John Rawlings, his Mechano set and Chinese Junk

John Rawlings, his Mecano Model and his Chinese Junk

By Phil Pressel and Paul Brickmeier

 John Rawlings was a Brit and a tinkerer. He loved to make models with his Mecano set. He also made cardboard pendulum clocks that actually worked. He was chartered with the design of an actual model of the Hexagon camera system at the beginning of the program.

 He had the Mecano room with 4 or 5 designers and that was an army working on the model. Paul Brickmeier was the project engineer responsible for the design of the actual flight film supply assembly and  had only 1 designer to work on what was supposed to be the baseline design. He remembers  getting fairly discouraged.

 I (Paul) was in Mike Maguire’s office one day (Mike was the Director of the Hexagon program) and he said, “what can I do for you.” I said “you can stop that Mechano effort; I can’t keep the few people that I have on the design motivated because they were convinced that Rawlings was going to win out completing the model.” So, he looks me in the eye and says, “never gonna happen but I can’t change it because Ken Patrick, (a VP at the time) was championing this thing, but it won’t happen.”

 A short time later Mike calls me into a meeting with Don Patterson (the CIA chief of the program), Paul Convertito (manager of Systems Engineering), Besserer of TRW (consultants to the CIA) and the whole nine yards are there. It was a high-level meeting with VP’s of Perkin Elmer and whoever. We were there to back up Mike and to sit on the sidelines. I always remember this meeting because the Vice Presidents of this world weren’t in the same league with the head honchos of this program, but Maguire was and he stood out in that crowd as being equal and they treated him as an equal in this environment. They get to this thing on the film take-ups and Besserer says “what   have we got John doing?” and someone says we have him working on the take-ups acting as the carrier for the film. And everyone in the room started laughing and they said, “it’s time to kill that.”

 The next question was “what do we have John do next?” They considered him an inventor resource; they said we’ve always had problems with cut and splice methods, let’s put him on that. The meeting ended and the first thing the next morning I come in and the Mecano room is being taken apart and the guys are being re-assigned off somewhere and I thought John would be down. He’s not down, he’s happy as a clam. He said “wow we’re gonna cut and splice.” He was a terrific creative enthusiastic guy.

 He did eventually design and build a motorized scale model of close to the actual Hexagon camera system and even put in a coin machine so that people had to put a quarter in to see it operate. He even made Chester Nimitz our President and CEO put money in.

 The only thing he wasn’t too smart about was that crazy Chinese Junk boat he had.

 Mike Krim remembers being invited to go out on the Junk with John with Dick Babish and all. When they got to the marina all they could see was the mast sticking out of the water. It had sunk. And John, as a master of understatement said, “oh my.” He did take a bunch of us out to sail on Long Island sound. I, Phil Pressel and a few of the other mechanical engineers did go out successfully once on  his Junk. John was a real character.

John’s Chinese Junk

Controlling Hexagon

Controlling Hexagon

Ricky Deutsch

USAF Captain (1972-79)

Ricky.Deutsch@gmail.com

Background

 In the early years of the Cold War, President Eisenhower knew it was critical to understand the capabilities of our adversaries. He approved the creation of new surveillance technologies. The high-altitude Genetrix balloon program and the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft provided initial photographic capability. Also approved for development was the use of space-borne assets to provide the needed intelligence data. It was essential to US security to know about our opponents’ development of weapons, their industrial and agricultural capability, and to create maps for military planning.

 To this end, the “Corona” system was first launched in 1959 (under the cover of the Discoverer scientific program). This polar orbiting vehicle allowed the US to view the entire planet. Corona was the first orbiting satellite to return an object from space. Pictures of “denied areas” of the Sino-Soviet bloc could now be analyzed. Significant military and diplomatic intelligence were obtained during the middle east wars.  They evolved into key sources of data for national economic assessments.

