In the 1950s, the US Air Force launched a top-secret program involving spy balloons equipped with cameras to photograph the Soviet Union. The Genetrix balloons were ultimately shot down by Soviet MiG fighter pilots, leading to a brief but impactful program. However, the US Air Force managed to recover some camera gondolas containing specialized film that the Soviets later repurposed for their own spacecraft, leading to their successful mission to photograph the far side of the moon in 1959. The images revealed surprising details about the moon’s surface, contradicting previous assumptions and sparking scientific debate.
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