THE PILGRIM
Member
Lately we have seen the pictures sent from the spaceship which landed on the comet.
But do you know about the first pictures that we ever got from space?
Back in those Cold War days, we desperately needed information about what was actually going on inside the USSR. One solution was the U-2.
Once the Soviets realized we were over flying with the U-2, and the SA-2 SAM system was coming online, well you know how that worked out.
The next answer was photo satellites. Back then we didn't have digital cameras. The cameras in the satellite would take film pictures. Then we had to figure out how to get then back to earth.
It was decided that the film would be 'dropped' back to earth. Then we had to figure out how to catch it.
C-119s aircraft from the Air Reserve at Columbus, IN were modified to catch the film capsules. After they got back in the atmosphere, a parachute opened. A buddy of mine who was a Dollar Nineteen pilot at Columbus flew some of the tests.
The lead C-119 would takeoff and grind upward. He would drop the 'blivot'. The catching bird would takeoff and head for nearby Camp Atterbury. Hey! I been deer hunting there! Oops! Wrong thread!
The high bird would drop the package, and the catching bird would see it and head for it.
You had to point the big Dollar Nineteen windscreen at the blivot in order to catch it.
Once they got all the bugs worked out, they turned the modified C-119s over to the USAF at Hickum AFB, HI. August 1960 they snagged the first pictures ever taken in space.
But do you know about the first pictures that we ever got from space?
Back in those Cold War days, we desperately needed information about what was actually going on inside the USSR. One solution was the U-2.
Once the Soviets realized we were over flying with the U-2, and the SA-2 SAM system was coming online, well you know how that worked out.
The next answer was photo satellites. Back then we didn't have digital cameras. The cameras in the satellite would take film pictures. Then we had to figure out how to get then back to earth.
It was decided that the film would be 'dropped' back to earth. Then we had to figure out how to catch it.
C-119s aircraft from the Air Reserve at Columbus, IN were modified to catch the film capsules. After they got back in the atmosphere, a parachute opened. A buddy of mine who was a Dollar Nineteen pilot at Columbus flew some of the tests.
The lead C-119 would takeoff and grind upward. He would drop the 'blivot'. The catching bird would takeoff and head for nearby Camp Atterbury. Hey! I been deer hunting there! Oops! Wrong thread!
The high bird would drop the package, and the catching bird would see it and head for it.
You had to point the big Dollar Nineteen windscreen at the blivot in order to catch it.
Once they got all the bugs worked out, they turned the modified C-119s over to the USAF at Hickum AFB, HI. August 1960 they snagged the first pictures ever taken in space.
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