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/r-~n ~1111"'1 (\.I I 1r-r ""'I! \./ /I un UI I IVl/""\L UuL Vl\IL I

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~·~'the.First Soft :L.lmil~i{ ... ~~:M9*n<vr · · :; • • • • • • • • .. • • :, • ; • • • - : , : • • • j, • ..

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(U) Due to -~~ success of the tls:_. Apo.llo.-.~gntqd~g·.tlie fust.~ :~~ ~ i•/reW.._poople remember that the· US~R made the fitst ·soft landing of~ sp~tjrlt.on,·.tbC ·~<lpn, ·:w~~~ .. US·~ . successfully Jaunc~ed Sputnik, the first man-made .. artifidaremth satellite,'on Oct0bef··4J9:S7,Jt ~h, .:_

the world by surPrise and cause4 great consternation in th~ .free *orJd .. The U.S. was .~eiy~:.tp ~·far behind the USSR i~ .:~pace. this led to the ·fo~atio.n of the ~:ajlo~al Aeronauti~s ~4-~~~ ·: -: ·_ .. : -~~ -: . :·. · ._ .. Administration (NASA) and P~sident Kennedy's--plcdge to· hind m,tn on ,th~~oon·.and~~lY.~-'.~~-­by the end of 1969. Although the USSR.program was shrouded m'secreey, it w~.·wi~.fi~i-.jlar . '· they had a ,&~i}~~;.::qre ·8* t~ .tJu: ~oon was d~Jll\itel_r..-~ .... , ..... . . · ·. ·. - .. : .. ;

···.·. .. . .. · .. : .· :·~:~·:·~ -:· ·. ·· ... · . ... . :._ ··.··-· .:· =?..:. .. . ·· . ..

(U) In or~ to land a qaan: o~tthe ~oon, one· ff.~~ ~- t?. ~tu4y th~· lunar .~~d:~i.H.l¢y~ ·, the proper system to achieve that goal .. At that timt:t there was great speculation OQ:.:Wh~.-~~::,\-..:· ·. surface could support a spacecraft. Indeed, some scientists believed that the moon"was:·coveted\v~th -.. · .. '.:' ·' hundreds of meters of dust while others posited a fragile h~neycomb structure.·inc~abl~o::t)u~~~hilig::th.e weight of a spacecraft. As a result, both the U.S. and. USSR sent many prob.es to .. ~e.:itiP<>n:. :Ea.ch qfthesc· probes transmitted back information before going into orbit around the moon, goi.Qg oft iiito s~oe· or crash-landing on the .moon and self-.destructing. . . '_ -· · · ·. ·

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(U) The USSR landed the first lunar probe in 1959. This was followed by fiv.e land~-~y"#)e . U.S. between April 1962 and March 1965. Then the USSR landed their secon~ tbitd; ·an~i'f-~~ in rapid succession between May and December of 1965. This spate of activity raisCd ~yebiow~~ ~~ real surprise came two months later. · · , -· · . . .-·· :- ·.

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(U) On February 3, 1966, the USSR shocked Ule world by making the fi!St':soft :biJJat laiidiill-al!_c( · transmitting signals from the spacecraft. The spacecraft was named Liina 9 in t,he:LJSSl:·m~--'·'.·: .. -: __ :.: :"_ ·

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(U) Sir Bernard Lovell, Jodrell Bank's director, ~cknowledged this "Hi$toric :~~evemexit." aJi4.-.-_ , stated that this put the USSR "ahead in the space race." Dr. L.R. Shepherd, presideJ#.:~f~ -~·~· .. \-_ -~ .. Interplanetary Society, stated that he rated the Soviet achievement as "much more .diffi®it ~:~.ofblt-· .: . rendezvous recently achieved by the Americans." · · ... · · · .. :~: · ·· .·.· · · -· ·

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(U) In those days, when the USSR was truly operating behind an iron curtain of~Yi:~~~;;'_'._ . were thousands of people, many of them reputable scientists, who believed this was-:a .~r-~ -tJ,i~·:·.

colonization of the moon by the USSR. Some saw the USSR placing nudear weaj,oiis .oli ~ mtiQfi_ao;~: -. using it as a launch site. Against this backdrop, President Johnson and other U.~. ~~rs ~~,p~ ... : .. the U.S. intelligence community to give them ground trUth on what the Soviets ha~f:~c'1~eV.~. witl.\L~• ·· 9. . . .. . . :,

pproved for Release by t\JS.A o 2-26-2006 pursuant to E. 0.

