Introduction
The Trieste II (DSV-1), the Navy’s most advanced deep sea submersible at the time, surfaced about 350 miles north of the Hawaiian Islands in the pre-dawn hours of 26 April 1972 after recovering a mysterious item. Publicly called a “data package,” the object was actually part of a U.S. spy satellite, codenamed HEXAGON. Before today’s digital technology, photoreconnaissance satellites used film, which returned to Earth in capsules ejected from the satellite. The capsules, called “buckets,” reentered Earth’s atmosphere and deployed a parachute to slow their descent. During the first HEXAGON mission in 1971, the parachute broke off causing the bucket to crash into the ocean. This release includes photos of the capsule on the ocean floor, pictures of the Trieste II (DSV-1), and an article recounting the deepest undersea salvage then attempted. We also linked to the Naval Undersea Museum, where the Trieste II (DSV-1) is on permanent display.
An Underwater Ice Station Zebra: Recovering a Secret Spy Satellite Capsule from Booklet cover of Underwater Ice Station Zebra16,400 Feet below the Pacific Ocean [36 Pages, 6.21mb]
Declassified CIA Documents
1971-07-28 – RV-3 Recovery Planning Meeting
1971-08-04 – Cable 9097 Recovery of RV-3
1971-08-05 – Effect of Salt Water on Beryllium
1971-08-05a – Penetration of the RV into the Ocean Bottom
1971-08-10 – Deep Sea Recovery of Hexagon Reentry Vehicle
1971-08-13 – Cable 1527 RV-3 Impact Point
1971-08-18 – Deep Sea Recovery of Hexagon Reentry Vehicle
1971-09-01 – Perkin-Elmer Proposal for Recovery of RV3 of SV-1
1971-09-14 – Status of Recovery Effort as of 14Sep71
1971-12-10 – 1201 RV-3 Recovery
1972-01-12 – Notes on Conversation of 11 Jan 72
1972-01-31 – Trip Report Recovery of RV3
1972-02-02 – Prognosis for RV-3 Recovery Operations
1972-02-03 – Prognosis for RV-3 Recovery Operations
1972-02-14 – Status of RV-3 Recovery Operations
1972-03-15 – Recovery Operations RV-3 of SV-1
1972-03-29 – Recovery Operations RV-3 of SV-1
1972-05-24 – Deep Sea Recovery of Hexagon Recovery Vehicle 1201-3 With Four Attachments
1972-07-28 – Report on the Analyses of Recovered 1201-3 Film Samples
Declassified NRO Documents
All NRO documents declassified on this subject [138 Pages, 5.97mb]
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