HEXAGON (KH-9) also known as or partially contained in FULCRUM, S-2, and HELIX, emerged from competing concepts to provide a surveillance system that flew 20 missions (1201-1220) from June 1971 through April 1986. On 17 September 2011, the NRO declassified the HEXAGON and GAMBIT satellite reconnaissance programs. The first release of documents accompanied the formal announcement of the declassification.
The second release provides the public with a new collection of documents focused on the HEXAGON program. Documents 1-6 have been previously released within the NRO Staff Records collection or the WS117L, SAMOS and SENTRY records. They have been re-reviewed and new information is being made available to the public. The remaining, newly released, documents shed light on the early NRO and its management challenges. A further subset of these documents shine a spotlight on the budget battles which brought the HEXAGON program to the brink of cancellation before its first launch (See documents 78-89).
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