How did the CIA manage to steal and reverse-engineer a Soviet moon probe without anyone noticing?
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In 1959, during a Soviet space tech exhibition in Mexico City, the CIA carried out what seems like a real-life sci-fi spy mission—Operation Lunik. They temporarily took possession of a Soviet Luna 2 probe, disassembled it, photographed every internal component, and reassembled it flawlessly… all in a single night. The Soviets never realized it had been touched.
The goal? Gather intel on Soviet space capabilities during the early space race.
This really happened. There’s a full documentary about it too
Operation Lunik – The CIA’s Daring Cold War Space HeistWhat I want to know is: how did they pull this off so cleanly? Wouldn't that level of tech handling require a full lab setup, or at least leave some trace?
What do you think—was this just Cold War chaos at its peak, or did the CIA actually have insane logistics and access we don’t usually hear about?
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In 1959, during a Soviet space tech exhibition in Mexico City, the CIA carried out what seems like a real-life sci-fi spy mission—Operation Lunik. They temporarily took possession of a Soviet Luna 2 probe, disassembled it, photographed every internal component, and reassembled it flawlessly… all in a single night. The Soviets never realized it had been touched.
The goal? Gather intel on Soviet space capabilities during the early space race.
This really happened. There’s a full documentary about it too
Operation Lunik – The CIA’s Daring Cold War Space HeistWhat I want to know is: how did they pull this off so cleanly? Wouldn't that level of tech handling require a full lab setup, or at least leave some trace?
What do you think—was this just Cold War chaos at its peak, or did the CIA actually have insane logistics and access we don’t usually hear about?
Soviet military and intelligence efficiency was greatly exaggerated.
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In 1959, during a Soviet space tech exhibition in Mexico City, the CIA carried out what seems like a real-life sci-fi spy mission—Operation Lunik. They temporarily took possession of a Soviet Luna 2 probe, disassembled it, photographed every internal component, and reassembled it flawlessly… all in a single night. The Soviets never realized it had been touched.
The goal? Gather intel on Soviet space capabilities during the early space race.
This really happened. There’s a full documentary about it too
Operation Lunik – The CIA’s Daring Cold War Space HeistWhat I want to know is: how did they pull this off so cleanly? Wouldn't that level of tech handling require a full lab setup, or at least leave some trace?
What do you think—was this just Cold War chaos at its peak, or did the CIA actually have insane logistics and access we don’t usually hear about?
I imagine they followed the pattern of nearly all successes - work hard and get really really lucky.