The first American photographic reconnaissance satellite programme, run jointly by the CIA and the Air Force from 1959 under the Discoverer scientific cover, with the first successful film capsule recovered in August 1960. It was declassified in 1995 and is now one of the better documented Cold War black programmes.
Why it is in the UFO file
The Day After Roswell gives Corona a second, unstated purpose alongside its Soviet one, as part of the book’s argument that the Cold War doubled as budgetary cover for a planetary defence. The chronology is the problem: the programme’s first launches predate Philip J. Corso’s Pentagon posting by two years, a point Karl T. Pflock made in detail.
What it is good for anyway
As a concealment precedent it is excellent. Corona ran for thirteen years behind a scientific cover story, involved thousands of people, and stayed secret; it is the kind of case that makes the argument from “we would have heard” weak, in the same way the stealth programmes do in The Hunt for Zero Point.
Connections
The Day After Roswell · Philip J. Corso · Karl T. Pflock · U-2 and OXCART Overflights · Black Budget · The Hunt for Zero Point · Have Blue