The National Reconnaissance Office's "Corona" program

The National Reconnaissance Office’s first photo reconnaissance satellite program was called the “Corona” program. According to declassified information in February 1995, the “Corona” program existed from August 1960 to 1972. in May 1959, although the first test flight was in February 1959. The photographic capsules (sometimes multiple) released by the "Corona Project" satellites are calibrated by military spacecraft.

The most successful calibration of Discoverer 13 was carried out on August 12, 1960. The first image from space came out six days later, with a resolution of 8 meters, which was later improved to 2 meters. A photo can show an average range of about 16 to 190 kilometers. Corona's last mission (145th) took place on May 25, 1972. The last photo of this mission was taken on May 31, 1972.

From May 1962 to August 1964, the National Reconnaissance Bureau hosted 12 mapping missions under Project Argon, but only 7 were successful.

In 1963, the National Reconnaissance Bureau began using higher resolutions for the mapping portion of Project Lanyard. The NRO's mission after 1972 remains classified, and the remainder of its previous plans are no longer known to the public. The Deputy Secretary of Defense confirmed the existence of the NRO on September 18, 1992, at the suggestion of the CIA Director.