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  • HEXAGON KH-9 Film Recovery Vehicle

    HEXAGON KH-9 reconnaissance satellites featured four recovery vehicles or “buckets” that dropped back to earth from orbit carrying exposed reconnaissance camera film for processing. A mapping camera attached for some missions at the front of the satellite added a fifth, smaller bucket. U.S. Air

  • GAMBIT 3 KH-8 Reconnaissance Satellite

    Please Note: This artifact is currently in storage and off public display.The GAMBIT 3 KH-8 photo reconnaissance satellite improved on the GAMBIT 1 KH-7 by providing much better image resolution. GAMBIT 3’s stereoscopic cameras focused on details in small target areas, while other satellites

  • GAMBIT 1 KH-7 Film Recovery Vehicle

    GAMBIT reconnaissance satellites returned exposed film to earth in re-entry vehicles or “buckets” that separated from the satellite, fell through the atmosphere, and descended by parachute. US Air Force aircraft plucked the buckets from the sky at around 15,000 feet. This GAMBIT 1 return capsule’s

  • GAMBIT 1 KH-7 Reconnaissance Satellite

    Please Note: This artifact is currently in storage and off public display.The GAMBIT 1 KH-7 satellite was the first American space reconnaissance system to consistently return high-resolution photographs. GAMBIT 1 vehicles flew from 1963-1967 and were the first satellites to feature stereo cameras.

  • Lockheed Martin Titan IVB Rocket

    The Titan IVB was the U.S. Air Force’s largest and most powerful expendable single-use rocket. It was a space launch vehicle used to place satellites into orbit. Titan IVB rockets boosted payloads into low earth orbit, polar orbit, or geosynchronous (stationary) orbit from either Cape Canaveral,

  • Vought ASM-135A Anti-Satellite Missile

    The ASM-135A anti-satellite missile (ASAT) was the only U.S. air-launched missile ever to destroy a satellite. In the late 1970s, the U.S. anticipated Soviet development of “killer satellites” that could destroy vital U.S. reconnaissance and communication satellites. The anti-satellite missile

  • Space Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer

    The Space Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer 1 (CCT-1) is one of three shuttle mockups used to train shuttle astronauts. In CCT-1, crewmembers learned and practiced many procedures for space missions.CCT-1 is an important piece of space history. NASA trained astronauts in it from the first shuttle

  • Boeing X-40A

    The unmanned, unpowered Boeing X-40A was the first-phase flight test vehicle for the U.S. Air Force’s Space Maneuver Vehicle program that began in the late 1990s. The program aimed to develop small, reusable, highly maneuverable spacecraft for deploying satellites and conducting surveillance and

  • Martin X-24B

    The X-24B aircraft showed that a “lifting body” could glide through the atmosphere and make a precise landing on a runway like an airplane. A lifting body is a fixed-wing air or spacecraft in which the body itself produces lift. X-24 studies supported space shuttle development in the early 1970s.

  • Martin X-24A

    This aircraft represents the Martin (now Lockheed Martin) X-24A, which the U.S. Air Force and NASA flew to study flight characteristics and maneuverability of “lifting bodies.” A lifting body is a fixed-wing air or spacecraft -- such as the space shuttle -- in which the body itself produces lift.