It was designed to eject reentry vehicle containers (“buckets” of film) to earth. Initially, one bucket was carried. By 1966 two were installed. At 55,000 feet, a parachute would open and at 15,000 feet it would be caught mid-air near Hawaii. Initially, specially converted C-119J’s were used; then modified JC-130 cargo aircraft performed this mission. If it was not caught and hit the ocean, it could be retrieved by helicopters with divers or support ships. Should they not find it, a salt plug would dissolve after two days, allowing the capsule to sink and prevent the Soviets from getting it. On August 19, 1960, Discoverer 14 was the first successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite and the first aerial recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit.

 The 6593rd Test Squadron at Hickam AFB HI (later, the 6594th Test Group) had the full capability to recover buckets utilizing aircraft, helicopters, and even ships. The pilots and crews trained long and hard for this dangerous mission. An actual “catch” was made with the pilot matching the 1500 feet/minute decent rate of the parachute. He then closed in on the parachute and kept the plane 10-20 feet above it. Once snagged by hooks, the bucket would be reeled in. The same technique continued for the follow-on satellite programs. The motto of the Test Group was “Catch a Falling Star.” From the early 1960’s to 1986, they caught nearly 300 buckets from various programs.

 Corona continued to be launched until the end of its life in 1972. As technology improved, the “Gambit” series of satellites joined Corona and provided significantly better images of Soviet ICBM missile bases, airfields, harbors, nuclear test sites and other strategic and tactical land, air, and naval targets. The initial Gambit-1 program ran from July 1963 to June 1967.  Better camera development resulted in the “Gambit-3” vehicle, which was able to send back two film capsules during its missions.  While Corona’s resolution was in the order of six feet, Gambit-1 produced high-resolution images in the range of two to four feet and the follow-on, Gambit-3, provided even higher resolution images in the "better-than-one-foot" category.

 In the mid-1960’s, studies were completed to develop the 4th generation space reconnaissance system. Critical were the capability to provide long duration missions and wide-area surveillance coverage similar to Corona but with 2 to 3-foot resolution.   

 The requirements presented to industry resulted in the building of “Hexagon”– a massive 30,000 pound, 60-foot long by 10-foot diameter satellite, with a payload weight of over 7,000 pounds.  It was dubbed “Big Bird.” Stereo photography was accomplished with 6.6-inch-wide film that spooled from two containers, each holding 30-miles of ultra-thin, color and black & white film. It carried four film reentry vehicles.  Constant improvements allowed missions as long as 275 days. It was even considered being placed in the Shuttle.

 The system could capture 340-mile by 10-mile wide swaths of the earth while traveling as low as 90-miles at perigee above the earth. For reference, “space” begins at 68 miles; the space station is at 250-miles. Hexagon captured 877 million square miles of terrain imaging. 68 panoramic film buckets were aerial recovered.  Another 6 were successful water recoveries; 1 sank in the ocean; 1 was left on-orbit and deorbited with the vehicle, and 4 were destroyed at launch. 12 missions had a Mapping Camera installed that collected geodetic data that provided tens of thousands of accurate points needed for operation of strategic and tactical weapon systems. Those film buckets were also air retrieved. In 1986, the Hexagon program ended; replaced by digital imaging systems.

Hexagon Vehicle   Photo: Ricky Deutsch at National Museum of the USAF

Hexagon Optical cameras Photo: Ricky Deutsch at National Museum of the USAF

The crux of the Hexagon effort was the development of the new KH-9 optics system. In October, 1966, Perkin-Elmer won the contract for the design, development, and fabrication of the unique camera system for Hexagon. The sensor subsystem developed by Perkin-Elmer consisted of a two-camera assembly, the film supply, and four exposed film take-ups. Located in the Hexagon satellite mid-section, the camera assembly contained a pair of panoramic cameras mounted in a frame. One camera looked forward and the other looked aft. Each camera had a 60-in focal length, f/ 3.0 folded Wright optical system. It contained both reflective and refractive elements in the optical bars. Perkin-Elmer overcame challenges in the camera design, mirror construction and film movement. They ended up creating the world’s superior film camera. The resultant images were praised by analysts and the National Command Authority.

(Author note: for a complete presentation of the camera system, see Reference 2: “Meeting the Challenge; the Hexagon KH-9 Reconnaissance Satellite”.)

