The National Reconnaissance Office will declassify two imagery satellites that operated from 1963 to 1984 during a ceremony Saturday at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles airport in Chantilly, Va. Both the Gambit, known as KH-7/8, and the Hexagon, designated KH-9, were film-delivery systems. The Hexagon is 60-feet long and 10-feet wide. “It was a remarkable piece of mechanical engineering, the way they put the thousands and thousands of feet of film inside that thing,” said NRO Director Bruce Carlson of Hexagon during a meeting with reporters Thursday in Washington, D.C. “It took more pictures on the first successful flight than they did on all the U-2 flights.” A clear plastic cover will allow museum visitors to view inside Hexagon, the once super secret intelligence satellite.
In his final keynote address before retiring as Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force, Roger A. Towberman reflected on the progress of the Space Force and the growth still ahead at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference on Sept. 12, 2023. Watch the video or read the transcript.