Book Report The Corona Project by Curtis Peebles :: essays research papers

THE CORONA PROJECT AMERICAS FIRST SPY SATELLITESCurtis Peebles is empowering readers with the newly declassified information on how the first American beams were set into use of goods and services for intelligence gathering. Through his book, The Corona Project Americas maiden Spy Satellites, the author gives circumstantial information on the birth of the satellite program by watching the Corona encounter from its beginnings in the later(a) 1940s to the declassification of the project and its exhibitions at the Smithsonians National Air and berth Museum. The book begins with a look into World War II and how the moment of Pearl Harbor pressed the need for aerial reconnaissance. The first chapter gives the unalike technological challenges that had to be faced in order to achieve aerospace superiority. This chapter takes a close look into the development of the WS-117L reconnaissance satellite and how the two projects be related.The main thrust that the project received was from the launch of Sputnik I. With the Soviets right away on the face of it ahead, the author explains how the project was taken away from the Air Force who was weakness with the WS-117L and passed the mission onto the CIA for the development of the Corona satellites. Peebles explains that the difference between the two programs is that the WS-117L promised nearly real-time through radio-transmitted imagery while the Corona missions would drop the spud from the nose cone for development. The engineering team faced numerous challenges in the task of getting the satellites into orbit as explained in chapter three. The chapter covers blundering trial after(prenominal) trial and the success finally achieved by Discoverer 13 after delivering its payload (an empty capsule) undamaged to the earths surface. Peebles goes into depth roughly the first sets of films that were recovered and developed in chapters four through half a dozen and then goes into depth round how this new satel lite program revolutionized the capabilities that the Americans now had in aerial reconnaissance. Peebles covers the continuing evolution of the KH or Key mariner cameras used aboard the Corona satellites. The author talks extensively closely the Kennedy administration and the Corona project, which lead to the increase of security as the project grew. The bread and butter of the information provided in the text can be found in chapters seven through nine. In these chapters the author provides detailed information about how the satellite preformed operations. Furthermore, Peebles begins sharing new information about recently declassified photography of Soviet (and a few otherwise countries) installations.