The operation, known as Operation Lunik, involved CIA agents—with help from Mexican intelligence—temporarily acquiring a Soviet Luna 2 probe that was on display as part of a goodwill space exhibition.
Over the course of a single night, U.S. agents:
Transported the probe to a secure location
Disassembled and photographed its internal components
Reassembled it perfectly and returned it before morning
The Soviets never realized it had been tampered with. This mission provided valuable intelligence on Soviet space technology and contributed to U.S. advances in the early space race.
Not gonna lie, sounds exactly like the kind of paranoid, dick move the CIA would pull.
Totally — classic CIA move: paranoid, bold, and just reckless enough to work.
All the agents were probably on copious amounts of scotch and cocaine.
“work” meaning topple democratic foreign governments to put in authoritarian strongmen?
Gotta make those moon hegemonies! Need that sweet sweet lunar oil after all.
Why would spying on the USSR be a dick move? Oh! You weren’t alive for the Cold War? Nuclear war was a real fear, unlike today.
Just based on the summary stealing something from a “goodwill space exhibition” is objectively a dick move. Also how a moon probe is relevant to the threat of terrestrial nuclear war is unclear to me.
It was hollow inside, we promised not to tell in exchange for them not telling on us for faking the moon landing
Thanks for posting the summary. I originally thought it was going to be something like that James Bond movie where the nose cone of the rocket opens up and “eats” the satellite.