Corona Spy Satellite Telemetry Tape

The CORONA program was a secret CIA & US Air Force project that launched 144 reconnaissance spacecraft from 1959 to 1972. The dire pursuit of intel during the tense Cold War resulted in this ambitious space program that achieved many spaceflight firsts.   

Photos had never been taken from space and the entire system, including lenses, mounting, mechanisms, and even the film, had to be specially designed for space.

With every pass over target areas, primarily the USSR and China, onboard cameras would snap a series of panoramic photographs on 70mm film. When passing over tracking stations, the satellite would transmit trajectory, velocity, and system status information which was recorded onto reels of magnetic tape like this.

At the end of each mission, the film capsule detached and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. Before it reached the surface, a parachute was deployed and a specially-equipped airplane would catch the gliding capsule in mid-air.

The CORONA program was declassified in 1996 and over 860,000 images made publicly accessible, the largest photographic catalog of Earth’s surface at the time. Researchers have recently used these images to locate ancient sites and study the effects of climate change.

Details:

The section of magnetic tape was used by the CIA to track a Cold War spy satellite.

Corona Telemetry Data Tape length: 3.5"

Magnetic frame dimensions: 5" x 5" x 0.75"