 The major contractors were:

·      Lockheed Missiles and Space Company (LMSC) for the Satellite Basic Assembly,

·      Perkin-Elmer made the Sensor Subsystem (cameras),

·      McDonnell Douglas made the four primary Reentry Vehicles (RV),

·      RCA Astro-Electronics Division developed the Film Take-Up system,

·      Itek Corp. made the Stellar Index Mapping Camera,

·      General Electric made the Reentry Vehicle for the mapping camera,

·      General Electric also did the Command System/Tracking station interface

·      Kodak provided the ultra-thin color and black & white film,

·      System Development Corp wrote the SCF system software.

·      TRW provided software that controlled the vehicle and payload operations,

·      Aerospace Corp, was the lead Technical Advisor,

·      Associate contractors as required.

 They shipped their components to LMSC in Sunnyvale where they were integrated and tested. The finished satellite was trucked 250-miles to the launch site at Vandenberg AFB, in central California.  California law required it to be done in daylight.

Hexagon being transported to Vandenberg, AFB. The Blue Cube is in background.

Photo: wikiwand.com

Vandenberg AFB was ideal for launching polar orbiting satellites; normal for reconnaissance satellites. Also, the Pacific Ocean to the south provides a safe place away from population should a problem occur near liftoff. The large physical area of the base prevented snooping eyes from monitoring launches, although “fishing boats” were often seen nearby. The rockets were the Titan IIID, then 34D, made by the Martin Company (later Lockheed- Martin).

 Vandenberg was the launch site for all 20 of the Hexagons. The first was in June 1971. Every one was successful, except #20, the last planned mission. It blew up on launch. Actual Hexagon and Gambit engineering vehicles are now on display in the Space Gallery of the National Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH.

Failed launch of #20   Photo: Art Jesensky

Recollections working on a Top-Secret program

 My first Air Force position after college was in the Strategic Air Command, working with the B-52 bomber and KC-135 tanker. I was in Illinois for training, then Loring AFB, Maine, then to Thailand during the Vietnam era. When the action was winding down in Vietnam, in 1975 I was assigned to Sunnyvale Air Force Station, south of San Francisco, California. It was part of the Space Division of the US Air Force Systems Command.

 The constant blue sky and lack of humidity in Silicon Valley were a hit with me. Access to the Monterey Peninsula, Napa, Lake Tahoe and Yosemite made this an ideal duty station. Although not part of nearby Naval Air Station Moffett, Air Force personnel could use the facilities at the base. There was no housing for us and we had apartments or houses.

 The AF Satellite Control Facility (SCF) was the Systems Command organization comprised of the Satellite Test Center (STC), the remote tracking stations and the aircraft charged with catching the recovery vehicles near Hawaii. In 1965, the SCF HQ migrated from Los Angeles AFS to Sunnyvale AFS. The STC was also at Sunnyvale AFS.

 The function of satellite support began with the Corona program and moved from Palo Alto to nearby Lockheed Missiles and Space Company in Sunnyvale. Later, the functions moved into dedicated Air Force buildings. The “Blue Cube” building was designed in 1968 to support the planned Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL). The almost simultaneous cancellation of the MOL program resulted in many other on-going space programs being supported there. Multiple Mission Control Complexes conducted operations in the new building.  Gambit and Hexagon missions remained in the original STC buildings for command generation and operation.

 The Blue Cube can be seen in the photo below. Although it was a windowless 100-foot tall building, it had only four floors. Each had 25-foot high ceilings. Air conditioning, cable runs and other mechanical equipment in the ceiling and under the floors were required to keep the computers running. It had its own power generation, apart from commercial suppliers.

Sunnyvale AFS, CA   Photo: National Museum of the USAF

I waited six months to get my clearance. During my “wait-time,” I could only be in the unclassified areas of the STC, taking classes on telemetry, tracking, orbits, etc.

