Sujet

U-2 spy plane with fictitious NASA markings, USA, 1960. Creator: NASA.

Légende

U-2 spy plane with fictitious NASA markings, USA, 1960. 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 an NACA 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.

Crédit

Photo12/Heritage Images/Heritage Space

Notre référence

HRM21B20_318

Model release

Non

Property release

Non

Licence

Droits gérés

Format disponible

20,1Mo (805,3Ko) / 25,7cm x 19,6cm / 3030 x 2316 (300dpi)

Mots clés

transport transportation politics country flight space exploration false aeroplane aircraft plane airplane political fake location century spying aviation international relations concept B&W space exploration space travel espionage NASA cover-up Sixties air Transport United States of America reconnaissance black & white black and white B W 1960s 20th century American America USA photograph united states National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration fictitious Heritage Space diplomatic incident