posted 09-13-2011 08:53 AM               

One-day-only Viewing Opportunity of Declassified Satellite

The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and the National Reconnaissance Office will be hosting a one-day-only viewing opportunity of the newly declassified HEXAGON (KH-9) satellite in the parking lot of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Saturday, Sept. 17. This is the first time the public will be able to view this impressive spacecraft, and it will be the only opportunity to see it in the Washington area for some time.

Sixty feet long and ten feet in diameter, the HEXAGONs were the largest spy satellites the United States has ever placed in space. The satellites took photographs of the Soviet Union and other targets around the world from 1971 to the early 1980s.

The one-day (10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) display is in conjunction with the NRO’s 50th anniversary celebration, which includes an invitation-only event later that evening.

posted 09-17-2011 01:46 PM               

A model of a KH-9 HEXAGON at the Udvar-Hazy Center:

KH-9 mapping camera on display:

KH-9 reentry capsule to return exposed film to earth:

posted 09-18-2011 06:08 PM               

Declassified spysat exhibit reveals rare look at Cold War space program

Twenty-five years after their Cold War-era missions ended, two clandestine U.S. satellite programs were declassified Saturday (Sept. 17), with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) unveiling three of the United States' most closely guarded assets: the KH-7 GAMBIT, the KH-8 GAMBIT 3 and the KH-9 HEXAGON spy satellites.

The vintage NRO satellites were displayed to the public Saturday during a one-day-only exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. The three spacecraft were the centerpiece of the NRO's invitation-only 50th anniversary gala celebration held at the center later that evening...