 When my clearance came in, I was assigned to the Field Test Force Director (FTFD) office for Program 467 – Hexagon. DOZA/VOA were the office names. My job was to be a part of one of the 4-man junior officer teams in CG – Command Generation.   I was immediately tasked with reading a lot of classified manuals – most were with the header TOP SECRET/HEXAGON – BYEMAN CONTROL SYSTEM. Byeman was the security code word for all of NRO’s unique “black” programs. A black project is a term used for a highly classified military or defense project publicly unacknowledged by government, military personnel, and contractors. They are denied as existing until ready to be announced to the public. The formal term for a black project is Special Access Program (SAP); they were compartmented. Personnel only had access to those compartments their job entailed. The money that funds these projects is referred to as the black budget.

 I was soon deeply embedded in the program. My security clearance also allowed me access to Program 110, Gambit, described above. The Gambit team (aka VOZB/VOB) had similar support requirements and we could assist if needed.

 Each Command Generation team comprised four junior officers, a mix of Captains, 1st and 2nd Lieutenants. Two teams worked four 12-hour shifts. For example, for four days, Team A worked 0700 to 1900. Team B was on from 1900 to 0700. Both had the next four days off while Teams C and D would do the subsequent four-day cycle. Then Teams A and B came back for the following four days, but Team B would do the day shift and Team A the nights, etc. This 4-day shifts / 4-night shifts / 4-days off pattern continued for the duration of the mission. The worst part was the last night shift. If you went home at 7 am and right to bed, your sleep would be messed up for a day or two. The trick was to keep active until you collapsed about 8 pm and slept through the night. This routine went on for the duration of the mission. Many Hexagon missions lasted up to six months during my tenure.  Fortunately, we were young and could handle it.

 On a typical shift, every 90-minutes we would prepare the coded commands to be sent to the satellite when it would pass over one of our worldwide tracking stations. Using key-punch cards, we’d compose the commands that would be sent up to the satellite. The Secretary of the Air Force Special Programs (SP) Hexagon Operations office controlled the on-orbit vehicle health and maintenance. For example, because Hexagon was only about 100 miles up, they would direct that it needed to be boosted roughly every three days.  As the tracking station encounter time approached, another SP unit would walk across the hall and into our double-locked Mission Control Complex, MCC-4, with his/her own stack of punch cards with the location and parameters needed for a camera operation over a desired area. They supported the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) needs. Other national organizations provided the latest weather information over the areas of interest for each orbit. Cloud cover impacted photography operations, so we may have had to wait until a future fly-over in order to get good photos. Later, analysts could compare new construction or the placement of weapons systems over time.

 Data would be input for calculations via the state-of-the-art keypunch card system. Their use traces back to the systems developed by Herman Hollerith. The holes in the cards would be read as computer code. A standard QWERY keyboard was used to input the information to be entered. Since the accuracy to the card should not be read directly, we’d have to wit for the printed output to check that everything would work We would load the cards and wait for stacks of output, which we would take back to our work room to study the output, correct typos and deconflict functions to make sure the commands would work. 

Key-Punch Card   Photo: ComputerHope.com

IBM 26 Keypunch   Photo: Rick Deutsch at Computer History Museum

We’d then run the completed deck of punch cards on our secured, dedicated CDC 3800. This was a large mainframe computer optimized for handling a lot of numeric processing. It was in a shielded room, measuring about 40 x 40 feet. Only cleared personnel were allowed in. Ours was one of half a dozen at the STC. The Control Data Corporation CDC 3800 was a military version of a general-purpose, commercial computer. It comprised several standing reel-to-reel tape drives, 128 Kilobytes of RAM, 1 Megabyte disk platters and several racks of processors.

CDC 3800 similar to the ones at the STC   Photo: German

Meteorological Computing Center

If there were errors, we’d run it again and again. Once we were happy, we got the final output and called for a Lockheed “data-handler.” A cleared person would come in with a briefcase and walk it down to the Operations room. Here, the subsystems contractors would check the commands for proper execution. CG was done until the next pass in 90 minutes. Periodically, an ephemeris (orbit predictions) was run. Output was on paper tape for analysis. Prior to scheduled system maintenance, we ran a “clobber” routine to remove any information and clear memory of the computer. We’d search the floor for any shards of paper that might contain classified words.

