USAF fails to properly id space object

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/saint.htm

* 1959 December 1 - Public furor as the USAF fails to properly
identify unidentified object in space. -

This humiliation led the Air Force to pursue its SAINT ASAT project.

I don't recall hearing about this before. Does anyone here recall the
details?

--
Dave Michelson

Dave Michelson wrote:

I don't recall hearing about this before. Does anyone here recall the
details?

SAINT, like our operational ASAT system out on Johnston Atoll using Thor
and Nike-Zeus missiles, is largely forgotten.
What is interesting is just how sophisticated SAINT was in design, given
its early vintage: http://www.astronautix.com/craft/saint.htm

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:

Dave Michelson wrote:
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/saint.htm

* 1959 December 1 - Public furor as the USAF fails to properly
identify unidentified object in space. -

This humiliation led the Air Force to pursue its SAINT ASAT project.

I don't recall hearing about this before. Does anyone here recall the
details?

SAINT, like our operational ASAT system out on Johnston Atoll using Thor
and Nike-Zeus missiles, is largely forgotten.
What is interesting is just how sophisticated SAINT was in design, given
its early vintage: http://www.astronautix.com/craft/saint.htm

Yes, but what was the incident on 1 Dec 1959 that convinced the USAF to
pursue SAINT?

--
Dave Michelson

Pat Flannery wrote:

Dave Michelson wrote:

Yes, but what was the incident on 1 Dec 1959 that convinced the USAF to
pursue SAINT?

I'll check up on it further, but I suspect it was a convenient excuse
for greater funding, like the Chinese ASAT intercept.

The only weird misidentification that I recall is the case of the BMEWS
installation in Thule misidentifying the rising moon as a Soviet ICBM
fleet. But that happened much later - 5 Oct 1960. Ad it wouldn't have
been a justification for SAINT.

--
Dave Michelson

Dave Michelson wrote:

Yes, but what was the incident on 1 Dec 1959 that convinced the USAF to
pursue SAINT?

I'll check up on it further, but I suspect it was a convenient excuse
for greater funding, like the Chinese ASAT intercept.
"They've blown it up! Now Fu Manchu controls space! If we don't get
billions of dollars, we're fukin' doomed!.
Oh God, it may already be too late... dig your fallout shelters
deeper.. and Watch The Skies!
REMEMBER! WATCH THE SKIES! :-D
Meanwhile, back at the atomic-powered bomber project:
http://modelarchives.free.fr/archive...Bounder_K.html
http://modelarchives.free.fr/archive...Bounder_S.html
The horrifying thing about the Soviet atomic-powered bomber was just how
dirty its wingtip nuclear engines were.
Indeed, they shot out carbon moderator as thick as if they'd been
kerosene fueled:
http://www.aviation.ru/Mya/M-50.jpg
I'd write more, but it's time to watch " The Military Channel's"
"Futureweapons."
Sooner or later, that old SEAL team member is going to get so sexually
excited about some assault rifle that he's going to tear it out of the
manufacturer's hands and have at the ******* by screwing it in the barrel.
The manufacturer will then demonstrate its ability for combat and basic
toughness by firing 100 rounds through its semen-fouled barrel without
cleaning.
This is inevitably how it all ends up.
Yes, you can see this all coming, can't you? :-D

Pat

Dave Michelson wrote:

The only weird misidentification that I recall is the case of the BMEWS
installation in Thule misidentifying the rising moon as a Soviet ICBM
fleet. But that happened much later - 5 Oct 1960. Ad it wouldn't have
been a justification for SAINT.

Oh, you never heard about the other one then...when the Soviet nuclear
launch detection satellites picked up a sunset as a US ICBM launch.
Meet Lt. Colonel Stanislav Petrov... the guy who disobeyed orders, and
might have saved the world and the future of humanity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov
God bless you, Comrade Petrov!
He got in a lot of trouble for what he did, but boy, I wouldn't mind
going to sleep every night knowing I'd done something like that.

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:

SAINT, like our operational ASAT system out on Johnston Atoll using
Thor and Nike-Zeus missiles, is largely forgotten. What is
interesting is just how sophisticated SAINT was in design, given its
early vintage: http://www.astronautix.com/craft/saint.htm

And yet, as one of its anti-satellite measures they list:

"or, it was suggested, just spray it with black paint."

Perhaps they should have called it "tagger" With the floodlights
and TV cameras, and assuming I've got my era's straight, they should
have put a pop-up image of Alan Fundt (sp) on the front and broadcast
a clear-text message "Smile, you're on Candid Camera!"

rick jones
--
Wisdom Teeth are impacted, people are affected by the effects of events.
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

Rick Jones wrote:
And yet, as one of its anti-satellite measures they list:

"or, it was suggested, just spray it with black paint."


That idea came up again with the ASAT version of the LM.

Perhaps they should have called it "tagger" With the floodlights
and TV cameras, and assuming I've got my era's straight, they should
have put a pop-up image of Alan Fundt (sp) on the front and broadcast
a clear-text message "Smile, you're on Candid Camera!"


We do some pretty sophisticated imaging of foreign satellites via both
ground and space based systems.
Back when they were getting the first repair mission ready for Skylab,
the Air Force showed up with pictures of it on-orbit that were
supposedly detailed enough to allow individual rivets to be seen. The
wouldn't state how they got them to the astronauts, but that level of
detail sounds like something a satellite would do.

Pat