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1. Almondsetat · 1790809198 · focus · HN ↗

   The incredible and futuristic technologies the US managed to deploy decades before the competition reminds me of the story of how the NRO gifted NASA a couple of their old decommissioned satellites in 2012 and they turned out to be basically upgraded Hubble telescopes pointed at earth. The US from the 90s to the 2000s had multiple Hubble-level telescopes just for spying while NASA was fighting for scraps to study the entire cosmos.

   1. monocasa · 1790813494 · focus · HN ↗

      Way longer than that. The first KH-11 satellites that Hubble shares its design with were in orbit in the late 1970s.

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;KH-11_KENNEN" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;KH-11_KENNEN

      1. walrus01 · 1790814039 · focus · HN ↗

         For historical details of some of the subsystems&#x2F;stuff that ended up in this category of craft, google &quot;history of Ball aerospace&quot; or &quot;eastman kodak NRO history&quot;

         For instance: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thespacereview.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;5003&#x2F;1" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thespacereview.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;5003&#x2F;1

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