 In my era, we used six remote tracking stations (RTS) to beam the commands up. A few had two 60-ft dish antennas: A-side and B-side. Some had a 46 ft dish. The sites with their call signs were: Vandenberg (COOK); Boston (BOSS); Oahu (HULA); Seychelles, (INDI); Guam (GUAM) and Greenland (POGO). Prior to a pass, the final commands were transmitted to the tracking station and stored until the satellite came over. The STC Air Force Operations Director (OD), coordinated a large team of contractors. I served two years in that function. During the actual pass, the OD, with technical leadership from an Aerospace Corp representative, would initiate contact with the RTS and give the order to beam the commands up to Hexagon’s memory system. Simultaneously, telemetry data was down-linked and observed real-time by each of the subsystem representatives. If there were any issues, the OD could send up contingency commands.  Finally, tracking data was captured to predict where the satellite would be on future passes. All this during the approximately 110-second pass.

 Over time, a “bent-pipe” procedure was used, wherein the coded commands would not be stored at the RTS, but were bounced off a synchronous relay satellite, down to the RTS, then directly up to Hexagon. Should there be a serious problem, after the pass the OD would call an “Anomaly Meeting.” Aerospace would lead the contractors to resolve things and develop a plan of corrective action for the next pass.  90 minutes later, the process continued with corrective commands sent up. 

 This routine job continued for the life of the satellite. The only break was when a “dead rev” came up. This meant that the bird would not fly over an RTS on its polar orbit. When that happened, we got a three-hour break. Unless working on problems or discussing details, the CG team was free to pursue other activities. Some would play cards, write letters, or study off-base university graduate course work. Many obtained MBA degrees over their four-year tour. The base also had a racquetball court and a sauna.

Day in – day out, this routine continued. Every 90-minutes when the satellite passed over a tracking station, we’d scramble since the clock was ticking. Four men in their twenties – all highly educated and motivated. At the time, we did not realize just how important the program was. Mostly, it was just another job. Books, magazines and newspapers came out that proposed theories about satellite reconnaissance. Some were spot-on, but we could not acknowledge them. A bit of our dead time was spent studying our craft and learning from our senior members and contractors.

 We could go anywhere we wanted on the four off-days. Skiing, scuba or even to Hawaii. The Moffett P-3 squadrons flew regular missions to a sister base, NAS Barbers Point – not far from Waikiki. I loved calling a squadron to sign-up for the “Space-Available” list. “This is Captain Deutsch. I’d like to sign up for Friday’s flight.”  “Yes Sir!!” … thinking I was a Navy

O-6 Captain. They didn’t find it too funny. Upon arrival in Oahu, we would stay at the Hale Koa military hotel, on Waikiki beach. It was very cheap and is still in operation for active duty, retired and service-connected disabled veterans. Generally, we had to pay commercial back to get to our next shift on time. If you were clever, you could team up with another officer to work your day shift AND his night shift. You could then get eight days in a row off without taking leave.

 During the life of the program from the early 70’s through mid-80’s, Hexagon stayed on orbit from 52 to 275 days. (We received an AF Commendation medal for a mission that was the longest to date. The film buckets were ejected when full (generally about 40 days) or when images were wanted sooner. The SP office would direct that.

 A “mapping” camera made by Itek was installed up front on 12 missions and its bucket was also ejected. More keypunch commands were assembled to execute the difficult reentry over the Pacific, west of Hawaii. The process was the same as that used for Corona and Gambit recoveries.

 The 6594th Test Group would send five JC 130’s from Hickam, AFB to the predicted coordinates. Ship based helicopters with divers were also part of the recovery team. Due to compartmentalization, I knew the basics of the catches, but little of the details.

 The 6594th crews were in a similar position of not knowing about aspects of the Hexagon mission beyond their “Need-to-Know.” They only knew they were catching data capsules from orbit. Don’t be curious. It reminded me of the World War II phrase: “Loose lips sink ships.” The gold heat-resistant outer skin that was on the buckets was certainly noticeable. It could be covered to reduce questions during the transition off the recovery JC-130 to the plane that would leave Hickam, AFB for its flight back to the mainland. Only cleared senior officers knew where the bucket was going next.

