CORONONA - FIRST US SPY SATELLITTE PHOTOS

This photo, of the Soviet Union's Dolon Air Field in August 1966, shows more detail, including the location of heavy bombers--a very important piece of information at the height of the Cold War.

When President Eisenhower approved the program in 1958, and throughout its 12-year run, information on military and aerospace efforts in the Soviet Bloc was very hard to come by, and the satellite's eye in the sky helped the U.S. to peek behind the (iron) curtain. Corona, actually the name of a series of satellites used in the program, was a joint effort of the Defense Department and the Central Intelligence Agency.

According to the NRO Web site, the resolution of Corona's images was 6 feet at its sharpest, 560 feet at its worst. Individual satellite images covered an area of about 10 miles by 120 miles.

Credit: National Reconnaissance Office


Detail is lacking in this look at a Chinese nuclear test site, four days after an explosion there, but the bleakness of the undated black-and-white image only serves to underscore the "Ground Zero" label.

Credit: National Reconnaissance Office





Here's an instantly recognizable landmark: the Pentagon, on a September day in 1967. Remember: This was long before the advent of Google Earth. The NRO calls Corona the "first operational space photo reconnaissance satellite."

Credit: National Reconnaissance Office