X-SciTech

Deep dive declassified: 1972 CIA rescue of spy satellite gear

By James Martin

August 10, 2012 / 11:08 AM EDT / CBS News

KH-9 Hexagon photographic reconnaissance satellite — National Reconnaissance Office

In 1971, the KH-9 Hexagon was the United States' most advanced spy device -- a brand new photographic reconnaissance satellite as large as a school bus that carried more than 60 miles of high-resolution photographic film for surveillance missions. The 6-inch wide Hexagon film frame captured a field of view of around 370 miles, with a resolution of about 2 to 3 feet, according to the National Reconnaissance Office.

The film images were sent back to Earth in recoverable return capsules. Entering the Earth's atmosphere, the canisters deployed a parachute and were then snagged by a plane in mid-air and returned to base for processing and analysis.

But in July 1971, the third reentry vehicle from the first Hexagon photo-satellite mission was lost, when the parachute broke, sending the canister into the open sea near Hawaii. The bucket sank on impact to a depth of more than 16,400 feet. This was sensitive info -- photographs of the Soviet Union's submarine bases and missile silos -- and the decision was made to attempt to recover the valuable intelligence data.

This week, the CIA released documents relating to the spy satellite incident and the recovery mission. Here's an illustration of the Hexagon system.

Film rentry vehicle on ocean floor

A photo of the film reentry vehicle on ocean floor taken by the Trieste II deep sea vehicle.

Piece of the gold film canister

Documents released relating to the Hexagon recovery describe this image as the first piece of debris that was sighted. The document reads, "It appears to be a piece of the gold canister and part of the grey RV support pallet."

Recovery capsule

Screen_shot_2012-08-09_at_2.50.44_PM.png — CIA Historical Collections Division

Several of the black take-up support arms of the recovery capsule can be seen here.

Gold film canister

Figure IV C of the document shows photographs of the main portion of the gold film canister as well as the film spools.

Film stacks from the KH-9 Hexagon

CIA documents identify Figure IV D as an outstanding picture of the film stacks, looking down at the stacks.

Encoder and Al motor drive electronics

Figure IV E, seen here, shows that the stacks were recovered intact, but Figure IV F, next slide, shows them disintegrating as they are brought to the surface.

Disintegrating stacks

Screen_shot_2012-08-09_at_2.51.14_PM.png — CIA Historical Collections Division

Figure IV E (previous slide) shows that the stacks were recovered intact, but Figure IV F, seen here, shows them disintegrating as they are brought to the surface.

An intact reentry vehicle for the Hexagon spy satellite

An intact reentry vehicle for the Hexagon spy satellite.

Hexagon reentry vehicle

Screen_shot_2012-08-09_at_2.51.25_PM.png — CIA Historical Collections Division

An in-tact Hexagon reentry vehicle before being launched into orbit.

The capsule encoder

The capsule encoder of the film recovery unit.

Al motor drive electronics

The white lettering on the A1 motor drive electronics is part of the serial number on the encoder from the film recovery capsule.

Trieste II recovery vehicle

The ship left Pearl Harbor in Hawaii for the Pacific crash site on November 21, 1971.

Prior to this mission, the Trieste II recovery vehicle had never gone below 10,000 feet underwater and the film was at more than 16,000 feet. It is conveyed in CIA documents that "the decision was made to attempt the deep sea recovery of the RV primarily for the intelligence value of the film record and secondly to establish a capability for deep oceanographic recovery."

Documents chronicling the recovery of the satellite film say "the reliability of the Trieste II was relatively poor. There was a major subsystem failure on each of the three dives."

Trieste II and recovery arm

Trieste II and recovery arm from CIA documents related to the photoreconnaissance satellite recovery.

James Martin

James Martin is the staff photographer at CNET News, covering the geeks and gadgets of Silicon Valley. When he's not live-blogging the latest product launches from Apple, Google, or Facebook, James can be found exploring NASA, probing robotics labs, and getting behind-the-scenes with some of the Bay Area's most innovative thinkers.

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