 The team at the STC waited patiently to hear when buckets were caught. The top-secret capsule was flown to Hickam AFB, then to Kodak in Rochester, NY, where the film was processed and image quality control performed. The processed film was then shipped to Washington, DC for analysis. Perkin-Elmer also evaluated the quality. The buckets were recycled for re-use. The on-orbit process continued until the film was exhausted and all buckets caught. The final task was to turn the vehicle around to de-orbit and burn up. 

 Hexagon was very successful. Because of a parachute malfunction, the third bucket on the very first mission fell into the ocean and settled at 16,400 feet. The Trieste II Deep Sea Vehicle 1 (DSV-1) was used to recover it with a “grabbing claw.” As the film spool was being recovered, near the surface it broke apart into small strands and sunk back to the depths through the jaws of the capture device.

One of 4 film buckets   Photo: Rick Deutsch at National USAF Museum

A JC-130 midair recovery

                                                 Artist conception.  Approved: 6594th Test Group

At the end of each mission, there would be a few months waiting for the next launch.  We did more reading and participated in few “rehearsals” when the whole military / contractor team would be on for three days. It reminded me of the SAC ORI’s (Operational Readiness Inspections). Now we had time to take leave. We could get Space-A flights out of Moffett or nearby Travis AFB.

 As their tour of duty wound down, some officers moved on after spending four years at the STC. Some went to the SP organization or to Space Division at Los Angeles AFS in El Segundo. A few landed positions at the Pentagon. Some went into private industry. I left the Air Force and hired on at Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation. Then I worked at Intel Corporation and Sun Microsystems, in marketing to Government customers.

 Addendum

 1. After my departure, in the 1980’s the site underwent a large Data Systems Modernization Program to upgrade computer technology and other systems. Since the SCF also supported the Space Shuttle, Sunnyvale AFS was renamed Onizuka AFS in 1986. It honored Col. Ellison Onizuka who died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The site  officially closed on July 28, 2010. Its functions were transferred to Falcon AFS (now Schriever AFS) in Colorado Springs and Vandenberg AFB in central California. After closure, the site was under consideration for inclusion in the National Register of Historic places. However, the Blue Cube and surrounding buildings were demolished in April 2014 and the land was returned to the city. Three major factors were involved. 1) It lay right near busy Hwy 237 and Mathilda Ave with only a 6-foot fence around it. The antennas in the parking lot, as well as the support buildings, were in easy throwing distance. 2) The cost of living is very high in Silicon Valley. We were not authorized to live at the Naval Air Station. Since there was no full function “base,” personnel had no access to economical housing. People were strapped to live in this high cost area. 3) Although the Blue Cube was built with earthquakes in mind (San Andreas Fault), it did suffer noticeable damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta 7.1 quake. It was a sad day when the wrecking balls brought it down.

 2. The site was given back to the city of Sunnyvale. Discussions were undertaken on what to do with it.  Perhaps it could be the Command Center for California Emergency Services. The antennas and communication equipment could be repurposed. Another idea was to turn that area into a new car sales mall. Finally, Foothill College built a remote campus on the land. Their focus is primarily training EMT’s.  Many cues from the old site were retained, such as the same blue color exterior walls and a generally cube shape. The staff tells students of the Cold War function of the STC.

 A small glass case holds site memorabilia. Col. Onizuka is also honored. Material of his life is shown. Often STC alumni come by to see the material on display. I have given talks to young students on what went on there. The end  of an  era.

Foothill College   Photo: Rick Deutsch

The Legacy lives on   Photo: Rick Deutsch

3. LMSC (now Lockheed-Martin) in Sunnyvale went from a peak of about 25,000 employees to a mere few thousand today. They’ve sold off most of their property. It is now populated with many high-tech firms.  

