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In the Cold War, space was a new and critical frontier for intelligence. Many early satellites were spy satellites (although they did a bit of science, too). In this episode, we learn about two early U.S. spy satellite programs, GRAB and CORONA. We learn what motivated these programs, why they were so important to future satellite development, and how to recover film capsules mid-air using a gigantic hook on the bottom of a plane.

Thanks to our guests in this episode:

Keith Masback, intelligence expert
Andrew Ross, Guggenheim Fellow, National Air and Space Museum

Find the transcript for this episode and more information at s.si.edu/airspaces11e9.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter at s.si.edu/airspacenewsletter.

AirSpace is made possible with the generous support of Lockheed Martin.