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Most were declassified by agencies under the automatic/systematicĭeclassification review program or acquired through declassification requests. The documents presented here were obtained in the research and writing of Spies and Shuttles: NASA's Secret Relationships with the DoD and CIA.
Important scientific data to the nation's adversaries.īecause of classification, very little of the story of NASA's hidden relationships with the DoD and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the spaceflightĪrea has been made public until now. Utilize each other's hardware and facilities to accomplish their missions, the reliance on one another for data and expertise concerning foreignĪeronautical and space programs, and the requirement to monitor and restrict certain NASA programs to eliminate threats to classified programs or deny These included the need for NASA and the national security agencies to However, NASA could not and did not always follow the mandate for several reasons. These programs were promoted asĭemonstrations of America's use of space for peaceful and scientific purposes. This mandate was a guiding principle for NASA and the nation's political leaders concerning its spaceflight programs. It directed NASA to conduct peaceful, scientific, and open aeronautical and space research and operations and theĭepartment of Defense (DoD) to perform these activities related to military operations and defense. Military aeronautical and space programs. The legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 attempted to create separate and distinct civilian and The records wereĪcquired through agency declassification review procedures, specific declassification requests, and archival research. Previously unpublished primary source material that underpins Spies and Shuttles and other important literature on the subject. Over the years, classification restrictions have kept most of the story of NASA's secret activities out of the public eye. However, keep disputes from bubbling over on issues such as cost sharing, access to classified information, encryption of data originally intended forĬivilian use, and delays to military satellite launches caused by the Challenger disaster. David has compiled, edited and introduced more than 50 of these records for today's posting.Įven though Congress's intention in forming NASA was to establish a purely civilian space agency, according to David a combination of circumstances led theĪgency to commingle its activities with black programs operated by the U.S. David, a curator in NASA's Division of Space History, obtained the documents in the course of researching his critically praised book, Spies and Shuttles: NASA's Secret Relationships with the DoD and CIA (University Press of Florida, 2015).
NASA LARGE FILE TRANSFER ARCHIVE
Secret side of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) since its inception in 1958, according to declassified documents posted for theįirst time today by the National Security Archive at The George Washington University ( James E. Washington, DC, Ap– Furnishing cover stories for covert operations, monitoring Soviet missile tests, and supplying weather data to the U.S.