 4. I left the Air Force in 1979 to work at Silicon Valley computer companies and pursue other activities: hiking, biking, scuba, public speaking (locally and on cruise ships). At one of my lectures in 2016, I mentioned that I used to work at the Blue Cube. After, a man came up and told me that he had worked there for Lockheed, and that two programs were declassified in 2011. Including one called Hexagon! He said the word and I cringed. He showed me paperwork that he got at an NRO briefing to LMSC employees on January 2012. For over 30 years I could not say: Hexagon, Gambit, Byeman, film (“the material” was used), NRO and many other terms. When the program was declassified no one told me!

 5. I supported Hexagon missions 1210 through 1215. These were the 10th and 15th fights. Due to the compartmented environment, I never saw the photos nor did I see any of the satellites being made across the street at Lockheed.  When I heard that engineering versions of Hexagon, Gambit -1 and Gambit-3 were at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, I flew there and spent hours studying them. I am thrilled to tell others about the program. This includes my wife, to whom I could not reveal anything during my career. Corona and a second Gambit-1 are at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

 I currently live 8-miles from Sunnyvale, but I rarely run into anyone who was stationed there. I have communicated with folks from the 6594th Recovery Group as well as many SAFSP people. An SP Alumni group in LA keeps the story and comradery alive with a website, a newsletter, guest speaker program, Holiday Party and Golf Tournament.

 6. An internet search will reveal many articles and videos mentioning Hexagon. Despite being unclassified, you cannot assume that what is revealed is accurate or not sensitive.  The NRO should be notified to bless any information if you plan to write or talk about it.

References

1. “Corona: America’s First Satellite Program” Center for the Study of Intelligence CIA Cold War Records Series, 1995

 2. “Meeting the Challenge; the Hexagon KH-9 Reconnaissance Satellite,” Phil Pressel, 2013

 3. “Critical to US Security: The Gambit and Hexagon Satellite Reconnaissance Systems Compendium” Center for the Study of National Reconnaissance. 2012

 4. “A History of the Hexagon Program,” The Center for the Study of National Reconnaissance (CSNR), 2012

 5. “Birth of Air Force Satellite Reconnaissance: Facts, Recollections and Reflections.” SAFSP Alumni, 2015

 6. “Onizuka Air Force Base,” Image of America, Joseph T. Page II, 2019

 7.  Hexagon KH-9 Spy Satellite Blog, www.hexagonkh9.com/ ongoing. Phil Pressel

All the unclassified documents are available on-line or in hard copy. The NRO Center for the study of national reconnaissance has many links to other related material. See NRO.gov

 **This document has been reviewed by the National

                                       Reconnaissance Office and approved for release. **

Some manufacturing information about Hexagon

Some Manufacturing Information about Hexagon

 By Phil Pressel

 Manufacturing and Testing

 Every single piece of the Hexagon system, from lenses to housings, to cables to nuts and bolts had to be fabricated or purchased and then put together. Many assemblies had to be tested. We are talking of thousands of parts that made up this camera system. Most of the hardware was obtained from outside the plant. We did the design. Others fabricated the parts and shipped them to us. The glass for the optics was purchased then was cut and polished in-house. An exception was for some of the electronic boxes where outside companies designed and fabricated the circuitry to our specifications. They had the manpower and manufacturing expertise. All parts went through a meticulous quality inspection program and in the case of electronics had to be tested prior to shipment to us.

 Most of the mechanical assemblies consisted of hardware that was very sensitive to contamination of any kind, including dust. This included lenses, mirrors, delicate mechanisms and many state of the art ball bearings. These would all require assembly in clean rooms.  The very large high bay areas were class 100,000 clean. This meant that the area contained less than 100,000 particles 0.5 microns or larger per cubic foot of air. The smaller assembly areas were class 10,000 and within those areas there were many class 100 laminar flow workbenches. These were used to assemble the many mechanisms and sub-assemblies such as the platen, film drive and looper. The complete mechanical and electrical assembly of these could take up to several months each.