12958 as amended MOR 51 971

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(U) On the ~ming ofFeb~ary 4, John O'Hara, a'yotlng e~ecITTcal..engin~t :Uitli~:·'.r~~·@'y .:. . S stems Division 2 was in the Telem '. Anal ,sis Laborat · K47 ttainin ·- fdlow.;· ·. ·-· · .. ·

and electronics technic · n ow to use a piece of equipment:J~h~f~:dpsj~=:_/ . ___ __.tated that he h~ to leave e trammg to attend a m~tjng on "how to proccts& :-ui:~J'.:!i.W:a y--. -_ · _. /_ . ·

transmiss~ons. '' li:C mvited O'Hara to attend the meeting._ : , . . . .. . . . . . :·"· -:"'.. ;J -~ ~- .. -; .

(U) T.lie meeting was chaired by Navy commaridej . ~ttend~ ~ ·:: ~ ;~;;:{> '\ • representatives" ft:~~ the ~ytic _shops a~- well as s~yeful.:c(;ln~rs u~er·~~tj~~:~~$,.+~~:~':,·:·,~r · . intercept.~ tec'1ui~~} description oflbe signal W;,tS ,given,! an~; fue tenor ·of ~~e ~~t\~.&;:~~)d"Vt1Y-- ·~:~·::.·,,,: .. good. No one frotn the analytic shops had any.recornmendati,oris. The. c~n~ac~~.,~~-•-If~~;~f ·:· they involved t~e purchase of new, fairly expensive .eq.uiP,ment, and th.ey:,sp~c~l't~:.f:h~; ·t~·W<>;~4f,~~. . •.

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,J::t~:·=~~~jJtS~~;: : ,·· producing." J. · _/ :. . . · : /-::·, .::"'.":'._>:.- . r ::?.:.:i:~\/. __ ·

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(U) After the meeting O'Hara an4 ~ad so~e addit~n~ discussions 1$,unng.w~~ch:04~#' -_ :_ stated that he thought he could process the pictui~s with ~uipn_jent in the lab ~c,t·:~ "BlaO~ 9oxtt.~-.~~ . recently designed. He.created a list of the needed\equiprn,~ts -a#idsketched a~ ofh~w. to-:/ :. :::)> interconnect them. Then he an4 ~ta~d puttµig it ,together. The pictufe'~- -*°~~:" '. . out on a relatively new device designed by R.5f eniinee~ ~allf{. th~ JYste(Q.-:~._ . ·

display was generated by exposing fi.Jm roJJs cQ_ntr~llc:d b a· Honeywell 1~12 Vi~~r'~l.~·;~-~~ "··: :'..::_ afternoon the system was lashed together. O'Hara an n.fidently fed the _~~gnal fyom ~'~: .. · .. ... into the system fully expecting to get pictures oJ~. When : ey1go~;noth4Jg but g~ge ~aj,· th~y:~~ .: :- .. · .. momentarily crushed and embarrassed. ' ' j !' . / " · ·. · . :· .. " ~ :. _.- ·

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was be!~~ ~::s~:~:~:t a ·1~::e:·~:i~~I~t~~ii,£~~f::~:1!!~~ . sample the signal and transJate its frequen~y into thel IPa~.s~-- When the dwp.~r.was ~- · ~m worked and produced exc~llent pic.~.ures of,~~ J~-~'11dscape . Du~ . to_ a ~~~~~µ~:9f ~: ~yste~. the contrast of the designated aie<is of~~ ~~g~s could be cbange4~ Tb~~ ~1ped __ ;:· · ·; .. · .. · .

s1gm 1cantl y i~ liiiiilyzing the pi ctur"": . . .. . . . . ·. ·., . ·\_::_\_l.f.i(/ ·. · ·· ·· · ·. ·.· .· ·. ·. ; : :'./ · ······· ...... ~ :"'

P . L . 86- 36

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. . . · : ........ ·::,;-:,: .. : .. :. . · ,. ·: . ..... .. ·::.: :-_ :-,·:"·;:.·:·-.>.:.'.". ':-<:;: .. -:-:-:· >Ji:·:::. :. '··: /l · ·~ " ( :-·:_:;.~ ,_:e~~ :~ ... ,··~: ·· .. : . ft;J}'A ·crriwd.ere(f~1y.and ~onieone notitea that · :6(~ i~ sbdWCa, ·:~~::~~~.::·

fOQtpod\rt~~ .. im~:~~fi~i~Mea'.~in~~~~~-~~ ~ -~~:~~~(~=· ettin aRu8sian:~ ·· · · ·ito'.~;the·~·. mdWitbiiF !':~ · .. ~·M··wereM·~~r , """' ~;

rin~ts pOupnll~~ ~:~~.;fy~~w;.$ ~~~~~~'.ti¢~·:::~ -<-€~ .. it was j~.-~~P.~~~~~li~PR~.d:~r:i~.l ... ~µ.w.~J~~n .. nt ... O'i;l~.:~t tbN:!:~~:;,.. . eyeryo® :WU: ~8~'C::~~pte~ssiottJ~.~Up.:y~~~m~!f~~1 the~v.iett~ - -. ~ - =-~~·~'!; ·

