U-2 Spy Plane With Fictitious NASA Markings - GPN-2000-000112
Autor/Urheber:
NASA
Shortlink:
Quelle:
Größe:
3030 x 2316 Pixel (3715840 Bytes)
Beschreibung:
After Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union during a CIA spy flight on May 1. 1960, NASA issued a press release with a cover story about a U-2 conducting weather research that may have strayed off course after the pilot reported difficulties with his oxygen equipment. To bolster the cover-up, a U-2 was quickly painted in NASA markings, with a fictitious NASA serial number, and put on display for the news media at the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base on May 6, 1960. The U-2 cover story in 1956 was that it was a NASA plane to conduct high-altitude weather research. But various observers doubted this story from the beginning. Certainly the Soviets did not believe it once the aircraft began overflying their territory. The NASA cover story quickly blew up in the agency's face when both Gary Powers and aircraft wreckage were displayed by the Soviet Union, proving that it was a reconnaissance aircraft. This caused embarrassment for several top NASA officials.
Lizenz:
Public domain
Relevante Bilder
Relevante Artikel
Francis Gary PowersFrancis Gary Powers war ein US-amerikanischer Pilot. Er wurde am 1. Mai 1960 während eines Spionagefluges von der sowjetischen Luftverteidigung bei Swerdlowsk (Ural) mit einer damals neuartigen Flugabwehrrakete abgeschossen, gefangen genommen und als Spion verurteilt. .. weiterlesen