 Prior to going into these areas required everyone to first dressing in clean room uniforms, booties, hats, etc. Then entry was done by going through an interlock chamber, i.e. once the entrance door was closed the exit door would not open until the one-minute air shower was completed. The air shower blew off all contamination particles from a person. There were two interlocked entrances. White suits were for those working in the class 10,000 area and blue suits were for those in the high bay. Special sticky mats were stepped on prior to entering these chambers in order to pull off debris from the under-part of shoes or booties. Only fiber free type of paper and pens were permitted in the clean rooms because they would not emit or outgas foreign substances or discard fibers. All incoming parts had to be cleaned with special materials or by ultrasonic cleaning machines, then bagged (some sealed in dry nitrogen) and tagged. If someone needed to touch hardware, they had to wear gloves.

 In order to handle large and heavy assemblies or intricate mechanisms, special tools and equipment had to be designed. Some of these had additional impositions placed upon them such as that they were going to be used in a dark room. That was required when loading film and performing certain tests on the heavy and large supply assembly.

 Highly skilled mechanical and electrical technicians were the ones who did all of the hands-on labor. Each sub-assembly had a designated manufacturing engineer who worked with the relevant design engineer in instructing or troubleshooting during the assembly and test process.

 There were vacuum outlets in all the walls of the clean areas. Large hoses were attached to these and used to clean dust or debris generated during the assembly processes. When epoxy cements needed to be removed a small half inch plastic tube was extended from the vacuum outlets directly to within an inch or two of the epoxy being cut or twisted off and it would immediately suck up the epoxy debris thus preventing it from inadvertently entering the assembly. 

;No Introduction

On the Hexagon program whenever we met someone new who was cleared for the program, we had to be introduced by a third party that knew each of us and that we each had the proper top secret clearance. Mike Krim told me this story many years ago.  

“I remember a long time ago was invited to some British friends and they arranged a dinner with some people and they had also invited someone with whom they thought I would be very interested in speaking with. Apparently, he was from a British organization that parallels our   customer, the CIA in one way or another. So, after dinner they brought out cigars and that is typically British, and pipes and MacCarrans 18 -year old whiskey and this fellow says, “what have you been working on?” I said I don’t think I can talk about it because we really haven’t been properly introduced. What have you been working on? He said “I’m sort of in the same situation.”  So we sat and drank whiskey and didn’t say a damn word The whole evening.  

No introduction

On the Hexagon program whenever we met someone new who was cleared for the program, we had to be introduced by a third party that knew each of us and that we each had the proper top secret clearance. Mike Krim told me this story many years ago.  

“I remember a long time ago was invited to some British friends and they arranged a dinner with some people and they had also invited someone with whom they thought I would be very interested in speaking with. Apparently, he was from a British organization that parallels our   customer, the CIA in one way or another. So, after dinner they brought out cigars and that is typically British, and pipes and MacCarrans 18 -year old whiskey and this fellow says, “what have you been working on?” I said I don’t think I can talk about it because we really haven’t been properly introduced. What have you been working on? He said “I’m sort of in the same situation.”  So we sat and drank whiskey and didn’t say a damn word The whole evening.  

Three Hexagon Heroes

Left to right Bob Landsman, Mike Maguire, Dick Carricato, all during their retirement days. Mike did not have facial hair when he directed hexagon.

Bob Landsman was the original chief engineer on Hexagon. He had daily lunch lectures where he explained to all of us newly on the job what hexagon was all about and concepts of how it was supposed to work. It was extremely complicated and he understood it all. Mike Maguire was our hexagon leader. He was the program director and eventually our general manager. He knew how each hexagon major assembly worked and could have presented all of their functions at design reviews if any of the project engineers was unavailable. He was a terrific and inspirational leader and for most of us the best manager we ever had. Dick Carricato was an electrical engineer and an expert in servomechanisms. Servos were used to control how hexagon worked and when orbital data showed anomalies with the satellite operation, he (and Marty Yellin) were usually called to solve the problem. Dick was instrumental in one major problem that dealt with a broken film problem that could have greatly affected Perkin-Elmer’s fee. He was able to prove that the problem was not PE’s fault. Dick was also one of the few people who knew exactly how hexagon worked in all of its phases.