry, not satellites.) One of the more difficult security skills we had to learn is not to gag when you hear a statement like that outside of the work environment. Now, 50 years later after the declassification of the program in 2011 it still takes some discipline to discuss a program while protecting what remains protected under classification rules.

Air Conditioning

The CDC 3800 (Control Data Corp) was a state-of-the-art computer in the 1970’s and one of the few capable of creating the critical instructions required to operate our photo-reconnaissance satellites. Although it filled a large room and had eight banks of transistor-based processors, each the size of a home refrigerator, it had less computing power than the average home PC. It generated an enormous amount of heat that had to be cooled with dedicated air conditioners to prevent a shut-down. Several were housed in the Blue Cube, which was 100-feet tall but with only four floors. The extra space was reserved for cabling and cooling. The STC command generation (CG) team ran punch card input programs that took about 20-minutes for each pass, creating precise sequences of functions for the satellite camera and subsystems. The operations tempo was critical to prepare these instructions for each of the 16 station passes each day. Every 90-minutes the team was getting ready for a pass over a tracking station.

 

One day the air conditioner shut down in the middle of a computer run with no time to recover the program on another computer. The CG team opened all the processor cabinet doors and waved cardboard sheets to keep it from overheating until the end of the run. Then the computer’s thermostat shut down with seconds to spare. Few were aware that the importance of the targets taken that day was to the credit of a quick-thinking team and the program’s greatest “fans.”

The Bread Truck

When I first joined SAFSP, I was assigned to SP-10. One of our missions was to model the performance of current and future systems to perform analytic studies. As a by-product of that modeling and simulation activity, there evolved a cottage industry providing current and future intelligence products. These were sent to major theater military exercises around the world so they could train with representative overhead intelligence products.

We had a Lt Col who traveled to Korea, SAC Headquarters, Hurlburt Field and Europe for major exercises throughout the year. The simulations ran on the CDC 3800 computers in Sunnyvale. The products had to be transmitted around the world via whatever comms technology existed in the early 80’s. The SIGINT was fed to Army systems at the sites, but the notional simulated IMINT output was received by a non-descript blue Air Force panel truck which was jury-rigged with various radios, printers and what-have-you to produce representative products. This panel truck was affectionately known as the “Bread Truck.”

During one going-away party held for a departing SP-10 hero, he was presented with a toy van emblazoned with “Rainbow Bread” logos all over it. As a result of that event, my wife spent the next 10 years believing that SP-10 was in the business of making bread trucks.

My apologies to all the alumni who know the real details better than me and for mangling the descriptions of how this magic was really implemented.

-Scott Rounce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TODAY - A date to remember

The first CORONA to return a bucket with actionable film was caught August 19, 1960 by the crew of Capt. Harold Mitchell. The 6593d Test Squadron (Special) received the Mackay Trophy. It is administered by the National Aeronautic Assn and has been awarded yearly since 1912, by the Air Force for the most meritorious flight of the year by a USAF person, persons, or organization.

After 13 failures , the Corona program images were grainy and of limited utility, but quality–and intelligence value–improved rapidly. Within a few months, CIA photo interpreters had dispelled both the missile gap and the bomber gap. 

General Bruce A. Carlson USAF (Ret.)

May 2024

Dear Friends,

Thanks for the good thing you are doing. The finest minds since the Manhattan Project all put their heads together to amke this magic work for over 6 decades. I hope you know that all of the full-scale engineering models of our earliest spacecrafts are at the museum in Dayton.

As the 17th Director of the NRO I first offered them to the Smithsonian. However, they were going to put them to storage. So, I made a deal with my good friend Jack Hudson, Lt Gen, USAF (Ret.) who was running the AF Museum and he found a great place for them.

Hope this little bit helps.

Warmest Regards,
Bruce

Debbie Reed

By Col Joe Parks head of SP-12

Barbara Reed was a long time SP-12 contributor that was a joy to work with. When it came time for her to get a step increase, I put in the paperwork to SP-5, probably had to wake them up to do that!! We waited, nothing happened, I checked with SP-5 numerous times, they blamed it on the Base Air Force Personnel Office. Before I was in SP, I was an Auditor at the Base and knew the people in Personnel. So, I walked over, it was lunch time and found Barbara’s paperwork in an in-box, took it to one of the people there who told me that the gal in SP said, “No Rush”! We cleared that up in a heartbeat and it was approved while I was there. The Lt Col who ran SP-5 got pissed that I went around him, came into my office and started ragging on me. I asked him what his date of rank was. I outranked him, so I told him to pound sand. He then went into Col Parrish’s office and complained. What a great guy Parrish was. Anyway, Parrish called me in, told me never to do that again, but as I was leaving, said. “I would have done the same thing.” Got to love that generation.

Joe 

Ronald Reagan

Speech by RONALD REAGAN for the
25th Anniversary of Project CORONA

“I’m sure that if President Eisenhower were here today to see what you have achieved from the programs begun as a result of his decisions, he would express a hearty well done!”

America is safer for your work, and I congratulate each of you· for so fully earning the gratitude of your countrymen by your
remarkable achievements during a long period of continuing peril.

The Dead Rev

In the mid-1970’s, HEXAGON Command Generation prepared commands to be sent to the tracking stations for upload during a pass. There were 6 stations. Once a night, the satellite would make a revolution out of sight of a station. Ergo, a “dead rev.” During this 90-minute span, the four junior officer team was free to do whatever they wanted. Read manuals, practice Black Jack, do their MBA homework, or best: go to play on the racquetball courts or take a sauna. Later, the dead rev was filled when Oakhanger, UK was added.