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  • Grid-Sphere Passive Communications Satellite

    In 1959 the USAF became interested in the use of satellites as space reflectors for long distance communications. One possibility was a metalized balloon-type structure that could be boosted into space in a small container and inflated after it reached orbit. The NASA ECHO I, launched Aug. 12, 1960,

  • EROS Reflector

    The USAF's Project EROS (Experimental Reflector Orbital Shot) was the first USAF solar reflector experiment in space. Its purpose was to find out if reflectors could be used for collecting and concentrating the sun's heat to generate electricity in space solar power systems. The USAF completed the

  • Discoverer XIV

    The Discoverer XIV is the first satellite to be ejected from an orbiting space vehicle and to be recovered in midair. Discoverer XIV was launched into a polar (north-south) orbit by a Thor booster from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Aug. 18, 1960. After the Thor exhausted its fuel, the Agena

  • Martin Marietta SM-68B/LGM-25C Titan II

    Titan II was the longest-serving ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) in the U.S. Air Force strategic arsenal. The SM-68B, developed from the Titan I ICBM, was on operational alert from 1963-1987. For most of its nearly 25 years of operation, Titan II was the largest and most powerful American

  • Martin Marietta SM-68A/HGM-25A Titan I

    Entering operational service in 1962, Titan I was the United States' first multistage ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile). Incorporating the latest design technology, Titan provided an additional nuclear deterrent to complement the U.S. Air Force's Atlas missile. Though the SM-68A was

  • Thor Agena A

    The U.S. Air Force launched the world's first space photo reconnaissance satellites using a rocket like the Thor Agena A on display. These satellites, secretly code-named Corona, took pictures of the Soviet Union's bomber and missile bases during the Cold War. The USAF and the Central Intelligence

  • Douglas SM-75/PGM-17A Thor

    The SM-75/PGM-17A Thor intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) was the product of the early Cold War race to deploy nuclear armed missiles before the Soviets. Thor was designed to be an interim nuclear deterrent while the U.S. Air Force developed long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles

  • Boeing LGM-30G Minuteman III

    The Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) is the United States' only current operational land-based strategic nuclear missile. It is one leg of the nuclear deterrent "triad" that also includes USAF bombers and U.S. Navy submarine-launched missiles. U.S. nuclear forces are on alert

  • Boeing LGM-30A Minuteman IA

    The Minuteman missile concept pushed rocket technology to a new level and it vastly improved U.S. nuclear strategic deterrence. Minuteman was the first U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to use solid fuel, permitting quick-response launches in case of attack. The first Minuteman missiles

  • Home at Last: MIAs Since the End of the War

    The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office leads the effort to find, recover and identify remains of Americans missing in action (MIA). Since 1973, remains of more than 700 MIAs in Southeast Asia have been returned to the U.S. and identified. Around 1,800 remain unaccounted