NRO Space Patches

[Blackstar]

I posted some of this a few days ago, but I think we need a thread on NRO space patches. So here we go, starting with the dragons:

[Blackstar]

Then there was this:

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-083100a.html

[Vahe231991]

Given that until 1992 it was a felony for anyone to mention the existence of the National Reconnaissance Office, when were NRO space patches paying homage to the different NRO space launches first publicly disclosed?

[Newton_V]

[Blackstar]

Given that until 1992 it was a felony for anyone to mention the existence of the National Reconnaissance Office

It was not a felony. There are books from before 1992 that refer to the NRO.

[Larry Golo]

First mention of the NRO (not by name) was as early as 1971 in the New York Times. The spooks obviously kept tabs of the newspapers mentionning, even vaguely, their organization.

[LittleBird]

First mention of the NRO (not by name) was as early as 1971 in the New York Times. The spooks obviously kept tabs of the newspapers mentionning, even vaguely, their organization.

and according to Richelson's "The US Intelligence Community", 3rd Edition, the first public revelation of the NRO's existence came in 1973 as the result of an error made in a Senate report, when a committee accidentally included it in a list of entities whose budgets should be made public. A Washington post article referring to its functions, budget and cover soon followed, and the CIA were unsuccessful in getting a similar discussion deleted from Marchetti and Marks' book (1975).

[LittleBird]

Given that until 1992 it was a felony for anyone to mention the existence of the National Reconnaissance Office

It was not a felony. There are books from before 1992 that refer to the NRO.

... Two famous examples being 1988's "Deep Black" and 1990's "America's Secret Eyes in Space".

 I was curious to see what the oldest books I have which mention it, and I think oldest US-published one in this quasi random sample is Daniel Ford's The Button from 1985, while the oldest I can see at a quick glance is Des Ball's "A Suitable Piece of Real Estate", from 1980. I am sure there'd be older examples in both cases, with Marchetti and Marks probably the first.

Meanwhile, and more on topic, are there any books devoted to the NRO patches-I know a few appear in Trevor Paglen's "I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed By Me" but I don't know of a collection, apart from that NRO launcher photo book that was mentioned a while ago, that existed as a pdf iirc ?

[Blackstar]

So now we can get back on topic.

http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum18/HTML/001116.html

[Blackstar]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/creepy-kitschy-and-geeky-patches-us-spy-satellites-180953562/

[Jim]

[Jim]

[Michael Cassutt]

I'll bite, knowing that Jim probably can't confirm this.... but the "Spirit of Forty Four", presented to Al Rubin (Lockheed Martin?) for STS-27 points back to SP-44, the program office that developed the LACROS aka ONYX "all-weather" radar sat.

Now what is the significance of the US flag and 1984?

Michael Cassutt

[Targeteer]

Presumably the lone star on the gold cord symbolizes the first satellite in the series.  1984, the start of the development program?

[Vahe231991]

Given that until 1992 it was a felony for anyone to mention the existence of the National Reconnaissance Office

It was not a felony. There are books from before 1992 that refer to the NRO.

... Two famous examples being 1988's "Deep Black" and 1990's "America's Secret Eyes in Space".

 I was curious to see what the oldest books I have which mention it, and I think oldest US-published one in this quasi random sample is Daniel Ford's The Button from 1985, while the oldest I can see at a quick glance is Des Ball's "A Suitable Piece of Real Estate", from 1980. I am sure there'd be older examples in both cases, with Marchetti and Marks probably the first.

Meanwhile, and more on topic, are there any books devoted to the NRO patches-I know a few appear in Trevor Paglen's "I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed By Me" but I don't know of a collection, apart from that NRO launcher photo book that was mentioned a while ago, that existed as a pdf iirc ?

Given that the NRO was publicly declassified in September 1992, when were patches for the different NRO launches first publicly revealed?

[Newton_V]

Well, half of them are NRO missions...
BTW, anybody know of a good place to sell some of this stuff?  (don't want to deal with ebay).  Have some duplicates.

[Newton_V]

[Jim]

Now what is the significance of the US flag and 1984?

I forgot which mission it was for,

[Jim]

Given that the NRO was publicly declassified in September 1992, when were patches for the different NRO launches first publicly revealed?

patches existed before 92.
But here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NRO_launches
Sort on launch date