Meeting the Challenge - 9781624102035

Pressel, who was a project engineer in charge of the design of the Hexagon cameras and other optical instruments, relates the story of the design, development, production, and operation of the Hexagon KH-9 reconnaissance satellite, the last film-based satellite, which was developed by the Perkin-Elmer Corporation (now United Technologies) and provided photographic intelligence to the US government between 1971 and 1986. Along with other contributors, he describes the use of reconnaissance cameras in space, the Hexagon camera system, the Perkin-Elmer organization, the early days of Hexagon, production and design aspects, reliability aspects, manufacturing and testing, field operations, the characteristics of the film used, the electronics, the sunken reentry vehicle, and the explosion that caused its end in 1986. Stories from colleagues and participants are included. Annotation ©2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)