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(U) When die ~~~tUTes· w~~-·~fudu~~i{they ;~~~:ojtn,~q1~1-i~,::~"it .. was~~~~fJJld_ -· · .... nothave.'the prop¢J.:~t ratio •. Thiswa$ bec~use Q\ir rno<lt.V<if.~he:~icru.ller .~\Jl4. ;$~t~gjii~!9W'-. ~T; · · · enoogh.· dlJaia·:~w that tJie Honeywell ·CoJPQr~qn.~'.4• "1i.~ ·.1~'.l2 viSi~=-wifh~lo~· : speeds. He .co·ntaeted·the. local HoneYWeU represeil~twe. amt:aske4.'.'i(~~ A~y,;edllla.f>orrow=~§t: ~:':: . them and s~ Utat it was very:critical: ~e .represeji~tive ~lted .. back. ·~boiii: tiiifty·rmi),U~ kt~-~~~.

the on1y one a~~l~e .was in an operati~nal systeyi<l~ted.:·~if .~ver. Af!~ .s0.~·~.!J~~~~~._.: .. O'Hara and f:he ·~~eY':VelJ representative, it w~ ... agieed that :~-SA ~outd: ~W,ap·aii 4g~y::~~~=: .. ·· ·. · recorder for the.Honeywell slow~. rec<)Td~f .. /.- .. . . . : ·. . . ' ·, . · ·. '.~·: c.· ·.· ..

• • • . : ,: ' !.' ' • • • ' • \I • • • -. • l':~- ·.·.' .. ~_ ... ;-.:f: ':;,. ::·: ; ·.:· •; :' :' • . • • • . i • • t . • • • . • •

(U) Honeywell shipped the slow-sp.:.xi recorder by i>v~i!lht air ;eight : .. wt ~;d;~ • ·. n' : : .. P ~.... . . .. y, . ruary ,. w;a an . ..~·~.~-· , ..... ,. ....... -· Friendshi A .• ...... on. On them~. · · ,··tufcta f ·eb · · 5 :'O'H. ·!;· . ·'.· .·:ft!~~ . I~· · ·

technician, went tO the airport · ,./ ... ick~up ttu~k .along With .,the Honeyw~.: ''feP~.-~~t!i~'.i~.:'.~ ~'_. ·. ; . claimed the slow,..speed visicorder. _They took it to the.lab where.·niey swappe~tlie•:Y.i~~~:~~d:~::·:· :-. the shipping crate containing the Jljgh .. speed recorder back to.Friendship wiid:e.:it~·~f:i>~«~::;i.·:·.:.>_.:

_/ . . , .. ·. . ... · ·':·-. ·:: .. : ... ·::· '.':: ' :~·;>:~~ :;.:::: '-~: '.::: .. ~~.:~··_·i;~·i::;:1'.~:. (U) O'Hara and ... ---lf~tumed to .w~rk, ~ta~led the new ~~or~r ~d:~~:'.~~ ~y~~~f*:°/{_ ~~~.\.

producedperfect ·pictures. Then they turned the syst.em over.to K4? fQt:p.r(}du~l,j.~~~ ~~~~---.•~:ti)Ja,.~·:):

by Charley Tevi$, a senior executive who was then the head· Qf .the. D~ectoi-'s A-4~~1,Y:~~;:~J-~_~··:: ~~·. Electronic Reconnaissance (DAGER), that the pictures were on, ,~. desk .. of tb~ p~~n't:·Cbt:def~.: ... ': Mr. Tevis stated, "Our national lead.ers now have gi:oun~ ~th." · ... : .. ·. ·· · · --·

(U) As a footnote, it should be added that at lhe ti)ne. O!Hara was a GS-12 ~~- wbri-~ : with NSA for o~y ,two ye~. His iQstincts as fili engmeet and a '((mn~r Air. l'.qree:;fadu·~~ ~ .. · technician w~e to jnst -"solve the prob.lem." As a result,· his tiegoti4tions. fort~ s\v~-O'f:tfu:~:~-~ ~; had been done without the involvement of any NSA iegal or pw:chasing folks:. Wli~·the'le.;~ ~- ·. ~ ; -~ ,: found out what had happened, they called O'Hara on the carpet for "exceeding hi~"~~ritJe$;'r:~ :· .. · · Charley Tevis was informed of this, he intervened ~d the issue.was dropped. : · ·· .·· ~; -.. ·Y·

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(U) The original pictures from Luna.9 have been d~l~ifioo and tumed. o~tr, u..> ~j~·~~· :-Cryptologic Museum. · · · : . . . , ... ,,: ... · ,.

((U/.tllQW8"John H. O'Hara (CON), S3332, 857a3026s,

jhobara@nsa]

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